U2 played a blistering set in Notre Dame, Indiana last night, first show on the sold out third leg of the Elevation Tour.

And as well as the 11,000 fans - many of them students - hundreds of thousands of others tuned in to a worldwide webcast of the show.

The show spanned U2's entire career from early singles like New Years Day to a clutch of hit tracks from All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

There was also a debut airing for the Marvin Gaye classic What's Going On?, the song Bono has been instrumental in getting an all star cast to cover to benefit the fight against AIDS in Africa, as well as victims of September 11.

At the climax of the evening Bono paid tribute to rescue workers involved in the September 11th attack - this was the first show the band have performed in the US since - and, in a poignant moment, as the band played Walk On, U2 invited onto the stage firefighters and policemen from New York City. There was barely a dry eye in the house.

The entire show was also broadcast live on the internet and utilising state of the art viewing through multiple cameras and a revolutionary spin cam.

For fans who were unable to tune in last night, there is a rebroadcast tonight, Thursday, at 9pm Central European Time (8pm UK GMT, 3pm US EST).

Registered members of U2.com - for technical reasons that is those who had registered before last Sunday - will be able to view the entire concert on demand for the next seven days.