A Sort of Homecoming (U2 song)

Infobox Song
Name = A Sort of Homecoming


Type = Song
Artist = U2
alt Artist =
Album = The Unforgettable Fire
Published =
Released = 1984
track_no = 1
Recorded =
Genre = Rock
Length = 5:28
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Island
Producer = Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois
Background = #D8BFD8
Tracks =
prev =
prev_no =
next = "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
next_no = 2

"A Sort of Homecoming" is the first track of U2's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. A live version of the track is found on 1985's four-track EP, Wide Awake in America.

Its live premiere was during the Unforgettable Fire Tour on 17 September 1984. When played live, the song would start acoustically with just the Edge playing while Bono sang. After the first verse, the rest of the band would join in. It was played regularly on the rest of Unforgettable Fire Tour, typically after "The Electric Co.", and was played occasionally on the first two legs of the next tour, the Joshua Tree Tour. It was dropped from the band's live set on 27 June 1987 and did not reappear until the second leg of the Elevation Tour in 2001. It was played at the band's homecoming gig at Slane Castle in Ireland on 25 August 2001. The performance was somewhat of a mess as Bono forgot many of the lyrics. It made only one more Elevation Tour appearance: at a concert in Oakland on 16 November 2001, a fan was pulled on stage to play guitar with the band and he began playing "A Sort of Homecoming". The band played along with him but Bono's recollection of the lyrics was even worse than in Dublin. The song has not been performed since.

Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin wrote for "Rolling Stone" magazine's [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty/ 100 Greatest Artists of All Time] [cite web| title = The Immortals: The First Fifty| work = Rolling Stone Issue 946| publisher = Rolling Stone| url =http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty
accessdate = 2006-12-21 ] the section on U2, saying: "I don't buy weekend tickets to Ireland and hang out in front of their gates, but U2 are the only band whose entire catalog I know by heart. The first song on "The Unforgettable Fire", "A Sort of Homecoming", I know backward and forward -- it's so rousing, brilliant and beautiful. It's one of the first songs I played to my unborn baby."

References

External links

* [http://www.u2-vertigo-tour.com/song86.html A Sort of Homecoming's performance history at U2-Vertigo-Tour.com] - Lists all known performances of "A Sort of Homecoming".