Live Moments In U2's History That Still Bring A Lump In Your Throat

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Too many great moments to name over all the shows, but Elevation was far and away the best of the 00's tours and right now I'm thinking of moments from that tour give me chills...

"What can I give back to God" intro to Streets (Boston) is probably my favourite moment of live U2 from the official releases.

And Slane is probably my favourite of all the concert vids, and has a lot of bits I love...

AIWIY--->Streets
"Here us coming" at the end of One
"You look so beautiful, so beautiful...spirit is in the house...hallelujah""... to close out Walk On.
 
Rhiannon64 said:
There are so many moving moments in U2's live performance history. To me the most iconic moment was the leap at Live Aid. I can't remember anthing like that happening before that concert. That was an OMG moment. It really showed Bono's humanity for that poor girl that was being crushed.

So, some other moments that have left an impression on me:

This is an audio of One from the Tacoma show from April 21, 1992. This one to me is very emotional. I love the high F# Bono hits in falsetto voice towards the end. I haven't found a live video of this performance yet.
U2 - One (Live Tacoma 92 GREAT VERSION!!) - YouTube

The next is With or Without from Sao Paulo 1998. This video wrenches at my heart. The whole exchange between Bono and the fan is intense. He seems so broken up at around 1:30 that he can't get the words out. He also seems to be crying.....:sad: (or he's sweating). In either case it's very moving.
U2 - With Or Without You - Popmart Live From Sao Paulo 1998 - YouTube

I think that version of Dirty Day posted above is one of my new faves. I've never seen it before.

What a great band. :heart:
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Thanks for this. Not to speak to anyone else's replies appreciate them all..but in general not just a rote list of all of one's favorite moments...but maybe a couple, with some depth as to why it struck such a nerve with you..what it means to you..if that makes any sense..

Of course, if anyone wants to get that detailed for tens or hundreds of instances..have at it! :)
 
cobl04 said:
The Vertigo 5th leg versions destroy all Elevation renditions.
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They may have sounded better, but the emotion of singing that for his father the week after he died is evident in Bono's performance, and it's spellbinding.
 
U2 Edge - Sunday bloody sunday - Sarajevo 1997 PopMart tour - Edge singing - YouTube

I think this one goes without saying.

15 - U2 Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Slane Castle Live) HD - YouTube

This is the moment that epitomizes why I love watching U2, these are four best friends, brothers that absolutely love playing together through thick & thin, not just for adoration and economic gain, and this concert is being performed on the grounds of where they wrote/recorded this song, arguably their breakthrough hit, inagurably an important song to them, and though they'd played it hundreds of times by then you can see the joy on their faces in this one performance, just look at when Bono & Larry smile at each other.
 
The Madison Square Garden shows just after 9/11 were pretty unforgettable. I had a tear in my eye most of the show. When the names of the victims came up on the screen during "ONE" I lost it. When the firemen came out at the end it was emotional too !
 
Sunday bloody Sunday -------> R&H DVD (to me the greatest U2 moment ever)
Bad --------> any version 84 - 90
Electric Co ----------> any version 80 - 05
11 o'clock tick tock -----------> any version in the 80's only
Bullet the blue sky ---------> any Zoo TV + Elevation Boston
Love is blindness ----------> any Zoo TV
Kite ----------> Elevation Tour
Exit ----------> R&H DVD
The Fly ----------> any version 92 - 12
Please ---------> any version PopMart
Mofo ---------> any version PopMart
Discotheque -----------> Vertigo Tour USA
RTSS ---------> any version 87 - 93
MW (slide solo at the end) -----------> 92 - 06


Those are my main "goose bumps" moments..... forever.
 
nathan1977 said:
I'm surprised no one's mentioned With or Without You from Rattle and Hum yet. Truly a top performance, brilliantly shot, with one of the greatest tags that they've ever written to a song ever.
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Absolutely.

cobl04 said:
Running to Stand Still/Dirty Old Town from Point Depot.

Holy fucking shit.
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Yeah, forgot that one also. Fucking brilliant. There's a LOT of moment's from those Point Depot shows that rank pretty high up there.

My biggest U2 regret is not seeing any of those Lovetown shows. Probably the best set lists ever, and from what I've seen and heard some of those performances were just over the top good. I love the unscripted, unchoreographed feel those concerts have.

Actually, if they can do something like that again for the next tour...wow.
 
Super Bowl performance of Streets
Grammy Performance in Walk On

The Joshua Tree Dublin shows on YouTube are special. The crowd sings so loud to every word of Streets and then you have the fly over by Ireland’s National Guard(or army perhaps).

Rose bowl (360) performance of Streets

Yeah....I like Streets :)
 
Pretty much anything from the Rattle and Hum movie. Bad, With Or Without You, Sunday Bloody Sunday, and when Heartland kicks in when they are sitting together on the hill.
 
The Lovetown Point Depot shows get a lot of attention (rightly so) but Rotterdam January 10 1990 is better IMO. The final and greatest of all Lovetown shows.
 
Bad from Rattle & Hum is what made me a U2 fan for life. I got into them and thought "this is a good band!" Then I saw that performance, and every other band/artist would always be 2nd at best. U2 were Untouchable in my eyes. All the live performances from RH are amazing.

LIB Sydney zoo tv... I credit that guitar solo as my main motivator for wanting to pick up and learn the guitar. I've been playing guitar for over 20 years now, and while I never made it as far as the Edge, it is something that has enriched my life in so many immeasurable ways.
 
The_acrobat said:
Bad from Rattle & Hum is what made me a U2 fan for life. I got into them and thought "this is a good band!" Then I saw that performance, and every other band/artist would always be 2nd at best. U2 were Untouchable in my eyes. All the live performances from RH are amazing.
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"Bad" for me also, but my first encounter with a live version was on the Boston Elevation DVD, leading into "40" and "Streets." I saw that for the first time on VH1 when I was 14 and music had never emotionally moved me like that before. The guitar intro before "The Fly" makes me tear up a little just from the sheer beauty of it.

I also have to mention the Super Bowl performance and "Running to Stand Still" from the ZooTV DVD.
 
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