2015-06-28

United Center, Chicago, IL, USA

Set List of Show:

Act One:

  • "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)"
  • "Gloria"
  • "Vertigo"
  • "I Will Follow"
  • "Iris (Hold Me Close)"
  • "Cedarwood Road"
  • "Song for Someone"
  • "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
  • "Raised by Wolves"
  • "Until the End of the World"
  • "People Have the Power"
Act Two:

  • "Invisible"
  • "Even Better Than the Real Thing"
  • "Mysterious Ways"
  • "Desire"
  • "Lucifer's Hands"
  • "Every Breaking Wave"
  • "Bullet the Blue Sky"
  • "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
  • "Beautiful Day"
  • "All I Want is You"
  • "With or Without You"
  • "The Wanderer"
Encore:

  • "City Of Blinding Lights"
  • "Where the Streets Have No Name"
  • "One"

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "People Have the Power" - Patti Smith
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "Same Love" - Macklemore and Lewis ft. Mary Lambert
Pre-Recorded Intermission Song(s): "The Wanderer" - U2 with Johnny Cash

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

    "Gloria" (Van Morrison) / "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (Patrick Gilmore) / "She's A Rainbow" (Rolling Stones) / "Young Americans" (David Bowie) / "La Bamba" (Traditional Song) / "Julia" (The Beatles) / "19" (Paul Hardcastle) / "The Hands that Built America" (U2) / "Two Hearts Beat as One" (U2) / "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division) / "Mother and Child Reunion" (Paul Simon) / "California (There is no End to Love)" (U2) /

Show Details:

The Innocence and Experience tour stops for five shows in Chicago’s United Center. This is the third of five shows in the city. The band has family and friends with them for this round of shows in Chicago, and many are seen throughout the five nights. Bono who was under the weather for the first two shows, seems to be bouncing back vocally.

Tonight’s show sees the debut of a new song. “Gloria” is added to the set list for the first time on this tour. Bono shares “This is the first time we’ve played this song in about 20 years”, but it was played in full on the Vertigo tour, ten years ago, and had been added as a snippet in a few other shows since that time. “Lucifer’s Hands” makes its second appearance on this tour, having debuted in the previous city, Montreal. The song, a bonus track on deluxe versions of the album started as a track called “Return of the Stingray Guitar”, and opened more than a few U2360 shows as an instrumental under that name.

Two days before this show, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, legalizing it in all 50 states, and requiring states to honour out of state marriage licenses for same-sex couples. Bono picks up on that and shares that he’s feeling a “marriage theme tonight”. A rainbow flag is tossed on stage during “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and Bono sings “gay pride in the name of love” as he wrapped himself in the flag. Later during “Beautiful Day” he changes a lyric to “a rainbow of colours right in front of you” and added a bit of “Two Hearts Beat as One” at the end. And during “One” he recognizes that the band are in the city to celebrate a “monumental weekend of the 46th annual Pride parade”, and dedicates the song to those marching in the parade. He also thanks America for following in the footsteps of Ireland, who recently legalized same-sex marriage as well, sharing “The Irish, putting the gay in Gaelic!”

Gay marriage isn’t the only celebration of love tonight. Ali is at the show tonight, and Bono speaks about her being there, “you can tell the missus is in the house” as the band launch into “All I Want is You”, played for only the second time on the tour. Bono also talks about “feeling the spirit of Johnny and June Carter Cash in the house” and how he thinks of their love as “beautiful, mysterious, complicated, thing, beautiful love”. Their son, John Cash is at the show. The band are using a video of Johnny singing their “The Wanderer” during the intermission on the shows. Bono also later dedicates “Every Breaking Wave” to Ali, and shares that Larry and The Edge both have sons at the show tonight.

Three fans are on stage tonight. Bono brings one girl up during “Mysterious Ways” who continues to do the Meerkat for “Desire”. For “Desire” Bono brings up two fans, one to sing and one to play guitar. Bono also talks about first visiting the city in April 1981, “Chicago, city of big shoulders, thank you. It’s in the heart of America that we found the head of America, that’s the truth. We knew it when we played the Park West, it’s a little club, is that still here? That would be nice to play some time. It would be nice to play a little club, it would be nice to play the Park West again, note to selves.”

Snippets tonight include a bit of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” during U2’s own song of the same name, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” during “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “She’s A Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones included in “Until the End of the World”. “Young Americans” appears in “Mysterious Ways”. “La Bamba” and “Julia” both get added to “Desire”. Paul Hardcastle’s “19” makes an appearance in “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “The Hands that Built America” has its usual position between “Bullet” and “Pride (In the Name of Love)”. There’s a snippet of “Two Hearts Beat As One” added to “Beautiful Day” and Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” makes an appearance in “With or Without You”. “Where the Streets Have No Name” is introduced by “Mother and Child Reunion” and has a reference to “California (There is No End to Love)”. “One” includes the “There is no them” lyrics that are associated with “Invisible” but originated as a snippet in “One”.

Sound checked earlier in the day were “Gloria” and “Lucifer’s Hands” as well as two songs not performed tonight, “Two Hearts Beat As One” and “The Crystal Ballroom”.

The second set of Chicago shows were announced on December 9, 2014, with a pre-sale for U2.com members starting on December 10, 2014, and general ticket sales starting on December 15, 2014.

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