2009-09-13

Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"Breathe"
"No Line on the Horizon"
"Get On Your Boots"
"Magnificent"
"Beautiful Day"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"Elevation"
"Your Blue Room"
"Unknown Caller"
"Until the End of the World"
"Stay (Faraway, So Close!)"
"The Unforgettable Fire"
"City Of Blinding Lights"
"Vertigo"
"I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"MLK"
"Walk On"

Encore One:

"One"
"Where the Streets Have No Name"

Encore Two:

"Ultra Violet (Light My Way)"
"With or Without You"
"Moment of Surrender"

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "Space Oddity" - David Bowie
Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "Soon" - U2
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "Rocket Man" - Elton John

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

Carousel

Show Details:

It’s U2’s second show on the North American leg of the U2360 tour, and they are playing a second show in Chicago. The band are joined for the show by Snow Patrol.

The atmosphere outside the venue these past two days in Chicago has been pretty laid back. Guinness has set up tents to serve as bars outside the venue and the company have mascots walking around the field. One is signing up fans for the organization and also asking fans to be photographed kissing each other for a display on the screens inside at the end of the night. The weather has been great for both shows.

The band plays around with the setlist tonight for the second show. “Your Blue Room” makes its live debut between “Elevation” and “Unknown Caller”. U2 have been rehearsing the song since Europe, but it hasn’t made it into the set before now. Tonight it is played live for a live audience for the first time ever. The band also work in the International Space Station astronauts who do the spoken verse at the end of the song, the one that Adam does on the studio recording. The Space Station is pre-recorded and not live.

Other changes tonight include dropping “Pride (In the Name of Love)” from the concert. It is the first time on the U2360 tour that the song does not appear. “Until the End of the World” and “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” are both played tonight, they had not appeared in the first Chicago show, but both have been played in Europe. The band also mixes around the order of “One” and “Where the Streets Have No Name” tonight. “One” includes the extended “Hear Us Coming” verse. Another change tonight? The microphone Bono uses for “Ultra Violet” now has added LED’s lighting it up as well as his jacket. After trying out a new encore piece featuring Maya Angelou last night, the band returns to the digitized voices heard throughout the European leg tonight. The Angelou piece will appear next for the second show in Toronto.

Snippets tonight include “Blue Suede Shoes” in “Get On Your Boots”, “Far Far Away” and “King of Pain” in “Beautiful Day” and “I Want to Take You Higher” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” as part of “I’ll Go Crazy”. “Rock the Casbah” appears in “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” appears in “Walk On”. “Where the Streets Have No Name” includes “Amazing Grace” as well as “All You Need is Love”.

Of the inclusion of “Your Blue Room” in the show tonight, Willie Williams writes in his diaries for U2.com, “Tonight, at long last we finally managed to premiere Your Blue Room and it went remarkably well. Clearly, this song is not designed to get the crowd rocking in the grandstands, but it brings a meditative moment to the evening. It’s a new mood for this tour in a two hour show there’s certainly room for it. Great show all round tonight, so everyone was pleased.”

Officially Released Tracks