2010-11-25

Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"Return of the Stingray Guitar"
"Beautiful Day"
"I Will Follow"
"Get On Your Boots"
"Magnificent"
"Mysterious Ways"
"Elevation"
"Until the End of the World"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"Pride (In the Name of Love)"
"In a Little While"
"Miss Sarajevo"
"City Of Blinding Lights"
"Vertigo"
"I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"Scarlet"
"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: "Rocket Man" - Elton John
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "Space Oddity" - David Bowie

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

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Show Details:

U2 opens the fourth leg of the tour in Auckland, New Zealand with two shows at the Mt Smart Stadium. They’ve had a six week break since the third leg ended in Rome. They will play ten shows in five cities in Australia and New Zealand on this leg. Tonight, as with the rest of the leg, Jay-Z will open the show.

The show continues much of what was working for the band in the third leg in Europe. The structure of the show is much the same as what was seen during some shows in Europe. The band takes the stage to a new, never before released song, “Return of the Stingray Guitar” before moving into a series of more well known songs.

Tonight ahead of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” the band remember the 29 miners killed in the Pike River mining disaster. The explosion on November 19 and collapse of the mine is New Zealand’s worst mining disaster since 1914. In a review in the New Zealand Herald, Scott Kara and Jacqueline Smith explain, “Even the biggest concert of the year acknowledged the sombre mood of the nation. U2’s Bono said the band felt privileged to be here especially at a time when hearts were aching and so raw. Struggling for the right words to convey his condolences for the people of Greymouth, he said: ‘People deal with grief in all sorts of ways. In Ireland, we sing.’”

In the middle of the show is a two song section which sometimes has featured other new songs, and sometimes hits instead. Tonight it’s a surprise, “One Tree Hill” that opens this section, followed by “Pride (In the Name of Love)”. “One Tree Hill” had been written about New Zealand, and the band’s crew member Greg Carroll who had been killed in a motorcycle crash during the recording of The Joshua Tree. The last time it was played live was during the 2006 shows in Japan and New Zealand, and tonight is its debut on the U2360 tour. During the performance of “One Tree Hill” the names of the 29 miners killed in the Pike River mining disaster are scrolled on the screen above the band.

For “Sunday Bloody Sunday” Jay-Z returns to the stage with U2. Like the concert at the Brandenburg gate a year ago, Jay-Z raps over the song. He remains for the next song, the U2360 debut of “Scarlet”. It is the first time that “Scarlet” is played in a concert setting. Prior to tonight it had only been played once before at a radio show appearance in 1981. The song will replace “MLK” / “Mothers of the Disappeared” in the set list for this leg of the tour. Jay-Z raps some lyrics from his own song “History” over “Scarlet” this evening.

In his tour diary for U2.com, Willie Williams talks about dusting off “Scarlet” to celebrate that Aung San Suu Kyi had been released after almost 20 years of house arrest, “It seemed that playing MLK for Aung Sang Suu Kyi would no longer be appropriate so, after digging around in the back catalogue for a while, I came up with the completely mad notion that perhaps we might replace this with Scarlet from the October album. Come nightfall when we had the place to ourselves, I played the track at full volume on my boom box, letting it sit in the empty stadium. I liked it a lot and could see that it might make a wonderfully still interlude in the show. Further research confirmed my hunch that this was a piece of music that U2 had never performed in concert before. This album pre-dates my tenure but I did see U2 play on the October tour and didn’t remember it being there. I was aware that suggesting to U2 that they debut a 30-year-old track, with a lyric consisting of precisely one word, might define the term ‘long-shot’ but I was equally convinced that this was a great moment in the making.”

Tonight it is “Ultra Violet” that starts the encore, a song that rotated in and out of shows on the previous leg. During “With or Without You” Bono includes the “Shine Like Stars” lyrics, extending the song, and usually a sign that he’s been enjoying the show.

Snippets tonight include “Anthem” during “Until the End of the World”, “Relax” and “Two Tribes” for “I’ll Go Crazy”, “Get Up Stand Up” during “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” during “Walk On”. During “One” Bono includes a bit of “Fall at Your Feet”, and “Amazing Grace” and “All You Need is Love” are both part of “Where the Streets Have No Name”.

A review in Stuff.co.nz by Nicholas Russell relates, “The show signalled the start of the fourth leg of their massive world tour, which upwards of four million people have seen so far. There seemed to be a few teething problems with their set and Mysterious Ways suffered through a muddled sounding backing vocal. But with most of their biggest hits well in the past U2 still have an ability to keep things fresh and the combination of Adam Clayton on bass and Larry Mullen on drums set a punishing groove in songs like Elevation that keep Bono strutting and dancing along the rotating runways in his black leathers and sunglasses.”

Willie Williams in his tour diary for U2.Com relates, “It was very cold by the time U2 went on stage and it was one of those nights when it got very cold very suddenly. This is absolute murder on guitar strings and vocal cords, but the guys made it through and the show was a fine start to the tour. I was very pleased with the new pieces, bar a few details that I’ll tweak tomorrow. The miners’ tribute seemed to be very well received and the audience appreciative. One Tree Hill was beautiful and Scarlet with Jay-Z was just fantastic. I was beside myself with delight. Oh, and the silhouettes video piece for Moment of Surrender was promising too – again a few tweaks needed but it seems perfect for the mood.”

Tickets for the first show in Auckland went on sale on September 3, 2010, with a pre-sale through U2.com starting on August 26.

Officially Released Tracks

Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live from Auckland, Nov. 25, 2010)