U2 360 Tour East Lansing

‘C’mon East Lansing -  go green… go white… go orange… where you going to take the Irish tonight?’

They had their own festival at  Michigan State University’s Spartan Stadium  with an exuberant audience singing along at every note, the joint rocking from ‘Real Thing’ to Moment of Surrender’.

Let’s shrink this place down to a little club, Bono told a 65,000-strong crowd, before adding, ‘or a pub like Dooleys’.

‘I Will Follow’ went down just as well tonight as it did when they played it in that very pub Dooleys, in East Lansing, nearly thirty years ago in December 1981. ‘Where is Mr. Dooley?’ Bono asked. ‘I believe he’s still around.’

This is not a band that made it to university – Edge managed six weeks, Bono two – but they were always learning. ‘U2 became our university, Rolling Stone our textbook… We’re still students, wouldn’t you agree ? I still haven’t found what I’m looking for…’

After ‘Still’, Bono was in reflective mood again, recalling an album which marks its twentieth birthday this year – and the long journey they took to find it. In Berlin, a wall coming down and one going up in the studio, the risks they took and the ones they’ll continue to take. Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone gets special mention, along with all ‘the people cheering us on when we were making some of our most experimental music… And we appreciate that.’

The night races past, carried on a wave of noise from a rockin’ audience, and soon it’s a Moment to Surrender, dedicated again to Clarence Clemons.

‘Not just a man, more a force of nature – music just spilling out of him.
But you could hold anyone in your heart or mind right now…’

Full U2.COM review here

Below, you can see the best videos we got so far and link to constantly updated photo albums, credit to the several U2 fans attending the show and press.

SETLIST

Opening Act(s): Florence and the Machine

Main Set: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – The Promised Land, Stay, Beautiful Day – Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo – T.V. Eye, I’ll Go Crazy (remix) – Discotheque – Psycho Killer – Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On – You’ll Never Walk Alone

Encore(s): One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow – Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender – Jungleland

VIDEOS – To be updated soon

Fan Videos
Compiled by U2News. Arrows for navigation to all videos.

PICTURES

Click in the link below to see all photos

Band Members Off-Show: Here
Show Photos: Here and Here.

After the astonishing performance at Glastonbury Festival, U2 is ready to overwhelm Spartan Stadium tonight. The first preparations kicked off during the band’s stay in Baltimore and now everything is prepared for what will be the stadium’s first concert since 1994.

“People have heard how big this is, how spectacular it is, but until you actually see it in person, you can’t grasp the real impression this structure creates on you,” said tour director Craig Evans during his meet up with the local press. “I see it every show: They come around the corner, their faces light up, and the cameras come out.”

“At first it was a disappointment, but it was also scary,” he said about Bono’s back surgery. “We didn’t really know where it was going to lead. Backs are pretty unpredictable, and this was a pretty serious injury. You kept thinking, ‘Is there really going to be a next year?’ “

What’s next for U2…

…is up in the air. Even those close to the band say it will have a tough time topping the 360° spectacle in terms of breadth and scope.

“I don’t know if the solution is through sheer size,” said Evans, who has also overseen tours by Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones. “U2 has always been on the leading edge in show presentation, design, how they relate to the audience. To top this is to take that edge in some new direction. It’s not a matter of reinventing themselves — it’s about presenting themselves in some new way that can resonate with fans.”

Press conference video available here.

Source: Detroit Free Press

For updated info about tonight’s show go to U2NT on facebook or @U2_NT on Twitter! You can also check our new Tweet Feed from East Lansing, here, at the right side of the page.

Even before U2 take the stage in Baltimore, the first photos of the Claw at Spartan Stadium arrived and the spaceship is already up. U2 will perform in Michigan next June, 26, right after the highly anticipated Glastonbury Festival, where U2 will bring Bono 2.0 on stage, this Friday night.

Florence and The Machine will open the night again, after the much appreciated show yesterday in Baltimore.

Photos via Michigan State University – Field Operations