Today U2 were in Philadelphia. This show was their first there since 14 July 2011, having skipped the city on the Innocence + Experience Tour in 2015. That omission was something of a surprise, as the only other time there has not been a Philly show on at least one leg of any U2 tour that has visited the US was back in 1983 on the War Tour.

Earlier in the day the band soundchecked Mysterious Ways, playing it five times. It included the slide solo not played since 2006 on the Vertigo Tour, and was rehearsed with the women icons visuals that have so far accompanied Ultra Violet.

The soundcheck was a harbinger of things to come: Mysterious Ways made its tour debut, having last been played on 7 December 2015. Like the rehearsal, this performance included the slide solo—this live extension was done as a matter of course in Mysterious Ways from 1992 to 2006, but was not featured on the 360 or IE Tours. Mysterious Ways was played to the montage of famous women typically used in Ultra Violet, which missed a show for the first time this tour.

The setlist was otherwise unchanged from that played at the last three shows. Had U2 made no changes at all, it would've been the first time they'd played four identical setlists in a row since the four shows from 18 to 25 October 2009 (the next show also had the same set if you don't count Happy Birthday).

One Tree Hill tonight was dedicated to U2's late tour manager Dennis Sheehan, whose wife was in the audience. Before that song, Bono also namechecked another person in attendance: Michael Coppel, U2's concert promoter in Australia and New Zealand. Keep those hopes alive, Aussie and Kiwi fans—and lend a signature to this petition to get the band to tour down under for the first time in seven years. The Joshua Tree is, after all, dedicated to a New Zealander, Greg Carroll, the subject of One Tree Hill.

The full setlist was:

1. Sunday Bloody Sunday
2. New Year's Day
3. Bad / America (snippet)
4. Pride (In the Name of Love)
5. Where the Streets Have No Name
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. With or Without You
8. Bullet the Blue Sky / Black Dog (snippet) / America (snippet)
9. Running To Stand Still
10. Red Hill Mining Town
11. In God's Country
12. Trip Through Your Wires
13. One Tree Hill
14. Exit / Wise Blood (snippet) / Eeny Meeny Miny Moe (snippet)
15. Mothers Of The Disappeared

encore(s):

16. Miss Sarajevo / The New Colossus (snippet)
17. Mysterious Ways / Elevation (snippet)
18. One / Hear Us Coming (snippet)
19. Beautiful Day / Philadelphia Freedom (snippet)
20. Elevation
21. Vertigo

All details for this show including reviews, videos and photos can be found here.

If you attended the show we ask you to share your concert review or photos with other site visitors. You can post your review of the show here and upload your pictures here.

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Axver