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May 24, 2017 , 6:30pm

Tour: Joshua Tree 2017 1st Leg (North America)

Venue: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas, United States

Main Set

1. Sunday Bloody Sunday
2. New Year's Day
3. Pride
4. Where The Streets Have No Name, California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
6. With Or Without You
7. Bullet The Blue Sky
8. Running To Stand Still
9. Red Hill Mining Town
10. In God's Country
11. Trip Through Your Wires
12. One Tree Hill
13. Exit, Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe (snippet)
14. Mothers Of The Disappeared

Encore

1. Miss Sarajevo
2. America (Simon and Garfunkel) (snippet), Bad, America (Simon and Garfunkel) (snippet)

1. Beautiful Day
2. Elevation
3. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
4. One with Hear Us Coming, Lord
5. The Little Things That Give You Away

The terrorist attack two nights ago at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, is heavy on the band's hearts tonight, and Bono mentions it a couple times during the show. He dedicates "One Tree Hill" to the victims of the attack, quoting a lyric from "California" in the process: "All of us are with you, with Manchester. We are broken-hearted. There is no end to grief. That's how we know there is no end to love."

Tonight's show is U2's first in a so-called "red" state -- i.e., a state that voted in favor of President Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Although little of the show's messaging, which is rife with themes that are considered to be more blue state-friendly (i.e., liberal), is changed, there are a couple concessions to the location. Bono seems more effusive than usual in his praise of the USA -- after reciting lines from the poem, The New Colossus, which is mounted at the Statue of Liberty, Bono tells the audience, "United States of America, we love you!" Later, Bono praises two Texas Republicans -- President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura -- for their support of the fight against AIDS. Mrs. Bush's image is also added tonight (for the first time) to the collage of female icons that shows on screen during "Ultraviolet."

As far as the setlist is concerned, it's the same as U2's show three nights ago in Pasadena, meaning no "A Sort Of Homecoming" and a rearranged order after the Joshua Tree songs, including two encores.

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Latest U2 Tour News & Rumors

U2 to perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live next week

Posted: May 18, 2017
By: Matt McGee

U2 will perform next week on ABC's late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live. Kimmel himself announced it during his show tonight (Thursday):

Next week on the show we have brand new shows... (announces non-musical guests) ... music from Bush, Zac Brown Band and Lil Yachty. And U2 will be here in celebration -- this is going to be very, very exciting -- of the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree album. So please join us for all of that.

Although he doesn't specifically say U2 will perform, including U2 in the list of musical guests is a signal that they will.

Ironically, we were chasing down this rumor today, posted the rumor on Twitter and then Kimmel made the announcement on air about 10 minutes later. We've heard the band will perform two songs and that it'll happen on Kimmel's show next Tuesday, May 23. That's a day off on the Joshua Tree 2017 tour, but just a day before U2 performs in Houston.

U2 has never appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but Bono has participated in two (RED) Shopathon fundraisers during Kimmel's show.

UPDATE, May 19: Variety.com confirms that this'll happen on Tuesday, May 23, and also quotes a hard-to-find news release that says U2 will do an interview and perform on the show: "...their only sit down TV interview and performance while on the road in the U.S. for The Joshua Tree Tour 2017."

 

U2 Set List: Vancouver, May 12, 2017

Posted: May 13, 2017
By: Matt McGee

U2 opened The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 Friday night at BC Place in Vancouver with a show that ran about two hours and highlighted the 30th anniversary of U2's most popular album. It seemed to start a little later than expected, due to a difficult entry process that especially affected GA ticket holders.

The band played a handful of songs from War and The Unforgettable Fire on the b-stage (shaped like the Joshua Tree logo) before launching into a non-stop performance of the entire Joshua Tree album in sequence on the main stage. Each song featured a separate video created by U2's longtime photographer, Anton Corbijn, on an enormous and incredibly clear video screen behind the band. The encore featured a mix of post-1990 songs and also featured one new song, "The Little Things That Give You Away," which Bono introduced as "a Song Of Experience," referring to the name of U2's next album. (See the lyrics here.) At the end of the song, the screen showed a visual of what we expect is the Songs Of Experience album cover -- a photo of Bono's son Eli holding hands with Edge's daughter, Sian (who also happens to be wearing a military helmet).

For more, see the full Vancouver concert set list.

You can also see the new song in our video below.

 

(Spoilers) Day 7: U2's Joshua Tree 2017 Tour rehearsals in Vancouver

Posted: May 10, 2017
By: Matt McGee

U2 was back inside BC Place stadium on Wednesday for what's expected to be the band's final rehearsal before The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 begins on Friday. Band members began arriving at about 4:30 PM PT, and only Bono stopped to visit with fans and sign autographs before heading inside. Today's his 57th birthday, and the gathered crowd didn't miss the opportunity to give him birthday cards, signs and more in honor of his special day.

Shortly after Bono went inside, fans heard several songs being practiced -- again, we're not 100 percent sure if this was the band playing, their stage techs, or even playback from earlier rehearsals. In any case, here's what fans heard in the afternoon:

"Pride"
"Where The Streets Have No Name"
"Beautiful Day"
"Elevation"
"Ultraviolet"
"One"
"In God's Country"
"Red Hill Mining Town" (instrumental)

After several hours of quiet, the full rehearsal began a little before 9:00 PM PT and saw U2 playing a similar set of songs to what they've played in previous rehearsals:

1.) "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
2.) "New Year's Day"
3.) "A Sort Of Homecoming"
4.) "MLK"
5.) "Pride"
6.) "Where The Streets Have No Name"
7.) "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
8.) "With Or Without You"
9.) "Bullet The Blue Sky"
10.) "Running To Stand Still"
11.) "Red Hill Mining Town"
12.) "In God's Country"
13.) "Trip Through Your Wires"
14.) "One Tree Hill"
15.) "Exit"
16.) "Mothers Of The Disappeared" (with "El Pueblo Vencera")
17.) "Beautiful Day"
18.) "Elevation"
19.) "Ultraviolet"
20.) "One"
21.) "Miss Sarajevo"

At this point, the stadium's public address system went quiet, while some fans thought they could hear the band continuing to practice inside.

 

(Spoilers) Day 6: U2's Joshua Tree 2017 Tour rehearsals in Vancouver

Posted: May 09, 2017
By: Matt McGee

U2 continued Joshua Tree tour rehearsals Tuesday night in Vancouver, but it was a very short night compared to prior rehearsals.

The band arrived at BC Place late in the afternoon and, not too long after that, fans outside the stadium heard a group of songs that we (and they) seem to agree was not U2 rehearsing, but either playback of previous rehearsals or more likely the band's stage techs playing (because there was little singing heard in this first group of songs):

"In God's Country"
"Elevation" (short clip here)
"Red Hill Mining Town" (organ only)
"A Sort Of Homecoming"

After that, all was quiet until about 10:15 PM PT when what sounded like an actual band rehearsal began with these songs:

1.) "Where The Streets Have No Name"
2.) "Pride"
3.) "Where The Streets Have No Name"
4.) "Bullet The Blue Sky"
5.) "Running To Stand Still" (twice)
6.) "Red Hill Mining Town"
7.) "In God's Country"
8.) "Trip Through Your Wires"
9.) "One Tree Hill"

At that point, U2 had run up right against the 11:00 PM PT curfew and continued with the sound so low it was barely audible outside the stadium. Still, rehearsal continued with:

10.) "Exit"
11.) "Mothers Of The Disappeared"
12.) "Beautiful Day" (audio was turned back up for this song and remained up until the end)
13.) "Elevation"
14.) "Beautiful Day"

And with that, rehearsal seemed to come to an end. (Thanks to Bjorn and Vid for the live streams.) U2's expected to do a final rehearsal on Wednesday. The tour begins Friday!

 

(Spoilers) Day 5: U2's Joshua Tree 2017 Tour rehearsals in Vancouver

Posted: May 08, 2017
By: Matt McGee

After a day off Sunday, U2 was back at BC Place stadium in Vancouver on Monday for its fifth day of rehearsals. The band arrived in the late afternoon and spent a couple hours working on a number of songs, often stopping restarting and sometimes only playing very brief versions. As always, for these afternoon songs, it's possible that some or all were not the band performing, but their stage techs.

A very brief clip of the first song can be heard here -- we're having an internal staff debate whether it's "I Still Haven't Found..." or something else. After that, fans outside the stadium heard the following:

1.) "I Still Haven't Found..." / other? (see above)
2.) "Red Hill Mining Town"
3.) "Running To Stand Still"
4.) "Where The Streets Have No Name"
5.) "Pride" (very brief bit of the song)
6.) "Where The Streets Have No Name" (abbreviated)
7.) "Ultraviolet"
8.) "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (stopped and restarted)

After a lengthy break, and with a few dozen fans listening outside, the band took the stage shortly before 9:00 PM PT for another rehearsal of what appears to be most (or all) of the actual set they'll play during Friday's opener:

9.) "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
10.) "New Year's Day"
11.) "A Sort Of Homecoming"
12.) "MLK"
13.) "Pride"
14.) "Where The Streets Have No Name"
15.) "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
16.) "With Or Without You"
17.) "Bullet The Blue Sky"
18.) "Running To Stand Still"
19.) "Red Hill Mining Town"
20.) "In God's Country"
21.) "Trip Through Your Wires"
22.) "One Tree Hill"
23.) "Exit" (short clip here)
24.) "Mothers Of The Disappeared"

After a short break, similar to an encore break, rehearsal continued with:

25.) "Beautiful Day"
26.) "Ultraviolet"
27.) "One"
28.) "Miss Sarajevo"

Some of our crew thought they could hear more rehearsing after "Miss Sarajevo" -- a very quiet version of the new song that U2 has practiced in previous rehearsals. It's possible the band is working on that song and/or others with the stadium's public address speakers off so that no one outside can hear.

Thanks to the several fans who streamed from outside the stadium on Periscope and/or Mixlr.

 

(Spoilers) Day 4: U2's Joshua Tree 2017 Tour rehearsals in Vancouver

Posted: May 06, 2017
By: Matt McGee

After a well-deserved break on Friday, U2 returned to BC Place stadium in Vancouver on Saturday for a fourth day of rehearsals before next week's Joshua Tree Tour 2017 opener.

There was little activity at the stadium until late Saturday afternoon. The band seems to have begun around 5:00 PM PT and, over the course of about two hours, worked on these songs with a lot of stops and starts, multiple takes, etc.:

1.) "Running To Stand Still"
2.) "Trip Through Your Wires"
3.) "Miss Sarajevo"
4.) "A Sort Of Homecoming"
5.) "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
6.) "With Or Without You" (guitar only)

Some fans reported hearing work on "Beautiful Day" and "Red Hill Mining Town," too, but no one from our staff heard those so we're not going to put them in the list above. As always, it's also possible that some/all of the song work above was done by the band's techs.

U2 took the stage at about 9:00 pm PT, following the schedule established earlier in the week, for what's definitively a live, full-band rehearsal. Here's what they played:

7.) "New Year's Day"
8.) "A Sort Of Homecoming"
9.) "MLK"
10.) "Pride"
11.) "Where The Streets Have No Name"
12.) "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
13.) "With Or Without You"
14.) "Bullet The Blue Sky" (with a bit of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog")
15.) "Running To Stand Still"
16.) "Red Hill Mining Town"
17.) "In God's Country"
18.) "Trip Through Your Wires"
19.) "One Tree Hill"
20.) "Exit"
21.) "Mothers Of The Disappeared" (with "El Pueblo Vencera")
22.) "Beautiful Day"
23.) "Ultraviolet"
24.) "One" (with some kind of spoken word intro)
25.) "Miss Sarajevo" (with some kind of female voice intro)

After "Miss Sarajevo," there was a brief playing of keyboards that could've been the new song heard earlier this week ... or could've been nothing at all.

And that appears to be the end of rehearsal, which wrapped up at about 10:40 PM PT.

 

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Last 5 Shows May 24, 2017: Houston May 23, 2017: Hollywood May 21, 2017: Pasadena May 20, 2017: Pasadena May 17, 2017: Santa Clara

Next 5 Shows May 26, 2017: Arlington June 3, 2017: Chicago June 4, 2017: Chicago June 7, 2017: Pittsburgh June 9, 2017: Manchester

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