U2's Las Vegas #2 setlist, 12/05/18
U2 performed their second of two shows in Las Vegas tonight. This is only the second time that they have performed two shows in Las Vegas on the same tour. The first time was at the MGM Grand Garden Arena during the Vertigo Tour, 4 and 5 November 2005. That second show in 2005 was notable for guest appearances by Mary J. Blige and Brandon Flowers.
The intro music tonight was different to that used so far this tour. At the previous five shows, U2 have come out to Winter Beats by I Break Horses. Tonight, they used It's a Beautiful World by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, who you might remember were the opener for last year's European shows.
The setlist changed very little from last night. The opening sequence was modified slightly, with Beautiful Day coming after I Will Follow and Gloria rather than preceding them. The only other change was that the band dropped Red Flag Day and did not include anything to replace it, so that the set had 25 songs rather than 26. U2 might not vary their setlists heavily from night to night, but even by their standards that is an uncommonly low degree of variation between shows in the same city—especially when playing in arenas, as they are this tour, rather than in stadiums.
The lack of song rotation means, among other things, that Staring at the Sun has been played both nights in Las Vegas. These are its first performances in Las Vegas since its shambling live debut here on the opening night of Popmart, 25 April 1997, when U2 had to give up on the first performance and do it over again.
In Beautiful Day, the folks from the U2Chile fansite got a shout-out when Bono saw their Chilean flag. He sang "see the world in green and blue, see Chile right in front of you".
Like he did at the second San Jose show, Bono made a Rolling Stones reference while in his Macphisto character before Acrobat: "pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name. It's actually Mr Macphisto; I sometimes dress up as Mick Jagger." In his Macphisto speech he made sarcastic allusions to Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels, and with regards to last year's riot in Charlottesville he asked "who could make this shit up, seriously!"
There was no snippet in the transition from Acrobat to Best Thing tonight. Instead, Bono spoke about how great it was to have his daughters in attendance at last night's show. "They went clubbing, that's what kids do... they're not home yet!" And in his speech before One he described his bonds with his bandmates and with his wife. "The most valuable thing that experience has taught me is that, as an artist, I am one quarter of a person without Edge, Adam, and Larry, and as a man I am only one half of a person without Ali."
It is also worth noting that the crowd chanted the "ooh ooh ooh" vocal melody of Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way very loudly, continuing in strong voice even after the band had finished playing the song.
The full setlist was:
- Love Is All We Have Left
- The Blackout
- Lights Of Home
- I Will Follow
- Gloria / Van Morrison's Gloria (snippet)
- Beautiful Day
- The Ocean
- Iris (Hold Me Close)
- Cedarwood Road
- Sunday Bloody Sunday / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
- Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
- Until the End of the World (Intermission - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me)
- Elevation
- Vertigo / The Jean Genie (snippet)
- Desire Hollywood Mix
- Sympathy For The Devil (snippet) / Acrobat
- You're The Best Thing About Me Full band acoustic
- Staring at the Sun Bono and Edge acoustic
- Pride (In the Name of Love)
- Get Out Of Your Own Way
- American Soul
- City of Blinding Lights
- One / Invisible (snippet)
- Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way
- 13 (There Is A Light)
encore(s):
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