Cold In Vienna

Perhaps it was the almost 5 days off since the Moscow show. Perhaps it was the unseasonably chilly weather in Vienna, Austria. Whatever it was, U2 made the best of a set filled with uncharacteristic glitches and received a warm welcome.

“Every Breaking Wave” had its second-ever live performance. “Ultra Violet (Light My Way)” filled the encore slot that it has been sharing with “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.” Missing again was “Glastonbury,” the fan consensus favorite of the new material. Overall, the setlist was quite similar to the Moscow show. Where the Russian audience was treated to the “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” duet, the Viennese crowd got a snippet of “Rock Me Amadeus” by the ‘80s Austrian wonder, Falco.

U2Log sums up the night’s problems:

“Bono is in a talkative mood, but he has to be as there are some technical issues that leave space between songs. At one point he resorts to discussing Adam’s farting. Meanwhile, The Edge bears the brunt of the problems. First he doesn’t get his guitar in time for ‘In a little while’, then his guitar fails during ‘Mysterious Ways’, then has to change guitars during COBL and finally it doesn’t seem to be turned up loud enough on ‘Walk On’. ‘Glastonbury’ was listed on the setlist, but not played. The German news site oe24.at claims Bono was given an injection before the show to make him fit to play (“Und dabei musste er heute für das Wien-Konzert extra fitgespritzt werden!” –translates to “and it had to be specially fit-squirted today for the Vienna concert” via Apple’s Dashboard Translator). U2start.com commented: “Great show [...] Bono just didn’t look good at the end.” He was however, in good spirits. Enough to slip in a ‘Rock me Amadeus‘ snippet during Vertigo.”

Ernst Happel Stadium

Vienna, Austria

30 August 2010 Setlist

Intro Space Oddity
01. Return of the Stingray Guitar
02. Beautiful Day / Rain (Snippet)
03. New Year’s Day
04. Get On Your Boots
05. Magnificent
06. Mysterious Ways
07. Elevation
08. Until The End Of The World
09. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
10. Every Breaking Wave
11. In A Little While
12. Miss Sarajevo
13. City of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo / Rock Me Amadeus (snippet)
15. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) / Discotheque (snippet)
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
<<<Desmond Tutu Speech>>>

Encores:
19. One
20. Amazing Grace (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name
21. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender

Thanks to U2Log and U2Gigs for the photos and their continued thorough coverage.

By kramwest1

Bono Mixes Pop and Politics In Russia

Editor’s note: U2′s first-ever Russian gig was perhaps their most political in a while, with the ONE, Greenpeace & Amnesty International activists that have been staples at the 360 shows facing troubles with the local authorities. Here, the Wall Street Journal comments on the content of the gig.

Reposted from http://blogs.wsj.com

A day after he traveled to Sochi on the Black Sea to meet President Dmitry Medvedev, Bono joined the rest of the band onstage at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium. The show was U2’s first-ever in Russia; the group had been one of the few major international acts who hadn’t played in the country, where Western music is hugely popular.

As the band took the stage, the skies opened with torrential rain – especially ironic since “Beautiful Day” was among the first songs. Most of the 50,000-plus crowd stayed dry, though, since the seating area at the stadium – used primarily for soccer – is covered by a roof. The band, as well as the throngs of fans in the dance-floor area, weren’t so lucky. Only the drum kit seemed reliably protected from the rain, while Bono, Edge and bassist Adam Clayton played under the raindrops and got soaked in the process.

Bono treated the crowd to an a capella version of “Singing in the Rain,” though most fans seemed more familiar with the words to U2’s own hits like “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “One” and “With or Without You,” which brought virtually the entire house to its feet.

Bono, at first, directed the political references for which he’s known to places located far from Russia. At one point, the band played “Walk On,” a song dedicated to jailed Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. Between songs, he thanked President Medvedev for his “gracious” reception.

But Bono gave his warmest shout-out (subtitled into Russian on the giant screen above the stage) to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, whom he said was at the show (the two have known each other for about a decade). The crowd’s response was less enthusiastic – though credited with ending communism, Gorbachev is deeply unpopular in Russia for bringing about the end of the Soviet Union.

The band followed the praise of Gorbachev with “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” – which could be interpreted as a veiled reference to Russia’s interrupted move to democracy since Gorbachev left office in 1991. In case anyone missed the point, Bono later led the crowd in a chorus of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” during a break in “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

The Russian politics got heavier in the encores, when Bono, playing acoustic guitar, invited Russian rocker Yuri Shevchuk onstage to join him for a version of Bob Dylan’s classic, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Shevchuk, whose band DDT started out in the underground under the Soviets, has been one of the very few Russian musicians to publicly criticize the Kremlin for rolling back democratic freedoms. Shevchuk confronted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the issue at a meeting with artists and writers earlier this year. He’d signed an appeal with several other activists this week calling on Bono to raise the issues in his meeting with President Medvedev. It wasn’t clear from official Kremlin accounts if Russian domestic policies came up in that session, however. Bono started that meeting saying he hoped to bridge the musical gap between himself, a Led Zeppelin fan, and Medvedev, who is known for his love of Deep Purple (a group Bono and the rest of U2 had jokingly belittled in interviews with the Russian press this week). Medvedev resolved the issue by saying that he likes Led Zeppelin, too.

As the show headed into its third hour Wednesday and the group played its last encore (”Moment of Surrender”) dedicated to the victims of the wildfires that swept Russia this summer), the rain let up, releasing the crowd into a cool August evening. –Greg White

U2 Knocks on Moscow’s Door for the First Time Ever

Tour 360 rolled on Wednesday in Moscow, with U2 playing their first-ever gig in Russia after nearly 34 years as a band.

The show was performed under relatively tense conditions; the stage umbrellas were out as heavy rain pelted Luzhniki Stadium, and an equally heavy Russian military presence led to clashes with activists, plus the shutdown of tents for Greenpeace, the One Campaign, and Amnesty International.

[Read more]

U2 Continues To Amaze With New & Old Songs

As they tend to do, Bono and the gang shook up their setlist for the second night in Helsinki, Finland. The August 21st concert brought the world premiere of “Every Breaking Wave,” the 360 Tour debut of “I Will Follow” and the return of  “No Line On The Horizon” and “Pride (In The Name Of Love).”

“I Will Follow” took its historic, early spot in the set replacing “New Year’s Day.” “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was dropped from the show for the first time since the 360 Tour began in early 2009.
“Pride” took its position following the “Crazy
Tonight (Remix).”

U2 truly mixed up the setlist and the songs by debuting a semi-acoustic (“a sort of Busker version” according to Bono) “No Line On The Horizon.” The song had not been played live since the second leg’s closer in Vancouver last year. It didn’t come off perfectly, but Bono and Edge put new emotion into the song with Adam and Larry joining in part way through the piece.

Taking the place of “North Star” tonight was another new, unreleased song, “Every Breaking Wave.” It is a sorrowful ballad, performed by Bono and Edge. Toward the end of the song Bono told Edge to adjust a chord for his finish. Following the song, Bono told the Helsinki crowd, “No one’s heard that before…including the two of us.”

No Line On The Horizon

Every Breaking Wave

Helsinki, Finland Night 2 Setlist
21 August 2010
Intro/ Space Oddity

1. Return of The Stingray Guitar
2. Beautiful Day / Singing In The Rain (snippet)
3. I Will Follow
4. Get On Your Boots
5. Magnificent
6. Mysterious Ways / My Sweet Lord (snippet) / Norwegian Wood (snippet)
7. No Line On The Horizon (semi-acoustic)
8. Elevation
9. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
10. Every Breaking Wave
11. Glastonbury
12. In A Little While
13. Miss Sarajevo
14. City Of Blinding Lights / Singing In The Rain (snippet)
15. Vertigo
16. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) / Discotheque (snippet)
17. Pride (In The Name of Love)
18. Trouble In The World (snippet) / MLK
19. Walk On

Encore
20. One / Rain (snippet)
21. Where The Streets Have No Name
22. Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment Of Surrender / Singing In The Rain (snippet)

Thank you to U2Gigs for their continued live coverage and video and to Krista Baumane for the photos.

–by kramwest1

First Finnish Show in 13 Years Satisfies Fans Despite Glitches

When U2 finished up their gig in Helsinki tonight, it was the band’s first Finnish concert since a show on the Popmart Tour back in 1997.

Apparently, there were some problems with the screens that delayed the start of the show and some playback glitches in the backing tapes for the tour-designed, techno-version of “Crazy Tonight.” Apparently the crowd’s mood was not too negatively impacted by such minor problems.

The setlist remains relatively stable, with “The Unforgettable Fire” skipped again but with returns of “ Until The End Of The World” and the new song “North Star,” previously only played at the leg’s opening show now two weeks ago.

And once again, thanks to the amazing U2gigs.com for the prompt reports and great photos.

Setlist

Return Of The Stingray Guitar

Beautiful Day

New Year’s Day

Get On Your Boots

Magnificent

Mysterious Ways

Elevation

Until The End Of The World

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

North Star

Glastonbury

In A Little While

Miss Sarajevo

City Of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

Crazy Tonight

Sunday Bloody Sunday

MLK

Walk On

Encore(s):

One

Amazing Grace (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

With Or Without You

Moment of Surrender

Next Page »