U2 Returns to Paris for Concert Called Off After Terrorist Attacks

U2 performed at the AccorHotels Arena on Sunday in Paris, invoking the memories of victims around the world.CreditThomas Samson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

PARIS — The Irish band U2 returned to Paris on Sunday night to play the first of two shows that had been postponed in the wake of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks that left 130 people dead, including 89 at the Bataclan, a music hall where the American band Eagles of Death Metal were playing when it was stormed by gunmen.

It was the first large-scale cultural event in the city since the attacks, and security at the AccorHotels Arena, just a few miles from the Bataclan, was tight, with concertgoers undergoing full body searches as they entered and a heavy police presence outside.

“Tonight we are all Parisian,” Bono, the band’s frontman, said in French to the sold-out crowd of 17,000, adding in English, “If you love liberty, then Paris is your hometown.” Near the end of the set, he retrieved a French flag from the crowd, draping it over his shoulder and later placing it in front of the band’s drums.

U2 had been set to play at the arena on Nov. 14 and 15 on its “Innocence and Experience” tour, but called off the shows, citing the state of emergency that had been put in place across France. The tour will end Monday night in Paris, with a show scheduled to be broadcast by HBO at 9 p.m. Eastern.

There had been reports that U2 would be joined onstage in Paris by Eagles of Death Metal, but earlier on Sunday U2 posted on its website: “This is not the case. We have another surprise guest planned for tonight’s show.”

That guest turned out to be Patti Smith, who closed out the 27-song concert with her 1988 song “People Have the Power,” with its refrain “The power to dream, to rule/To wrestle the world from fools.”

In an interview ahead of the concerts, Bono said it was important for the band to return to the stage as soon as possible. “Terrorism relies on people being terrorized, and we were not going to be,” he said. “We felt the biggest and the only real contribution we can make at moment like that is to honor the people of Paris, who brought us the concept of liberté, égalité, fraternité.”

Nonetheless, the show included an acknowledgment that Paris still remained on edge less than a month after the attacks. The simulated bomb meant to mark the band’s transition from innocence to experience (the album pegged to the tour is “Songs of Innocence”) in recent concerts remained part of the show, albeit with a warning: Before the band took the stage a voice over a loudspeaker announced that the explosions “are part of the show, are safe and are nothing to be concerned about.”

Bono made repeated references to Paris throughout the show, and the five-song encore opened with “City of Blinding Lights” as huge screens in the background showed images of the capital by night followed by the names of the Nov. 13 victims. The song ended with Bono singing lyrics from the Jacque Brel song “Ne Me Quitte Pas” (“Don’t Leave Me”).

The rest of the encore included the band’s early anthems “Beautiful Day,” “Bad,” and “One,” which was modified to include the chorus from another U2 song “Invisible”: “There is no them. There’s only us.”

This is not the first time that U2 has paid tribute to the victims of terror. When the band played Madison Square Garden a few weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, it honored emergency services workers onstage and also projected the names of those killed.

The band touched on other highly charged topics in Sunday’s show, with references to H.I.V., the war in Syria and the European migrant crisis, displaying the hashtag #refugeeswelcome on large screens at one point.

Few fans apparently were deterred from attending the rescheduled shows. Of the 34,000 tickets sold for the November concerts, just 2,000 were refunded and resold, according to the band.

Stephane Le Bozec, 47, who drove more than five hours from the Brittany region to be in Paris for the concert, said that the idea of not attending never crossed his mind, “not for a second.” He added: “We’re not afraid. Music is my passion and the attacks make it even important to be here, to share our passion for music and for U2.”

Léa Vlaeminck, 19, a student from New Caledonia who was at the concert with her boyfriend, said she was proud to attend. “It’s how we can fight terrorism, by continuing to go to concerts,” she said. “I feel it’s our duty to be here.”

'We Stand Together…'

'We stand together with the families who have lost lives here in Paris,

'We stand together with the families who have lost lives in San Bernardino, in Damascus and Beirut

We stand together with the families whose children have been taken hostage by an ideology 

that  shows none of the mercy or compassion of the God they deem to serve….'

An emotional night in Paris as the band returned to France, three weeks after the devastating terrorist attacks.

'Oh, you look so beautiful… in this city of lights…'   and never more so than at the end of City of Blinding Lights, as images of Paris on the huge screens gave way to the names of those who lost their lives.

The massed cheering in solidarity was one more sign of an extraordinary atmosphere of celebration and defiance tonight. 

As Bono had said, introducing Iris, it felt like the whole world was in the city.

'Tonight we are all Parisiens. 

'Ce soir nous somme tous Parisien...

If you love liberty – Paris is your hometown.'

What a show, all the way from The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) to One and Bad and the surprise arrival on stage of Patti Smith and 'People Have The Power' to close a remarkable evening.

http://www.u2.com/

video:U2gigs.com

U2, Eagles of Death Metal to Perform in Paris on Sunday

Marianne Zumberge
News Editor, Variety.com @marianniepants


U2 and Eagles of Death Metal will perform together in Paris this Sunday, resuming the appearances that had been affected by the November terror attacks in France.

According to Billboard, EODM will join Bono and Co. for U2’s final song on Sunday at Paris’ AccorHotels Arena. U2 had been scheduled to perform on Nov. 14 at the same venue, but the concert was postponed in the wake of the attacks. Now the band will perform at AccorHotels on Dec. 6 and 7, with the previously scheduled HBO special to record the second night.

“So much that was taken from Paris on the tragic night of November 13th is irreplaceable. For one night, the killers took lives, took music, took peace of mind – but they couldn’t steal the spirit of that city,” U2 frontman Bono said after rescheduling the shows. “It’s a spirit our band knows well and will try to serve when we return for the postponed shows on December 6th and 7th. We’re going to put on our best for Paris.”

EODM will also be resuming the remainder of its European tour in February of next year. In the band’s first interview after the attack, frontman Jesse Hughes expressed his eagerness to get back to Paris and perform. “I want to be the first band to play in the Bataclan when it opens back up,” Hughes said in an interview with Vice. “Our friends went there to see rock and roll and died. I want to go back and live.”


http://variety.com/

Paris will stay strong despite terror attacks, Bono says

Bono has said the character of Paris will not change despite the terror attacks last month (AP)

 Bono says Paris will remain strong despite last month's terror attacks and he hopes that U2's concert in the French city this week will move the audience.

The Irish band were set to perform in Paris on November 14 and were rehearsing when 130 people were killed in suicide bombings and shootings the day before in what has become the worst attack on French soil in more than a half-century.

With the Accor Hotels Arena gigs rescheduled for December 6 and 7, Bono said of the terrorists: "They took a lot of lives we're not going to get back, but they're not going to change the character of the city of Paris."

When asked what concertgoers can expect when U2 perform, he added: "Well, knowing our French audience and having a sense of them by now, I would say joy as an act of defiance.

"That's what U2 does, that's what French people want from us and that's it."

Of the audience, he said: "These are our people and they're very familiar faces, the people in the audience, they're our people.

"They're like my daughter, my son, they're like (U2 members) Edge, they're like Larry (Mullen, Jr.) ... so we took it very badly. But we're going back, you bet. Nothing will stop us from going back."

Bono also praised US rock band Eagles of Death Metal, who were performing at the concert theatre Bataclan where some people were taken hostage and killed.

He said: "We're very, very moved by the fact that our fellow troubadours, the Eagles of Death Metal, had such a hard time.

"They're an extraordinary talented band, they've been through the most ugly nightmare and they have been very graceful about it."

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/

Imelda May Joins U2 For Final Epic Dublin Show

Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen knew that when they took the innocence + eXPERIENCE tour to Dublin, it would be an emotional time. But even their expectations were surpassed – and then some – on a spectacular final night... - 

Having kicked off iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE in Vancouver last May, tonight’s final U2 gig in Dublin – the last of four sold-out nights in their hometown – should officially be the end of the 2015 leg of the tour. However, with two Paris shows postponed, following the cowardly terrorist attacks of November 13th, the Dubliners still have unfinished business in the city of blinding lights. They’ll be playing those rescheduled shows next week.

Even so, playing in the modern iteration of the iconic venue where they once famously announced that they were going away to dream it all up again, this show feels like something really special, an alchemical culmination of everything that has led up to it. It’s as though the whole tour has been building up to this one.

From the moment they blast off with ‘The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)’, Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam totally own the audience – and the audience in turn are happy to submit to these rock ‘n’ roll heavyweight champions of the world.

The reconfigured staging means that there’s no fans behind the band, as there have been in almost all other venues, but it makes little or no difference to the impact of the show, or the atmosphere. Indeed, it makes things feel even more intimate. In his recent Hot Press interview, Edge reckoned that they were going to blow the roof off the venue – and he was barely exaggerating.

There’s an audible “Wow!” as the onscreen visuals kick off for ‘Iris’, and the dazzling tech spectacle that comprises iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE begins to unfold. It’s a particularly emotional song for Bono anyway, but tonight he really gives it his all, howling as though he really can connect to the other side. Whatever strange energy he’s summoning – or maybe it’s just the encouraging warmth of the crowd that are driving him – but tonight he’s the ultimate alpha rock star.

There are many high points. But equally importantly, there’s also never a dull moment, from the beginning to the suitably dramatic, choreographed end. While the visual effects are truly astonishing (there were more gasps as the band appeared inside the stage), they can still pull the plugs out and create amazing music – whether on ‘Cedarwood Road’, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ or ‘Raised By Wolves’ – a segment that ratchets up the drama in powerful style. A stripped-down ‘Every Breaking Wave’ is perhaps even more emotionally entrancing.

There’s massive applause as Panti Bliss joins the band onstage for ‘Mysterious Ways’. And next up is the Queen of Rock’n’Roll, Imelda May who delivers a stirring vocal performance and dances like a dervish on a heart-thumping ‘Desire’. To bring the show to a close, their late tour manager Dennis Sheehan is remembered with a stirring version of ‘40’.

The last time U2 played this venue (“It will always be The Point to us,” Bono quipped at one point), they were four men in their thirties. Tonight, now all in their fifties, they were men in their prime. Fuck cynicism, this was proper traffic-stopping rock ‘n’ roll.

If you missed it… well, you’d never know. They might just be back this way when the eXPERIENCE leg kicks in. Start counting the days...

 http://www.hotpress.com

"Great to be Back Home"

'The most visceral and uncompromising show U2 have played in Dublin since War'.

The whole of Dublin spoke of only one thing these past few days and Bono's Instagram of the four pints of Guinness on the counter of Peter's Pub on South William St. Words will never convey how much that image resonated here.

'The Boys Are Back In Town' and Adam from Malahide is wearing a Thin Lizzy Tee-shirt. He's joined as always by Larry from Artane, Edge from Malahide and Bono from Ballymun.  A band from the north-side of Dublin called U2.

"This is a family function",  Bono proclaimed after a blistering opening which brought us from 'The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)', through 'Electric Co.' and onto 'Vertigo' in quick succession.  Tonight they felt like they'd been written in the same year. Not decades apart.
"We are all together," Bono continued, "All the relations from all over the world."

U2 and Ireland are family. We love each other through thick and thin. It's hard to convey the depth of the relationship but every Irish person gets it. A lot has gone down since U2 last played in Dublin.  It's been a hairy few years and last week was one that we'll still be talking about for decades to come. U2 offered up much needed succour tonight but it wasn't sugar-coated.

Belief and passion shone through but tonight's show was without doubt the most visceral and uncompromising show U2 have played in Dublin since 'War'.

Almost everyone in the room knows the Ireland U2 came from. It was a bleak place with no prospects that was cut off from the world.

With 'Iris' we get a glimpse of the pain that drove these four to make something of themselves beyond our beautiful island.

"It's a strange thing for a grown man to say", Bono offers as introduction, "That losing my mother aged 14 was what sent me on the path with these three guys."

Leading into 'Song For Someone', Bono pays the first of many tributes to Ali as he brings our attention to the screen, "That's me aged 18 playing a guitar my brother Norman gave me. Writing a song to impress Alison Stewart. Still working on that one, but she's here tonight."

Adam has taken Sunday Bloody Sunday and re-worked it as one of the funkiest dub cuts you've ever heard. It still sends shivers down the spine though as we confront our past.  We sing our hearts out as decades of pain is represented in Oliver Jeffers' stylised re-workings of Belfast's tribal murals.

'Raised By Wolves' is in many ways the emotional fulcrum of the show. It recalls the unresolved Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 17th 1974. The bloodiest day of the 'Troubles'. The haunting face of a deceased toddler stares out from the screen. One face amongst many victims U2 force us to remember 41 years later.

It seems like every week there are new faces now destined to stare out at us from screens. Lives frozen forever as terror takes them at random. 'Bataclan' was the word not mentioned that was on everyone's mind. Music lovers have been attacked and being here amongst family helped. A lot.

From Monaghan to Baghdad, from Beirut to Paris there's a line of suffering that U2 help us process. Understanding what it's like to live through tough times defines this show.
It's a theme returned to towards the end as we're stunned into silence by the footage of Kobanî in Syria. A city devastated.

This was a show that combined not just iNNOCENCE and xPERIENCE, but also pain and joy.
In Ireland we combine sadness and elation. Funerals are as ecstatic as weddings. We 'carry each other' through light and shade.

We bopped like born again teenagers as the band played 'Pride' for the Heaney family. For Seamus Heaney, who was our greatest living poet the last time U2 played Dublin. For those he left behind.

This night wasn't morbid. It was a wake up call. We need to prioritise. Hold close what's precious, look out for those that need our help and celebrate the very fact of being alive. An emotional night with a simplicity and punch that won't be forgotten quickly.

So much about last night couldn't have happened anywhere but Dublin. At one point Edge leaned over to Bono and reminds him to thank "Fr. Crosbie for the use of the hall". It's a throwaway line that would take about a thousand words to explain.

That's the greatest thing about being amongst family. You don't have to explain yourself.

As Bono had put it earlier, 'Do you know what? We've spent the last nine months travelling the world trying to explain the Northside of Dublin to people. But we don't have to do that tonight because tonight we are here...'

A whispered 'Oiche Mhaith' serves as a goodbye. 'Good Night' in Irish but there's lots lost in the translation.

It's a blessing you use for those you truly love. 'Oiche Mhaiith U2' we whispered back, meaning every last syllable.

Night One of four.

www.u2.com

Fans say U2's 3Arena gig like a 'pub show'

U2 super fan Beth Nabi, who travelled from the States to see all four 3Arena gigs, told TEN after the gig: "It was special. U2 were so well received and you could tell they were so happy to be here playing for that home crowd."

Her partner Chris LeClere said: "After seeing them in all the other cities and all the other shows, this felt more like just a hometown show. It was like you were in a pub listening to a band on a stage and everybody's just having a good time and getting into it."

Beth added: "You felt like you were in Bono's house", with Chris interjecting: "You did, it wasn't a big concert, it was a pub show from a group of guys who were just playing for fans and the fans loving them.

U2 frontman Bono has said he's thrilled to be back on the Northside of Dublin and thanked fans for their patience and sticking with the band at the 3Arena on Monday night.

The homecoming gig is the first time Bono and the lads have played Dublin since 2009 at Croke Park and all four gigs this week on their iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour are sold out with many travelling long journeys to see the famous foursome perform on home turf.

Speaking to the cheering crowd at the gig, Bono said, "Do you know what we have spent the last nine months travelling the world trying to explain what the Northside of Dublin is and we don't have to do that tonight because we're here.

"This is a great feeling for us to be home," he said.

He later thanked fans, saying: "Thanks for giving us this life. Thanks for your patience. Thanks for sticking with us."

One American fan said that she had sacrificed Thanksgiving celebrations with her family to come to the gig.

"I just couldn't miss it, I had to come no matter what. I'm missing Thanksgiving which is a big deal in the United States, so my family had to forgive me....I had to go to Dublin to see U2", she said.

Another Italian fan said "such a great place being here in Dublin, it's like being at home. It's the home of U2, the home of every U2 fan actually".

Another man who's also been swamped by fandom is Tom Ryan, the owner of Bono's boyhood home on Cedarwood Road in Glasnevin.

He told RTÉ that fans have long been making a pilgrimage to the singer's old homestead but that attention has really picked up after the band wrote the nostalgic song Cedarwood Road for their last album Songs of Innocence.

"Oh that's really escalated it. This period with the concerts going, its escalated the fans bigtime. If I charged them a penny for each photograph, I'd be a rich man", he joked.

Over the weekend Bono and co were spotted out and about in Dublin ahead of tonight's gig.

The lads are back in town and they are making sure they catch up with friends and family in their favourite establishments ahead of their gigs at the 3Arena this week.

The Edge was spotted dining out with his wife Morleigh Steinberg at Luna restaurant in Dublin on Saturday. Bono later joined the couple with some of his friends.

According to reports fans did not bother the famous diners for autographs or pictures, leaving them to enjoy their meal in peace.

U2 also shared a pic on Twitter yesterday of four pints of Guinness standing in a row on a table in Peter's Pub on South William Street. If you look very closely at the mirror in the background of the pic you can see that it was Bono taking the snap.

The €2 million proceeds from this week's gigs meanwhile will go to Music Generation, Ireland's national music education programme.

Its director, Rosaleen Molloy, said:  "Music Generation would not exist without U2's vision. It was the band's very own personal experience of music education as children and teenagers that has driven their commitment to kick-start this ground breaking project." 

http://www.rte.ie/

U2 bring pomp, bombast and defiance to Belfast

Band’s first show in city since 1997 combined big songs with overwhelming visuals

U2 on stage at the SSE Arena in Belfast. Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times

You expect a lot of pomp and bombast from the word go at U2 concerts. It’s just how they tend to (rock and) roll. Sure enough, Bono’s entrance - a stately swagger up a long central catwalk, one arm held aloft - to the Patti Smith song The People Have the Power, set the expected tone. But this time, alongside the prancing and posturing and high-octane showmanship, there was something different: a new desire to reach out and connect with the audience, to tell them a story, to bring them on a journey.

Perhaps this was due, at least in part, to the context. The Belfast show in the SSE arena was the band’s first gig after their cancelled Paris concerts, and although the terrorist attacks were not referenced until the very close of the night, there was a sense of heightened emotion, defiance and solidarity in the air.

It was also the first time that U2 had played Belfast since 1997, which meant that the crowd greeted them like long-lost cousins.
And what a story this band can tell. The visual impact of the show was extraordinary, even overwhelming at times, especially during their new song Raised By Wolves, which was inspired by the car bombs that killed 33 people in Dublin and Monaghan on May 17th, 1974.

Stage set

The centrepiece of the set was a vast metal cage, suspended over the catwalk, carrying a series of LED screens which flashed images, messages, film footage, and newsreels.

The effect was almost hallucinatory. At one point the set-up allowed Bono to walk down the street of his childhood home, Cedarwood Road; on another occasion he grew to the size of a giant, and appeared to be lifting The Edge in the palm of his hand.
Later, a woman was plucked from the audience, and given a camera to film the band on a live-stream as she danced with them.

“That’s what the technology is all about - getting close to people,” said Bono.
Sometimes it was all too much. It was disorienting to see pictures of distressed refugees, or bombed-out Syrian towns, while Bono boomed Bullet the Blue Sky through a megaphone, and audience members swayed drunkenly, plastic pint glasses slopping in each hand.
The big songs were all there, of course: Vertigo, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride, With or Without You, Beautiful Day.


But in many ways, the music was just the soundtrack to the visuals.


http://www.irishtimes.com/

Belfast: Stronger than Fear

First show in Belfast for 18 years, first show since Paris and lots of fans taking part in #whiteoutbelfast to 'make a statement in the name of peace, love and music and pay our respect to the victims of terror and violence all around the world.'

Powerful and poignant. #strongerthanfear

'What's going on?', asked Bono before introducing Iris.

'Turns out an awful lot since the last time were here... you lot are heroes to all of us... It's great to be back in the heart of Belfast...thanks for sticking with us.

'If you'll indulge us  for the next few songs we'd like to take you on a very personal journey to the Northside of Dublin, to streets not far from here that gave life to this band... it’s the view of a teenage boy – forgive me the melodrama when a lot of you have had much greater dramas to deal with...but those first fights in the playground, first loves, first losses...they also form you.'

'U2's first Irish show of their iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour - and, amazingly, their first gig in Belfast since 1997 - was a triumph of pure rock theatre.’ reported RTE, noting the closing encore tribute to events in Paris.  ‘The encore is deft and deeply felt. To a dazzling visual display of Paris at night, U2 perform a shimmering City of Blinding Lights for the City of Light.   

Urgent, political and still hungry after all these years, this latest incarnation of the U2 live show is never less than gripping.'

'Raised by wolves

Stronger than fear

Raised by wolves

We were raised by wolves

Raised by wolves

Stronger than fear

If I open my eyes,

You disappear...'

Powerful new visuals for Sunday Bloody Sunday and Raised by Wolves among the highlights on the second night in Belfast.

Out of Control was back in the set tonight, after missing six shows, according to @U2gigs, who also noted that the last time time the band played more than one show in Belfast was back on the War Tour. In fact it was 36 years and four days ago that the band first played this city, at Queens University, their first show outside of the Republic of Ireland, when they were on the bill with  poet Patrick Fitzgerald and, headline act, Squeeze, featuring Jools Holland.

'Streets' really took off tonight, from the moment Bono introduced it as a prayer, 'that we don't turn into a monster to defeat a monster.'

The press seem to agree, as the Irish Daily Mail put it, 'There was simply nothing old or hackneyed about this show and new bands could learn a trick or two from the sensational production values. And thanks to a giant  mobile screen, the band once again brought a live concert experience to a new level.'

Or The Irish Daily Mirror:  'From the time the first chord is struck until the last note is played, fans will be captivated by a mesmerising performance that's a lot of fun. While the visuals and lighting effects are spectacular, most of the messages are in the music, the songs from the 80s right up until the present day which still speak to fans old and new. This is a perfect performance from band on form at the top of their game.' 

Elevating Gloria in Glasgow

'High, higher than the sun
You shoot me from a gun
I need you to elevate me here,
At the corner of your lips
As the orbit of your hips
Eclipse, you elevate my soul...'

First of two shows at the SSE Arena in Glasgow… and it was full of memories.

Bono slipped a line of 'The Saints Are Coming' - released nine years ago to the day - into 'I Will Follow'.

'This feels so  close to home,' explained Bono, 'Almost home kinda feeling, thank you for sticking with us...these streets are familiar to sum they could so easily be our streets.'

And the memory of their first streets took us to 'a song that could be for Gwenda, Maureen or Jo... but tonight it's called Iris.'

The good folk at @u2gigs report this was the 72nd performance of 'Song For Someone' - not bad for a song that was only released in September last year. In contrast, the beautifully reinvented 'Zooropa',  made its live debut in this city way back in 1993 at Celtic Park - and was played live for only the 60th time tonight.
'Bullet, Zooropa, Streets,' as @PascalGteD tweeted, 'The ultimate trilogy this tour...'

Another memorable night on #U2ieTour, couldn't put it better  down in the comments:
'GLASGOW.....Fantastic....Brillant....Amazing....Loved it!'






Same city, same days of the month  - November 6th and 7th - but thirty one years on. 

Reminiscing on the band's 1984 Barrowlands shows, tonight, said Bono, was all about 'turning the SSE Hydro into the Barrowlands'.

Anyone notice how many of the 27 songs played tonight were on the set list all those years ago? Gloria, I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday, October, Pride, Bad and 40.

'Are Jimmy and Charlie coming out to play?' asked Bono, introducing Cedarwood Road. 'Simple Minds right in front of you..' he added in Beautiful Day. 

They were right in front of us back then too too but other things have changed.



http://www.u2.com/

U2 perform live with Patti Smith at London gig

U2 were joined by Patti Smith during their concert at London's O2 Arena on Thursday night (October 29).

The Irish band are currently enjoying a six-night residency at the London venue, having kick-started the stint on Monday and performed with Noel Gallagher earlier in the week.

At Thursday's show, Patti Smith was invited onstage to perform U2's 1981 song 'Gloria' as well as Smith's own 'People Have The Power'. 

Noel Gallagher recently described teaming up with U2 at one of their London gigs earlier this week as a "dream come true".

The former Oasis guitarist joined the band onstage during the band's O2 Arena show on October 26, performing their hit 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' before segueing into a cover of The Beatles' 'All You Need Is Love'.

Speaking to Audioboom, Gallagher said: "It was a dream come true to be asked to get up [on stage] with them and then it was a dream come true to be asked to sing that song ['I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For']."

"They're friends of mine. I've been friends with Bono for about 20 years. It was a great moment. I was stood in the wings and they were introducing me and I was thinking 'This is actually going to happen now, this is amazing'. They are one of my favourite ever, ever bands and that's one of the best songs ever written. It was a blast, a real honour."

Gallagher added: "I thought my catering was pretty good until I was at U2 the other night, which was honestly something else."

 http://www.nme.com

U2 at O2 Arena, London

Six days in London ...

 "The most beautiful sound..."

'I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred

Heard a song that made some sense out of the world

Everything I ever lost, now has been returned

In the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard...'

'The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)' opening up the first of six nights at the O2 in London. 

 "This is not a Monday night, this is Saturday night.' 

And this 'Saturday' finished up with Noel Gallagher on stage for 'Still Haven't Found' and 'All You Need Is Love'. 

Some great reviews coming in for the arrival of #U2IE in the UK.

'Always exhilarating, occasionally unsettling and overwhelmingly inspiring,' reported John Aizlewood in The Evening Standard. 'U2 convincingly re-stated their case for greatness...'

'This show showed that U2's mojo is back, and perhaps stronger than ever.' said James Hall in The Daily Telegraph.

'Even in minimalist (for them), stripped-down mode,' wrote Ian Gittins in The Guardian, 'U2's defiantly ambitious, meticulously choreographed live productions put virtually every other rock band to shame.

More coming up on night two at the O2 but if you were there, tell us what it was like and post your photos here.

First time tonight or seen the show again and again? What did you see that you never noticed before? As @AllyahsWorld put it on Twitter, '#U2ieTour is so creative and innovative that you can catch it again and again and experience it differently.'

 "People have the power"

It's the track the band arrive on stage to every night and for the third show in London Patti Smith was in the house to take on the vocals.

Here's the NME report - which also quotes Noel Gallagher, reflecting on joining the band onstage on Monday for 'Still Haven't Found: "It was a dream come true..."

And this is Pitchfork.

Couldn't put it better than JoshTheTree it in our comments section, 'After the euphoria of Monday how could U2 top the last show? With New Year's Day, Gloria and Bad and bringing out Patti Smith. How cool was that?! Cool as f*ck. I was transported back to my youth with those songs. Many many thanks .... very happy. See yer tomorrow'

Did we mention Gloria, New Year's Day and Bad? 

"All I want is you..."

You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold

You say you want your story to remain untold.

All the promises we make

From the cradle to the grave

When all I want is you...’

Fourth night in London and first time in Europe for 'All I Want is You’.

As @TheO2 tweeted, ‘What an amazing crowd here for an incredible performance.'

 "Volcano erupts in London"

'Volcano, you don't wanna, you don't wanna know.

Volcano 

Something in you wants to blow

Volcano

You don't wanna, you don't wanna know

You're on a piece of ground above a volcano...

There's something in the air tonight, and it's not just the spectacular mist swirling up from the Thames to envelope the O2 Arena. Inside, the atmosphere is building powerfully, too. Bono's over-brimming with autumn as he takes the stage: London, he says, looked like a Turner painting today - "incredible painted light". And with that, the band launches into their fifth consecutive London show (first time since the Boy tour - thanks, @u2gigs) with hardly a pause for breath.

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) cascades into Out of Control, and then it's Vertigo. The O2 warns you not to buy a ticket in the gods if you have a fear of heights, but there's no fear in here tonight. I Will Follow has a few lines of London Calling for the locals, and there's even some David Essex, for those old enough to remember, at the end of an emotional version of Iris: "Hold me close don't let me go...".

He's thinking of "Alison Stewart" as well, tonight, before Song for Someone... "I miss her", he admits. Maybe it's because U2 are edging ever closer to home, but there's a relaxed feel within the intensity. Larry's introduced as a drummer and "so much more", by Bono, who pauses to think: "He hits things," he concludes. Edge even gets a quick shoulder massage from the singer during Streets. 

But escapism this is not, and turning to the refugee crisis, Bono asks the audience, "What do you want? A Europe with its heart open, or a Europe with its doors closed to mercy"? 

"Open," he continues, "you're open - and that's what makes Britain great."

The O2 was originallly built to celebrate the millennium, and fittingly tonight, both past and future are powerfully part of U2's present mix. Songs which take us back take us forward. Until the End of the World evokes the heady days of Achtung Baby when the Berlin Wall was falling, but it feels so, so right for now. Of the new songs, Volcano makes only its fourth appearance on this leg of the tour  - "a song about the rage you feel after grief", Bono tells us. 

"That was the most immense arena show I've ever seen" tweeted Neil Storey, a long-time friend of U2 from the Island Records days. "First time I saw them, they played to an audience of 7. Edge broke a string, everyone gathered round as he changed it. Tonight, it was to 17,000 ... but it was just as intimate."

Jimmy Page is in the house, and he's acknowledged during One, while Beautiful Day is for Matthew Freud (it's his birthday). It may now be November, but October seems to capture the spirit perfectly, and before the crowd streams back out into the London mist, Bono returns to his autumn theme. "What a blessing it is to be in your city, on the river, as the leaves change colour. What a blessing it is." 

Kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall, but U2 go on again tonight.

"Wide awake in London"

'If you twist and turn away

If you tear yourself in two again.

If I could, you know I would 

If I could

I would

Let it go...'

No finer way to close a run of six great nights at the O2 in London than with 'Bad' and '40'.

http://www.u2.com/

Berlin: 22 to 29 September 2015

Four intense nights in Berlin for the iNNOCENCE and eXPERIENCE tour.

On the first night: Zoo station.

O 

'I'm ready 
Ready for the laughing gas
 I'm ready Ready for what's next...' 


 Zoo Station into the show  to mark the band’s arrival in Berlin, Germany... a song made just down the road at Hansa Studios. Went down pretty well online.  And after a blistering opening quartet of songs, Bono paused before 'Iris'. 
 'Here we are in the heart of Europe. The beating heart of Europe. We have many many friends here..sometimes we feel a little too at home here...' 
 According to the people who know these things (@U2gigs), this was the tenth time the band have played Berlin - they first performed here in 1981 on the Boy Tour. The city was written through the show tonight - with seven songs from Achtung Baby, the album that was born in this city nearly a quarter century ago. Extraordinarily resonant moment when the great graffiti-strewn wall fell from the roof, dividing the venue in two for the The Fly - just like a wall once divided a city and a country. Zoo Station was the biggest surprise, the first time it's been played live for nearly ten years, along with a snatch of Ultraviolet in Beautiful Day and everyone on song for One which closed the night.



'Last night was strong but I can see tonight is going to be even stronger,'said Bono, catching his breath after  The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone), Electric Co, Vertigo and I Will Follow.


'Berlin knows what to do on a Friday night.
Berlin knows what to do with the Irish cousins...'

And Berlin is also host to a special anniversary tonight, marked with respect to Herr Mullen, for 'making that great invitation to us, thirty nine years ago... wow!'

Bono returned to the theme introducing Every Breaking Wave.
'I saw that notice and I wanted to be in a band but I didn't think I could be but a friend of mine, Reggie Manuel, the Cocker Spaniel, talked me into it and took me to Larry Mullen's house on his motorbike.
Reggie Manuel, the Cocker Spaniel, is in Berlin tonight and I want to sing this song for him…'

Good to have Reggie in the house tonight and good to have another special guest appearance - underlining the Achtung Baby Berlin vibe in his slicked back hair, devil horns and gold lame suit, and grooving all the way down the stage for Mysterious Ways. 

'Wow Mr Macphisto, haven't seen him in a while...'

Special intro to Beautiful Day, as Bono prepares to fly to New York.  'Well tonight, as we sing, as we pray, world leaders at the United Nations are adopting some new Global goals & it's a big deal' (@atu2)


There's a hint of Moment of Surrender as Beautiful Day ends - and it's another night in Berlin where we all surrendered to the music.

New Year's Day in Germany


'All is quiet on New Year's Day.
A world in white gets underway.
I want to be with you, be with you night and day.
Nothing changes on New Year's Day...'

No mistaking those opening chords and the roof nearly came off the Mercedes Benz Arena when everyone realised New Year's Day was making its tour debut.



All in all, it was a special night. As Bono put it earlier, 'This cannot be Monday night... it must be Friday night.' The band have been enjoying life in Germany.

'We've been hanging out here in your fine city... Yesterday we found a pub to watch the Rugby World Cup... and met some people who had come from working in the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan...

Some of them are here tonight, thank you to them for doing God's work.
It's been nice to walk around your home town. Next few songs we're going to walk around our home town... where it all began for us...'

And with that we were into Cedarwood Road. Later Bono mentioned that apart from catching the rugby in Berlin, he'd also found time on the weekend to fly to New York and back. He hinted at the reason in Beautiful Day - 'See the world in green and blue, Global Goals right in front of you' - and then explained some more.

'I had a bit of a mad weekend.. I went to New York for 14 hours... for the launch of the Global Goals… a road map for how we might rid this planet of extreme poverty and turn around the climate crisis in the next 15 years.. so its a big idea…'

It was a moment to thank the people of Germany for their leadership in showing Europe how to respond to the refugee crisis. 'We love this Germany… we are in awe of this Germany.

'I saw your Chancellor, and she wants to make sure that in the next five years we have the first HIV-free generation. We can do that... we really can.'



'Two hearts' on night four


I can't stop to dance
Honey, this is my last chance
I said, can't stop to dance
Maybe this is my last chance...'

All the way from 1983, Two Hearts Beat As One was the set list surprise tonight, only the fourth time in thirty years. 

And special mention for film director, photographer and longtime band friend Wim Wenders who was in the house tonight celebrating his birthday, with Bono leading the audience in Happy Birthday. 

'In Dublin, where we grew up, sometimes birthdays can go on for a very long time.. like if someone's really... something.. it can go on on for a really, really long time… and tonight is actually the official end of the great Wim Wenders 70th birthday party.. and he's here with us tonight and for Wim Wenders we would like you to sing… Happy Birthday…. what a gift dear friends to this country… great visionary… great man... it is indeed a beautiful day... gift to the world.'

It was always going to be a great night, this last one in Berlin. 

'You have made us feel very special, explained Bono after I Will Follow. 'Thank you very much. Maybe you treat all your rock and roll bands like this… its ok... if it's a Summer romance.. just let us know.. but we've kind of fallen in love sort of thing.. we want to take the relationship to the next level.. we are kind of at the moving-in phase… we may not want to move-out phase.. We are liking Berlin a little too-much kind of phase.. but if we are gonna get married then you probably know some stuff about us, where we came from, how we started out... so where gonna take you to where we come from, to our home town… to Dublin, to the North side of the city… to the streets where we grew up.'

Amra, from Sarajevo - also known as @U2_ultraviolet - was volunteering with the ONE campaign at the show yesterday. Tonight she was up on stage for Mysterious Ways, dancing with the band. What a journey. Amra's first ever U2 gig was when the band played Sarajevo in 1997. During the 360 tour she met @harrykantas, another hardcore fan and now her husband. They've been all over this tour…

'I don't even know how this song ends.' said Bono, introducing Every Breaking Wave. 'It's not finished yet.' 

And we can't not mention that a great show closed with Bad going into '40' - most people seem to think that is the finest ending to any U2 show ever.

'http://www.u2.com/

Stockholm Septermber 16-22 ,2015

'Your eyes were like landing lights

They used to be the clearest blue

Now you don’t see so well

The future’s gonna land on you..’

Volcano erupting in Stockholm for the opening night in Sweden.

'It is a thrill to be here,’ said Bono, catching his breath before introducing Iris. 'I don't know why but this band always feels like we're on our holidays when we're in Stockholm.

Seriously …The Edge wants to go fishing in the archipelago visiting the arctic circle to measure things ...he does love measuring things ...don't you The Edge?

Adam wants to go shopping on Library Street - bibleeoteksgothan - is that how you say it? - for girl’s underwear. I mean not for himself - but for his wife... and sometimes mine!

Larry wants to trace his family history. Yes Larry Mullen is convinced that his blond hair is a Viking throw back. I'm not convinced he's Swedish but I am convinced he's a Viking alright…’

Second night...

October and the trees are stripped bare

Of all they wear.

What do I care?’

A song that never grows old, with a powerful and poignant new place in the European set. The opening of the show, we never mention that - Patti Smith introducing U2, the people with the power introducing the miraculous Joey Ramone.Another night, another introduction to the band from Bono. You never know what he’s thinking.

'Wow.. that's a good start, are we moving’ up? Guess yesterday evening was just a warm up! Look at ya.. Look at ya! You haven’t changed a bit.. neither have we. Larry, you haven’t changed. Larry Mullen hasn’t changed.. that's ‘cos he stays up late, he avoids daylight, and he has very sharp teeth. Larry Mullen.

Edge is looking more Edge-like than ever, very pleasant this evening in his zen-warriorness. And do not think that because you’re all loved-up and newly-wedded that we haven’t noticed the female energy on your side of the stage Adam Clayton...

In so many way these men have not changed since I knew them as boys…'

Another track we never mention is one that rarely fails to bring the house down, on this tour, the band lined up along the centre of the venue - Sunday Bloody Sunday.

'I can't believe the news today

I can't close my eyes and make it go away.’

According to the eagle-eyed observers at U2gigs.com, tonight was the 800th performance of Sunday Bloody Sunday.

'And the battle's just begun

There's many lost, but tell me who has won?’

Tonight Stockholm belongs to you.’ Has to be Angel of Harlem and a guitarist (Philip from Poland) and drummer (Michael from Poland) are recruited from the audience to help the band out. The whole thing goes out on Meerkat to the world thanks to Simona from Italy. So many nationalities, notes Bono, ‘It’s like a Beneton ad.’  Simona, incidentally, is getting good at dancing with the band. Tonight was her third call up. First Rome in 2005, then Zagreb in 2009 and now Stockholm.

* Mother and Child Reunion segueing into City of Blinding Lights brings a special shout-out to Melinda Gates, who’s changing the world for the poorest people and ‘who changed my world’. The night ends like this.

'I have climbed the highest mountains

I have run through the fields

Only to be with you

Only to be with you...'

SUNDAY SHOW IN STOCKHOLM RESCHEDULED UNTIL TUESDAY

Due to a security breach, Stockholm's The Globen evacuated the audience from the building this evening.

Third night:

We're very, very pleased to be in Stockholm and actually playing a show,' said Bono, introducing Iris at tonight's third show in Sweden. 'You might have heard, we had a security breach last night. I must say our audience handled it brilliantly, real cool...'

The police were all over the place. I mean all over the place. 

Now that's not normal to want the police all over you but last night... 

We have a message to the police, thank you for being cautious... and for taking care of our audience and the band.

It was hard to cancel the show last night but it was the right thing to do… and guess what, we get to stay here for an extra night.'

As Edge played the opening bars of Paul Simon's Mother and Child Reunion, Bono talked of the special role Sweden has played in the fight against extreme poverty and its history in welcoming refugees.

'That is the right word – refugee – migrant is just plain wrong. These people are running from broken homes, broken cities, running for their lives, running from a war zone…'

'It's a difficult problem but as Nelson Mandela said 'It always seems impossible until it is done.'

No-one could imagine, ten years ago, that we'd be within reach of the first HIV-free generation, but now we are. 'In the next few years, if we tell our leaders that's what we want, we can have this...'

'The mother and child reunion

Is only a motion away…'

'Everybody having a good time except you.

You were talking about the end of the world…'

Great final night in Sweden, with Until The End of the World among the highlights.

http://www.u2.com/

AMSTERDAM

Four shows in Armsterdam. One more magical than the other.
Only the second time on this tour and only the second time in 25 years… 'Two Hearts beat As One' was in first  show.
In the second show, Gloria got only its second performance in Europe in a quarter century,- and it sounded like it was made yesterday.And then there were seven songs which were celebrating their first anniversary  - all of them from Songs of Innocence, released a year ago. None was more powerful than Iris.

Third of four in Amsterdam, so many shows within the show.

'Got lost in the cold universe surrounding ‘Iris’ - maybe the song I had wanted to witness live, most. It being the first use of the giant screen (so hard to describe the screen... to do it justice), old cine images mixed with the latest tech-created fabulous-yet-tenderly used LED’s, the next show within a show begins. You may have seen it a hundred times on Youtube. Nothing will stop your jaw from dropping when you see, in person, Bono walk down Cedarwood Road….'John Noble, who looks after the community site zootopia in U2.com.
And the moemnt came...Magnificent makes its #U2ieTour debut tonight, while ‘Sweetest Thing’, ‘Bad’ and ’40’ are in the show for the first time in Europe.
What a way to finish four great nights in Amsterdam.

www.u2.com