Bono Welcomes U2BRTHR To The Stage

The returns to Canada this time to Montreal for a 4 night run. This was the first of four nights that the band's setlist can be considered to be on normal rotations at this point. A couple of familiar rotations in "Electric Co, and "I will follow"  and "Ordinary Love" stayed in the set list.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the evening Bono brings Mark Baker to the stage, any dedicated U2 fan knows Mark as @U2Brthr has an amazing documentary Mark was on the stage to film "Meerkat" Elevation.  We reached out to Mark to get a quote and he had this to say "I haven't left the MTL residence yet.  I fluctuate from ear to ear smiling or tear swelling. Barely slept. Too surreal." Truly an amazing evening for this dedicated U2 fan.

Venue: Bell Centre Montreal, QC, CA June 12, 2015

Set List

  1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
  2. The Electric Co. / Send In The Clowns (snippet) / Anthem (snippet)
  3. Vertigo
  4. I Will Follow
  5. Iris (Hold Me Close)
  6. Cedarwood Road
  7. Song For Someone
  8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
  9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
  10. Until The End Of The World

(Intermission)

  1. Invisible
  2. Even Better Than The Real Thing
  3. Mysterious Ways
  4. Elevation
  5. Ordinary Love
  6. Every Breaking Wave
  7. Bullet The Blue Sky
  8. The Hands That Built America (snippet) / Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  9. Beautiful Day
  10. La Vie En Rose (snippet) / With Or Without You

Encore(s):

  1. City Of Blinding Lights
  2. Mother And Child Reunion (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
  3. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / People Have The Power (snippet)

Bono was a bit more political expressing his concerns about of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan for human rights abuses as well as the current violence in Yemen  Speaking to the crowd in French and English.

U2's Opening Night Cali Style

Wahlig/U2TOURFANS/2015

Wahlig/U2TOURFANS/2015

INGLEWOOD, CA -  U2 arrived ! LA fans had a bit of a wait as crowds continued to pour in around the official start time. Fans around the world ripping up social media with comments about how LA fans never arrive on time and that the venue had a lot of empty seats due to possible resellers holding tickets. This is not uncommon for any show in or around the LA area.  Most music fans go out late and stay out late. The city really does not get started before 9PM. U2's show does not have an opening act and no matter how many times you tell fans NO OPENING act arrive early on time, its going to happen that a few fans will arrive late.

Some of the Hollywood crowd was spotted the forum settled in for an evening of music just over two hours.  We can expect to see Hollywood listers around the venue all week.

During sound check Electric Co was introduced as part of the nights possible tune to join the set list.

The band has been introducing songs to the fluid set list over the past few nights. 

This arena tour fans will all agree that the sound is very tight, clear and crisp. The band is very on point. 

Bono sounds even better. Opening the night with "The Miracle( of Joey Ramone) had fans on their feet, arms in the air leaving no doubt that U2 has come to play. 

As we said a few set list changes. California made an appearance, City of Blinding Lights, Electric Co and Sweetest Thing. Bono's impersonator, Joseph Hier performed a couple of tunes ( U2 tribute band: Hollywood U2) The show ended with "One"

We have updated the city page to provide more images, videos and of course the set list.  Download our new app for updates, chats and more news.

U2 And The Daunting Challenge of The Innocence and Experience Tour

Will The Spirit Still Walk Through The Room?

U2 And The Daunting Challenge of The Innocence and Experience Tour

Nashville: JB Brookman

The age of the internet has backed the greatest band on the planet into a corner…

(Kevin Mazur/WireImage) U2TOURFANS 2015

(Kevin Mazur/WireImage) U2TOURFANS 2015

The Beatles, Johnny Cash and the Stones never had to deal with the backlash that a band of U2’s caliber is currently toe to toe in a death-match with.  In this day and age, it’s hip to be a hater and the land of Facebook and Twitter is dominated by them.  When U2 and Apple put together a brilliant (26 U2 titles shot on to the iTunes top 200 albums chart at once) and fan-friendly marketing strategy to give Innocence and Experience away for free, the naysayers swung with all their might and did so in droves. 

The media jumped on the backlash and painted a negative image of an album that had nothing to do with the music.  The “5th member of U2” Paul McGuinness left as the band’s manager, leaving them in unchartered territory. 

Many feared that this could be the end of U2.  Had they become irrelevant?  Had Bono’s earnestness and political fighting's for Africa become an image-killer?  Had manufactured music, boy bands and sex selling female vocalists completely taken over the landscape in 2015?  

The first time this writer saw U2 live (1985 Unforgettable Fire Tour- Sports Arena, Los Angeles), Bono was able to scream out notes in full register and recklessly climb up speaker clusters, wrapped in an Irish flag to confront and demand the attention and respect of fans.  Now, it is some 30 years later and the challenges of life have battered Paul Hewson’s 55-year old body.  A serious and possibly life-threatening back injury delayed the 360 Tour in 2009 and Bono’s recent New York bicycle accident has left him with permanent arm/hand damage that has even stolen his ability to strum a guitar (Larry Mullen has also dealt with injury in the past and Adam Clayton has dealt with addiction and depression issues).  

“God is in the room… It feels like there’s a blessing on the band right now. And I don’t know what it is, but it feels like God walking through the room, and it feels like a blessing, and in the end, music is a kind of sacrament; it’s not just about airplay or chart positions.”
— Bono (Heath, Rolling Stone, May 10, 2001)

Needless to say, the next 6 months are the pivot point in the career of U2.  They will either fade gently into that goodnight or ascend and re-take their place as the greatest live band in music history.  They have always found a way to fight through new ground, in a live show.  Rumors of the new tour include a state of the art sound system and a show that takes over the entire span of arena floors.  Bono has always said that there is a special time in each U2 show where “the Spirit walks through the room” and a certain magic happens.  Can the band tap into that same life force this Summer? 

(Kevin Mazur/WireImage) U2TOURFANS

(Kevin Mazur/WireImage) U2TOURFANS

The truth is this…  U2 are a scrappy, hard-nosed crew with a monster work ethic.  They are at their best, when it’s time to change… time to burn down what they were, reinvent themselves and rise again from the ashes.  They battle and innovate and are willing to take risks that other groups have never taken. 

Whether it was putting their financial futures in check with the gigantic, groundbreaking Zoo TV and PopMart Tours or tearing down the Joshua Tree and making a new sound with Achtung Baby, this has been true.  The Irishmen are the first ones to the scene of the fight and they aint going down until you put them in the dirt.

A month after the Apple roller coaster, Rolling Stone named I & E their Album of the Year and the band has entered the ring for their North American Tour that opened this weekend in Vancouver.  As “Volcano” from the latest album says: “The world is spinning fast tonight, You can hurt yourself tryin’ to hold on, To what you used to be.  I’m so glad the past is gone”  Yes, U2 have a legendary past.  But, now is their time to create a new powerful and relevant future.

JB Brookmam

Rock and Roll Celebrity Concert Photographer Founder/Editor of Nashville Live Magazine and Hollywood Icon Magazine Concerts & More: www.jbbrookmanphoto.com