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Rehearsals reference

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.

16/06: The crew do synth and guitar soundchecks for five songs from No Line On The Horizon.

17/06: The band play their first rehearsal set. The Unforgettable Fire, Ultra Violet, and Drowning Man are revealed. Magnificent is played as the opener and Breathe is in the middle of the main set.

18/06: Walk On and One are added and the band toy with the order a bit, especially in the encore. Elevation is rehearsed for the second and last time.

19/06: This rehearsal features two shorter sets. Sunday Bloody Sunday is done for the first time, and for this rehearsal, it was acoustic. The intro is tried with Breathe rather than Magnificent.

20/06: Opening with four NLOTH songs is tried for the first time. Bad is brought into the set. Even Better Than The Real Thing is rehearsed for the only time, in a style like the Perfecto Mix.

No rehearsals on 21/06.

22/06: The remix re-invention of Crazy Tonight is done for the first time. For the only time, the band try a segue from The Unforgettable Fire into Vertigo. On this day, U2.com's tour countdown video shows Larry playing Electrical Storm on glockenspiel.

23/06: If God Will Send His Angels and Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own are rehearsed for the only time. A segue from SYCMIOYO to Bad is soundchecked. Vertigo starts to settle into the middle of the main set. MLK now leads into Walk On rather than Streets. The band play an encore of Streets/One/Ultra Violet/WOWY/Moment Of Surrender; this remains unchanged at future rehearsals of the full set.

24/06: Just a brief rehearsal session, featuring Drowning Man and a stripped-down Stuck In A Moment.

25/06: Mysterious Ways enters the set for the first time - and Edge plays it on an acoustic guitar. Sunday Bloody Sunday, full band now, is added before Pride.

26/06: Not a full rehearsal set due to Bono's absence. A number of songs are done multiple times.

27/06: The setlist becomes more stable. Before playing a full rehearsal set, the band soundcheck a number of songs, focusing in particular on the acoustic Mysterious Ways.

No rehearsal on 28/06.

29/06: Dress rehearsal for an invited audience. Apart from the omission of Drowning Man and Mysterious Ways, the setlist is unchanged from 27/06.

Please see this article for a summary of what songs were rehearsed by album. I would like to take this opportunity to make a disclaimer that this article does not purport to be comprehensive and complete; it is possible other songs were also rehearsed, especially in a more private setting.

In conclusion, both of us here at U2gigs - Macphisto (webmaster) and myself, Axver (setlistorian) - would like to extend our sincere thanks to everybody in the U2 fan community who has reported from the venue and otherwise offered assistance. I do not have time or space here to individually thank everybody, however particular praise must be given to Spanish fansite U2Eastlink for their tireless efforts. Responsibility lies with me for any errors, mistakes, and certainly typos (Barcelona's timezone is hardly friendly for the sleeping patterns of a setlistorian based in Australia), not with all of our fantastic and generous informants.

It's been an exciting couple of weeks, and it will undoubtedly be interesting to see how things unfold over the tour; what works, what doesn't, what's changed, and any further surprises that are yet to be revealed. I will soon be joining Macphisto in Europe and we will share the tour with you. I hope you stick with us for the ride.


Posted on by Axver


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