2019-12-05

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"Gloria"
"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"
"Desire"

Encore:

"Elevation"
"Vertigo"
"Even Better Than the Real Thing"
"You're The Best Thing About Me"
"Beautiful Day"
"Ultra Violet (Light My Way)"
"Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way"
"One"

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "The Whole of the Moon" - The Waterboys
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "Never Tear Us Apart" - INXS

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

West Side Story

Show Details:

The first night in Japan was an incredible show, but Bono announces the band’s intentions for the second night to be even better, and we have to say the audience certainly took it to a new level tonight. On several occasions the band are surprised by the reception tonight. The fans sing loudly and show their love. It’s especially noticed before “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way” when the crowd starts singing before Bono urges them to, leaving Bono to look out with a huge smile.

Tonight sees the set list mixed up. For the first time on this tour “Gloria” is in the spot held by “I Will Follow” at previous shows. A scorching version of “Desire” fills the spot usually held by “Angel of Harlem”. And “You’re the Best Thing About Me” replaces “Every Breaking Wave” tonight. This is the last city that is getting a second show on this tour, so it will be interesting to see if any of these pop up again.

Tonight Bono asked the band what they loved about Japan. Larry answered the people, and Bono questioned whether he was getting sentimental. The Edge replied he loved Japanese ceramics, but more so what the Japanese put into the ceramics — sake!! And Adam expressed his love for the kimono but admitted he didn’t wear the obi (the traditional belt.) Bono mentioned Adam didn’t wear much under the kimono either. Bono also told the audience Adam wasn’t wearing anything under his pants either during the band intros, and then walked over behind Adam, and got down behind Adam to confirm that fact.

“Bad” was dedicated to Tetsu Nakamura, a doctor from Japan who was killed in Afghanistan a few days ago. Nakamura was working with a charity organization there to improve irrigation in the country. An extended snippet of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” is included in the song tonight.

Like last night there are touches of Japanese throughout the show on screen, including poetry before the show, during the Trump video, at the chorus of “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way” and in the names of several women throughout the HerStory presentation. We will have more thorough coverage of this in the days to come.

The special band T-shirt in red is the shirt for today’s show. It is sold out quickly in about a half hour at merchandise stands.

Both shows in Saitama were announced with the initial announcement of the tour on May 30, 2019. This is due to the complexity of the ticketing process in Japan, and it was the only city where two shows were announced from the start of the tour. Unlike other shows, a VIP package is not made available for Japan. As an alternate, the majority of seats are labeled “SS Seats” and come with an exclusive gift, a package of guitar picks and a piece of drum head for the tour. Two other priced seats did not come with the gift. General admission, which is split into a rear and a front GA with two pricing levels also does not come with the gift. Red Zone, also did not get the gift, although they did get a collectors souvenir ticket.

Sales for the Japan market involve applying for tickets in advance and then a process of lottos assigning tickets. The U2 fan club sale was prior to this process and operated like a straightforward sale. The presale for U2.Com members started on June 4 with Red Hill members, with Wires members entering on the following day. The first presale for tickets through Ticket PIA started on June 14. The general on sale with any materials left over after the presales started on July 20, 2019.

Additional tickets were put on sale on November 20 for both shows when the production and layout of the show was finalized. Tickets were also put on sale at the venue on the day of both concerts.

General Admission was organized with ticket holders being lined up at 4:30pm by ticket number. They were held in numbered areas until the door opened, at which point each number was called starting out. One could arrive just before the doors open and enter in the order assigned to them. On the other hand, due to Red Zone tickets being distributed at the venue and the number given at the time of pick up, a line formed overnight to pick up these tickets.

Officially Released Tracks