2010-12-08

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

  • "Return of the Stingray Guitar"
  • "Beautiful Day"
  • "Get On Your Boots"
  • "Magnificent"
  • "Mysterious Ways"
  • "Elevation"
  • "Until the End of the World"
  • "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
  • "North Star"
  • "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: "Space Oddity" - David Bowie
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "Rocket Man" - Elton John

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

    "In My Life" (The Beatles) / "Rain" (The Beatles) / "Stand By Me" (Ben E. King) / "Thunderstruck" (AC/DC) / "Two Tribes" (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) / "You'll Never Walk Alone" (from Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein) / "Dear Prudence" (The Beatles) /

Show Details:

After four days off, U2 perform in Brisbane, Australia. It is the first of two shows at the Suncorp Stadium. It is threatening to rain tonight, but holds off for most of the show except a brief shower early in the show during “Magnificent”. The show begins early due to curfew considerations in Brisbane. Jay-Z opens this show.

Bono shares he’s happy to be back in “Bris-Vegas” and says they have been good to him over the years. During “Magnificent” Bono names off the West End, the Valley and Paddington, suburbs of the city. In the mid-set segment that the band are mixing up they play “North Star” tonight, an unreleased song having it’s debut on this leg of the tour. It was performed by Bono and The Edge. It is followed by “Pride (In the Name of Love)”. The rotational song in the encore is filled by “Ultra Violet (Light My Way)” this evening.

Tonight is the anniversary of the death of John Lennon in 1980. Throughout the evening Bono makes references to him. “Stand By Me” is added to the end of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and Bono talks about watching John Lennon sing that song to his son Julien. Ahead of “Pride (In the Name of Love)” Bono shares, “This next song is about an idea the great John Lennon whispered in our ears as four teenagers on the North Side of Dublin” and during the song he twists one of the lyrics to “1980, December 8, A shot rings out in a New York sky”. “In My Life” appeared as a snippet in “Beautiful Day”. “Rain” appeared as a snippet during “Mysterious Ways” and “Dear Prudence” and “All You Need is Love” were part of “Where the Streets Have No Name”. At the end of the night as he was saying goodnight Bono shared, “Goodnight Brisbane, Goodnight John Lennon.”

Other snippets included during the show included “Thunderstruck” as part of “Vertigo”, “Two Tribes” as part of “I’ll Go Crazy” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as part of “Walk On”.

Willie Williams shared in his tour diary on U2.Com, “There’s been a huge amount of rain here of late and, even though we were spared a downpour tonight, the amount of moisture in the air was startling. In the camera close-ups I could see that the band members were in shock during the first few songs. It was a good show though, during which the band gave several nods to John Lennon who was murdered 30 years ago today. Hard to imagine him at 70 years old, but I bet he would be doing extraordinary things. Funny to think that it’s quite possible that I would have met him were he still with us – it’s not hard to imagine him having come to a U2 show somewhere along the way.” During the show The Edge joked about the humidity, after Bono called Brisbane amazing, chiming in to say “OK, if you like that tropical paradise thing.”

In the Brisbane Times Dan Nancarrow reviews Bono, “When he does grab the crowd’s attention he has them in the palm of his hand, hamming it up along the band’s circular runway, mugging for the camera, taking photos of audiences members on their phones, as well as dragging one lucky woman up on stage to dance with, sing to and lean his head on her lap.” At the end of his review Nancarrow comes to the conclusion, “The spaceship had landed but it was a typically life-affirming and out-of-this-world flight.”

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Rudd is at the show this evening. Bono met with Rudd on November 28 to discuss poverty and aid, along with others from Make History Poverty. Rudd jokes about the criticism he recieves for his “ability to move in time with music”. Rudd was also former Prime Minister of Australia.

Tickets for this show went on sale on September 3, 2010, with pre-sales for U2.Com members starting on August 26, 2010. Soundchecks in the afternoon were the crew, and the band are not thought to have been present.

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