The Stories of Surrender tour came to a close in Madrid last night. Madrid is the second-most played city in Spain for U2 behind Barcelona, but this is still only the 9th time a performance has occured there. The setlist remained the same as it has throughout the second half of the tour, ending with "Torna A Surriento" and including the now familiar snippet of "Miracle Drug" ahead of "Iris".

The tour finale came one day after Bono performed on Che Tempo Che Fa for Italian TV, sadly the only appearance in that country during the tour. Bono mentioned to fans outside several times during the tour that they had tried to find a suitable venue in Italy, and were close to booking one in Venice, but hadn't been able to arrange anything. We have heard rumours that the tour may be extended with a couple more dates announced in the new year, but we stress that this is far from confirmed.

One minor stat that passed us by earlier is that "Beautiful Day" is now the 10th most played U2 song, tying "Until the End of the World" in Toronto and passing it in Chicago. It has now been played 619 times. In addition "City of Blinding Lights" has passed "11 O'Clock Tick Tock", "Gloria", and "'40'" in official statistics with 20 more renditions added to its tally - however we note that all three have likely been played more than their current counts suggest due to missing and incomplete setlists up to and including The Unforgettable Fire tour. Nonetheless, according to our database "City" has now been played one time more than "'40'" and it is just two counts behind "Running to Stand Still". Finally, "Iris" has now been played as many times as "Love and Peace or Else" with 130 renditions, passing "Get on Your Boots", "Another Time, Another Place", "Surrender", "Stay", "New York", "Please", and "Cedarwood Road".

"Stories For Boys" has also moved up the rankings but all the songs it passed are also from U2's earliest days with missing sets, so trying to sort out actual counts from that is more trouble than I can handle at 1am!

1. City of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Miracle Drug (snippet) / With or Without You
4. Glad To See You Go (snippet) / Out of Control
5. Stories for Boys
6. I Will Follow
7. Iris (Hold Me Close)
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Pride (In the Name of Love)
10. Where the Streets Have No Name
11. Desire / Money, Money (snippet)
12. Beautiful Day
13. Torna A Surriento

1. City of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Miracle Drug (snippet) / With or Without You
4. Glad To See You Go (snippet) / Out of Control
5. Stories for Boys
6. I Will Follow
7. Iris (Hold Me Close)
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Pride (In the Name of Love)
10. Where the Streets Have No Name
11. Desire / Money, Money (snippet)
12. Beautiful Day
13. Torna A Surriento

1. City of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Miracle Drug (snippet) / With or Without You
4. Glad To See You Go (snippet) / Out of Control
5. Stories for Boys
6. I Will Follow
7. Iris (Hold Me Close)
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Pride (In the Name of Love)
10. Where the Streets Have No Name
11. Desire / Money, Money (snippet)
12. Beautiful Day
13. Torna A Surriento

Last night was the home performance as the Stories of Surrender Tour landed in Dublin. The venue, 3Olympia Theatre, is the smallest of the tour and not one that U2 ever played even in their earliest days, though 3/4 of the band did join Johnny Cash on stage there on 11 February 1993 for a performance of "Big River"; Cash would record his vocals for "The Wanderer" the next day.

The performance was filmed and we expect that this show will go on to be released as a memento of the tour on a streaming service. New York, the first night of the tour, was also filmed but we believe that was mostly a rehearsal of sorts. The setlist was as usual, save for a surprise snippet of "Crumbs From Your Table" after "Where the Streets Have No Name"; Bono shared that Sister Ann, who is referenced in the final verse of the song, was in attendance. The song has never been snippeted before and this is it's first appearance in any form since 15 December 2005. Coincidentally that day also saw "Torna A Surriento" in the set, albeit as a snippet.

Adam was in attendance tonight,  as were Sam Sullivan, Guggi, and Gavin Friday. Ali and their son John were also there, as were Bono's brothers and numerous members of the national government.

1. City of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Miracle Drug (snippet) / With or Without You
4. Glad To See You Go (snippet) / Out of Control
5. Stories for Boys
6. I Will Follow
7. Iris (Hold Me Close)
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Pride (In the Name of Love)
10. Where the Streets Have No Name / Crumbs From Your Table (snippet)
11. Desire / Money, Money (snippet)
12. Beautiful Day
13. Torna A Surriento

Bono continued his tour with a performance at the O2 Apollo in Manchester, the largest venue on the European half of the tour. Like the Orpheum Theatre in Boston it is a place that U2 have performed at before. Their first visit was 2 December 1982 on the Pre-War Tour and is notable for perhaps the strangest version of "New Year's Day" ever played with the band going from the intro straight into the solo. It is also one of the only versions where Bono sang lyrics from the US Mix of the song at the beginning; he only did this the first three times the song was played, suggesting that the song's final mix was still up in the air at the time. Their other visits were 19 March 1983, and the 9 and 10 November 1984, the first of their 1984 stops being remembered for one of only nine performances of "Indian Summer Sky".

Mike Peters of The Alarm was in attendance; The Alarm opened for U2 at the venue during their 1982 visit. Ali was also in attendance again. The set remained unchanged with no encore and we have heard it is unlikely to return. The next visit is in Dublin which is scheduled to be filmed.

1. City of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. With or Without You
4. Glad To See You Go (snippet) / Out of Control
5. Stories for Boys
6. I Will Follow
7. Iris (Hold Me Close)
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Pride (In the Name of Love)
10. Where the Streets Have No Name
11. Desire / Money, Money (snippet)
12. Beautiful Day
13. Torna A Surriento