All I Want is Sydney!!

'Thank you Sydney. You are something else!'

'We've been based in Sydney for a few weeks,' explained Bono. 'We don't want to leave...' That went down quite well as Bono recalled earlier visits, like  in 1984, the first time the band arrived down under when 'we debuted a whole lot of strange, new music, unforgettable fire...'
'Then we played here on ZOO TV and that show was broadcast... Adam you probably don't remember it. But we remember it and what a turning point it was. We are so proud of you Adam Clayton...'
(Huge response from everyone in the house at this point...)
'Adam Clayton version 2.0 started here in Sydney...'

With the memories flooding back, Bono recalled the LoveTown film made with Richard Lowenstein  and that set the scene for something a little bit special.
'We're gonna try a few songs from that time... we're taking requests in Sydney..'

And with that we had the inimitable opening bars of All I Want Is You, played live for the first time since the Vertigo stop in Honolulu four years ago this month - and this Sydney audience joined in like their very lives depended on it. The super-slow ending, with Bono on harmonica while the audience sang backing vocals, segued into a snatch of INXS and Need You Tonight ('you're one of my kind....') then Never Tear Us Apart before another segue  - 'Raise me up and don’t let me fall, No man is my enemy' - and we were into Love Rescue Me.
This track, written with Bob Dylan in the late 1980's, has not been played in full on tour for more than twenty years and with the band standing close to each other on stage, it was a bit of a spine-tingler.

By now the 360 Sydney spaceship was high in orbit and everyone knew it. 'I didn't think it was possible to get higher than last night,' mused Bono at the end. 'Thank you. Hope it was worth you leaving your home on a Tuesday night.'

Setlist: 

Return of the Stingray Guitar, 

Beautiful Day - Sgt. Pepper's, 

New Year's Day,

Get On Your Boots, 

Magnificent, 

Mysterious Ways, 

Elevation, 

Until the End of the World, 

All I Want Is You - Need You Tonight - Never Tear Us Apart - Slide Away, 

Love Rescue Me, 

Pride, 

In A Little While, 

Miss Sarajevo, 

City of Blinding Lights, 

Vertigo, 

I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Two Tribes, 

Sunday Bloody Sunday, 

Scarlet, 

Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone

Encore(s): 

One, 

Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name, 

Ultraviolet, With or Without You, 

Moment of Surrender

More pictures here