10 Greatest Secret Music Concerts Of All Time

10. U2

WHERE: The rooftop of a Los Angeles Liquor Store.

WHEN: March 27th, 1987.

Every band that ascends to "biggest in the world" status takes the title differently. When U2 ascended with The Joshua Tree, they, like literally everything they did in the late '80s, decided to take the whole thing painfully seriously.

Determined to stamp a place for themselves in the legacy of rock, U2 seemed to make a list of all the things their heroes did, and did it themselves. Some of it worked, like working with Brian Eno. Others were the toe-curling trip to Graceland depicted in 1988's hysterical ego trip Rattle and Hum.

Falling almost directly between them is this, a surprise concert to film the music video for the deathless banger Where The Streets Have No Name. As a performance, it's cracking. This was a tour-honed U2 in their prime, tighter than Bono's keks and totally in their element in front of a boatload of surprised, adoring fans.

Why does it only make number ten on this list then? Well, this is U2 we're talking about, and the cringe is never far away. Taking after some other band that we may or may not get to on this list, they were trying real hard to get shut down by the police like the dangerous, rabble rousing revolutionists they saw themselves as.

Problem was, the police were fine and dandy with it and let them play until they got all the takes they need.

Such was the dichotomy of Joshua Tree era U2. They wanted to be radical firebrands, but couldn't help making music that even cops were into. C'est la vie.