A lot has happened in the world since U2's last concert, not least of which the earthquake which so badly affected Mexico City. Yet just a couple weeks after that tragedy, the band united the city with this concert, proceeds of which are being donated to earthquake relief efforts. U2 spent some time in the run-up to the show rehearsing, and we have full details below after the jump.

The event really started a day early, as Bono told fans outside the stadium that these two Mexico City dates are being filmed. There are no other details apart from that: it could be for the tour release, for a partial release, or even just a practice shoot for a later date. U2 have shot and released a concert from Mexico City before, with the PopMart Tour VHS and later DVD being filmed at the 3 December 1997 event, with some footage from the day before. If this is for the tour release it will not actually be the first time U2 repeat a location. Both Denver and Paris have had two releases before. The 5 June 1983 show in Denver was released as Under A Blood Red Sky, and footage from 8 November 1987 comprised the indoor live performances for Rattle & Hum. Paris has had the 4 July 1987 concert released for the Joshua Tree 20th Anniversary boxset, and the 7 December 2015 date was filmed for their most recent concert DVD. So while it is unusual, a second Mexico City release would not be unprecedented!

On to the concert itself, the first set was a fairly standard affair. Bono periodically spoke in Spanish, to the crowd's evident delight. The snippet in Bad was understandably changed from America to the Mexican song Cielito Lindo. Bullet the Blue Sky did retain it's snippet of America from West Side Story and it also had a brief snippet of the Star-Spangled Banner. The Trackdown clip before Exit, subtitled in Spanish, received some laughter from the crowd during the "You're a liar, Trump!" line.

The encore was particularly juicy. Miss Sarajevo was dropped from the set after being revived for two concerts in September. Beautiful Day was duly promoted back to encore opener, and contained snippets of Learning to Fly and Free Fallin' in tribute to Tom Petty. This is the first time U2 have snippeted either song. One was performed to a backdrop of the Mexican flag. And then Bono announced that they wanted to try something new, introducing it as a Joshua Tree B-side and warning the crowd that it could "be a bit shit". They then performed Spanish Eyes to close out the night.

This is the tour debut for the song (though it was snippeted back in Barcelona), and the first B-side to appear this tour. It is the first time Spanish Eyes has been played outside of Spain since the 5 December 1987 concert in Tampa, and only the fifth performance since the end of the original Joshua Tree Tour. It is the song's first performance in the Americas outside of the United States, and the first time U2 have ever closed a concert with a B-side.

1. Sunday Bloody Sunday
2. New Year's Day
3. Bad / Cielito Lindo (snippet)
4. Pride (In the Name of Love)
5. Where the Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. With or Without You
8. Bullet the Blue Sky / The Star-Spangled Banner (snippet) / War (snippet) / America (snippet)
9. Running To Stand Still
10. Red Hill Mining Town
11. In God's Country
12. Trip Through Your Wires
13. One Tree Hill
14. Exit / Wise Blood (snippet) / Eeny Meeny Miny Moe (snippet)
15. Mothers Of The Disappeared

encore(s):

16. Beautiful Day / Learning To Fly (snippet) / Free Fallin' (snippet)
17. Elevation
18. Vertigo / Rebel Rebel (snippet)
19. You're The Best Thing About Me
20. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
21. One / Drowning Man (snippet)
22. Spanish Eyes

All details for this show including reviews, videos and photos 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.

Thanks to our friend Mike, we have full details on U2's rehearsals from inside the stadium. Work began on 1 October, with the techs soundchecking the below. A planned U2 rehearsal later that day had to be cancelled due to a storm; Mike reports that Larry's second drum kit was covered in so much water it had to be removed:

1. New Year's Day
2. Mysterious Ways
3. Streets
4. Spanish Eyes
5. Vertigo

U2 got down to work on 2 October with two sessions. The first from 6-7 PM began and ended with Edge, with the rest of the band joining in between. Spanish Eyes was again rehearsed by the band, and they also started work on a second Joshua Tree B-side, The Sweetest Thing:

1. Spanish Eyes (Edge only, for about ten minutes)
   
   Full band:
2. Red Hill Mining Town
3. Trip Through Your Wires (false start)
4. Trip Through Your Wires (false start again)
5. Trip Through Your Wires
6. Best Thing (electric, false start)
7. Best Thing (electric, breakdown)
8. Best Thing (electric, riffs only)
9. Best Thing (electric)
10. Best Thing (acoustic)
11. Best Thing (acoustic again)
12. Spanish Eyes (breakdown)
13. Spanish Eyes
14. Spanish Eyes
15. Sweetest Thing (false start)
16. Sweetest Thing
17. Sweetest Thing
    
    Edge only again:
18. Streets
19. Pride
20. Sunday Bloody Sunday
21. Bad
22. Streets
23. Bad
24. Pride

U2 returned to the stage at about 9PM and practiced a general Joshua Tree run-through until almost 11:

1. Pride
2. Streets
3. Still Haven't Found
4. With or Without You
5. Bullet
6. Running to Stand Still
7. Red Hill
8. In God's Country
9. Trip
10. One Tree Hill
11. Exit
12. Mothers of the Disappeared
13. Exit
14. Mothers of the Disappeared (with El Pueblo Vencera)
15. Spanish Eyes
16. Spanish Eyes

Posted on October 04, 2017 by Matkin