SPOILERS: U2eiTOUR Rehearsal Day Thirteen Report: April 21, 2018

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2018-04-21)

SPOILERS:

This article contains spoilers about the current U2eiTOUR rehearsals. It will contain song and set list information. If you wish to avoid this sort of information before seeing the show, please exit now. For those that continue on, please have some respect for fans that are attempting to avoid spoilers and mark these as spoilers if sharing.

U2 have been rehearsing in Laval, Quebec, just outside of Montreal for 12 days, having started April 9, 2018. They are rehearsing in advance of the new tour, eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE, which will begin May 2 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. U2 will continue to rehearse in Laval until April 23, 2018.

Although we have identified many songs that have been played during rehearsals there are times we have been unable to identify a song, or a song has been misidentified (for example “An Cat Dubh” was never played, it was identified in error, and later corrected, if you see it listed elsewhere it was indeed an error.).

To date our previous summaries can be found here:

Fans were out in force today in Laval to greet U2, with estimates of well over 100 fans showing up on a sunny Saturday, one of the first nice days since U2 have arrived in town. Security came out a number of time and spoke with fans, and even provided water to many who were waiting. Fans were told in advance that Bono would be coming out to sign items.

The fans also have identified that the trucks that ship the equipment for the band are all lined up at the venue and it appears that the set will be unloaded from the venue this evening. Drivers have been sitting in the trucks most of the day waiting. The band has had possession of the arena for thirteen days at this point, and we have confirmed with three different sources that the trucks carrying the stage equipment will be leaving for Tulsa early tomorrow morning. So it appears that this evening may be the last rehearsals in Canada for the tour.

Bono was late greeting fans, coming out around 4:25pm and meeting with fans for a half hour. While Bono was outside, the band could be heard inside starting to rehearse without him, and the first song heard was “Gloria”. Once the music started playing, Bono wrapped up what he was doing and went inside. The version of “Gloria” heard initially may have been pre-recorded as some report hearing vocals. It was later played again. This marks the first time that the band has played “Gloria” since starting rehearsals in Canada, showing that there may indeed be song surprises yet to come. After this, things went silent before the remainder was played while Bono moved into the venue and got ready.

Today’s rehearsal included the following:

  • “Gloria” (without Bono, possibly pre-recorded, 1st time in Canadian Rehearsals)

Extended break

  • “All Because of You” (1st time in Canadian Rehearsals)
  • “All Because of You”
  • “All Because of You” (Just work on the opening riff)
  • “All Because of You” (Partial)
  • “All Because of You”
  • “All Because of You”
  • “All Because of You”
  • “I Will Follow” (Partial)
  • “Gloria” (with Bono)
  • “Desire”
  • “Desire” (Partial, the beginning and other bits)
  • “Desire” (Bono is shouting something as he starts these versions of “Desire”)

Bono then starts a long speech, after the band take a short break.

  • “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way”
  • “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way”
  • “13 (There is a Light)” (Partial)

Like last night, Bono is practicing his stage talk. Last night on several occasions he could be heard speaking as if a crowd was in front of him, even stopping to thank Montreal as he finished “City of Blinding Lights”. Tonight he works on a piece before and after “Desire” but it is not clear enough to provide details.

Both “Gloria” and “All Because of You” are both rehearsed for the first time this evening for the Canadian rehearsals, pointing towards the band having other material they are still working on, or have worked on for this tour that we may not know of yet. “Desire” is without the sirens and the remix treatments tonight, but is a full band performance.

The last time “All Because of You” was played was on the Vertigo Tour, on February 20, 2006 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “Gloria” has been played more recently, as one of the songs that was performed in 2015 on the Innocence and Experience tour, appearing 13 times during that tour.

At this point the band has taken a break and are no longer rehearsing. If they return we will continue our report in this space, later tonight or tomorrow. But it appears that they have left the building at this point.

Many thanks to Talie, Karin, Annouche, Jean-Paul, Antoine, Jason, Olivier, Nathalie, Jason, Pierre, Alexandre, Isabelle, Oli, Christina, Jacques, Kevin and a few contributors who wished to remain unnamed for sending information to us and sharing information over the last 13 days. We’d like to take a second to ask you all to thank those who have shared information and allowed us a peek into these rehearsals.

NOTE: We’ve updated the set list for yesterday with a song we missed (“Acrobat”), and two other songs we had in reverse order (“Vertigo” and “The Showman”). This may make some of you much happier than you were earlier in the day.

< Next News Entry | Previous News Entry >

u2songs.com was formerly known as u2wanderer.org. Follow us on Twitter | Facebook