Seems like they're rehearsing a lot of war-horses and tracks that went down well on recent tours ("The Electric Co.") as they're probably going to try to have two setlists with a lot of stuff that they can play fairly easily. Not that there won't be rarities, but U2 could easily do two full nights of concert regulars from the last three tours in their sleep.
Interesting, but not surprising, that "Magnificent" appears to be the only NLOTH track to survive into this round. Who knows if it will actually make the setlists, but I think the two nights will include at least one track from every album, so "Magnificent" could be the lone NLOTH representative.
Here was my post from another thread discussing how U2 could easily put together two night's worth of sets mostly by practicing their live standards to perfection, just to give everyone here an idea of what I'm talking about:
1) Rehearse at least a half dozen new tracks to perfection. Start by not choosing any of the ambient or low-key numbers from the album. Instead, they should pick forceful ballads and louder rock numbers in order to get the audience's attention. Rehearse these tracks in front of fans a few times before the tour begins in order to gauge the audience's response.
2) Practice the war horses. While U2 could play "Elevation" or "With or Without You" in their sleep, they should be able to have 30 or so songs on call for shuffling over multiple nights. This will require a slight bit of rehearsing for each number in order to have them ready to go.
The songs:
Boy - I Will Follow, Out Of Control (2)
October - Gloria (1)
War - New Year's Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, 40 (3)
Unforgettable Fire - Bad, Pride (2)
Joshua Tree - Streets, With or Without You, Still Haven't Found, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still (5)
Rattle and Hum - Desire, Angel of Harlem, All I Want Is You (3)
Achtung Baby - The Fly, Until The End Of The World, Mysterious Ways, One, Even Better Than The Real Thing (5)
Zooropa - Stay (1)
Original Soundtracks I - Miss Sarajevo (1)
All That You Can't Leave Behind - Beautiful Day, In A Little While, Walk On, Elevation, Stuck In A Moment (5)
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb - Vertigo, City of Blinding Lights (2)
3) Rehearse to perfection about 8 rarities that you can spread out over two nights (4 a night). Deeper album tracks, b-sides, etc.
U2 would then go on tour with the ability to play roughly 45 songs at will. That would be enough for nearly two complete shows. That doesn't even count numbers they seemed to play with ease on recent tours ("Zoo Station" and "Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me" and "Ultraviolet" and a bunch of HTDAAB tracks, etc.), most of which could also join the rotation.
Even if they don't want to do two entirely different shows, they would only need to play, at most, the same ten songs every night (The four that the audience expects - "Streets" and "One" and "Beautiful Day" and "Vertigo" - along with the half dozen new numbers) and thus would have the most varied setlists in their entire history with a swap of 10-15 different songs each night.
