Opening Act(s): Kings of Leon
Setlist:
City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, The Cry, The Electric Co., An Cat Dubh-Into The Heart, Beautiful Day, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love And Peace Or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet The Blue Sky-When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Running To Stand Still, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Where The Streets Have No Name, One. Encore(s): Zoo Station, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, All Because Of You, Yahweh, 40.
Remarks:
Bono brings two young girls on stage during 'Into The Heart.' Actor Jim Carrey is spotted in the VIP area tonight, and Gavin Friday (who had come over to assist with the recent video shoot in Chicago) is also in attendance.
Media Review:
Philadelphia Inquirer
U2 rocks the Wachovia Center (and tries to save the world)
by Dan DeLuca
The Man Who Would Save the World brought a long to-do list to the sold-out Wachovia Center on Saturday:
Educate date-night U2 fans about the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Don a white headband that uses the Muslim crescent, the Star of David and a crucifix to spell out "CoeXisT."
Discuss how the July '85 Live Aid concert "changed [U2's] life, and set us on a course" leading to One, the organization that intends to "make poverty history."
And - lest even ardent fans get tired of the messianic preaching from a band built around the notion that rock-and-roll is not about rebellion so much as duty ("One life," the song goes, "you got to do what you should") - shut up every once in a while, and sing.
Check, check, check and double-check. At the first of U2's four Philadelphia shows on its Vertigo tour - the Irish rockers play the Wachovia again Sunday, then return Oct. 16-17 - Bono gave the people what they paid up to $160 for: two-hours-plus of rousing rock-star heroics, during which U2 revisited its back catalog and invested familiar anthems with enough fervent belief to give even the most skeptical observers goose bumps.
The show confirmed impressions made by last year's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and its predecessor, All That You Can't Leave Behind.
After spending the '90s gamely trying to explode their self-made image of pompous sanctimony by experimenting with irony and electronic dance music, U2's musicians have gotten back to what they do best: singing and playing heart-on-their-sleeve songs like they mean them, man.
At the Wachovia, that meant connecting new material such as the opening "City of Blinding Lights" and "Vertigo" with the kinetic, early-1980s songs "The Electric Co." and "The Cry."
While standbys such as "I Will Follow" have been jettisoned, they've been replaced by new songs of spiritual seeking such as "Yahweh," or nearly forgotten tunes such as the stately sing-along and show-closer "40."
Of course, U2 isn't entirely about the guy who introduced himself to two young girls - brought them on stage for "Into the Heart" - by saying: "My name's Paul, but I call myself Bono." He got a little help from the locked-in rhythm section of Adam Clayton and the martial beats of the band's Dorian Gray drummer, Larry Mullen Jr.
If you shifted focus from the bloke who dropped bits of Frank Sinatra's "Send in the Clowns," and the Beatles' "Blackbird" into the set, you'd have noticed the guy who calls himself The Edge. He was the one with the skullcap, shooting off sonic projectiles "Bullet the Blue Sky," playing roiling slide-guitar licks on "Beautiful Day" and switching to piano on the fragile "Running to Stand Still." And making it clear that - despite the outsized ambitions of its grandiose front man - U2 is, first and foremost, a great rock-and-roll band.
© Philadelphia Inquirer, 2005.
U2Station.com on Facebook
U2Station.com on Flickr
Skip to top
It was an incredible night. My wife and I were seated 11 rows from the ellipse facing The Edge. The crowd was incredible, I have read some negative reviews about the sound, or the fans but from where I was sitting - literally and figuratively - this just wasn't the case. People were singing, jumping, crying and smiling at the same time. When Bono pulled the two young girls up on the Elipse and walked them around the end of it and then introduced himself - "My name is Paul, but I call myself Bono..." was touching. When Bono sang "Sometimes..." you could feel the heaviness in his heart and it pulled at you. The Edge was incredible, his riffs and cuts were as hard and crushing and as smooth and liquid as they needed to be. Seeing him in front of us on the ellipse was awesome as he stood there just
folding his melodies into the fabric that are U2. Then there were Adam and Larry magically pounding out the heartbeat of the music. And then as the night closed on "40" you could not help but feel moved as each member of the band left the stage with a smile and a wave - leaving only Larry with the singing audience. It was a magical night. It is so hard to verbalize an experience but I will try.....
"Philadelphia, was for that night, the City of Blinding Lights, I was standing and cheering when I felt the Vertigo kick in. I felt like I was at an Elevation that even The Electic Co
couldn't reach. It was then that I watched An Cat Dubh go Straight Into the Heart of the person swaying next to me. My mind floating, my heart pumping reflecting on the Beautiful Day we were given for this night. It was as if I had taken a Miracle Drug suddenly I felt I could do it all. It was then that I realized that Sometimes You can't Make It On Your Own and hugged my wife next to me. I contemplated my world and yelled "Love and Peace or Else" at the top of my lungs to no one in general as we all looked back at a Sunday Bloody Sunday. It was then that I saw the fighter plane, a Bullet the Blue Sky above was torn by its screaming, I felt like I was Running to Stand Still. Then we could see that the crowd was filled with Pride and together we Walked Where the Streets Have No Name and asked everyone to unite as One. As Bono led us to the Zoo Station we saw The Fly and he moved in Mysterious Ways. It was All Because of You, Yahweh that I sat there realizing that my life, though I am only 40 has just begun, and all of our voices when added together can be heard ringing in the air long after we are gone."
I think they missed the sound check after rushing in from Chicago. The first 15 mnustes or so were rough. But they worked it out and all ended up well. Lower key show than Elevation - before and after 9/11, but they are still awesome to see live!!
Overall - very good show!