2000-12-05 - New York: U2 performs a promo show at the Irving Plaza in New York. Tickets are only available to 1,000 competition winners for the K-ROCK radio station. With a guest list including Tom Cruise, Billy Corgan and Cindy Crawford, and with stars like Keith Richards and Eddie Vedder who couldn't get in, the hype for this show is high. "Like landing a 747 onto your front lawn", Bono describes it. The band quickly shows up their new songs. Elevation, Beautiful Day, Stuck, all in sequence, all memorable performances captured in a radio broadcast that we have for you. The Ramones cover "I Remember You" is played for Joey Ramone. More ATYCLB songs with New York and the rare The Ground Beneath Her Feet and a very special One with a snippet of Walk On, before it became the regular closer of that tour. After electric performances of All I Want Is You, the band returns for a surprise: 11 O'Clock Tick Tock appears after almost 11 years! The show closed with another cover, this time The Who's "We Won't Get Fooled Again".
2001-09-01 - Slane Castle: A show we all know and love, thanks to Hamish Hamilton's capture in film. The city graciously gives U2 license to do a second show at Slane Castle, something unprecedented. Before the show, the Irish football team classifies to the World Cup and everyone is ecstatic. Beautiful Day has a nod to this as it ends with "Beautiful Goal!". During New Year's Day Bono does something he rarely does: he drapes himself with the Irish flag asking the crowd -already in a frenzy- to imagine he's Jason McAteer (the author of the only goal that day). The show had dramatic moments too, like during Sunday Bloody Sunday, when Bono read the names of the victims of the Omagh bombing, or during Kite when we got to hear a very intimate story about Bono's father. We also had the famous 500 pound speech during one of the best performances of Out Of Control. The sequence AIWIY to Streets is considered by many fans as one of their all time best, and Eve Hewson appeared during Mysterious Ways to rock the house and dance with his father. Before we notice, the European Elevation leg is over and no one could imagine how special U2's next shows will be.
2001-10-10 - South Bend: U2 performs their first post 9/11 show and the U.S. quickly embraces the ATYCLB songs as hymns to cry, to heal and to recover their faith in the future. This concert takes place at Notre Dame's Joyce Center, with capacity of only 12,000 seats, but this sets the mood for a more intimate experience. U2.com broadcasts the concert over the internet, a novelty at that time. For the only time in the tour, Beautiful Day opens the show instead of Elevation, and the crowd roars as Bono repeats the first lines "The heart is a bloom, shoots up to the stony ground". The songs acquire a new meaning in this leg. Some lyrics in New York were altered, and Bullet The Blue Sky is understandably dropped from the setlist in favor of covers like What's Going On and When Will I See You Again. Bono does for the first time his now famous speeches during One about how fighting poverty can eliminate terrorism too. One of U2's most memorable tour legs had just begun.
2001-10-25 - New York: "Greatest band, greatest city on earth, it's simple", that's how we can put the 3 concerts U2 did in New York just weeks after 9/11. Inspired by the energy and bravery of New York, the band performs some of their best concerts in their life. Before the shows, tensions were high: one wrong speech, one performance that didn't feel honest and everything could go very wrong. But this is U2 we're talking about and New York needed them as much as the band needs New York. From wedding proposals to NYPD and NYFD onstage sharing their stories, we go through all human emotions in the span of a gig. We have a soundboard recording of the second show, which started with a very energetic Elevation and Beautiful Day, Bono singing "New York City, soul city!" and "Let's go Yankees!" during New Year's Day, as the crowd never stopped chanting that and "USA!" all 3 shows. This show also had a very emotional Kite where Bono explained why they didn't cancel the shows and the sequence of Bad/40/Streets seemed as it was tailored for this city. During One, the names of the people killed on 9/11 were projected onto the crowd and scrolled across the roof of the MSG. It was one of the most emotional moments of the night. People started breaking down, but when all was over, they felt as the healing just started.
2002-02-03 - New Orleans: Superbowl XXXVI was originally supposed to have Janet Jackson as their half-time entertainment. After 9/11, she canceled her tour, as almost any artist, so the NFL had to find a new half-time show. Impressed by what they saw at NYC, U2 were booked as the new headliners, with long time friend Jimmy Iovine playing a part on convincing the band. Not everyone was impressed. Among NFL executives, fears of low ratings, or that an Irish band was not appropriate for the times started to spread. But when U2 opened the show with Beautiful Day, and when the names of the 9/11 victims appeared during MLK everyone was in tears. Where The Streets Have No Name had one of its best performances ever too, with the names still rolling down and then the screen was released and it shivered down like one of the two falling towers. Boston Globe called it "The greatest halftime show in the history of sporting events, hands down." and to this day, Rolling Stone lists this as the #1 halftime show ever, and The Washington Post said "To some, it may have seemed rather a garish memorial, but in a strangely affecting way, it worked, and respectfully."
2005-06-18 - London: Our first Vertigo show is a show broadcasted by the BBC in London during the European leg. The sound quality of this bootleg is top notch, even more so in the matrix mixing the audience and the broadcast. By the time U2 reached Europe, the HTDAAB songs were played almost flawlessly and they shine particularly in this show. A very passionate rendition of SYCMIOYO with Bono removing his glasses to show us how personal this song is to him and one of the best and last Running To Stand Still performances of the tour. Warming up to the Live 8 concert a month after, Bono makes sure the world receives his message about Africa and the Make Poverty History campaign with the trio of Pride, Streets and One. One of the strongest parts of this tour is the ZooTV dedicated encore, and songs like The Fly and Mysterious Ways shine particularly in this show.
2006-12-09 - Hawaii: After two years of touring U2 went to the tropical island of Hawaii to end the Vertigo Tour, where they played their first concert since 1985. Many fans from all over the world came to Hawaii to witness a very special concert with much more than just U2. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day joined for The Saints Are Coming and Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam joined for Rockin' In The Free World before U2 ended their tour with All I Want Is You. A fan came on stage to play piano during Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, which ended up being an improvised version as Bono had hoped the fan could play Angel of Harlem instead. All in all a very special show with the (to this date) last performance of many songs, such as an emotional version of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own. Bono's voice was superb, the show featured many surprises and everyone was in a great mood. A fitting ending to one of U2's most successful tours.
2009-07-07 - Milan: U2 and Italy is generally a recipe for something special, and the two shows in Milan in the early days of the 360 tour were no exception. The more than enthusiastic Italian audience enlightened the Claw and U2 to put on an amazing performance. Highlights included Breathe, Stand By Me, Unknown Caller, Vertigo, Party Girl, Moment Of Surrender and I Still Haven't Found, which the band had to pause as the crowd were singing along more than loud. As this show took place in the early days of the 360 tour it also featured 7 songs from No Line On The Horizon, something which would prove to be rare later on in the tour. One of the highest rated 360 shows for many reasons, a must in this list of most amazing U2 shows.
2009-08-20 - Sheffield: Later in the summer of 2009 U2's 360 tour hit the city of Sheffield for the first time since June 1992. The show was broadcasted over radio and ever since has been one of the most favourite 360 shows among fans. The show featured amazing performances of Ultra Violet, Streets (with a snippet of Gloria) and Crazy Tonight. The band barely made any mistakes and rocked Sheffield for the full duration of the show. A night with a brilliant atmosphere captured in great quality.