U2 Live in London / U2 Live at the BBC

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-12-28)

There have been a number of variations of U2’s “Live in London” special, also known as “Live at the BBC” that have been shown. We attempt below to track down the variations in these specials.

CTV Canada: “Live in London”
Playback: https://www.ctv.ca/U2-Live-in-London/Video (region restricted)
Originally Aired: Sunday December 17, 2017
Time: 48 minutes (Aired over one hour with commercials)
Songs Shown: “Beautiful Day” (“Starman”) / “Lights of Home” / “With or Without You” (“Love Will Tear Us Apart”) / “Get Out of Your Own Way” / “One” / “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way (“All You Need is Love” / “Father and Son”)
Notes: The first airing of the special in the world, the CTV broadcast showed a mix of interview footage in studio with Cat Deeley, as well as a clip of Cat with the band filmed in Brazil, culminating with some footage of “Where the Streets Have No Name” being played in Brazil.

BBC One: “U2 at the BBC
Playback: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09jxnlg (region restricted)
Originally Aired: Tuesday December 19, 2017
Time: 59 minutes (Aired in one hour without commercials)
Songs Shown: “Beautiful Day” (“Starman”) / “Lights of Home” / “With or Without You” (“Love Will Tear Us Apart”) / “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” / “Get Out of Your Own Way” / “One” / “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way (“All You Need is Love” / “Father and Son”)
Notes: The first airing on the BBC contains one additional song over the broadcast in Canada, “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”. The program also contains added interviews in the Abbey Road studios with Cat Deeley, and an extended clip of Cat’s visit to São Paulo to hang out with the band.

RTE One: “U2 At Abbey Road”
Playback: https://www.rte.ie/player/ca/show/u2-at-abbey-road-30005063/10820554/ (region restricted)
Originally Aired: December 26, 2017
Time: 51 minutes
Songs Shown: “Beautiful Day” (“Starman”) / “Lights of Home” / “Every Breaking Wave” / “13 (There is a Light)” / “With or Without You” (“Love Will Tear Us Apart”) / “You’re The Best Thing About Me” / “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” / “Get Out of Your Own Way” / “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way (“All You Need is Love” / “Father and Son”) / “All I Want is You” (“Walk to the Water”)
Notes: The broadcast for Ireland is shorter than the BBC broadcast, but includes a number of additional songs including “Every Breaking Wave”, “13 (There is a Light)” and “All I Want is You”. These songs are able to fit in as there were no interview clips, and there were no clips from Brazil in the broadcast on RTE. “One” was not shown in this version of the program — it had been in both Canada and in the UK.

BBC One: “U2 at the BBC: Special Edition”
Playback: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m6cdj
Originally Aired: Tuesday December 19, 2017
Time: 75 minutes
Songs Shown: “Beautiful Day” (“Starman”) / “Lights of Home” / “Every Breaking Wave” / “With or Without You” (“Love Will Tear Us Apart”) / “13 (There is a Light)” / “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” / “Get Out of Your Own Way” / “One” / “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way (“All You Need is Love” / “Father and Son”)
Notes: Although U2.Com announced that this airing would include “The Little Things That Give You Away,” “13 (There is a Light)” and “Every Breaking Wave” as well as additional interview footage, “The Little Things That Give You Away” was not shown. This airing is also missing “You’re The Best Thing” and “All I Want is You” which were shown on the RTE broadcast in Ireland, and also “Ordinary Love” which we are told was performed that night, but has not aired on any other broadcast.

Channel 9: “U2 at the BBC

Playback:
Originally Aired: Sunday, December 31, 2017
Time: 59 minutes (Aired in one hour without commercials)
Songs Shown: “Beautiful Day” (“Starman”) / “Lights of Home” / “With or Without You” (“Love Will Tear Us Apart”) / “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” / “Get Out of Your Own Way” / “One” / “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way (“All You Need is Love” / “Father and Son”)
Notes: This airing on Channel 9 in Australia contains the same songs as the first airing on the BBC.

Other songs:

On top of those shown so far, fans attending the performance also said that there was a version of “Ordinary Love” performed during the initial performance on November 16, 2017 at Abbey Road Studios. To date that performance has not appeared in any broadcast. As of this writing, “The Little Things That Give You Away” has also not been seen but is expected to be aired in tonight’s version on the BBC.

Below we include some performance footage not included in the original broadcasts, courtesy of Duane. These are hosted on YouTube and are not here on U2Songs.Com, so we apologize if you are unable to view, but that is out of our control:


VIDEO: “You’re the Best Thing About Me” (Live from Abbey Road)


VIDEO: “13 (There is a Light)” (Live from Abbey Road)


VIDEO: “Every Breaking Wave” (Live from Abbey Road)

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