Vancouver update, 30 April 2015
There's just a fortnight left until opening night in Vancouver, and U2FanPeter on Interference has an extensive report on today's rehearsals at the Pacific Coliseum. We have summarised the main points below. At the end of this post is an updated list of all songs known to have been rehearsed.
Peter heard five songs rehearsed today that he had not personally heard at previous rehearsals: Cedarwood Road, Iris (Hold Me Close), I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Out Of Control, and Song For Someone. Now the only two songs from Songs Of Innocence that he has not heard in person at the rehearsals are Sleep Like A Baby Tonight and This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now.
Bullet The Blue Sky was rehearsed extensively tonight for about half an hour. As heard in the leaked audio, Bullet has a lengthy rant from Bono, and he was working on that. Could be a very fiery version come the start of the tour. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) was also rehearsed for about half an hour, and Edge spent a lot of time playing around with Miracle Drug. Peter believes that Miracle Drug may have a segue into Where The Streets Have No Name. It sounds like it has a spoken word intro and might be the fourth song on which the string section will feature.
The band seem to be locking down the start of the set. They have been rehearsing a sequence of Invisible/Even Better Than The Real Thing/Desire/California (There Is No End To Love)/Mysterious Ways. At the other end of the set, the band seem to be rehearsing Every Breaking Wave and The Troubles for closing duties of some description, be that main set or an encore. Unfortunately, the slide solo in Mysterious Ways still has not been rehearsed, but tonight Larry was on bongos rather than his full drum kit for the first minute.
Speaking of reinventions, Sunday Bloody Sunday has apparently been massively reinvented. Peter describes it as "flamenco bolero". Those of you who followed the 2009 Barcelona rehearsals will recall that back then U2 toyed briefly with an acoustic Sunday Bloody Sunday. This time, will they stick with a plan for playing it differently?
Another fan with whom Peter spoke has reported hearing a Johnny Cash cover - not The Wanderer, nor Don't Take Your Guns To Town. This for now is unconfirmed. As for staging, Peter understands the Red Zone will be on both sides of the catwalk (see an earlier post for photos). At each end of the screen that descends over the catwalk, there are video screens to show the same graphics for those sitting at the ends of the arena. Tonight he glimpsed some footage of the band themselves being broadcast live on the screens, and no doubt many of you will be pleased to know that Streets had its traditional red background graphics.
Songs known to be rehearsed so far
New songs: California (There Is No End To Love), Cedarwood Road, Every Breaking Wave (full band and acoustic versions), Invisible, Iris (Hold Me Close), The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone), Ordinary Love, Raised By Wolves, Song For Someone, The Troubles, Volcano.
Old songs: Bad, Beautiful Day, Bullet The Blue Sky, City Of Blinding Lights, Desire, Elevation, Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, I Will Follow, Magnificent, Miracle Drug, Mysterious Ways, One, One Step Closer, Out Of Control, Playboy Mansion, Pride, Running To Stand Still, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Electric Co., Until The End Of The World, Where The Streets Have No Name, and With Or Without You.
That's a fairly decent 34 songs confirmed so far. For some context, over the entire course of each of U2's five major world tours since the start of the nineties, they have played between 51 and 61 songs live at least once. On all of those tours, at least a couple of songs are known to have been rehearsed and did not make it to the stage - so just because a song is listed above is no guarantee it will feature in a setlist.
Peter heard five songs rehearsed today that he had not personally heard at previous rehearsals: Cedarwood Road, Iris (Hold Me Close), I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Out Of Control, and Song For Someone. Now the only two songs from Songs Of Innocence that he has not heard in person at the rehearsals are Sleep Like A Baby Tonight and This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now.
Bullet The Blue Sky was rehearsed extensively tonight for about half an hour. As heard in the leaked audio, Bullet has a lengthy rant from Bono, and he was working on that. Could be a very fiery version come the start of the tour. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) was also rehearsed for about half an hour, and Edge spent a lot of time playing around with Miracle Drug. Peter believes that Miracle Drug may have a segue into Where The Streets Have No Name. It sounds like it has a spoken word intro and might be the fourth song on which the string section will feature.
The band seem to be locking down the start of the set. They have been rehearsing a sequence of Invisible/Even Better Than The Real Thing/Desire/California (There Is No End To Love)/Mysterious Ways. At the other end of the set, the band seem to be rehearsing Every Breaking Wave and The Troubles for closing duties of some description, be that main set or an encore. Unfortunately, the slide solo in Mysterious Ways still has not been rehearsed, but tonight Larry was on bongos rather than his full drum kit for the first minute.
Speaking of reinventions, Sunday Bloody Sunday has apparently been massively reinvented. Peter describes it as "flamenco bolero". Those of you who followed the 2009 Barcelona rehearsals will recall that back then U2 toyed briefly with an acoustic Sunday Bloody Sunday. This time, will they stick with a plan for playing it differently?
Another fan with whom Peter spoke has reported hearing a Johnny Cash cover - not The Wanderer, nor Don't Take Your Guns To Town. This for now is unconfirmed. As for staging, Peter understands the Red Zone will be on both sides of the catwalk (see an earlier post for photos). At each end of the screen that descends over the catwalk, there are video screens to show the same graphics for those sitting at the ends of the arena. Tonight he glimpsed some footage of the band themselves being broadcast live on the screens, and no doubt many of you will be pleased to know that Streets had its traditional red background graphics.
Songs known to be rehearsed so far
New songs: California (There Is No End To Love), Cedarwood Road, Every Breaking Wave (full band and acoustic versions), Invisible, Iris (Hold Me Close), The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone), Ordinary Love, Raised By Wolves, Song For Someone, The Troubles, Volcano.
Old songs: Bad, Beautiful Day, Bullet The Blue Sky, City Of Blinding Lights, Desire, Elevation, Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, I Will Follow, Magnificent, Miracle Drug, Mysterious Ways, One, One Step Closer, Out Of Control, Playboy Mansion, Pride, Running To Stand Still, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Electric Co., Until The End Of The World, Where The Streets Have No Name, and With Or Without You.
That's a fairly decent 34 songs confirmed so far. For some context, over the entire course of each of U2's five major world tours since the start of the nineties, they have played between 51 and 61 songs live at least once. On all of those tours, at least a couple of songs are known to have been rehearsed and did not make it to the stage - so just because a song is listed above is no guarantee it will feature in a setlist.
Posted on by Axver