2017-07-29
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Set List of Show:
Main Set:
- "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
- "New Year's Day"
- "Bad"
- "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
- "Where the Streets Have No Name"
- "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
- "With or Without You"
- "Bullet the Blue Sky"
- "Running to Stand Still"
- "Red Hill Mining Town"
- "In God's Country"
- "Trip Through Your Wires"
- "One Tree Hill"
- "Exit"
- "Mothers of the Disappeared"
- "Miss Sarajevo"
- "Beautiful Day"
- "Elevation"
- "Vertigo"
- "Mysterious Ways"
- "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)"
- "One"
Additional Music
Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "The Whole of the Moon" - The Waterboys
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "A Pair of Brown Eyes" - The Pogues
Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:
-
"The Magnificent Seven" (The Clash) /
"Heroes" (David Bowie) /
"Where Are We Now" (David Bowie) /
"California (There is no End to Love)" (U2) /
"War" (Edwin Starr) /
"America" (Stephen Sondheim from West Side Story) /
"Eeny Meeny Miny Moe" (Children's Rhyme) /
"Starman" (David Bowie) /
"Rebel Rebel" (David Bowie) /
Show Details:
U2’s next stop for The Joshua Tree 2017 tour is two nights in Amsterdam. The night before the first show, the band played a small club to shoot the video for “The Blackout” from the upcoming Songs of Experience, and tonight they move into Amsterdam ArenA, where preparations for the new album also continue. The Dutch have turned the area around the stadium into a bit of a party, with fan organized gatherings, an opportunity to sit and be photographed in one of the trabants used during promotion of Achtung Baby and more. But with the rain fans are sent scrambling to get under cover, and as the show starts the rain is coming down hard.
The show is late starting tonight, and parts of the show are being filmed for use for promotion of the new album. The stadium glass roof is blacked out by inflatable black baffles which darken the venue earlier and also improve sound in the venue. But with the heavy rain, everyone is thankful this show is covered, although there are areas where the water is leaking in.
Ahead of “One Tree Hill” Bono speaks about the loss of Prince Friso who had died in 2013, and the impact that had on Princess Mabel and her daughters, who are in the audience tonight. Other special guests at the show tonight include photographer Anton Corbijn, who is mentioned several times during the show, and Bono’s brother Norman and his family. Bono stops ahead of “Bad” to thank Norman for introducing him to David Bowie’s album Hunky Dory. “My brother Norman is here tonight. Not only did he give me my first guitar lesson, he introduced me to David Bowie’s Hunky Dory and I thought it was a duo. Now, none of us in the band are self-made men. We owe our lives to each other, to family members who put their hands in their pockets, friends who kept us out of trouble, partners who saved us from ourselves. And of course, we owe this life to you.”
At the start of the show fans released a number of multi-coloured balloons during “Beautiful Day” making for a fun visual as “the colours came out”. Bono is happy to see the display and comments on it from stage at first asking what it is, and then shaking his head with a huge smile as he says “look at you!”
Signs were up at the entrance to the show stating “We are filming a music video currently entitled “Best Thing”. Your presence here shall be deemed your irrevocable consent to the unconditional use of your likeness…” Prior to the show starting small stencils appeared around the venue reading “The best things are easy to destroy”. There was filming as the crowd entered the venue, and ahead of the concert there was filming of a young girl and guy holding up signs in the audience.
During “Mysterious Ways” a girl, later identified as a professional actress, was chosen to be pulled on stage. The jacket she was wearing contained the lyrics “The best things are easy to destroy” in a similar style to the painted logos outside the stadium. During “Mysterious Ways” she filmed the band, and Bono also filmed her dancing on stage, displaying the footage on the screen behind the band. And although this was filmed for “You’re The Best Thing About Me” the song filmed was “Mysterious Ways” and the new song was never played. The video footage remains unreleased. More on the video can be seen here in our news report.
Snippets include Bowie’s “Heroes” and “Where Are We Now” during “Bad”. There’s a reference to “California (There is No End to Love)” during “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “War” and Sondheim’s “America” are heard during “Bullet the Blue Sky”. During “Exit” there is a reference to “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe”. The Bowie snippets continue in the encore with “Starman” in “Beautiful Day” and “Rebel Rebel” in “Vertigo”.
A recording of “Red Hill Mining Town“ from this show appears on the compilation, The Joshua Tree: New Roots compilation.
Related News
Officially Released Tracks
< PREVIOUS SHOW | NEXT SHOW >