2011-06-26

Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI, USA

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

  • "Even Better Than the Real Thing"
  • "The Fly"
  • "Mysterious Ways"
  • "Until the End of the World"
  • "I Will Follow"
  • "Get On Your Boots"
  • "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
  • "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)"
  • "Beautiful Day"
  • "Elevation"
  • "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
  • "Miss Sarajevo"
  • "Zooropa"
  • "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:

  • "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:

    "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" (Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson) / "The Promised Land" (Bruce Springsteen) / "Space Oddity" (David Bowie) / "T.V. Eye" (Iggy Pop) / "Discothèque" (U2) / "Psycho Killer" (Talking Heads) / "Life During Wartime" (Talking Heads) / "You'll Never Walk Alone" (from Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein) / "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (The Shirelles) / "Jungleland" (Bruce Springsteen) /

Show Details:

The band leave the performance in Glastonbury and quickly return to North America, where they return to the stage in East Lansing, Michigan, about 90 minutes from Detroit. Florence and the Machine join U2 as the opening act.

The show takes place at Michigan State University’s Spartan Stadium. It is the second concert ever held at the venue. Bono plays on being at the university tonight, “We’re very glad to be here in MSU right now, what makes this country so beautiful is not just landscape, your country is a beautiful idea.” He also makes references to the school colours, green and white, “C’mon East Lansing! Go green! Go white! Go orange! Where you going to take the Irish tonight?” And later in the show he mentions U2 didn’t go to university themselves, “U2 became our university, Rolling Stone our text book. We’re still students wouldn’t you agree?”

U2 open the show with four songs from Achtung Baby. The set list runs the same as the performance in Baltimore prior to the Glastonbury performance. The only change was “Ultra Violet” which had performed in Baltimore, was replaced with “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” tonight in East Lansing.

During “Beautiful Day” there are some technical problems, and the video of Commander Mark Kelly on the International Space Station that usually opens the song is not shown. The audio could be heard however, and the video returns partway through the song.

During the show Bono mentions Dooley’s, a club that U2 performed at in December 1981 on the October tour. “Let’s shrink this place down to a little club, or a pub like Dooley’s!” Bono later asks if Mr. Dooley is still around. The pub, Dooley’s is now known as Harper’s, and this is U2’s first time returning to East Lansing since 1981.

Snippets tonight include “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” in “Until the End of the World”, “The Promised Land” in “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “Space Oddity” in “Beautiful Day”, “T.V. Eye” in “Vertigo”, and “Discotheque”, “Psycho Killer” and “Life During Wartime” all making an appearance during “I’ll Go Crazy”. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” has its usual place in “Walk On” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” opens “Where the Streets Have No Name”. “Jungleland” is included as part of “Moment of Surrender” for the recently deceased Clarence Clemons, “Not just a man, more a force of nature, music just spilling out of him.”

In the Detroit Free Press Brian Mccollum shares, “On what just might have been a perfect June night in mid-Michigan, U2 reached high to create its own summer masterpiece. The powerhouse Irish band brought its 360o Tour to Spartan Stadium on a gorgeous Sunday night, delivering a compelling, glorious performance on a mammoth, high-tech stage.” In the Lansing State Journal, Anne Erikson writes, “Three decades in, the men of U2 embraced the stage with the self-assurance of a cast of characters at the pinnacle of their sport. They stood energized and alive. They carried grace and style.”

Bob Seger is at the show tonight, as is Rolling Stone editor Jan Wenner.

This show was originally scheduled for June 30, 2010. The original show would have had Interpol as an opening act. The show was rescheduled after Bono’s back injury and surgery. Pre-sales for the original show started on November 17, 2009, and tickets bought during the original sales were valid for this show once it was rescheduled. This show was not listed as sold out when the cancellation happened.

Related News

Officially Released Tracks

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