2010-08-06

Stadio Olimpico di Torino, Turin, Italy

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"Return of the Stingray Guitar"
"Beautiful Day"
"Magnificent"
"Get On Your Boots"
"Mysterious Ways"
"Happy Birthday"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"North Star"
"Glastonbury"
"Elevation"
"In a Little While"
"Miss Sarajevo"
"Until the End of the World"
"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:

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"
"With or Without You"
"Moment of Surrender"

Additional Music

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

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

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Show Details:

The third leg of the U2360 tour wasn’t always planned that way. Initially there was a leg planned for the US and Canada. But due to Bono’s back injury that leg is cancelled and this leg, kicking off at Stadio Olimpico became the third leg instead. There is concern whether or not Bono will be ready to resume the tour, but all goes as planned and the show kicks off after some time rehearsing. The band starts rehearsals in the final days of July, with full rehearsals starting on August 1. The show tonight is opened by Kasabian.

Much of the show remains the same. The stage is the same as used before. A number of the songs return including the Redanka remix of “I’ll Go Crazy”. Frank De Winne is still heard doing vocals during “In A Little While” which was introduced at the end of the second leg of the the tour. “Amazing Grace” still introduces “Where the Streets Have No Name” and other favourite songs return including the closing song, “Moment of Surrender”.

But there have been changes. The number of songs from No Line on the Horizon has been stripped back to just four songs. “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” opens the final encore taking the place held by “Ultra Violet” throughout the early legs, and “Miss Sarajevo” makes its first full appearance in a U2360 show (although it had made a brief appearance as a snippet in Zagreb in 2009).

The biggest addition is three brand new songs not heard before in a full U2 concert, although fans have heard them through listening to sound checks ahead of the show tonight.

“Return of the Stingray Guitar“ is a fun instrumental track that the band uses at the start of the set. The song has its roots in the recording of The Unforgettable Fire and was uncovered when preparing the recent 25th anniversary edition. The band will later develop the song further under the title “Lucifer’s Hands” released on deluxe versions of Songs of Innocence.

“North Star“ is played acoustically by Bono and The Edge after the end of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. The song has been around for a while as well, first being mentioned ahead of the release of How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The song celebrates Johnny Cash’s faith, and the studio version was recorded with Michael W. Smith. A full version has yet to be released, but can be heard in the background of scenes in Transformers 3

The third new song is “Glastonbury“ which is a harder song. U2 had been developing it when they planned on appearing at the Glastonbury Festival, but Bono’s back injury caused that appearance to be postponed, so the song debuts here instead. The song will later be developed further into a song called “Volcano” and later still into a song called “American Soul”.

These aren’t the only songs that will appear on this leg of the tour. More will be introduced as the tour continues.

The introduction remains the same with “Space Oddity” playing over the PA. The band opens with “Return of the Stingray Guitar” with Bono prancing around the outer stage while the band performs on the main stage. They then go into “Beautiful Day”. All of the lights are up for “Stingray Guitar” and darken for the next song.

Early on Bono sings “Happy Birthday” for The Edge. The Edge will celebrate his 49th birthday in two days.

“Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” is played for the first time since the PopMart tour, and uses the same light up jacket, and sees Bono swinging from his microphone as he did during “Ultra Violet” on the earlier legs.

Snippets tonight include “My Sweet Lord” in “Mysterious Ways”, “Pinhead” in “Vertigo”, “Discotheque” in “I’ll Go Crazy” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” returning for “Walk On”. “Amazing Grace” also leads into “Where the Streets Have No Name” as it did at the end of the second leg. Bono sings the extended version of “One” with the “Hear Us Coming” lines tonight.

Although this show opens the tour leg, it wasn’t always that way. When tour dates were initially announced in September 2009, Frankfurt was listed as the opening night. This show in Turin was confirmed over two months later.

In an article in Reuters Ian Simpson writes, “U2 frontman Bono burst back onto rock’s center stage on Friday after a two-month absence for a back injury, as the Irish band resumed what its manager predicts will be the most lucrative concert tour in history. U2 shook a packed Olympic stadium in the northern Italian city of Turin as Bono strutted, pranced, jogged and danced with little sign of being a 50-year-old rock star just 10 weeks off spinal surgery. ‘I don’t really know how to hold back, is the problem. You have to let the songs sing you at a certain point,’ Bono told Reuters just before relaunching the second leg of U2’s 360 Degree Tour, so called because fans surround a giant circular platform.

Officially Released Tracks