A collection of unseen U2 photographs have gone on show for the first time in Ireland.
The exhibition at the Little Museum of Dublin features 32 rare photographs of the rock band, portraying their early years.
It shows U2 as a tight but restless unit – future icons but also teenagers mucking around.
The photographs were taken by Dubliner Patrick Brocklebank, who worked as a graphic artist and photographer in the 1970s.
“Because I was always in town and because we were the same age, I’d often see U2 around the place,” he said. “The show records the energy and ambition of a local band that would later conquer the world.”
Hanging around in Trinity College or gigging in the Project, the images reveal the relentless surge of a band on the rise. Pots, guns and paintings are used as props, with Bono as a serial scene-stealer.
“Paul [Bono] couldn’t play guitar and he wasn’t much of a singer,” Brocklebank recalls. “But he had that certain something - the swagger and stage presence that would later make U2 a household name.”
U2: 1978-81 runs at the Little Museum of Dublin until September 1.
