Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Ballad Of Springhill, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You - Love Will Tear Us Apart, Moment Of Surrender, Out Of Control, 40.

Remarks:

It's the final concert of the U2 360 Tour as well as the first time U2 has ever played a show in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada. "The Ballad Of Springhill" (aka: Springhill Mining Disaster) is performed for 30-40 seconds soon after "I Still Haven't Found..." and it is the first time U2 has played any portion of this song live since 1987. The band debuts "40" for the first time on the tour and it is the final song of the concert (in Pittsburgh only a snippet of "40" was performed at the end). It is the first time U2 has ever debuted an original song in the final show of a tour. Just prior to playing this song, U2 sprayed fans with a bottle of champagne, and at the end, each band member walked off the stage with Larry Mullen the last to leave. U2's most profitable tour (7.3 million tickets sold grossing over $736 million dollars) comes to a graceful conclusion.

Chronicle Herald

Maritime U2 fans find what they've been looking for

by Stephen Cooke

MONCTON -- It's the ultimate musical example of the mountain coming to Mohammad, as U2's mammoth 360º Tour touched down in Moncton on Saturday night, bringing the Irish quartet's two-year odyssey -- for lack of a better term -- full circle.
Even years of hype, the halfway-point release of the Rose Bowl show on DVD and the months of building excitement since the show's announcement couldn't prepare anyone for the experience of seeing one of the world's top acts in such an elaborate production worthy of its three-decade reputation.

The monstrous, spider-like stage, known officially as "The Claw" has dominated the Magnetic Hill landscape for days, as the gleaming spire that pierced its heart acted like a beacon, drawing more than 80,000 concertgoers from across Atlantic Canada, and the Atlantic Ocean, for the grand finale of the highest grossing concert tour of all time.

While Twitter reported Neil Young was spotted in town pre-concert (having breakfast at Cora's, according to one tweet), a former James Bond, the very tanned Pierce Brosnan (for whom U2 composed the Goldeneye theme tune) made his way to the VIP tent backstage.

It seemed as if Bono not only has the ear of world leaders, but Mother Nature herself. The downpour that frustrated drivers making their way to the Maritimes' hub, and drenched early arrivals jostling for position around the outer lip of the circular stage, came to a halt about an hour before opening act Carny got the ball rolling.

Chosen by U2 to help develop the tunes for their Broadway Spider-Man musical Turn Off the Dark, the obscure L.A. band lived up to the latter half of the production's name with a fierce miasma of sound delivered in theatrical style, interrupted briefly by an odd dash of western swing and punk on Amelie, sounding like Les Paul being put through a blender.

Given the age of the audience in the grandstands, the biggest impression Carny made was likely its mashup of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and The Beatles' I Want You, as its drama was soon outshadowed by Montreal's Arcade Fire.

Fresh from its appearances on Dartmouth's waterfront and Sackville, N.B.'s, Sappyfest (where they played a not-so-secret show under the nom-de-stage of Shark Attack), the world's reigning indie pop band bit into the challenge of performing for the largest crowd it has ever seen.

The Montreal octet began as it did on Alderney Landing, with Ready to Start prodding the crowd with a double drumbeat from Jeremy Gara and Regine Chassagne, whose sparkling gold lame dress would have been visible from space. Dressed in a jacket pilfered from a first class waiter on a 1920s ocean liner, singer guitarist Win Butler switched to bouzouki for Keep the Car Running, while Arcade Fire's orchestral pop motor inspired pockets of dancing within the ever-growing mass of bodies filling the space around the stage.

"It is our sacred duty to make sure you're warm for the last show of U2's tour," vowed Butler, and the band took it's job seriously, with big, beaming smiles and generous blasts of baroque, hook-filled tunes.

As the sun, what we could see of it anyway, began to set, the air was ripped apart by the earsplitting roar of two Canadian Armed Forces fighter jets flying overhead. The sound system pumped out tunes with a certain finality about them, like Don't Dream It's Over and It's The End of the World As We Know It, before switching to the traditional show opener, David Bowie's Space Oddity. The air quickly turned electric: U2 was on its way.

Suddenly The Claw came alive, its canvas-covered fingers pulsating with light while the sea of people became a living ocean, undulating to Even Better Than the Real Thing while glowing with dots of phosphoresence from its cellphones. As Larry Mullen pounded the floor toms, Bono came out like a champion, kicking and jabbing with his mic stand like a UFC fighter psyching out his opponent.

U2 made The Claw their personal playground, as Bono, The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton crossed the twin bridges to the outer ring for Mysterious Ways. Only a few feet from adoring fans outstreched hands, they circled the catwalk as tens of thousands of voices joined in. Bono shook those hands and menaced a nearby video camera for Faraway So Close. To the faraway crowd gazing at the giant LCD screen suspended over the stage, he looked like a man possessed, and not for the first time that night.

After The Edge's fuzz-draped riff accompanied an impassioned cover of Leonard Cohen's Anthem, Bono mused "Love, flowers, peace, freedom...somewhere in the world tonight that word freedom feels very expensive."

Chucking flowers into the crowd from the rotating bridge, the frontman began gesticulating like an evangelical preacher, shaking with the spirit. All that was missing was a pair of snakes.

After the blistering blast from the past of U2's debut single I Will Follow, and the sage advice of Get On Your Boots, Bono finally greeted the crowd and mused about the tour's final resting place.

"Moncton...Town of Monks...." he grinned, while remarking that the tour had seen 18 births, two marriages and eight separations among its crew.

"I'm still a work in progress," he then declared as The Edge's familiar bright arpeggio announced the start of Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, which Bono let the crowd sing while he sashayed around to the back of the stage to conduct the choir loft in the rear grandstand.

Then came an a cappella chorus The Ballad of Springhill, which made the crowd lose their collective minds as Bono's vocal cracked a bit relating the tale of the Nova Scotia mining disaster. "Beautiful tune," he said in a hushed voice.

The beautiful tune was followed by Beautiful Day, introduced by an officer on the International Space Station, who could probably make out the stage and the flashing of a myriad cameras as the clouds parted.

While newer tunes made less of an impact with the audience, including one composition from the aforementioned Spider-Man debacle, nostalgic buttons were firmly pushed by Pride (In the Name of Love), and its undying ode to freedom and equality, before the screen elongated to almost stage level and U2 kicked out the jams with its best single of the past decade, the dance-inducing Vertigo, followed by its worst, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, helped only moderately by a snazzy dance remix.

Thankfully, the show soon switched gears to cut through to a deeper emotional core as only U2 can do, with Bono delivering a heartfelt Walk On dedicated toAung San Suu Kyi, theBurmese democratic leader who ended 15 years of house arrest last year, and a glorious Where the Streets Have No Name lifted the crowd on a wave emotion that could be felt across the hill, reminding us that music has the power to move mountains.

( scooke@herald.ca)

© 2011 The Halifax Herald Limited

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Promised Land, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Two Hearts Beat As One, Miss You - I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime - Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender, Bad - In The Garden - Walk On The Wild Side - 40.

Remarks:

Pittsburgh is the site of the final U.S. concert on the U2 360 Tour and its a great one. Bono talks about Pittsburgh for nearly 5 minutes in between "Get On Your Boots" and "I Still Haven't Found...". He states that it has been 30 years since U2 has played in Pittsburgh and then asks a fan in the audience what the name of the club was. Bono states that they played at "The Decade" and then says "...what a decade it was!". Moments later Bono says "A man should never look like his hair's been straightened by an iron, but I was proud of my mullet". Later on in the show, Bono brings two devoted U2 fans named Matt and Melissa onto the stage to slow dance with one another during the entire performance of "With Or Without You". He mentions that the couple have been to 60 shows on the tour. An unexpected finale to the concert happens when the band decide to play one more song after taking bows. For almost 10 minutes U2 performs "Bad" and then snippets "In The Garden" and "Walk On The Wild Side" before ending with "40". The song "Bad", written in 1984, is performed for Andy Rowen (brother of Peter Rowen who graced the album covers for "Boy" and "War"), who is also in attendance. The concert is nearly two and a half hours long after ending around 11:38 p.m.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

U2 pulls off the rarest of feats at Heinz

By Rege Behe

What I just saw over the past two-and-a-half hours has left me stunned, breathless and drained. U2 pulled off the rarest of feats Tuesday evening by making Heinz Field feel small, intimate and personal.

Dare I say they are the only band on the planet capable of this? I do. This stop on the 360 Degree Tour, the penultimate date of a two-year journey, was everything it was promised to be.

The band took the stage at 9:12 p.m. to the strains of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" then tore into "Even Better Than the Real Thing." "The Fly," "Mysterious Ways," "Until the End of the World," "I Will Follow" and "Get Your Boots On" followed in rapid succession, the band barely coming up for air.

It was only then that Bono addressed the crowd, saying "This is great, really great." He tipped his cap to the opening act, Interpol, paid tribute to Dan Rooney, the Steelers emeritus chairman , U.S. ambassador to Ireland and "our neighbor in Dublin" and remarked how it's been 30 years since the band first played Pittsburgh.

He had to be reminded that debut took place at the long gone Decade in Oakland, but no matter. Bono then introduced the band, comparing them to Western Pennsylvania icons: bassist Adam Clayton as Perry Como, The Edge as Andy Warhol, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. as Charles Bronson (a surprising but accurate inclusion, Bronson born in Ehrenfield, Cambria County) and Bono -- of course he was Christina Aguilera.

"I'm in touch with my inner chick," Bono said.

The next song, "I Still Haven't Found What I Was Looking For" produced the evening's first spine-tingling moment as the crowd sang along on the chorus; Bono referenced Bruce Springsteen's "The Promised Land" as the song faded away.

Then came one of the quietest moments of the evening: An acoustic version of "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" that filled the stadium and featured one of Bono's best vocal performances.

Throughout the show the much touted stage production of the 360 Degree Tour dazzled, a brilliant concoction of surrealistic lights and images that was equal to the music in its magnificence, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" through the vision of Alexander Calder.

Other astonishing moments:

• Astronaut Mark E. Kelly, by way of videotape from the International Space Station, introducing "Beautiful Day." Bono dedicated the song to Kelly's wife, U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in a shooting in Arizona earlier this year.

• "Miss Sarajevo," which featured snippets from Bill Carter's award-winning documentary of the same name on the video screen, and Bono's incredible vocals on the part originally sung by the late Luciano Pavarotti.

• A rendition of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" that sounded as if it was being relayed via time machine from 20 years ago, The Edge's pealing guitar timeless and enchanting.

• The simple sentiment of "One," the first encore, underscored by vintage footage of the band driving a Trabant,, the East German car that was used in the stage production for the Zoo TV Tour.

There are so many more things that make Tuesday's concert the show of a lifetime, an experience that will linger long after U2 leaves town. And while I have no tangible evidence, I can't help but feel nights like this leave everyone who witnessed this rock 'n' roll spectacle a little better off than they were before the show started. It's just a matter of faith.

© 2011 Trib Total Media

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Rain, Until The End Of The World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Can't Stand The Rain - Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights - Singin' In The Rain, Vertigo, Miss You - I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Raindrops Keep Falling - Discothèque - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Please - Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One - Purple Rain, Hallelujah - Purple Rain - Where The Streets Have No Name - Singin' In The Rain, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender - Singin' In The Rain.

Remarks:

Originally slated to be the final concert of the U2 360 Tour, Minneapolis was referenced by Bono as "the start of the end of the tour party". It's a rainy night in the Twin Cities and many snippets of "Rain"-themed songs are sung by Bono, including "Singin' In The Rain", "Purple Rain" and "Can't Stand The Rain". The Somali pop artist K'naan joins U2 on stage for "Stand By Me" and to pray for the starving people of Somalia. Amy Winehouse, who died earlier in the day, is also part of a tribute during "Stuck In A Moment".

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Promised Land, Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - In The Wee Small Hours, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender, Out Of Control.

Remarks:

On a hot wednesday night outside New York City, U2 performed one of the longest concerts on the U2 360 Tour, with 26 songs spanning over 2 1/2 hours in front of a sold out stadium of 100,000 people. "Moment Of Surrender" is dedicated to Clarence Clemons and Bruce Springsteen as well as E-Street member Patti Scialfa are in attendance. Author Salman Rushdie is also spotted at the show. There were rumours of a guest appearance possibly involving Springsteen, but that never materialized. After the show, fans had to wait a long time before getting out in the New Jersey traffic jam.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Many Rivers To Cross, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

On a blazing hot night in Busch Stadium in St. Louis, U2 plays in front of over 53,000 fans, setting the all-time record for largest concert audience in the city's history (according to U2's promoter: Live Nation). "Moment Of Surrender" is dedicated to the hundreds of victims of the tornado disaster in Joplin.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Will Follow, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - It's Only Rock And Roll, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender, Happy Birthday.

Remarks:

At tonight's concert in Philly in front of over 67,000 people, U2 perform "Magnificent" in its regular album format (as opposed to the remixed version). After "Moment Of Surrender", Bono leads the crowd in singing happy birthday for Nelson Mandela's 93rd birthday.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Someone Somewhere In Summertime, Until The End Of The World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

Bono snippets "Someone Somewhere In Summertime" by Simple Minds after "Mysterious Ways".

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World - Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Out Of Control, Get On Your Boots, All I Want Is You, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, New Year's Day, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Teenage Kicks, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Please - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

The second of two shows in Montreal marks the first time U2 has played more than one stadium show in the city. Bono sings a portion of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in his hometown right after "One". Also, "With Or Without You" is performed with the special "shine like stars" coda at the end of the song.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Until The End Of The World - Where Have All The Flowers Gone, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Promised Land, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender - Rain.

Remarks:

U2 performs in front of 80,000 people at the Montreal Hippodrome. Right after "Get On Your Boots", while speaking French, Bono thanks the fans in attendance for their patience due to last year's cancelled shows. Towards the end of the concert, heavy rains break out and Bono sings a snippet of "Rain" to close out the show.

Montreal Gazette

U2's Friday show in Montreal was awesome

By Bernard Perusse

MONTREAL - Every music writer wants to distance himself from words like "awesome" to avoid sounding like a teenage blogger.

But have you got a better word for a show big enough to bring in astronaut Mark Kelly of the International Space Station by video to greet the city, quote David Bowie's Space Oddity and take a verse of Beautiful Day?

Such was the way-larger-than-life event that was U2's 360 concert at the Hippodrome Friday night.

About a half-hour later than expected, the 167-foot-high stage structure they call The Claw sprang to life, having snoozed benignly over a politely received opening set of post-punk, mildly industrial rock by Interpol. Cellphones were held aloft and 80,000 people howled as U2 took the stage and kicked into the anthemic rocker Even Better Than the Real Thing.

And it kind of was.

Because this was more than just U2 playing for the fans. It was the very definition of rock spectacle, with video on a giant four-sided screen delivering perfect close-ups to all corners of the specially-built stadium and a sound system that acquitted itself quite well.

The group used every inch of its elaborate stage set-up. Moving bridges allowed group members to cross to an outer walkway where they played to all sides of the venue, all the way to the back seats. During Mysterious Ways, for example, Bono and guitarist The Edge -- whose stinging treble chords rang joyfully through the night -- worked different sections of the crowd and met for an encounter stage right. Meanwhile, bassist Adam Clayton faced the back. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. had little choice but to stay anchored on the principal stage.

Sure, the outer stage setup allowed Bono to reach out, Messiah-like, to his people. But for all the "St. Bono" jibes that go around, there remains an astonishing positive energy that comes with a U2 concert. In many cases, the audience singalong is an irritant, but the sound of 80,000 taking part of a verse and the chorus on I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For transcends cliché. Similarly, a communally sang Pride (In the Name of Love) ended with the audience carrying on the song's wordless chant long after the group had stopped playing.

After riding the snaky guitar riff that drives Get On Your Boots, Bono thanked the crowd, in French, for its patience, referring to last year's cancelled shows that are being made up for this weekend.

As always, the sneaky song quotes were fun to catch: a bit of Where Have All the Flowers Gone during Until the End of the World, a couple of lines from The Promised Land at the End of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, a whistle of the Miss You riff at the end of Vertigo - which, along with Elevation showed that U2 can still cut it as a rock n' roll band.

An acoustic Stay, played by just Bono and the Edge also showed they can cut it as a roots act.

The concert demonstrated a wonderful use of motion and video that went some way toward fulfilling the group's promise to make the oversized venue intimate. And if a monsoon broke out at the end of the night, well, that was just awesome.

U2 performs again Saturday night at the Hippodrome.

Copyright © The Montreal Gazette

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Until The End Of The World, Out Of Control, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - The Promised Land, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights - My Kind of Town, Vertigo, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You’ll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me - My Kind of Town, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender - One Tree Hill, One Tree Hill.

Remarks:

For the very first time since December 10, 1993, “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” is performed live at a U2 concert. The song is only a snippet, however, after U2 performs “Mysterious Ways”. Then at the end of the show in Chicago, U2 performs “One Tree Hill” in its entirety, the first time the song has been played live in the USA since December 20, 1987 on the Joshua Tree tour. “One Tree Hill” is dedicated to Greg Carroll, whose death occurred 25 years ago almost to the date.

Photos by Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Wanderer, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender, All I Want Is You.

Remarks:

U2's performance in Nashville marks the first time the band has played there since December of 1981, a span of nearly 30 years. "The Wanderer" is performed for the first time ever at a U2 concert (and the song is sung through two verses). Also, at the end of the concert, Bono pulls a blind U2 fan on stage and hands him his green Gretsch "Irish Falcon" guitar to play "All I Want Is You" for his wife. The other band members join in towards the end and Bono tells the fan to keep his guitar.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Promised Land, North Star, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender - Jungleland.

Remarks:

U2 perform "North Star" for only the 15th time on the U2 360 Tour (and the first performance since April 10, 2011 in Sao Paulo, Brazil).

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Promised Land, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - T.V. Eye, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discotheque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender - Jungleland.

Remarks:

One notable remark about the show is that the U2 360 Video screen temporarily malfunctions during the Mark Kelly video intro to "Beautiful Day" before working again when the lyrical recitation is spoken. This is only U2's second time in East Lansing (the only other show U2 performed here was in a small nightclub during the October Tour on December 7, 1981). Some high profile guests are at the concert including Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner and legendary rock artist Bob Seger.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Promised Land, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discotheque - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace - Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender - Jungleland.

Remarks:

In front of 80,000+ people, U2 perform for the first time in a stadium in Baltimore after having only visited there once before for an arena concert in 2001 on the Elevation Tour. The late Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band is once again honored at the end of the concert when Bono sings a segment of "Jungleland" after "Moment Of Surrender". Bono also snippets Bruce Springsteen's "The Promised Land" earlier in the night.

The Baltimore Sun

Review: U2 at M&T Bank Stadium June 22

by Erik Maza

The next time the Ravens win a game at M&T Bank Stadium, they should be so lucky to get the kind of response four 50-something Irish guys got here Wednesday night.

Thousands of fans - the stadium estimated some 80,000 - welcomed U2 for their first regional show in two years like Bono and company had just ended the N.F.L lockout.

Billed as the record-setting spectacular to beat all concert spectaculars, U2's 360-degree tour employs the latest advancements in live entertainment, including a moving, four-legged stage that looked ripped from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

It's been joked that for a band as bombastic as this one, a stage that big was needed to contain all of their egos, mostly Bono's. But the spacious arena, as big as a small club, allowed for maximum showboating, and for the band members to pull off pyrotechnics that would have been difficult at 1st Mariner Arena, where they played the last time they were in Baltimore in 2001.

Over two hours, The Edge got to sing directly above fans, thanks to the moving stage; other band members strolled the circular stage within reaching distance of the spastic crowd, got the stadium to sing along several times - most memorably on "I Will Follow" - and Bono got to show off some favorite Bono-isms, grunting, wearing a glow-in-the-dark jacket, and plugging his favorite political causes.

An ambitious show to say the least, it also featured cameos from, incongruously, Desmond Tutu and Gabrielle Giffords' husband. Now on its second year, the 360-show confirmed why U2 is still among the few headliners that can sell out stadiums.

The setlist stayed close to what the band's been playing at other recent concerts, straying only at a few key moments. Over all they played some 24 songs, with all but a couple of their albums represented, going as far back as "Boy" and up to their most recent outing, "No Line on the Horizon." "Achtung Baby," "The Joshua Tree," and "No Line" had the most numbers in the show. The British band Florence and the Machine opened the show.

The band walked on stage at 8:56 p.m. to David Bowie's "Space Oddity," strutting out from underneath the stadium like a bunch of gladiators in tight jeans. Though they looked huge on the video screens, from where I was sitting on row 11, section 151, they looked like bendable action figures. At least one woman near me brought binoculars.

As everyone pulled out their phones to take pictures, a clad-in-black Bono barreled through "Even Better than the Real Thing," from 1991's "Achtung Baby." He kept going with six more songs that were each over 20 years old. Undercutting the solemnity of the first few songs was a helicopter flying overhead advertising strip club Scores.

Bono strapped on a guitar on a muscularly remade "The Fly," which also featured some of The Edge's shredding and vocal accompaniment. At that point, it was hard not to be envious of the crowd directly in front of the the stage, who looked ecstatic.

The rest of the stadium only nodded along politely, but they started to move on "Mysterious Ways," a love song that was blown up here into a stadium anthem, and where Bono and The Edge took their first stroll around the circular stage and walked over the moving bridges.

By fifth song "I Will Follow," it was already nightfall and the enormous stage was the only source of light in the stadium, surrounded like a supernova by the thousands of flickers of light from peoples' cell phones. On "Get Your Boots On," Bono showed how, despite his self-serious star-with-a-conscience public persona, he knows how to play the role of rock star with all the panache it demands. He never did take off his tinted sunglasses at all.

Bono introduced the next song by saying The Edge would be channeling Frank Sinatra, which suggested perhaps they'd do Bono's remake of "That's Life." But instead they sang "Stay" as a slow, almost acoustic song. The band got Mark E. Kelly to introduce "Beautiful Day," which, tailor-made for this kind of setting, sounded excellent.

"Elevation" had the crowd near the front practically moshing. "Miss Sarajevo" showed off another genre where U2 is unassailable, the heartfelt power ballad.

The concert hit its stride around 10 p.m., when the band played "Vertigo," maybe because it's one of their most recognizable recent songs and maybe because the alcohol from the afternoon tailgaiting was finally making a difference. "Sunday Bloody Sunday," was certainly the night's emotional peak, milked here for all its possible relevance by being played over news images of the Arab Spring.

The Bono-isms started to rear their ugly head by then. He dedicated "Scarlet" to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese political dissident, a gesture that was only politely applauded for the crowd. Maybe they didn't know who she was? Not to worry. U2 helpfully provided an introductory blurb. "One" was introduced by Desmond Tutu. During the encore Bono both sang "Amazing Grace" and later thanked another kind of god, Live Nation, for organizing the show. Fifty-year-old Bono also sprayed the audience with water and wore a jacket that shot off lasers on "Ultraviolet."

But there were great moments to compensate for those that were cringe-worthy. "Moment of Surrender," dedicated to Clarence Clemons, was moving and "Where the Streets Have No Name" was undeniably beautiful; without a doubt, the concert's highlight.

Bono's stated goal was to shrink the stadium and turn it into a little club, a difficult rask when your singing from a metal, 200-ton arachnid. But for the Baltimore crowd, a majority of whom had likely not seen them in years, a stadium packed with thousands of like-minded fan did just fine.