SPOILERS: U2eiTOUR Rehearsal Day Seven Report: April 15, 2018

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2018-04-15)

WARNING: As the tour rehearsals progress we will be posting spoilers about songs on the site itself. We will try to give advance warning about these in this fashion. THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS. If you continue reading below you will find spoilers about songs that were heard at the venue – but for yesterday’s performance. We would ask that you remember some fans do not want spoilers before the start of the tour, and use caution when posting about this story on your social media feeds.

U2 are rehearsing for the upcoming eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour in Laval, Quebec, just outside of Montreal. Rehearsals began April 9, 2017 at Place Bell, a small arena. The arena is a newer one, opened in 2017. Today marked the seventh day since U2 arrived in Laval and started working on things.

To date our summaries can be found here:

After a full rehearsal where the band ran through nearly 40 songs yesterday, today appeared to be a slower day. The band arrived at the venue in the early afternoon. Edge stopped and waved to fans and said hello but did not come up to fans to greet them. Adam Clayton did come out and met briefly with fans, and took a few photos with fans before returning to the venue. Today an ice storm is sweeping through the region causing difficulties with driving, and it is quite miserable to be outside in the elements. A number of fans waiting for hours did not even see Clayton and The Edge when they stopped. The storm is expected to continue throughout the night.

All four members of the band were reported as being at the venue, but Bono and Larry were not identified directly.

For most of the afternoon the venue was quiet, although the band was present. They were working on things other than the music. For a period of two hours later in the day, drumming could be heard coming from the rehearsal space, but it is not known if this was Larry Mullen or a technician. No other instruments could be heard.

With a worsening storm, our sources have headed for home to stay warm and dry and have reported in to say that they are safe. These fans have suffered through extreme cold and adverse weather conditions for a number of days since the band arrived in Montreal. The unseasonable winter conditions are unusual for the area at this time of the year and have taken many by surprise. In Toronto, affected by the storm yesterday, over 75% of the flights out of the city were canceled in the early part of the day and the power is out in several regions around Toronto.

We will report additional information if we are able at a later date. As of 7:00pm Montreal time we are told that the band has yet to start any rehearsal that can be heard from the venue. We are not aware if the band are even still present at the venue.

One note: Due to a confusion last night in song titles, and a general difficulty in hearing tracks, we mistakenly identified “An Cat Dubh” as having been played yesterday. Later we listed it as “An Cat Dubh” and “The Ocean” when corrected and told that we were missing “The Ocean”. We are conclusively able to say that the song played was actually “The Ocean” and no portion of “An Cat Dubh” was played last night. We have updated yesterday’s article to list this information, and have also added some updated snippets that had been identified, and a photo of the venue from early yesterday morning. These are available in our Day Six Report

UPDATE: April 16, 2018

The band did indeed stay in the building late last night and eventually did get around to rehearsing some songs for the new tour. The following songs were reported as to what may have been played on top of the drumming that had been heard earlier throughout the afternoon. At this time we are not sure if this is the full list that had been played:

  • “Until the End of the World”
  • “Elevation”
  • “Desire”
  • “Vertigo”
  • “Staring at the Sun”
  • “Acrobat”
  • “Pride (In the Name of Love)”
  • “Vertigo” (Two additional times)
  • “You’re The Best Thing About Me”

Many thanks to Talie, Karin, Annouche, Jean-Paul, Antoine, Jason, Olivier, Nathalie, Jason, Pierre, Alexandre and a few contributors who wished to remain unnamed for sending information to us and sharing information over the last few days. Earlier reports on the progress of rehearsals are linked below:

Earlier stories:

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