Before the gig began, the band did a soundcheck that featured the three big surprises mentioned below as well as When Love Comes to Town and Zoo Sration. If they had played When Love Comes to Town, it would have been its 13th appearance at the Sphere. As it stands, 24 February will remain its last performance of the tour. Will this be its last performance ever? It is also easy to wonder if some songs that were played tonight might have appeared for the last time.

U2 opened their set with the usual volley of songs from Achtung Baby. Before One, Bono dedicated the song to Daniel Lanois, who was one of Achtung Baby's producers—and he then welcomed Lanois on stage for a guest performance. The last time Lanois performed live with U2 was on 25 October 2017 at the last show of that year's Joshua Tree Tour. Every show this tour, Bono has snippeted a couple of verses from Love Me Tender to connect One to Until the End of the World. We have normally classified these as a snippet of One, keeping with the tradition of Bono singing a verse or two of another song as a coda to One. Tonight, however, there was a clear break after One, with Love Me Tender functioning as an intro to UTEOTW, so we have classified it as an intro snippet for that song. Indeed, as a commenter pointed out on Twitter, traditionally the snippets between One and UTEOTW have been performed in the same key as One, but on this tour they have been in the same key as UTEOTW.

In the rotational segment mid-show, U2 began with All I Want Is You (dedicated to US first lady Jill Biden, who was in attendance) and Desire; All I Want Is You has been performed at 37 shows out of 40 this tour, and Desire at 35 or 40. Before Desire, Bono joked that it was time to "run away with the circus. This is quite the big top, isn't it?" He then invited fill-in drummer Bram to the mic and asked him "if you were in the circus, what sort of job would you have?" Bram quipped back, quite fittingly, that his role would be as "safety net!" Fans will long remember how adroitly Bram has stood in for Larry Mullen. After Desire, the band turned to Angel of Harlem for its 17th performance at the Sphere, presumably being played in lieu of earlier intentions to do When Love Comes to Town.

A special performance of the Crowded House song Don't Dream It's Over concluded the rotational segment, the ninth time U2 have covered this song. Bono introduced it as an experiment: a live recording for Alexey Navalny and his widow. He made sure beforehand that the crowd knew the chorus in order to sing along. Neil Finn, the frontman of Crowded House, made a sort of guest appearance: he had recently emailed Bono with a new take of his vocal in the style of U2's cover, recorded at his studio in Auckland, New Zealand. This accompanied U2's performance. Bono joked that neither he nor Neil had cleared any recording with their respective record labels.

At the end of the show came a performance that was simultaneously the biggest surprise and the most anticipated song of the night. Before Beautiful Day, the usual closer, Bono hinted that U2 would do an "actual encore" afterwards. When Beautiful Day ended, the crowd began chanting "how long to sing this song", Edge and Adam swapped instruments, and Bono quipped that "it's been 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. What's a guy with a messianic complex going to do?" The answer: launch into the tour debut of 40. Remarkably, this is not the first time 40 has made its tour debut as the very last song of the very last show. It filled the same role at Moncton to conclude the 360 Tour on 30 July 2011. This is the first time 40 has been performed since 5 October 2016, and its most recent performance at a regular tour gig since 28 November 2015.

Farewell from the Sphere! It's been quite the extravaganza.

The full setlist was:

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. Drive My Car (snippet) / The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways / My Sweet Lord (snippet) / I Feel Love (snippet)
5. One / Invisible (snippet) (with Daniel Lanois)
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World / Sympathy For The Devil (snippet) / Paint it Black (snippet)
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Landlady (snippet) / Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. All I Want Is You Songs of Surrender Mix / Yellow (snippet)
10. Desire / Not Fade Away (snippet)
11. Angel of Harlem
12. Don't Dream It's Over (with Neil Finn)
13. Acrobat
14. So Cruel
15. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
16. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

17. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
18. Atomic City
19. Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)
20. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name
21. With or Without You
22. Beautiful Day / Gloria (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)
23. 40

The opening eight songs were the standard Achtung Baby set, and as usual All I Want Is You was next. As Edge played the opening piano notes of the Songs of Surrender version of the song, Bono discussed how the song was his attempt at writing from the perspective of a woman. He then invited the guest artist on stage and Lady Gaga joined them for the song, trading verses with Bono through the whole performance.

All I Want Is You segued straight into the next song, a cover of Lady Gaga's 2018 single Shallow. The full song was performed rather than the expected snippet, and as the Rattle & Hum section remained at four songs in length tonight was the second straight concert with 23 songs. Lady Gaga remained on stage with the band for the second of those songs, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and she joined Bono in wishing Arthur Fogle a happy birthday. Angel of Harlem remained out of the set for the third successive night.

Videos of Lady Gaga's complete performance on stage, All I Want Is You & Shallow, and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, both uploaded by YouTuber "MR DEAN".

The remainder of the set followed the established pattern, with Acrobat continuing to wake the Baby after Love Rescue Me.

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways
5. One
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World / Paint it Black (snippet)
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. All I Want Is You Songs of Surrender Mix (with Lady Gaga)
10. Shallow (with Lady Gaga)
11. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (with Lady Gaga) / Movin' On Up (snippet)
12. Desire
13. Love Rescue Me
14. Acrobat
15. So Cruel
16. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
17. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

18. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
19. Atomic City
20. Vertigo
21. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name
22. With or Without You
23. Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet) / Glorify (snippet)

Never say that U2 can't surprise you.

The band performed their 10th and 11th concerts at the Sphere on consecutive days, and both had some sort of surprise in store for attendees.

The biggest surprise on night 10 was the residency debut of When Love Comes to Town, which slotted in between Desire and Love Rescue Me in the place of Angel of Harlem. This was the first performance of the song in 5 years, 4 months, and 9 days, having last been played on 11 June 2018 at the Apollo Theater. It was last played on tour on 31 May 2015 in Inglewood, California. This was only the ninth performance of the song since August 1993, and only the seventh full band in that same time. It is actually a bit fitting that it appears at this Achtung Baby themed residency, as it was performed a meaty 79 times on the ZooTV Tour. Kylie Minogue was in attendance this night, and Bono sang a portion of her Can't Take You Out of My Head at the end of All I Want Is You.

Night 11 saw problems with the vocals in the mix in the first half of the show. Before All I Want Is You, Bono was asked to leave the stage so they could fix the issue. He refused, saying "I don't care if there is a problem with the console. Can we do one more song at least? We're about to get married here!" The band continued on, and were informed that the problems were fixed a few songs later. Ed Sheeran was in the crowd, and Bono sang a bit of his song Shape of You at the end of Desire.

The first surprise of the night was the return of (a very passionate) Hear Us Coming at the end of One. It was last sung on 28 October 2018, it's only rendition on the e+i Tour. It has become rare to hear it in recent years; it was at 32 of 51 concerts on The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, but missed the 2019 edition of the tour and the i+e tour entirely, and was played at only 35 of 110 360° concerts. When Love Comes to Town remained in the set, being played at consecutive concerts for the first time since 15 May and 18 May 2015 on the i+e Tour. The last time it was played on consecutive days (with no off-days in between concerts) was 17 July and 18 July 1993.

The other surprise was the return of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For before Love Rescue Me. This meant that the 'rotational' section was 5 songs in length for the first time, and as a result it was the longest night of the residency to date with 23 songs (if you don't count Happy Birthday on night 9).

Most nights so far have been fairly similar in terms of the set, and tonight featured one minor change with the return of Angel of Harlem in place of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. However, before this there was a song that made it's tour debut, one that debuted way back on the Boy Tour and until tonight had been played only 53 times across the band's career. I am, of course, talking about Happy Birthday. It was sung for Morleigh's birthday, and she came onstage during Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World. Bono handed her his balloon string, asking her to hold it so he could sing to her, and thanked her for teaching him how to dance. She shared a kiss with Edge before leaving the stage.

The set was otherwise as expected. At the end of Angel of Harlem, Bono directed the band into a portion of Suspicious Minds. After missing the last few nights What a Wonderful World was added into the end of Beautiful Day.

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways
5. One
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World / Two Tribes (snippet)
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
Happy Birthday
9. All I Want Is You Songs of Surrender Mix / Walk On The Wild Side (snippet)
10. Desire
11. Angel of Harlem / Suspicious Minds (snippet)
12. Love Rescue Me
13. Acrobat
14. So Cruel
15. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
16. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

17. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
18. Atomic City
19. Vertigo
20. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name
21. With or Without You
22. Beautiful Day / What a Wonderful World (snippet) / Glorify (snippet)

After two nights of 21 songs, the 6th show saw the set expand back to 22 songs. After a couple of nights where the band slipped in "Pride" and "MLK", night 6 saw a full return to the Rattle and Hum segment of All I Want Is You, Desire, Angel of Harlem, and Love Rescue Me. Angel of Harlem was played for the 300th time this night. Sting was in attendance and Bono snippeted two Police songs, Can't Stand Losing You in Beautiful Day and Invisible Sun in Love is Blindness. Invisible Sun is notable as the first appearance of the song since 15 June 1986 on the Conspiracy of Hope tour when U2 performed it with the Police. Possibly of interest to some readers, Beautiful Day is now at a total of 116 different songs snippeted within it.

The 7th show featured no change of songs but there was still one alteration to the set. After Love Rescue Me the band charged right into Acrobat instead of So Cruel, firing the second Achtung Baby set off in a surprise way. So Cruel was next and followed by Ultraviolet and Love is Blindness as usual. There were some issues with the mixing during the final three songs of the main set, with the synths being off from usual. This is possibly why there was a slightly longer break than normal before the encore began with Elevation, at which point the problem seemed to be resolved.

The 8th set also featured one change, with Angel of Harlem being dropped in favour of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Bono was noticeably emotional as the audience sang the first verse. He was in excellent humour during the band introductions during "Desire". Talking of Adam, he described him as the man "with the dirtiest mind and the cleanest hands", a comment which actually caused Adam to nearly stop playing as he doubled-over in laughter. Edge was also laughing after Bono's self-introduction where he described himself as "the humblest man I know".

At the first few shows Bono described the four songs after the first Achtung Baby set as a rotation to show off material from their other albums. To date the only album "featured" in this slot has been Rattle & Hum (with perhaps the exception of night 4, when he joked that it was "Greatest Hits"), and it is noticeable that in the last few nights he has stopped describing it as a rotational slot. There have been some complaints voiced online about the lack of variety, but I just want to emphasize how incredible this particular part of the set is given the historical context.

Keep in mind that Rattle & Hum was a critical disappointment on release. Meant to be an exploration of America's musical influence on the band it was instead taken the wrong way as the band explaining America's music to America. The lack of success of the project was one of the reasons Bono and Edge were adamant about pursuing a different direction when it came to recording Achtung Baby, a change that only stopped after a decade of pushing the boundaries through Zooropa, Pop, and the oft-forgotten Original Soundtracks 1. It is perhaps no coincidence that the project's missed expectations factor into why the Lovetown Tour - a tour supporting an album about America's influence on U2 - is also the only U2 tour that never went to America.

The rarity of Rattle & Hum in the live setting is very noticeable when going back through the band's tour history. Before this residency began, the last time a set featured three songs from the album was 31 May 2015. The last time the three most-played Rattle & Hum songs (Desire 386x, Angel of Harlem 302x, All I Want is You 204x + 110 snippets) were all performed in the same set was 30 November 2006. That may not seem too long ago to many reading, but it is a period of almost 17 years - someone born on that date can now legally drive and vote. And the last time one concert had four Rattle & Hum songs was way back on the last night of Lovetown in January 1990. So while there may be some unhappy about the lack of variety I just want to highlight how incredible it is that four songs from this album about America, an album seemingly rejected by America, are now being played in America in a quantity they never have before (and sequentially at that).

The set was mostly similar to the previous show; Angel of Harlem was not played for the first time this residency, and while the fourth show's MLK was debatedly a snippet this time it was unambiguously a complete rendition with Edge joining Bono's vocals and strumming along as the majority of the verses were sung.

The most notable moment of the night came in Pride; before the song Bono spoke at length about the attack from Hamas on civilians in Israel and the subsequent military response that has left hundreds of Israelis, Palestinians, and tourists dead, saying "In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence." He was visibly and audibly emotional when mentioning the 260+ dead at the music festival; an edited clip of the moment was posted by U2 on Twitter / X. He also modified the final verse of the song:

Early morning, October 7th
The sun is rising in the desert sky
Stars of David, they took your lives
But they could not take your pride

Videos of Pride and MLK, both uploaded by "CONCIERTOS POR EL MUNDO" on YouTube.

Following MLK he referenced previously describing the rotational moment as a 'break' from the heaviness of Achtung Baby, saying "'Take a break', my arse!" Following With or Without You he wished Gavin Friday a happy birthday and joked "We should play Beautiful Day and fuck off, let you go" in the lead-up to the final song.

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing / Transmission (snippet)
4. Mysterious Ways / I Feel Love (snippet)
5. One
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World / Two Tribes (snippet)
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Many Rivers To Cross (snippet)
10. Pride (In the Name of Love)
11. MLK
12. So Cruel
13. Acrobat
14. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
15. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

16. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
17. Atomic City
18. Vertigo
19. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name
20. With or Without You
21. Beautiful Day / What a Wonderful World (snippet)

For the first time, the band varied the setlist. It featured two and a half tour debuts—yes, "and a half". Allow us to explain.

After Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World—which featured quite lengthy interaction between Bono and a fan on stage, Melissa from Venezuela—the band went into the first setlist change of the night. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For made its tour debut, culminating in a snippet of Movin' On Up. This was a little longer than in the past; usually, when Bono has done this snippet, he has only sang one verse, but he had a go at two tonight.

The second tour debut was the very next song: Pride. It was played in a stripped down form and is so far the oldest song to be performed during the residency. The last time either Pride or I Still Haven't Found appeared at a regular tour gig was the final show of the Joshua Tree Tour on 15 December 2019, Mumbai. The only performance of I Still Haven't Found between then and now was on 16 September this year while filming the music video for Atomic City in public in Las Vegas. Pride, meanwhile, was a fixture on Bono's solo Stories of Surrender Tour, and Bono also performed it with Edge in Ukraine on 8 May 2022.

After the two debutants, the band returned to Angel of Harlem, a fixture so far of the nightly setlists. At the end was a surprise: Bono sang a verse of MLK, tweaking the final line to "rain down on she", a reference to Billie Holiday, the subject of Angel of Harlem.

MLK has not been performed live since 12 May 2017—and that was its only performance since 8 October 2010—but do we count this as a tour debut? This is tricky, because of course MLK is a brief and quite sparse song. We have decided that, at least for now, to only classify it as a snippet, as we did for a couple of 1997 shows when it served as a coda at the end of another song. In the past, when we have listed MLK as an independent performance, it has featured the organ as well as the lyrics, but tonight Bono only sang half the lyrics without any instrumental accompaiment. This has guided our decision; contrast with Bad / The First Time on 21 September 2005, when Bono did not simply sing verses of The First Time over Bad, but Edge also switched to play The First Time's chords, creating a medley of both songs. Indeed, the snippets tonight of Love Me Tender and Movin' On Up took up greater time than MLK did.

Our readers no doubt appreciate that the lines between snippet, medley, and standalone performance are blurry. Our guiding questions are "how complete is this? could it stand alone elsewhere in the set?" Our answers are that this take of MLK is quite incomplete and could only work as a coda for Angel of Harlem. A standalone performance is one not inherently tied to another song and played on its own terms, even if it features some sort of segue to/from another song to smooth the progression of the gig. A medley is where two songs are inextricably connected, featuring substantial portions of the lyrics and music of both songs, and enough of each is played for them to count as full songs for the purposes of some statistics (e.g. the example above of Bad / The First Time). A snippet is a reference to another song that does not have an independent existence from the song in which it features—usually Bono referencing some lyrics over the music of the main song being played or as a short coda at the end.

With all that said and (we hope) justified, what about the rest of the set? The band returned to the setlist order of previous nights to round out the show. This means we count tonight as featuring 21 songs, not 22 like the first three shows.

Also, we teased a statistic in our report on night three that has not come to pass tonight, but we'll tell you what it was anyway. If U2 had played an unchanged setlist tonight (ignoring snippets), it would have been the first time they had played the exact same songs in the exact same order for four nights in a row since the run of gigs leading up to and including the 360 Tour live recording at the Rose Bowl: 18, 20, 23, and 25 November 2009. Also, the only difference on 28 November 2009 was that Happy Birthday appeared in the main set; we don't count this towards album/cover song statistics, but because of how it appears within our database, a query to locate identical setlists will nonetheless return this show as marginally different to the previous one.

The full setlist was:

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways / Young Americans (snippet)
5. One
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World / Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (snippet)
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up (snippet)
10. Pride (In the Name of Love)
11. Angel of Harlem / MLK (snippet)
12. So Cruel
13. Acrobat
14. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
15. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

16. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
17. Atomic City
18. Vertigo
19. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name
20. With or Without You
21. Beautiful Day / Alive (snippet) / What a Wonderful World (snippet)

The setlist was identical to the first two nights (not counting snippets). This is the first time U2 have played the same set at three shows in a row since 4, 5, and 8 September 2018, two nights in Cologne followed by a third in Paris. In the last 15 years, there have only been six instances (including tonight) where U2 have played the exact same songs in the exact same order at 3+ consecutive shows. Only one of those sequences is more than 3 shows long—and we are teases who will tell you when it was if/when U2 match it on this residency!

Bono was in a chatty mood tonight (when isn't he? but especially tonight!). At all three shows so far, he has riffed on the Sphere as a cathedral and the stereotype of getting married in Las Vegas. During Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World, he remarked that "this evening we're renewing our vows with the band and the U2 crowd ... your vow is you gave us a life that we could never imagine, and in return our vow is that we wouldn't be boring bastards. So, we brought you here. Is it OK?" Judging by the crowd reactin, they were suitably impressed by the spectacle that is the Sphere.

Bram van den Berg is filling in for Larry on drums at these shows. At the start of Even Better Than the Real Thing each night, Bono has proclaimed "I know who you are!" to both Edge and Adam, then quipped to the drummer "who the fuck are you?" Later, he introduces Bram to the crowd, tonight remarking that "the very gifted but injured Larry Mullen Jr" is replaced by "the man who was a student, but now a professor". Bono asked Bram "are you Larry Mullen's representative on earth?" Bram deadpanned back "no; he doesn't need one, does he!"

After the opening sequence of eight songs from Achtung Baby, U2 again did four from Rattle & Hum. Bono hinted on-stage at the first two shows that this segment might be rotational, and pre-tour rumours suggested the band had worked on some options, but it seems the band are enjoying the Rattle & Hum segment. It gives Bono an opportunity to talk about the band's influences, especially their experiences in the late 1980s exploring American musical traditions, from blues and R&B to country. He spoke of how "we tried to educate ourselves into these extraordinary artists... and we made an album about our explorations, which is a ballsy move!". He then termed Rattle & Hum a "fanboy" record.

All I Want Is You had an extended sing-along snippet of Walk on the Wild Side, as it did on night two, and Bono also attempted Suspicious Minds at the end of Angel of Harlem—it was a fairly extended but somewhat garbled snippet, with Bono quipping "sorry Elvis!" at the end.

When Bono introduced So Cruel, he noted that it is lyrically "unfair" and "written from a man's point of view". He remarked that it should have actually been titled I'm So Cruel.

The full setlist was:

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Black Dog (snippet) / Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways
5. One
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World / Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (snippet)
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. All I Want Is You Songs of Surrender Mix / Walk On The Wild Side (snippet)
10. Desire
11. Angel of Harlem / Suspicious Minds (snippet)
12. Love Rescue Me
13. So Cruel
14. Acrobat
15. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
16. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

17. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
18. Atomic City
19. Vertigo
20. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)
21. With or Without You
22. Beautiful Day / What a Wonderful World (snippet)

If you need to catch up on the setlist, our report is here.

Videos are again from our webmaster Matthias and from friend of the website Stefan. Please enjoy our night two footage below, and for Matt and Stefan's clips from night one you can visit this page.

The setlist featured the same 22 songs in the same order as the opening night. This, however, does not mean we don't have some statistics for you!

So Cruel, which last night set a new record for longest gap between performances (31 years and 14 days), was performed at consecutive gigs for the first time ever. Love Rescue Me was performed on consecutive nights for the first time since it appeared at shows in Rotterdam on 9 and 10 January 1990. Including last night and tonight, it has only been played six times since that show on 10 January 1990.

All I Want Is You has also featured at few consecutive shows on recent tours. It was last played at consecutive shows on 7 and 17 June 2011, in Oakland and Anaheim respectively, and it was last played on consecutive days on 1 and 2 March 2006 in Buenos Aires. Tonight, it featured an extended snippet of Walk on the Wild Side.

Also, one detail about Beautiful Day that we did not mention yesterday: although these two shows are the first full concerts that Beautiful Day has closed, 22nd is not the latest it has ever appeared in a setlist. On the Innocence+Experience Tour, it also featured in the encore, but not as the last song: the latest it came was 25th on 18 October 2015, when it was followed by Bad and 40. That show set a record (since equalled but not surpassed) for longest U2 concert by number of songs.

The full setlist tonight was:

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways / I Feel Love (snippet)
5. One
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World / Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (snippet)
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. All I Want Is You Songs of Surrender Mix / Walk On The Wild Side (snippet)
10. Desire
11. Angel of Harlem
12. Love Rescue Me
13. So Cruel
14. Acrobat
15. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
16. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

17. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
18. Atomic City
19. Vertigo
20. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name
21. With or Without You / Nothing Compares 2 U (snippet)
22. Beautiful Day / What a Wonderful World (snippet)

If you need to catch up on the setlist and statistics first, please see our article here.

We have videos from our own webmaster Matthias and from long-time friend of the site Stefan. Enjoy!

It's been a little while! When U2 performed their most recent regular tour concert, in Mumbai on 15 December 2019, we expressed the wish that "the band retain the enthusiasm and vitality to bring their music to established and new audiences alike for many years to come". Over 3 years and 9 months have passed since then, and although a gap of about 3 years between major U2 tours is not unusual, the circumstances this time have certainly been exceptional with the global pandemic.

Now here we are, the band are playing live again, and they are back in spectacular fashion: opening the state-of-the-art Sphere venue in Las Vegas with a residency of 25 shows. The Sphere is impressively soundproofed, so we had almost no setlist spoilers from rehearsals ahead of opening night, unlike on past tours.

Larry Mullen Jr, who as a teenager posted the notice that led to the formation of the band that became U2, is sadly unable to perform at these shows. He has had surgery to address long-term injuries from the rigours of drumming, so Dutch drummer Bram van den Berg is taking his place behind the kit for these shows. This is the first gig since 26 November 1993 to not feature one of the four core members of the band—bass tech Stuart Morgan filled in for a "sick" (very hungover) Adam Clayton—and it is just the second show any member of the band has missed since the early days in the late 1970s before they had released any music. As Bono mentioned during the show, Larry last missed a gig in 1978.

The setlist featured 22 songs across a 16-song main set and 6-song encore. This included all 12 songs from Achtung Baby, including three not performed in full since 1992–93, but the album was not performed in order like The Joshua Tree was on the 2017 and 2019 tours. Instead, as many fans had speculated, the band chose to recall possibly their most famous tour.

The show began with a sequence of eight songs from Achtung Baby, in the same order as U2 had usually played during the first two legs of the Zoo TV Tour in 1992. This included Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World for the first time since 10 December 1993. It was rehearsed in early August 2010 ahead of that year's European shows but not performed. This meant that, for a brief few minutes, this song held the record for the longest gap between performances of a U2 song, 29 years, 9 months, and 19 days—read on to see what exceeded it later in the set.

The other seven songs in this initial eight-song sequence had all been performed at shows during 2018–19. Four of them were performed reasonably often at tours in the 2010s, while three deserve emphasis. Zoo Station and The Fly, which opened the show, had only been performed sparingly since the final leg of the Vertigo Tour in late 2006. Between that tour and today, Zoo Station was performed 20 times—once on 24 September 2015 and 19 times in 2018—and The Fly was performed 15 times in 2011 and 13 times in 2018. And as for Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, its live performances have been infrequent since 1992: it was played 15 times in 2005, once in 2006, and 22 times in 2018. Only on the European leg of Experience+Innocence has WGRYWH enjoyed any degree of security in the setlist, appearing at 20 out of 33 shows. Will it finally be a fixture again this year?

After the opening sequence of Achtung Baby songs, the band turned to the album that preceded it, performing four songs from Rattle and Hum. All I Want Is You was performed in front of a live audience for the first 30 October 2015 (it was also performed for a BBC taping on 16 November 2017). Desire and Angel and Harlem have shown up in setlists regularly over the years—they both featured at Joshua Tree 2019 shows, and Desire was the first song of the night that Bono had also performed on his recent solo Stories of Surrender Tour. And then came perhaps the most unexpected song of the night, Love Rescue Me, for the first time since 24 May 2011 and the 52nd time ever. Since the last night of the Lovetown Tour on 10 January 1990, it had only been performed at four 360 Tour shows, twice in December 2010 and twice more in May 2011.

The final four songs of the main set were the remaining four from Achtung Baby, and the performances of all four are notable. So Cruel appeared in a setlist for just the fifth time ever. It appeared four times in 1992: initially two verses snippeted at the end of Bad on 22 May 1992, and then three solo performances by Bono on Zoo TV's third leg, most recently on 15 September 1992. This was not just its first full-band performance ever, but also the longest gap between performances of a song at U2 concerts ever: 31 years and 14 days. Before tonight, the record was 29 years, 4 months, and 22 days for Trip Through Your Wires, and it was briefly held by Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World earlier tonight.

What about the other three? Acrobat followed So Cruel, and it has only ever been performed on one other tour, 59 appearances on Experience+Innocence in 2018 (it was rehearsed, but not performed, in early August 1992). Next came Ultraviolet for the very first time in the main set rather than the encore—that's right, all of its previous 242 performances were in encores. And the last song of the main set was Love Is Blindness, for just the second time since 10 December 1993—and its one and only performance in between, on 1 March 2006, was spontaneous and only semi-complete. This time, we got a full band version with solo, and an extended outro snippeting Elvis Presley as Bono had done on the Zoo TV Tour.

Now, what about the encore? After a brief break, the opening notes of Elevation rang out, the first song of the night not from Achtung Baby or Rattle & Hum. Elevation+Vertigo is an established encore pairing from U2's last three tours, and tonight they broke them up with a live debut: brand new single Atomic City came between them. U2 performed Atomic City with elaborate visuals of the Las Vegas skyline—indeed, the visuals for many songs were elaborate and took full advantage of the Sphere's technology.

Perhaps the one transition of the night that didn't work was going from Vertigo to Where the Streets Have No Name; a riff-based rocker to a sprawling atmospheric intro. Bono did, though, fit in a snippet of Moment of Surrender here, the only acknowledgement of the album No Line on the Horizon. Streets was followed by album partner With or Without You, and then the final song of the night: Beautiful Day, which is currently on the longest active streak of consecutive full-tour performances since debut. Beautiful Day concluded with two Beatles snippets; these, and earlier snippets, acknowledged Paul McCartney in the audience for opening night. If we discount the aborted show on 1 September 2018 when Bono lost his voice, this is the first full-tour gig where Beautiful Day has been the final song.

So, with all that said, the full setlist was:

1. I Could Have Lost You (snippet) / Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways
5. One / Purple Rain (snippet)
6. Love Me Tender (snippet) / Until the End of the World
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. All I Want Is You Songs of Surrender Mix
10. Desire / Love Me Do (snippet)
11. Angel of Harlem / Into The Mystic (snippet) / Dancing in the Moonlight (snippet)
12. Love Rescue Me
13. So Cruel
14. Acrobat
15. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
16. Love Is Blindness / Viva Las Vegas (snippet)

encore(s):

17. Elevation / My Way (snippet)
18. Atomic City
19. Vertigo
20. Moment of Surrender (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)
21. With or Without You
22. Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)

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

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

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

There was unfortunately a security incident during the show as a fan went to the stage after "Where the Streets Have No Name", asking for their copy of Surrender to be signed. Bono responded to the fan, defusing the tension, before security could get to the fan and signed the book, but made it clear in his dialogue he wasn't happy and said that it was not an appropriate time to ask for an autograph.

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

Some people may question our inclusion of "Miracle Drug", but to qualify as a snippet a song has to meet two criteria: firstly it has to be done by a member of U2, and secondly it has to be a clear reference; other websites may go by a different criteria. The first reason is why we have not included "Gloria", "October", "Into the Heart", or "Miss Sarajevo" in the set and instead list them as instrumentals on the show's page.

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

The Edge was in attendance last night with Morleigh but did not join in the performance. Ali and Eve were also present, as were many celebrities. The show itself did not deviate from the established formula; the North American half ends with only Toronto having a slightly different set due to the absence of an encore. Bono will now cross the Atlantic for the second half of the tour in Europe, beginning in London in a few days time.

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

encore(s):

14. City of Blinding Lights