Tours I have seen (and they were all great) but if I HAD to rank them:
1. Vertigo (I guess I'm in the minority on this one) 12 shows
2. Popmart 11 shows
3. Elevation 11 shows
4. Zoo TV (indoors) 5 shows
5. Zoo TV Outside Broadcast 5 shows
6. Joshua Tree (had crappy seats, first time seeing U2 live) 1 show
7. 360 good tour, but no solid opener until the final leg for me and then it was a greatest hits tour with U2 going through the motions at that point. Stage was incredible obviously. 5 shows
Tours based solely on bootlegs and for listening pleasure only:
1. Vertigo tour (Electric Co, An Cat Dubh, Gloria, The Ocean, Zoo Station, Running To Stand Still, etc, etc.....) again, guess I'm the minority. Good thing not many of the quality shows from this leg got out, nobody would seem to want them anyway.
2. Popmart (Pop Muzik/Mofo intro, best ever) static setlists though, no need to collect a ton.
3. Lovetown - great setlists and performances, Bono literally pushing his vocals to the brink. Basically the JT tour plus Rattle & Hum songs.
4. Joshua Tree - my favorite U2 album, U2 at the height of hysteria with their popularity, they were THE band that year, bar none.
5. Elevation (11 O Clock Tick Tock finally brought back), liked the intro walking on with the lights on to the Elevation remix. Solid shows for the most part.
6. War tour - U2 still very raw but powerful. These shows all had a certain "edge" to them, no pun intended.
7. 360 tour, the 2010 Euro leg is abysmal to me other than when they did the new material. Rarely listen to those shows. First and 2nd legs were good, but Breathe did not work as an opener, setlist pacing problems IMO. Last leg, good opener, but U2 going through the motions by that time and they dropped The Unf. Fire and No Line.
7. Zoo Tour - I know, everyone loves it. I did also, but rarely listen to any bootlegs from it. I do not know why.
8. Unf. Fire tour. Good tour, I do not care for 11 O Clock opening though, most love it, I think it sounds flat as the opener. I'm sure I'm in the minority on that though.
October and Boy, rarely listen to either, probably prefer Boy, at least when they were playing Things To Make And Do and Boy/Girl.