This was one band that I so badly wanted to see perform live. I was all set to see them in Tokyo for their Vertigo tour in 2006 but fell ill on that weekend :(. Kanags I missed you this time, bro.
I finally got to watch them at the Rose Bowl on their 360* tour and what a show it was! Has to be one of their best concerts and since it was live webcast on youtube across the world, certainly their largest.
Some of the highlights:
- BEP was the opening act and since I have seen them twice before it was a bit of a yawn except for the surprise jam that they did with Slash singing ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ from GNR!
- U2 played non-stop for 2:20 minutes and here is the set list. More than I could ever ask for.
1. Breathe
2. Get On Your Boots
3. Magnificent
4. Mysterious Ways
5. Beautiful Day (with a few lines from In God’s Country)
6. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, with coda of Stand By Me,
7. Stuck In A Moment (acoustic guitar version)
8. No Line On The Horizon,
9. Elevation,
10. In A Little While (last verse spoken by an astronaut in the International Space Station),
11.Unknown Caller,
12.Until the End of the World
13.The Unforgettable Fire
14.City of Blinding Lights,
15.Vertigo,
16.I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
17.Sunday Bloody Sunday,
18.MLK (Martin Luther King tribute),
19.Walk On (Aung San Suu Kyi tribute) with Never Walk Alone snippet
Desmond Tutu recorded message
Encore:
20.One
21.Amazing Grace
22.Where the Streets Have No Name
23.Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
24.With or Without You
25.Moment of Surrender
- I stood in line for a total of six hours to get a good spot in the Field section. While I couldn’t get into the circle I was right up-front near the second stage.
- The concert lasted 4.5 hours and so I was on my feet for close to 12 hours that day (yes I’m complaining like an old man)
- Once the concert was done the line for the shuttles back was humongous. There must have been about 10,000 people just taking the shuttles that night.
- Rose Bowl was sold out – 96,000 attendees.
- The concert was live webcast on Youtube and is probably one of the largest audiences for a single concert ever.
- The concert is archived – here
- It’s a pity that I only had my iPhone as I thought cameras wouldn’t be allowed in.
Bono introducing the band
Here are some of my pictures shot with an iPhone 3GS
