U2 Stealth Gig Tonight in Philly?

Dodgy D.C. rumors set in motion an end run down to Philadelphia.

By Blurt Staff

Not long ago we brought you news about a U2 surprise gig in Cambridge that turned out to be just a rumor, although a week or so later the Irish legends actually wound up doing a brief small venue show in Boston - proof that in real life, everything is always a little bit of truth and a little bit of lies, but never less than interesting. (You can have that little tidbit of BLURT-ian philosophy for free. Please, no tipping the guru.)

So this morning, April 1, scores of U2 fans began lining up outside the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., in hopes of securing entry to what was rumored to be a free, surprise concert at the long-running rock club, tentatively slated for tonight at 8pm. A rumor about the U2 gig began circulating in D.C. late last night when a person posted the following message at the BLURT forums:

"Hey Blurt-ers, just heard that tomorrow at the 9:30 Club, U2 will be doing a free show. Tickets being distributed first come first served in the morning. See you there!"

The news quickly drew heated debate on the message boards but no substantiation, so we subsequently made a lightning round of phone calls to determine if this was a hoax or the real deal. Initially, neither the club nor U2's p.r. agents would return our calls, and sure enough, by early this morning a line of hopeful fans was already stretching completely around the 9:30 Club (see photo, below) and down the street for a full two blocks. Crowd size estimates were in the 5,000 range, prompting D.C. horseback police to get involved, pacing up and down the line in a fairly good display of keeping order.

Meanwhile, however, something seemed fishy about the whole matter. Things didn't add up. And sure enough, after enough prodding, prompting, probing and pressing, we finally received a callback from Principle Management, which handles U2: the location was wrong, but the date is right, and the show is definitely not in D.C., but instead, it's down in Philadelphia tonight at the Trocadero (see photo, below). We've been pledged not to publish this info until now, but as our Philly bureau (hi, Zach!) is reporting that the line around the Troc is about 10 times longer than it was at the 9:30 (sorry to make you go out there, Rocky!), it looks like the cat is out of the ol' Irish kitbag, so to speak.