U2gigs.com

Video of Electrical Storm

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:53:18 GMT

As we reported earlier, Electrical Storm made its live debut at the Barcelona concert today. U2gigs' webmaster Macphisto was there and took video of the song. Watch below:

You can see his videos from the first show here.

Barcelona II setlist, 02/07

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:53:38 GMT

Today, U2 played their second concert in Barcelona. Earlier in the day, the band ran through a soundcheck, most notably rehearsing Electrical Storm - a song never played live before. Also soundchecked were Magnificent, Get On Your Boots, No Line On The Horizon, Breathe, Moment Of Surrender, and Crazy Tonight in both its normal and remixed forms.

The setlist contained a number of surprising changes from the first show of the tour. Most notable is the live debut of Electrical Storm, seven years after it was first released; it had the softer William Orbit intro. It was preceded in the setlist by Desire and Party Girl, both songs that had not been heard during the rehearsals. Desire contained Michael Jackson snippetry while Party Girl was played with a woman from the audience, Melissa, who was on stage at one of the Melbourne shows in 2006 - she lifted Bono into the air back then and she lifted him again at tonight's show.

Later in the main set, the band played the remixed version of Crazy Tonight, and then in the encore played the normal version of the song to film it as part of a video shoot. Unlike the first night, where the band played just one encore of three songs, tonight's encore was split in two - the band left the stage for a couple of minutes between With Or Without You and the normal Crazy Tonight.

The full setlist was:

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day / Here Comes The Sun (snippet)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up (snippet)
Desire / Billie Jean (snippet) / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (snippet)
Party Girl
Electrical Storm
Unknown Caller
The Unforgettable Fire
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)
Crazy Tonight (remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
MLK
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Our database listing for this show, including breakdown of songs played by album, can be found here.

If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.

Statistically Speaking: The opening night's set in statistical perspective

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:40:24 GMT

The dust is starting to settle on the opening night of the 360� Tour, so let's have a look at some of the more interesting statistical aspects of the setlist. From some surprising omissions to the use of four new songs to open (including two non-singles), this set has plenty to keep the statistically minded occupied.

Photos from opening night

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:58:23 GMT

To go with Macphisto's videos posted earlier, his photographs from the first show are now online. The main directory is here and it contains 94 photos. Enjoy.

Videos from opening night

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:22:34 GMT

Now we have some videos to share with you from the opening concert in Barcelona, shot by U2gigs webmaster Macphisto. Here's footage of the second song of the night, No Line On The Horizon, and read on for some others.

Opening night of the 360� Tour: Barcelona I, 30/06

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:38:07 GMT

Finally, the date has arrived - the first night of the 360� Tour. Earlier in the day, the band ran through a spot of soundchecking. They began with Vertigo, a song with which Edge seemingly had guitar issues at the dress rehearsal yesterday. It was followed by the Crazy Tonight remix twice, Walk On, One, Ultra Violet, Magnificent, and Breathe.

At the actual gig, the band played the same songs today as they did at the dress rehearsal. The set was:

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up (snippet)
Angel Of Harlem / Man In The Mirror (snippet) / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (snippet)
In A Little While
Unknown Caller
The Unforgettable Fire
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Crazy Tonight
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
MLK
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Before Beautiful Day, Bono gave a short speech about Barcelona. Angel Of Harlem is dedicated to Michael Jackson, who Bono describes as an "unspeakable talent". Before Unknown Caller, the "Space Chat" is revealed - a live link-up with the International Space Station. During this segment, one of the astronauts joined the One Campaign from space. Crazy Tonight is again the re-invented remix version; Larry even ventures out onto the catwalk with a drum during the song. During Walk On, people are on stage wearing those tacky Aung San Suu Kyi masks - but it seems the crowd are not in a hurry to join in on trivialising her plight.

The pre-recorded Desmond Tutu speech followed Walk On and it led into Streets. Streets features distinctive red lighting. Bono talks a fair bit between Streets and One and puts on an FC Barcelona shirt. The performance of One is marred by error and falls apart. The band take an encore break after it and return with Ultra Violet. Moment Of Surrender closes the concert.

Our database listing for this concert, including breakdown of songs played by album, can be found here.

If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.

Rehearsals reference

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:08:06 GMT

Before the first show of the tour begins, I thought it would be a good idea to publish a little article for easy future reference back to each of the rehearsals. The band spent nearly a fortnight rehearsing at Camp Nou, and over that time, there was a fair degree of setlist evolution.

Dress rehearsal in Barcelona, 29/06

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:54:16 GMT

Tomorrow is the big day. The 360� Tour will begin with a concert to over 90,000 people at Camp Nou in Barcelona. Today, the band played a much more intimate gig at Camp Nou as a dress rehearsal. Our webmaster Macphisto is in the city, and we would like to extend our thanks to wider online fan community.

The band performed the following setlist. See below for further notes and details.

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up (snippet)
Angel Of Harlem / Man In The Mirror (snippet)
In A Little While
Unknown Caller
The Unforgettable Fire
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Crazy Tonight
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
MLK
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Live debuts of Unknown Caller and Moment Of Surrender. The Unforgettable Fire is played for the first time since 6 January 1990, 19 years, 5 months, and 23 days ago; Ultra Violet is played for the first time since 28 August 1993, 15 years, 10 months, and 1 day ago. Also of note are In A Little While, returning to the set after only two Vertigo Tour appearances, the last of which was on 5 November 2005, and MLK, returning to the set after only five Vertigo Tour appearances, the last of which was on 22 November 2005.

Short speeches preceded Beautiful Day, Unknown Caller, and One; there was an unidentified snippet in I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Spotlights were shone into the sky for both City Of Blinding Lights and Where The Streets Have No Name. There must have been problems during Vertigo, as Edge's guitar dropped out. Crazy Tonight is indeed quite different, a re-invention. Walk On was dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, and unlike at some private rehearsals, there was no encore break after it. The band stayed on stage; Bono thanked the crowd and a pre-recorded speech by Desmond Tutu began, leading into Where The Streets Have No Name. After Moment Of Surrender closed the show, Rocket Man by Elton John was played as taped outro music.

Our database listing for this show can be found here. If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.

Update: Here is some brief footage we took at the rehearsal. It features Sunday Bloody Sunday and shows some of the fans already queuing for the opening night tomorrow.

The histories of another two rehearsed songs

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:28:53 GMT

Yesterday, we had a look at the history of The Unforgettable Fire. Today, let's have a look at the live histories of two other rarities that U2 have been rehearsing. This time, the histories are a bit shorter, as the songs are Drowning Man and If God Will Send His Angels. The two songs at present have a cumulative total of one full live performance in U2's entire career.

No rehearsals on 28/06; audio and summary of past rehearsals

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:48:45 GMT

Tomorrow, U2 are set to play a dress rehearsal concert in Barcelona, and then on Tuesday the 30th, the 360� Tour begins. This evening, the band reportedly are taking a break, at least from rehearsing on the stage at Camp Nou. So, in the run-up to the dress rehearsal, let's summarise what U2 have been doing at Camp Nou thus far. An article on U2.com says that the band have rehearsed "thirty-plus tracks" and that they won't spoil the surprise about which tracks (despite another article clearly indicating Walk On will be played every night), but "if you want to find out, it's not difficult". No, not difficult at all. Let's have a look - and a bit of a listen!

The history of a rehearsed song

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:56:53 GMT

As we have been reporting over the last week or so, one song U2 have been rehearsing in Barcelona is The Unforgettable Fire. This song has not been played live in over 19 years, missing all four of the last tours. It is, however, an interesting live song, one of a few where Edge performs double duty on guitar and keys. So let's have a look at the song's live history.

Rehearsals in Barcelona, 27/06

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:57:10 GMT

U2's rehearsals continued today at Camp Nou. They began with the following warm-up set (thanks to U2Eastlink for the information):

� Mysterious Ways (multiple takes for 15 minutes; reportedly an acoustic version)
� Crazy Tonight (remix)
� Sunday Bloody Sunday (incomplete)
� Sunday Bloody Sunday
� Walk On
� Walk On (again)
� Where The Streets Have No Name
� Where The Streets Have No Name (again)
� Desmond Tutu speech/intro of Streets

The band then rehearsed essentially a full set. Thanks to both U2Eastlink and German fansite U2Tour.de for their reports from the venue. The songs rehearsed were:

� Breathe
� No Line On The Horizon
� Get On Your Boots
� Magnificent (incomplete)
� Beautiful Day
� I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
� Drowning Man
� Angel Of Harlem
� Mysterious Ways
� In A Little While
� Unknown Caller
� The Unforgettable Fire
� City Of Blinding Lights
� Vertigo
� Crazy Tonight (remix)
� Sunday Bloody Sunday
� Pride (In The Name Of Love)
� MLK
� Walk On
� Desmond Tutu speech
� Where The Streets Have No Name
� One
� Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
� With Or Without You
� Moment Of Surrender

U2Eastlink reports You'll Never Walk Alone was snippeted in Walk On; U2Tour.de's report states it was All I Want Is You.

Rehearsals in Barcelona, 26/06

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:39:51 GMT

Today, U2 have not done a full rehearsal. Yesterday, Bono reportedly had some vocal problems, and today left the venue around 8:30pm local time, perhaps to give his voice a rest before the tour begins. Instrumental rehearsals continued, however. Kind thanks as usual to U2Eastlink for their updates.

The songs checked today were:

� Magnificent
� Get On Your Boots
� Magnificent (second time)
� The Unforgettable Fire
� Angel Of Harlem
� Drowning Man
� Drowning Man (second time)
� Angel Of Harlem (second time)
� Angel Of Harlem (third time)
� Mysterious Ways
� The Unforgettable Fire (second time)
� City Of Blinding Lights
� Vertigo
� Edge plays portions of City Of Blinding Lights and Vertigo in different ways
� City Of Blinding Lights (second time)
� Vertigo
� Crazy Tonight (remix)
� Sunday Bloody Sunday
� Moment Of Surrender

Meanwhile, if you would like to hear more audio, some of The Unforgettable Fire from the 22/06 rehearsal is now on YouTube:

Live U2 references to Michael Jackson: A Tribute

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:28:20 GMT

By now, undoubtedly most of you will have heard that Michael Jackson has passed away after suffering cardiac arrest at the age of 50. As soon as his death was confirmed, online setlist discussion immediately turned to speculation about whether U2 would pay tribute to Jackson at their forthcoming concerts through snippets or other commemoration. Bono has been known to tribute deceased famous musicians through song, such as Never Tear Us Apart snippetry after Michael Hutchence passed away and short performances of I Remember You in honour of Joey Ramone. If he does so, it won't be the first time he has acknowledged Jackson's life and music during U2 concerts. As our tribute to Jackson's contribution, let's have a look at those moments that happened during Jackson's lifetime.

Rehearsals in Barcelona, 25/06

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:23:03 GMT

After going light on the rehearsals yesterday, the band were back at Camp Nou today. Mysterious Ways has been rehearsed for the first time at Camp Nou, taking the total amount of Achtung Baby songs rehearsed thus far to four. Sunday Bloody Sunday, rehearsed once last week at the 19/06 rehearsals, has also made a re-appearance. Kind thanks to U2Eastlink for the news.

The band have now finished for the evening. (Update: It has subsequently been confirmed that the unknown song after Still Haven't Found was Drowning Man and that it was followed by an acoustic Stuck In A Moment. A couple of snippets have also been added.) The setlist U2 rehearsed was:

� Intro
� Breathe
� No Line On The Horizon
� Get On Your Boots
� Magnificent
� Beautiful Day
� I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
� Drowning Man
� Stuck In A Moment (acoustic)
� In A Little While
� Unknown Caller
� The Unforgettable Fire
� City Of Blinding Lights
� Vertigo
� Mysterious Ways
� Crazy Tonight (remix)
� Sunday Bloody Sunday / Get Up Stand Up (snippet)
� Pride (In The Name Of Love)
� MLK
� Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
"Encore" break
� Desmond Tutu speech
� Where The Streets Have No Name
� One
� Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
� With Or Without You
� Moment Of Surrender

Late rehearsals in Barcelona, 24/06

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:52:00 GMT

It has been reported on the U2Eastlink forums that U2 did do some rehearsals late in the evening of 24/06. At about 11:30pm, they rehearsed an incomplete Drowning Man, plus Stuck In A Moment on piano. This is the first time Stuck In A Moment has been rehearsed at Camp Nou and takes the total of rehearsed songs from All That You Can't Leave Behind to five - the other four being Beautiful Day, Elevation, Walk On, and In A Little While.

No further news at this stage.

No(?) rehearsals in Barcelona, 24/06; audio from 22/06 rehearsal

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:39:35 GMT

Update: Reports have now appeared online that U2 did briefly rehearse very late in the evening. See this article for news.

The big day of the tour's first show is drawing quite close now. However, not a whole lot has been happening at Camp Nou. The band seem to have taken the night off, reportedly to attend a soccer game. There are presently unconfirmed claims that some rehearsals may have taken place earlier in the afternoon. We will update once we have confirmation or denial.

However, all is not lost for the present. Some audio from a previous rehearsal is now on YouTube. Starting from the 1:10 mark, you can listen to parts of Where The Streets Have No Name and Walk On from the 22/06 rehearsal:

And if you're really keen for a setlist and some random trivia today, there is a set from this day ... 22 years ago: 24 June 1987 in Belfast. It is of interest as it is the only European show of the Joshua Tree Tour at which both Stand By Me and Where The Streets Have No Name were played. The two songs appeared consecutively to open a show just once more, on 22 September 1987 in Foxboro; they were played in the same set at eight other US shows in 1987 but never consecutively.

Rehearsals in Barcelona, 23/06

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:24:39 GMT

The surprises just keep coming, it seems. Today, the band have rehearsed a song from Pop for the first time at Camp Nou, a song they have only played in full once before - If God Will Send His Angels. It was played by the whole band at Popmart's opening concert, 25 April 1997 in Las Vegas, and was then done 22 more times as a stripped-down track by Bono and Edge until 27 June 1997, Chicago, after which it was dropped. Another song previously unrehearsed at Camp Nou, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, has also been played. This takes the total of songs rehearsed from How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb to three, with Vertigo and City Of Blinding Lights.

The setlist today was:

� If God Will Send His Angels
� Drowning Man
� Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
� Fragments of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own segue into Bad (incomplete)
� Walk On
� Walk On (instrumental)
� Desmond Tutu speech
� Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
� Where The Streets Have No Name (incomplete)
� Bass soundchecking, possibly the chords of Seconds
� Crazy Tonight (like yesterday, a remix to which Bono sung)
� Pride (In The Name Of Love)

After a break, the band resumed with:

� Intro
� Breathe
� No Line On The Horizon
� Get On Your Boots
� Magnificent
� Beautiful Day
� I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
� In A Little While / Rocket Man (snippet)
� Unknown Caller
� The Unforgettable Fire / Strangers In The Night (snippet)
� City Of Blinding Lights
� Vertigo
� Crazy Tonight (again the remix)
� Pride (In The Name Of Love)
� MLK
� Walk On
� Where The Streets Have No Name
� One
� Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
� With Or Without You
� Moment Of Surrender

This completed the band's rehearsals for the night.

Kind thanks again to U2Eastlink for their tireless reporting from the venue.

Rehearsals in Barcelona, 22/06

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:41:22 GMT

After yesterday's break, U2 have continued rehearsing in Barcelona. They have been focusing on some specific songs and transitions in conjunction with visuals. Also, the rehearsals of Crazy Tonight have been just Bono singing to a taped remix.

Today's songs have been:

� Crazy Tonight (remix)
� Pride
� Desmond Tutu speech
� MLK
� One (incomplete)
� Pride (incomplete)
� Desmond Tutu speech
� One (incomplete)
� The Unforgettable Fire (incomplete)
� The Unforgettable Fire
� Vertigo (incomplete)
� The Unforgettable Fire (from the middle)
� The Unforgettable Fire (from the middle again)
� Vertigo (incomplete)
� City Of Blinding Lights
� The Unforgettable Fire (from the middle)
� Vertigo
� City Of Blinding Lights
� Crazy Tonight (remix)
� MLK/speech
� Pride
� MLK
� Where The Streets Have No Name
� Walk On

After a break of 15-20 minutes, the band then returned to rehearse Walk On once more.

Thanks, as per usual, to the good people of Spanish fansite U2Eastlink for their updates.

Also, in an interesting twist, U2.com's countdown videos have been previously pretty uninformative, but today's (day eight) shows Larry playing, of all songs, Electrical Storm on glockenspiel. The band have never played this song live before.

A revealing glimpse behind the scenes

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:19:20 GMT

A very interesting picture is circulating online that will be of interest both to setlist watchers and those of you interested in behind-the-scenes technical details. On the ProSoundWeb forums, an engineer on U2's crew posted a photo of a monitor console. You can view it on our site here.

Note the setlist at top left. It is unfortunately cut off and difficult to read, but most of it is visible. It looks like the setlist for the 20/06 rehearsal (even if the timestamp on the monitor shows 2004! Somebody's forgotten to set the time?), beginning with In A Little While. The names of resurrected songs such as The Unforgettable Fire, Even Better Than The Real Thing, MLK, and Walk On are clearly visible along with standards like With Or Without You and Vertigo. Unfortunately, Ultra Violet is harder to read - the song between Where The Streets Have No Name and With Or Without You looks like it could say "Ultraviolet", one word, or possibly "Elevation" instead. If Ultra Violet, the set is precisely identical to 20/06. (Update: A reader has written in and noted that on another recent printed set, the band have written Ultra Violet as one word, even though the back cover of Achtung Baby uses two words. This raises the chances of the word being "Ultraviolet", but it is still very hard to distinguish. Thanks to Sebastjan for the tip.)

Some interesting comments appear on the set. A few are in a font too small to read, even when the picture is enlarged, but others can be distinguished. Between Angel Of Harlem and Unknown Caller is the previously reported "(Space Chat)", presumably a Bono speech of some description. MLK is followed by a bracketed note of "segue into Desmond Tutu"; the 19/06 rehearsals reported a message about Desmond Tutu. An "encore" break is marked between Walk On and Vertigo.