Tonight U2 were in Cologne for their second and final concert in the city. The set started as a standard night 2 affair, with Out of Control and Desire returning after a one-show absence. However, there were a handful of surprises later in the set - enough to push the total number of songs to 27. That makes it the longest show ever in our database by total number of songs played. As you can see on our tour statistics page, that means it edges out a number of shows (most from the current leg, but some from the preceding two tours) that previously were joint record-holders on 26.

The biggest surprise of the night came in the second e-stage slot with the return of Party Girl. This was just its second performance of the tour, having previously appeared on 31 July 2015 in New York; the last time it was played in Germany was on 3 August 2005 in Munich. The most recent performance of Party Girl anywhere in Europe was 7 July 2009 in Milan. It was performed tonight by the full band; the custom on recent tours has been for it to usually be played by just Bono and Edge.

The second surprise came immediately after Party Girl, as Angel Of Harlem made for a three-song e-stage night after missing one concert. Though it is a second-night standard on the second leg of the tour, it was not on the printed setlist. Both Party Girl and Angel Of Harlem were performed with a fan, G'lies, on guitar.

The final surprise came in the encore as U2 performed Bad and 40 to close out the concert. Both had missed the last three shows. On the current leg, this double act had previously only appeared on the final night in cities with four shows. The printed setlist showed Bad preceded by I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, which was not played. However, before Bad there was one other little singalong: Happy Birthday, in honour of Bill Gates (whose sixtieth birthday is in ten days).

The full setlist was:

1. The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
2. Out of Control
3. Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? (snippet) / Vertigo / God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols) (snippet)
4. I Will Follow
5. Iris (Hold Me Close) / Hold Me Close (snippet)
6. Cedarwood Road
7. Song For Someone
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
10. Until the End of the World / Love and Peace or Else (snippet) / Words (snippet)
(Intermission - The Fly)
11. Invisible
12. Even Better Than The Real Thing Fish Out of Water Mix
13. Mysterious Ways / Burning Down The House (snippet)
14. Desire
15. Party Girl
16. Angel of Harlem / (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame (snippet)
17. Every Breaking Wave
18. October
19. Bullet the Blue Sky / Ode To Joy (snippet)
20. Zooropa
21. Where the Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
22. Pride (In the Name of Love)
23. With or Without You

encore(s):

24. City of Blinding Lights
25. Beautiful Day / Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (snippet) / I Remember You (snippet)
Happy Birthday
26. Mother And Child Reunion (snippet) / Bad / In The Garden (snippet) / 40 (snippet)
27. 40

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

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Posted on October 18, 2015 by Matkin