Opening Act(s): Interpol
Setlist:
Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Promised Land, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Two Hearts Beat As One, Miss You - I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix) - Discothèque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime - Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender, Bad - In The Garden - Walk On The Wild Side - 40.
Remarks:
Pittsburgh is the site of the final U.S. concert on the U2 360 Tour and its a great one. Bono talks about Pittsburgh for nearly 5 minutes in between "Get On Your Boots" and "I Still Haven't Found...". He states that it has been 30 years since U2 has played in Pittsburgh and then asks a fan in the audience what the name of the club was. Bono states that they played at "The Decade" and then says "...what a decade it was!". Moments later Bono says "A man should never look like his hair's been straightened by an iron, but I was proud of my mullet". Later on in the show, Bono brings two devoted U2 fans named Matt and Melissa onto the stage to slow dance with one another during the entire performance of "With Or Without You". He mentions that the couple have been to 60 shows on the tour. An unexpected finale to the concert happens when the band decide to play one more song after taking bows. For almost 10 minutes U2 performs "Bad" and then snippets "In The Garden" and "Walk On The Wild Side" before ending with "40". The song "Bad", written in 1984, is performed for Andy Rowen (brother of Peter Rowen who graced the album covers for "Boy" and "War"), who is also in attendance. The concert is nearly two and a half hours long after ending around 11:38 p.m.
Media Review:
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
U2 pulls off the rarest of feats at Heinz
By Rege Behe
What I just saw over the past two-and-a-half hours has left me stunned, breathless and drained. U2 pulled off the rarest of feats Tuesday evening by making Heinz Field feel small, intimate and personal.
Dare I say they are the only band on the planet capable of this? I do. This stop on the 360 Degree Tour, the penultimate date of a two-year journey, was everything it was promised to be.
The band took the stage at 9:12 p.m. to the strains of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" then tore into "Even Better Than the Real Thing." "The Fly," "Mysterious Ways," "Until the End of the World," "I Will Follow" and "Get Your Boots On" followed in rapid succession, the band barely coming up for air.
It was only then that Bono addressed the crowd, saying "This is great, really great." He tipped his cap to the opening act, Interpol, paid tribute to Dan Rooney, the Steelers emeritus chairman , U.S. ambassador to Ireland and "our neighbor in Dublin" and remarked how it's been 30 years since the band first played Pittsburgh.
He had to be reminded that debut took place at the long gone Decade in Oakland, but no matter. Bono then introduced the band, comparing them to Western Pennsylvania icons: bassist Adam Clayton as Perry Como, The Edge as Andy Warhol, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. as Charles Bronson (a surprising but accurate inclusion, Bronson born in Ehrenfield, Cambria County) and Bono -- of course he was Christina Aguilera.
"I'm in touch with my inner chick," Bono said.
The next song, "I Still Haven't Found What I Was Looking For" produced the evening's first spine-tingling moment as the crowd sang along on the chorus; Bono referenced Bruce Springsteen's "The Promised Land" as the song faded away.
Then came one of the quietest moments of the evening: An acoustic version of "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" that filled the stadium and featured one of Bono's best vocal performances.
Throughout the show the much touted stage production of the 360 Degree Tour dazzled, a brilliant concoction of surrealistic lights and images that was equal to the music in its magnificence, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" through the vision of Alexander Calder.
Other astonishing moments:
• Astronaut Mark E. Kelly, by way of videotape from the International Space Station, introducing "Beautiful Day." Bono dedicated the song to Kelly's wife, U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in a shooting in Arizona earlier this year.
• "Miss Sarajevo," which featured snippets from Bill Carter's award-winning documentary of the same name on the video screen, and Bono's incredible vocals on the part originally sung by the late Luciano Pavarotti.
• A rendition of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" that sounded as if it was being relayed via time machine from 20 years ago, The Edge's pealing guitar timeless and enchanting.
• The simple sentiment of "One," the first encore, underscored by vintage footage of the band driving a Trabant,, the East German car that was used in the stage production for the Zoo TV Tour.
There are so many more things that make Tuesday's concert the show of a lifetime, an experience that will linger long after U2 leaves town. And while I have no tangible evidence, I can't help but feel nights like this leave everyone who witnessed this rock 'n' roll spectacle a little better off than they were before the show started. It's just a matter of faith.
© 2011 Trib Total Media
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I attended Tuesday nights concert, and all I could say was WOW. the show was amazing, the stage was incredible and the setlist couldn't have been better. This was my first ever U2 concert and I was in the general admission line from 9:30am to 5:30pm. It was well worth the wait. When I got in line I was number 413 (just one number off). I heard that people started lining up for the show at 5am. Nevertheless my dedication paid off as I got a spot in the claws inner circle. I got possibly the best spot as I got to stand almost directly in front of edge. And in the grip of U2's claw, the performance was mind blowing, everything from Bono taking a little boy on stage during City of Blinding Lights, to a couple slow dancing on stage to With or Without You. Every facet of the show was amazing. Unfortunately my cellphone died before U2 took the stage and I couldn't get any pictures of the band, but the images in my mind wont soon fade.
-Ben