U2 Vertigo Tour

Bono & Edge appear on screen during Nelson Madela at 90 concert

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:35:56 GMT

Prior to today's "Nelson Mandela at 90" concert at London's Hyde Park, rumours circulated that U2 or at least Bono would make a guest appearance at this concert celebrating Mandela's 90th birthday. As it turned out, none of the band appeared live on stage, but a special performance by Bono and Edge was broadcast on screens.

Bono & Edge performing Happy Birthday

This version is adapted from Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday", with changed lyrics.

U2-Vertigo-Tour.com becomes U2gigs.com

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:58:30 GMT

As some of you would have noticed, U2-Vertigo-Tour.com has recently changed its address, to U2gigs.com. We're well into 2008; the Vertigo Tour finished over a year ago in December 2006 and it's now time to move on and look to the future. Rather than tying the website's identity to the last tour, the new name reflects the whole content of the site - the fact it has the largest U2 concert setlist and photography database on the Internet. Old links now redirect to the new site address, but we recommend that those of you who link to the site update your links for faster and trouble-free web browsing. If you like the site and have your own, please consider linking - more traffic means more submissions of reviews, photos, and setlist information, resulting in a better and more comprehensive site experience for everyone. And more work for us, but we enjoy it!

So now it's just a matter of waiting for U2's next tour to materialise. Reports on the next album's progress are vague, with the band revealing little about when we may hear some new music. So far this year, only three live appearances have taken place. On the 14th of February, Bono made two special appearances, one in Washington DC and then one in New York; at both, he sung an a cappella cover of the Beatles' All You Need Is Love. Eight days later, the whole band appeared on Irish TV to participate with numerous other Irish musicians in a performance of charity single The Ballad Of Ronnie Drew. At this stage, no more live performances are expected in the immediate future. Naturally, wild rumours are doing the rounds - U2 are playing in the Philippines, U2 are playing 20+ gigs at London's O2 Arena, U2 are playing the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. But to use a cliche so common to U2 fansites, just keep in mind Bono's advice in Acrobat, "don't believe what you hear".

Regards,
Macphisto (Webmaster) and Axver (Setlistorian)

U2 to Join Live Nation Artists

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:42:26 GMT

LOS ANGELES, March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Live Nation President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino announced today that the company has reached an agreement in principle to enter into a 12-year global contractual relationship with U2, who will join the company's Live Nation Artists roster.

"U2 has created some of the greatest rock music of all time and their career has been uniquely successful," said Michael Cohl, Chairman of the Board of Live Nation and Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation Artists. "It has long been our intention to consolidate and extend our relationship with U2, so this is a very exciting deal for us. The band has always been forward thinking and as one of our original and most successful artists, we are delighted to be able to work with them for many years into the future."

Your photos wanted for upcoming book

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:36:27 GMT

Matt McGee of atu2.com is currently looking for some photos from specific events for his upcoming book "U2 - A Diary". These events include:

* The �fan displays� at the Vertigo Tour gigs.
* Photos of Bono changing his shoes during �I Will Follow� at the 7 July 2005 show in Berlin.
* Photos of the PopMart Lemon getting stuck in Oslo on 6 August 1997.
* Photos of U2 fans in line at the Point Depot for tickets, November 1989.

If you think you can help check this site for more details.

A Year Later: One Tree Hill, ''Thank you, Sydney!'', and other Vertigo memories

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:50:10 GMT

U2's second of two Vertigo Tour concerts in New Zealand took place a year ago today. Although the tour still had four shows to go, three in Japan and one in Hawaii, it was my tenth and last concert of the tour; eleventh if you count the Brisbane rehearsal. As the quiet in the U2 world this year has been only briefly punctuated, such as by the band's studio sessions in Morocco and the surprise mini-concert two days ago, this has been a year to reflect on the past. For many fans, especially those in the Northern Hemisphere, it has been two years since U2 toured near them. For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, it is hard to believe that it is already a year since U2 visited this part of the world for the first time in 8 years (Australia and South America) or 13 years (New Zealand). There were many memorable events, and the passage of time has revealed which stand out and stick with us the most. In this article, I'd like to mark my own aforementioned anniversary by remembering some of the best and most enjoyable moments of the Vertigo Tour. Naturally, they cover only the shows I attended, and in many cases, the events are chosen simply on a whim or are those about which I could most easily write.

Bono and Edge perform Wave Of Sorrow at surprise appearance in London

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:11:49 GMT

The 20th anniversary re-release of The Joshua Tree has just happened or is on the immediate horizon, depending upon what part of the world you live in. Otherwise, however, all seemed quiet on the U2 front, especially with regards to concert appearances. Rumours of U2 playing 21 concerts at London's O2 Arena next year have been swiftly debunked. U2 have sprung a London surprise on us, though. Last Friday night, the 23rd of November, Bono and Edge appeared at Union Chapel in Islington, London, for an appearance as part of Mencap's Little Noise Sessions.

Recently, U2.com featured a clip of Bono singing along to Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland), a rarity made public for the first time on the Joshua Tree re-release, and some fans wondered if Bono's evident enthusiasm for the track would lead to U2 performing the song live. However, given U2's track record of rarely playing b-sides, let alone other rarities, since the start of the 1990s, this was considered idle speculation. So to considerable surprise, Bono and Edge did in fact debut Wave Of Sorrow live. In addition, Zooropa's Stay (Faraway, So Close!) was performed for the first time in over six years - it last made a live setlist on 25 November 2001 in New York during the Elevation Tour.

The full setlist was:

Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Desire / Need You Tonight (snippet) / Never Tear Us Apart (snippet)
Like A Rolling Stone (snippet) / Angel Of Harlem
Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)

For more details about the concert, please see the NME's article "U2 Play Surprise Gig in London".

Deine Stimme Gegen Armut - P8 concert in Rostock

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:01:31 GMT

On June 7th, a unique concert event took place in Rostock. With the G8 summit just around the corner in Heiligendamm, the largest NGOs and popular musicians joined forces to speak out against extreme poverty around the globe. Bono was there to perform a couple of songs with other artists.

We posted quite a few of our photo to our gallery. Click the image above to see them all.

Photos of other artists at the concert can be found here as flickr set.

The following songs have been played with Bono:
Redemption Song (Bob Marley)
Bono, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'Dour
youtube

You Never Give Me Your Money / Carry That Weight (The Beatles)
Bono, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'Dour, Campino

Get Up Stand Up (Bob Marley)
Bono, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'Dour
youtube (all previous 3 songs)

Mensch
Herbert Groenemeyer, Bono

Mensch - Herbert Groenemeyer with Bono (thanks Uli!)
(German song with Bono singing German as well.)

Other artists involved included Bob Geldof and many German stars like Herbert Groenemeyer, Die Toten Hosen, Silbermond, Seeed, Die Fanstatischen Vier, 2Raumwohnung, Sportfreunde Stiller and Beatsteaks. International guests included Mo'Some Big Noise from Mozambique, Peter Miles from Uganda, Leo Muntu from Zambia, Bassekou Kouyate from Mali, Bangla from Bangladesh and Perrozompopo from Nicaragua. At the end of the show, signatures collected by dozens of NGOs have been presented on stage.

U2 Perform at the Cannes Film Festival

Sun, 20 May 2007 01:13:19 GMT

U2 have just performed on the steps of the Grand Th��tre Lumi�re at the Palais des Festival in Cannes, France prior to the premiere of the U2 3D movie at the Cannes Film Festival. This is the first time the band has performed live since the last gig of the Vertigo Tour in Honolulu on 9 December 2006. In a throwback to the tour, The Arcade Fire's Wake Up was played as the band walked up the red carpet, and then U2 performed a brief set. It was:

1. Vertigo / Ca Plane Pour Moi (snippet)
2. Where The Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)

Bono made a number of comments in French, including the count-in to Vertigo and a short speech during Streets' intro.

This set is notable as one of the extremely few times that Streets has been performed outside of a full tour concert. This has only occurred twice before: the first instance was the very first time it was publicly performed, at its video shoot in Los Angeles on 27 March 1987, and the second instance took place on 3 February 2002 when U2 performed the Super Bowl's half-time show.

Band arrival and Vertigo

Where The Streets Have No Name

AWF U2 Photo Auction NOW LIVE!

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 12:44:34 GMT

(http://www.africanwellfund.org) -- Last year was such a success, we decided to do it again!

In addition to our Bono's birthday donation drive (which is well underway and goes through May 6th), we are offering U2 fans a chance to bid on some great photos from the Vertigo tour, including several from the West Coast and Hawaii.

100% of the proceeds of this auction will go towards building water projects in Africa. Be sure to bookmark our auction link on ebay and come back when the first auction begins on April 14, 2007 at 12pm EST.

Some additional details: Each auction will start at one-minute increments until they are all live. This is to allow time for each individual auction to end separately, as opposed to multiple auctions ending at the same time. So if you are bidding on several photos you will have a better chance of winning them!

AWF would like to thank Phil Romans and all of the following photographers for their generous donation of time and photographs:

Phil Romans, Babette Ross, Bob Reck, Matthias Muehlbradt, Daniel Boud, Greg Wigler, Mike Kurman, Caroline Oosten de Boer, Rob Wanenchak, Ruth Barohn,Ayaz Asif, Henry Wagner, Otto Kitsinger, Ingrid Erler, Jim Rinaldi, Barbara Kibart, Musicfoto.com, JJ Booth, John Griffin

HAPPY BIDDING!!!

A look back at the Vertigo Tour

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 04:17:25 GMT

Firstly, I would like to offer a somewhat belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our visitors from those of us here at U2gigs.com. Have a fantastic 2007 - and let's hope that the year includes a new U2 album. But for now, instead of looking to the future, I would like to turn my sights back to the past and reflect on the last two years of U2's concerts. The Vertigo Tour is now well and truly over, and with everything in the U2 world calming down, now seems to be an opportune time to reflect on what has been. This article is a general reflection on the tour, and shall be followed by a detailed statistical analysis of the tour in the coming days.

The Vertigo Tour: What Might Have Been

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:34:29 GMT

Before writing a final wrap-up of the Vertigo Tour, I felt it would be appropriate to reflect not on what actually happened, but on what might have been. U2 naturally do not perform every song that they rehearse, and this article's purpose is to look at what did not make it into the setlist of any of the tour's concerts. Before commencing, however, I must offer a warning: any article of this nature inherently suffers from a lack of verifiability and completion. Please treat statements made in this article with caution; all information is presented in good faith and the belief it is accurate. If you are able to expand upon this article or offer confirmation of any songs, please feel free to contact us. Now, with that said, let's see what might have been!

Looking back on the Vertigo Tour's fifth leg

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 15:17:55 GMT

It has been almost a week since the last show of the Vertigo Tour. The Hawaii concert was the 131st of the tour (132nd if you count the Los Angeles public rehearsal), and the 13th of the fifth leg. The dust has now begun to settle on the Hawaii show, with the flow of news and reviews beginning to slow and a bootleg starting to circulate amongst the trading community and online (see U2Start.com for MP3s), so I feel now is a good time to look back on the final leg of the tour. An assessment of the entire Vertigo Tour shall come a bit closer to Christmas, so keep your eyes out for it.

Honolulu Setlist

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 08:31:36 GMT

Today, U2 played the final show of the Vertigo Tour in Honolulu. The setlist included Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses for the first time since 13 November 2005, and it was performed with a fan from the crowd on piano. After an absence of four shows, Love And Peace Or Else returned for a final Vertigo Tour appearance. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day joined the band for The Saints Are Coming. Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam joined the band for a cover of Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World. The last song played on the Vertigo Tour was All I Want Is You. Stay tuned to U2gigs.com for post-tour summaries, statistics, and other details!

The full setlist was:

1. City Of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Elevation
4. I Will Follow
5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
6. Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)
7. Angel Of Harlem
8. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
9. The First Time
10. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / La Vie En Rose (snippet)
11. Love And Peace Or Else
12. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
13. Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
14. Miss Sarajevo
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16. Where The Streets Have No Name
17. One

Encores:
18. The Fly / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (snippet)
19. Mysterious Ways
20. With Or Without You
21. Window In The Skies
22. The Saints Are Coming
23. Rockin' In The Free World
24. All I Want Is You

Photo by Miami Stu. Click on image for more photos from the show.

All details for this show including reviews and photos can be found here.

If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.

Hawaii Rehearsals Report

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 03:01:25 GMT

(U2.com) -- On Friday night the band ran through rehearsals one last time ahead of the final show of the tour in Honolulu. Great to hear Neil Young's 'Rocking in the Free World'.

That was the song they joined Pearl Jam to perform at the Make Poverty History show in Melbourne a couple of weeks back - and Pearl Jam are on the bill, along with Rocko and the Devils, for the final show.

Love and Peace was in the run-through as was Window in the Skies. As for the rest, our lips are sealed. We'll keep you in touch.

Saitama #3 Setlist

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:32:15 GMT

Today, U2 played their third and final show in Japan. Only one Vertigo show now remains, that in Honolulu. Today's show contained a number of setlist surprises. Out Of Control was performed for the first time on the fifth leg; it was last played on 1 November 2005 when local band Exit joined U2 on stage to perform the song in honour of Larry's birthday the previous day (the last time it was performed by just U2 themselves was 20 October 2005). This show also saw the return of Vertigo x2, as it was repeated in the encore. The double use of Vertigo hasn't been done since 12 February 2006. Furthermore, the two newly recorded songs from U218 Singles, The Saints Are Coming and Window In The Skies, were played back-to-back in the encore, and The First Time appeared for another rare performance.

The full setlist was:

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)
Elevation
Out Of Control / I Wanna Be Sedated (snippet)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
Beautiful Day / Presence Of The Lord (snippet)
Angel Of Harlem
The First Time
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Bad / Ruby Tuesday (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You
The Saints Are Coming
Window In The Skies
Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)

All details for this show including reviews and photos can be found here.

If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.

Review of Auckland, 25/11

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 14:22:43 GMT

Today's review is unfortunately the last I will be writing for Vertigo's fifth leg, as the second concert in Auckland was my last Vertigo Tour concert. However, after the conclusion of the tour, I may offer reviews of the three concerts I saw in May 2005 in Boston as reflections upon the tour, and stay tuned after Vertigo's conclusion for other wrap-ups on the tour and articles on different U2 topics. In a way, I am glad that this is my final fifth leg review, for if I could choose any concert to be my last review, it is this one, the best U2 concert I have attended.

Review of Auckland, 24/11

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 13:18:16 GMT

On 4 December 1993, U2 performed the second of two Zoo TV concerts in New Zealand. Almost thirteen years later to the day, the band finally returned to the "land of the long white cloud" (the English translation of Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand) for two concerts at Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium. As a New Zealander, U2's visit to my homeland meant a great deal. I had not had the pleasure of seeing the band in the country on earlier tours, and I had all but written off even the possibility of the band ever returning. Accordingly, the band's two concerts had a lot of significance for me, and today's review shall focus on the first gig.

Review of Melbourne, 19/11

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:25:21 GMT

In the three days between between the second and third Saitama gigs, I aim to offer a concert review a day. These reviews were intended to be online much earlier, but computer issues and poor Internet access led to delays, for which I apologise. These three reviews will cover the last shows of the Vertigo Tour in the Southern Hemisphere, and today's review is of the second show in Melbourne, U2's last in Australia. I also feel it was their best. This show was very eventful, so this review is accordingly more lengthy than prior ones. If you are in a hurry, I feel the most interesting passages are those about Edge's guitar troubles around Beautiful Day and Angel Of Harlem, and the last few paragraphs, which deal with the second encore.

Saitama #2 Setlist

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:19:15 GMT

At today's second concert in Saitama, U2 continued to shake up the setlist. Possibly the most notable surprise is the return of All I Want Is You, which hadn't been performed since 2 March 2006. It regained the position it had held at a few South American songs as concert closer. After songs from Rattle And Hum being almost totally neglected in the earlier stages of the tour, this is the first show since 1 September 2001 (the Slane DVD show) to feature three songs from Rattle And Hum. In other news, The Saints Are Coming was cut for the first time on the fifth leg, making way for Window In The Skies. The First Time was played for just the second time on the fifth leg, and Love And Peace Or Else was left out again, this time making way not for Bad but for One Tree Hill, which continues to remain in the setlist post-Auckland and has moved to the main set after two concerts as the closing song. Furthermore, for only the second time this tour, the "shine like stars" verse was added to the end of With Or Without You (the first instance was 11 October 2005, New York).

The full setlist was:

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Until The End Of The World
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
Angel Of Harlem
The First Time
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
One Tree Hill
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)
Window In The Skies
Desire
All I Want Is You

All details for this show including reviews and photos can be found here.

Photo by Chas Pope. Click on image for more photos from the show.

If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.

Saitama #1 Setlist

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:58:00 GMT

Today, U2 played their first of three Japanese concerts at the Saitama Super Arena just outside of Tokyo in Saitama, and the setlist contained a number of surprises. The most notable is the live debut of Window In The Skies, the new original song that appears on U218 Singles and will be released as a commercial single in January (as a statistical sidenote, this means that Electrical Storm regains its status as the only U2 single to never be performed live). Despite expectations that One Tree Hill was a special twice-off for the two New Zealand concerts, it has remained in the setlist and closed the show, and Love And Peace Or Else has remained absent in favour of Bad preceding Sunday Bloody Sunday. The version of Walk On performed was the acoustic version. It should also be noted that U2 had no opening act for this show and the same will apply to the other two Japanese concerts.

The full setlist was:

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / She Loves You (snippet)
Elevation
I Will Follow
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)
Window In The Skies
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Bad / 40 (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
The Fly / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (snippet)
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You
The Saints Are Coming
Angel Of Harlem
One Tree Hill

Windows In The Skies is available on youtube (thanks to uploader arran1!):

All details for this show including reviews and photos can be found here.

If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.