2022-11-08

The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"City Of Blinding Lights"
"Vertigo"
"With or Without You"
"Out of Control"
"Stories for Boys"
"I Will Follow"
"Iris (Hold Me Close)"
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"Pride (In the Name of Love)"
"Where the Streets Have No Name"
"Desire"
"Beautiful Day"
"Torna a Surriento"

Encore:

"City Of Blinding Lights"

Other Music Used in Show (Non-Bono Performances)

"Gloria"
"October"
"Miss Sarajevo"
"Into the Heart"

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "Empire State Human" - The Human League
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "La Traviata Act I: Dell'invito trascorsa e gia l'ora" - Dame Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Matteo Manuguerra

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by Bono:

Cabaret

Show Details:

This is the fourth night of Bono’s “Stories of Surrender” 14-city book tour, being held in small theatre settings. Tonight’s appearance in Chicago is at the biggest venue on the tour, holding just 3600 people at capacity. The Chicago Theatre where the show was held was first opened in October 1921 and is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.

Bono is accompanied by Jacknife Lee on keyboards and percussion. Kate Ellis is on cello. And Gemma Doherty provides backing vocals as well as performing on harp and keyboards. The three are accompanying Bono for the full tour.

In Toronto, the previous show, the show ended without an encore. Tonight in Chicago the second version of “City of Blinding Lights” returned. Bono’s voice sounded well rested, and reports say quite strong. Upon entering the venue he did meet briefly with fans gathered, but as on previous nights, he shared he was trying to rest his voice, and kept conversations to a minimum. The set list was the same tonight as it was in early shows in New York and Boston.

Pre-show music was mostly from Bono’s 2020 playlist of “60 Songs That Saved My Life” which he created for his 60th birthday. The last song played before he took the stage was Human League’s “Empire State Human” which was not part of Bono’s 2020 playlist.

As with other shows, Bono made references to the local city. Tonight in Chicago he recalled U2 coming to play Park West, and hearing “I Will Follow” on the radio while they were in town. U2 played the venue twice in 1981, once in April and returning in December after the release of October. Bono also shared with the audience how (RED) had its birth in Chicago. He mentioned that the whole thing had started on North Michigan Avenue, with an appearance on Oprah. As part of the announcement of the initiative, Bono had joined Oprah on a shopping trip in October 2006. He also mentioned the stage props that U2 typically have on tour, including the claw and the lemon, and he shared that the lemon is now in Lincoln Park with a smile. Some thought the reference was a mention of the bean, a mirrored art piece in Millenium Park, but it turns out there is an actual lemon in Lincoln Park currently as part of another art installation.

Tickets for the Chicago event went on sale at 10am on Friday, October 7. U2.com subscribers who were paid subscribers prior to the tour announcement had entry to a presale one day earlier on October 6. Tickets ranged from $58.50 – $253.50 in the sale, and dynamic pricing was not in effect for these ticket sales. Tickets were secure mobile tickets only, and each purchase had a delayed delivery, and was not issued until 72 hours prior to the event. There was a two ticket limit per person for this show. Each ticket purchased came with a copy of Bono’s memoir, Surrender. For the Chicago event these copies of the book were given out at the venue.

Many thanks to Tim, Marine, U2Lyric and Patty for their contributions above.

Officially Released Tracks