2001-02-07

Astoria Theatre, London, England

Set List of Show:

  • "Until the End of the World"
  • "Beautiful Day"
  • "Elevation"
  • "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of"
  • "Gone"
  • "Discothèque"
  • "New York"
  • "11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
  • "I Will Follow"
  • "Desire"
  • "The Ground Beneath Her Feet"
  • "Mysterious Ways"
  • "One"
  • "All I Want is You"
  • "Bad"
Encore:

  • "40"

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "Waterloo Sunset" - The Kinks

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

    "Live Forever" (Oasis) / "A Rainy Night In Soho" (The Pogues) / "Creep" (Radiohead) / "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" (Paul Revere and the Raiders) / "Never Tear Us Apart" (INXS) / "Devil Inside" (INXS) / "Love to Love You Baby" (Donna Summer) / "Staring at the Sun" (U2) / "New York, New York" (Frank Sinatra) / "Transmission" (Joy Division) / "Reward" (The Teardrop Explodes) / "Alison" (Elvis Costello) / "Sexual Healing" (Marvin Gaye) / "Walking Away" (Craig David) / "Unchained Melody" () / "Ruby Tuesday" (Rolling Stones) / "Sympathy For The Devil" (Rolling Stones) /

Description:

U2 perform a 16-song show at the Astoria Theatre for a crowd of 2000.

Show Details:

On February 7, 2001, the band were on a high point in their career with the new album drawing strong reviews and singles climbing the charts. As part of the promotion for the album U2 played a full concert at the London Astoria, located on Charing Cross Road, to 1500-2000 people. The show is part of promotion for the newly released All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

The show started late, with some technical issues. DJ Jon Carter warms up the crowd and he ends with “The Boys Are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy. U2 take the stage to “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks.

The band take an extended break between “New York” and “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” where Bono speaks about family and mentions they are reapplying for the job of greatest band in the world. Bono told the crowd, “We’re back, re-applying for the job of best band in the world”. Later in the night Bono introduced “I Will Follow” as their next single, riffing on the idea that the last time they played such a small venue it was indeed one of their current singles. During “Mysterious Ways” Bono mentions “baby having a baby”, a reference to then pregnant Ali being at the show. “Bad” is dedicated to Bob Geldolf. The night ends after a short encore with “40” being played, and Larry Mullen the last to leave the stage, he was also the first to take the stage earlier in the evening.

It’s a memorable night for fans outside the venue as well as it is one of the first full concerts that is reported live on the internet as it happens, thanks to fans inside with cell phones letting others listen in to the full show as it happens, and these fans report the set list as it happens online, instead of waiting for after the show ends. (Thank you Clare and Roars for reaching out to us at U2Wanderer.org!)

Snippets included “Live Forever” as part of “Until The End of the World”, “A Rainy Night in Soho” as part of “Beautiful Day” and “Creep” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” as part of “Elevation”. After performing “Stuck in a Moment” a song written for Micheal Hutchence, Bono includes “Never Tear Us Apart” in “Gone”, and “Devil Inside” in “Discotheque”. “Love to Love You Baby” and “Staring at the Sun” also make an appearance during “Discotheque”. “New York” has snippets of Sinatra’s “New York New York” and “Transmission”. “Reward” is added during “I WIll Follow”, and “Mysterious Ways” includes “Alison” and “Sexual Healing”. “One” includes a long snippet of Craig David’s “Walking Away” which is being compared to U2’s own song muscially, and he also adds “Unchained Melody” at the end. “Bad” includes “Ruby Tuesday” and “Sympathy for the Devil” during the song. Bono also includes the “Hear Us Coming” verse during “One” which he often adds in concert.

Present in the crowd are a number of celebrities, including author Salman Rushdie, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Thome Yorke of Radiohead, Bob Geldof, Kylie Minogue, Elvis Costello, model Naomi Campbell, Roy Keane, Paul McGrath, actor John Hurt, and Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis. Celebrities were gathered on the balcony in the Astoria during the show.

Tickets were distributed via contests on radio, newspaper and magazines. Virgin Radio who was giving out ticekts for the show had on air personality Chris Evans at the show. A small printed wristband is the admission to the show this evening, printed with the “Stuck in a Moment” icon and listing “U2 Elevate the Astoria”. Ticket stubs were given out as people entered the venue itself after a security check.

A review by John Aizlewood in The Guardian shared, “Last night, U2 eschewed irony and cleverness. Ever aware of a chance to grandstand, they showcased their superlative new album All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” and “U2 have been parodied, sneered at, mocked and misunderstood. However, when they are on this form, they are unstoppable. As good as they ought to have been.” Jenny Bully in Launch wrote, “Few could be disappointed by tonight’s choice of material. Achtung Baby‘s ‘Mysterious Ways’ and ‘One’ and Rattle And Hum’s ‘All I Want Is You’ (via ‘Unchained Melody’) swell the evening to an emotional climax. Playing their part, the 1,000 lucky fans chant the chorus of “40” until U2 comes back to play its 1983 classic final flourish.”

The Astoria theatre was built in 1927 as a cinema, converted to a theatre in 1976, and turned into a music venue in later years. The venue was closed and demolished in 2009.

Sound check earlier in the afternoon included “Gone” multiple times, “Discotheque”, “Beautiful Day”, “Until the End fo the World” and “40”. The band sound checked early in the afternoon, left the venue for a while, and returned prior to show time when they met fans outside the venue as they were going in.

Related News

Officially Released Tracks

< PREVIOUS SHOW | NEXT SHOW >