The Vertigo Tour: What Might Have Been

Before writing a final wrap-up of the Vertigo Tour, I felt it would be appropriate to reflect not on what actually happened, but on what might have been. U2 naturally do not perform every song that they rehearse, and this article's purpose is to look at what did not make it into the setlist of any of the tour's concerts. Before commencing, however, I must offer a warning: any article of this nature inherently suffers from a lack of verifiability and completion. Please treat statements made in this article with caution; all information is presented in good faith and the belief it is accurate. If you are able to expand upon this article or offer confirmation of any songs, please feel free to contact us. Now, with that said, let's see what might have been!

Looking back on the Vertigo Tour's fifth leg

It has been almost a week since the last show of the Vertigo Tour. The Hawaii concert was the 131st of the tour (132nd if you count the Los Angeles public rehearsal), and the 13th of the fifth leg. The dust has now begun to settle on the Hawaii show, with the flow of news and reviews beginning to slow and a bootleg starting to circulate amongst the trading community and online (see U2Start.com for MP3s), so I feel now is a good time to look back on the final leg of the tour. An assessment of the entire Vertigo Tour shall come a bit closer to Christmas, so keep your eyes out for it.

Honolulu Setlist

Today, U2 played the final show of the Vertigo Tour in Honolulu. The setlist included Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses for the first time since 13 November 2005, and it was performed with a fan from the crowd on piano. After an absence of four shows, Love And Peace Or Else returned for a final Vertigo Tour appearance. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day joined the band for The Saints Are Coming. Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam joined the band for a cover of Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World. The last song played on the Vertigo Tour was All I Want Is You. Stay tuned to U2gigs.com for post-tour summaries, statistics, and other details!

The full setlist was:

1. City Of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Elevation
4. I Will Follow
5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
6. Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)
7. Angel Of Harlem
8. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
9. The First Time
10. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / La Vie En Rose (snippet)
11. Love And Peace Or Else
12. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
13. Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
14. Miss Sarajevo
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16. Where The Streets Have No Name
17. One

Encores:
18. The Fly / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (snippet)
19. Mysterious Ways
20. With Or Without You
21. Window In The Skies
22. The Saints Are Coming
23. Rockin' In The Free World
24. All I Want Is You

Photo by Miami Stu. Click on image for more photos from the show.

Hawaii Rehearsals Report

(U2.com) -- On Friday night the band ran through rehearsals one last time ahead of the final show of the tour in Honolulu. Great to hear Neil Young's 'Rocking in the Free World'.

That was the song they joined Pearl Jam to perform at the Make Poverty History show in Melbourne a couple of weeks back - and Pearl Jam are on the bill, along with Rocko and the Devils, for the final show.

Love and Peace was in the run-through as was Window in the Skies. As for the rest, our lips are sealed. We'll keep you in touch.

Saitama #3 Setlist

Today, U2 played their third and final show in Japan. Only one Vertigo show now remains, that in Honolulu. Today's show contained a number of setlist surprises. Out Of Control was performed for the first time on the fifth leg; it was last played on 1 November 2005 when local band Exit joined U2 on stage to perform the song in honour of Larry's birthday the previous day (the last time it was performed by just U2 themselves was 20 October 2005). This show also saw the return of Vertigo x2, as it was repeated in the encore. The double use of Vertigo hasn't been done since 12 February 2006. Furthermore, the two newly recorded songs from U218 Singles, The Saints Are Coming and Window In The Skies, were played back-to-back in the encore, and The First Time appeared for another rare performance.

The full setlist was:

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)
Elevation
Out Of Control / I Wanna Be Sedated (snippet)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
Beautiful Day / Presence Of The Lord (snippet)
Angel Of Harlem
The First Time
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Bad / Ruby Tuesday (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You
The Saints Are Coming
Window In The Skies
Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)

All details for this show including reviews and photos can be found here.

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Review of Auckland, 25/11

Today's review is unfortunately the last I will be writing for Vertigo's fifth leg, as the second concert in Auckland was my last Vertigo Tour concert. However, after the conclusion of the tour, I may offer reviews of the three concerts I saw in May 2005 in Boston as reflections upon the tour, and stay tuned after Vertigo's conclusion for other wrap-ups on the tour and articles on different U2 topics. In a way, I am glad that this is my final fifth leg review, for if I could choose any concert to be my last review, it is this one, the best U2 concert I have attended.

Review of Auckland, 24/11

On 4 December 1993, U2 performed the second of two Zoo TV concerts in New Zealand. Almost thirteen years later to the day, the band finally returned to the "land of the long white cloud" (the English translation of Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand) for two concerts at Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium. As a New Zealander, U2's visit to my homeland meant a great deal. I had not had the pleasure of seeing the band in the country on earlier tours, and I had all but written off even the possibility of the band ever returning. Accordingly, the band's two concerts had a lot of significance for me, and today's review shall focus on the first gig.

Review of Melbourne, 19/11

In the three days between between the second and third Saitama gigs, I aim to offer a concert review a day. These reviews were intended to be online much earlier, but computer issues and poor Internet access led to delays, for which I apologise. These three reviews will cover the last shows of the Vertigo Tour in the Southern Hemisphere, and today's review is of the second show in Melbourne, U2's last in Australia. I also feel it was their best. This show was very eventful, so this review is accordingly more lengthy than prior ones. If you are in a hurry, I feel the most interesting passages are those about Edge's guitar troubles around Beautiful Day and Angel Of Harlem, and the last few paragraphs, which deal with the second encore.

Saitama #2 Setlist

At today's second concert in Saitama, U2 continued to shake up the setlist. Possibly the most notable surprise is the return of All I Want Is You, which hadn't been performed since 2 March 2006. It regained the position it had held at a few South American songs as concert closer. After songs from Rattle And Hum being almost totally neglected in the earlier stages of the tour, this is the first show since 1 September 2001 (the Slane DVD show) to feature three songs from Rattle And Hum. In other news, The Saints Are Coming was cut for the first time on the fifth leg, making way for Window In The Skies. The First Time was played for just the second time on the fifth leg, and Love And Peace Or Else was left out again, this time making way not for Bad but for One Tree Hill, which continues to remain in the setlist post-Auckland and has moved to the main set after two concerts as the closing song. Furthermore, for only the second time this tour, the "shine like stars" verse was added to the end of With Or Without You (the first instance was 11 October 2005, New York).

The full setlist was:

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Until The End Of The World
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
Angel Of Harlem
The First Time
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
One Tree Hill
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)
Window In The Skies
Desire
All I Want Is You

All details for this show including reviews and photos can be found here.

Photo by Chas Pope. Click on image for more photos from the show.

Saitama #1 Setlist

Today, U2 played their first of three Japanese concerts at the Saitama Super Arena just outside of Tokyo in Saitama, and the setlist contained a number of surprises. The most notable is the live debut of Window In The Skies, the new original song that appears on U218 Singles and will be released as a commercial single in January (as a statistical sidenote, this means that Electrical Storm regains its status as the only U2 single to never be performed live). Despite expectations that One Tree Hill was a special twice-off for the two New Zealand concerts, it has remained in the setlist and closed the show, and Love And Peace Or Else has remained absent in favour of Bad preceding Sunday Bloody Sunday. The version of Walk On performed was the acoustic version. It should also be noted that U2 had no opening act for this show and the same will apply to the other two Japanese concerts.

The full setlist was:

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)
Elevation
I Will Follow
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)
Window In The Skies
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Bad / 40 (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
The Fly / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (snippet)
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You
The Saints Are Coming
Angel Of Harlem
One Tree Hill