U2 rocks MSU: 65,000 turn out to hear Irish band

Spartan Stadium setting a far cry from 1981 gig at East Lansing bar

Jun. 27, 2011 

Written by Tricia Bobeda

EAST LANSING - Steve Scofes packed into Spartan Stadium on Sunday night with 65,000 fellow U2 fans for the much-anticipated East Lansing stop on the band's 360° tour.The East Lansing resident had great floor seats. He spent the night listening to the band play decades worth of hits on an epic stage that stretched so high into the sky it was visible from outside the stadium.But as incredible as Scofes' concert experience was, his dad still has a better U2 story.George Scofes, now 82, booked the up-and-coming Irish band to play Dooley's bar (now Harper's Restaurant and Brewpub) in East Lansing in December 1981.Another Dooley's owner asked George to give U2's debut album "Boy" a listen and decide if the band should be booked for the Irish pub.

George said he didn't know much about music, but the band sounded good to him.The family history with U2 has made Steve Scofes, a lobbyist, a lifelong fan of the band.His excitement about the East Lansing concert, which was rescheduled from June of last year after Bono's back injury forced the band to cancel tour dates, inspired Scofes to tell his Dooley's concert story during a meeting on Capitol Hill last week.Moments after, he was whisked into a room with Bono, who was there to meet with members of Congress and discuss the efforts of ONE, which he co-founded, and its goal to decrease the number of children born with HIV."What's most impressive to me - and I do love his music - is his aid work," Scofes said. "He spoke so eloquently (to Congress) about how he never dreamed the band would never be as big as it is, and that he feels a responsibility to give back."

After the meeting, Bono took Scofes aside and told him that even now - after three decades of hits ranging from "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" to "Vertigo" and an illustrious career in activism and advocacy for anti-poverty programs - Dooley's still has sentimental value for the singer.Bono said that it's people like Steve Scofes' father George that he and the band owe gratitude to for taking a chance on four guys barely out of high school trying to cross the pond and play their music.The singer told Scofes that East Lansing is special to him because Dooley's was one of the first Irish bars in America to book him, guitarist The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton."It was so humble and nice of him to say that," Scofes said.But it was what the U2 front man said next that made the gratitude ring true.Somewhere in Bono's Dublin home, he still has the Dooley's shirt he got at that East Lansing gig 30 years ago."He even described the shirt, that it was green and white with a bearded Irish guy on it," Scofes said.Bono said he'd love to step on the stage at Dooley's."We joked that it was just a bit smaller than the one he'd play at Spartan Stadium," Scofes said.