U2 360 Tour Denver

Remarkable moment tonight as the North American tour opened in Denver when Aung San Suu Kyi, sent a video message thanking U2 fans for campaigning for the freedom of the people of Burma.

‘Your voices,’ she said, ‘Are the future – the voices of reason, equality and justice.’

In fact this was a pretty unique night all around, the band opening up their postponed US and Canada dates, a year to the night that Bono left surgery in Munich and with a set list transformed from the one that opened this tour nearly two years ago.

Bono thanked a passionate Denver audience for their patience. ‘I thank God… and the Germans! Through the wonders of science I’m not just fixed, I’m better! Bono 2.0…’

U2.COM review here

Bono acknowledges for the first time that Adam Clayton became a father, last year.

Below, you can see the videos we got so far, courtesy of atu2.com and fans. Also the links to constantly updated photo albums, credit to the several U2 fans attending the show.

SETLIST

Opening Act(s): The Fray

Main Set: Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Elevation, Until the End of the World, All I Want Is You, Stay, Beautiful Day – Here Comes the Sun, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I’ll Go Crazy (remix) – Discotheque – Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On – You’ll Never Walk Alone

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

VIDEOS

U2.com Official

Intermission Video

City Of Blinding Lights

Elevation

Until The End Of The World

All I Want Is You

Beautiful Day

Zooropa

One

Stay (Faraway, So Close!)

PICTURES

Click in the links below to see all photos

Here and Here

When U2 first took the alien stage perched atop Invesco Field’s grass at 8:45 p.m. tonight, the packed crowd of 70,000-plus fans welcomed the Irish band with the kind of reception normally reserved for the venue’s regular tenants: the Denver Broncos.

Synchronized foot-stomps and “the wave” and all-day tailgating lead to that climactic moment, and for the next two hours, Bono, Edge, Clayton and Mullen were more important names than Tebow, Moreno, Bailey and Dumervil.

And in Colorado, that’s saying something.

The sheer scope of U2′s record-breaking 360 Tour was undeniable proof, as if we needed it, of the group’s continued North American appeal. Can any other band pull off a stadium tour in the U.S. right now?

Nope. And oddly, U2 frontman Bono comes off better in a stadium than he does in an arena. The exaggerated movements. The two-fisted mic lean-ins. The outrageous struts and over-the-top plays to the camera. Bono was born for this job. And right now, he’s the only cat making it happen on this level.

And just how did it happen Saturday? We’ll start with the stage, which was set amid four towering, thorny, green-and-orange legs spread like a spider. It’s an imposing alien structure that houses most of the show’s lights, sound and the circular LED screen.

The band played to the stage’s titular in-the-round strengths, strutting the outer ring like cats on the prowl. There was plenty of call-and-response with the audience, and of course Bono had a couple seemingly off-the-cuff monologues.

These guys are pros, and they make it look effortless.

They couldn’t have started stronger musically. An impassioned “Even Better than the Real Thing” filtered into an anthemic “I Will Follow,” leading into a pummeling “Get On Your Boots.” “Boots” is the lackluster single off the band’s latest, 2009′s “No Line on the Horizon,” but its hook – courtesy of the Edge and his dizzying guitar tones – is a party-starter, and it fit right in with the older tracks.

Bono drew in the audience to help him kick-start “Elevation,” and later he drew more from 2000′s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” with an expectedly jubilant “Beautiful Day” and an elongated tribute to peace campaigns via “Walk On.”

“Sunday Bloody Sunday” came off more like a polished rock anthem than a desperate call to action, but “Where the Streets Have No Name” was the hands-in-the-air rager it needed to be. “One” was quite moving while “Mysterious Ways” sounded like an out-of-place anachronism – because it is, not because of the band’s note-perfect performance.

The fact that the world was supposed to end a few hours before show time wasn’t lost on anybody – especially since

The Edge and Bono of U2 perform on their first stop of their North American Tour in Denver at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 to a packed house. ( John Leyba, The Denver Post)

U2 and Saturday’s opener, the Fray, are both openly spiritual bands. But Bono capitalized on the coincidence by dedicating his “Until the End of the World” to Harold Camping, the reverend who called out Saturday as the day of rapture.

“To be taken up to the air, sounds like fun to me – just as long as Larry Mullen is with me,” Bono said in a mid-song sermon. “God is in the house.”

And then Bono and the boys did something crazy. Bono, standing on a stage bridging the core stage with the outer ring, started shaking and spazzing while the group indulged into an almost-violent instrumental break-down. Maybe it was Bono being crazy Bono, or maybe it was his simulation of what the rapture would look and feel like – with an assist from tweaked lighting and choppy video work.

That we couldn’t quite tell says it all. U2 knows how to entertain like nobody else, and few left Saturday’s show feeling they didn’t get their money’s worth.

Alright, so near as we can tell, when U2 takes the stage tonight at Invesco (after Isaac Slade and local homeboys in The Fray warm up the stage), the band’s set will consist of two-dozen songs, possibly 25. Since the 360° Tour first kicked off in Barcelona in June 2009, the setlist has changed rather dramatically. Hard to say what the outfit has in store for Denver, but judging from the songs played on the last three shows in Mexico, the show begins with “Even Better Than the Real Thing” and then immediately segues into a song from one of the early albums (thus far, “I Will Follow,” “Out of Control” and “New Year’s Day”).

From there, the band has pretty consistently delved into “Get On Your Boots,” “Magnificent,” “Mysterious Ways,” “Elevation,” followed by, appropriately enough, considering it’s Judgement Day and all, “Until The End Of The World.” After that, it appears the act sort of zig zags in a free-form sort of way through its catalog with songs from Unforgettable Fire and the Joshua Tree-era woven in with more recent material like “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” from No Line on the Horizon, as well as bits from War, Zooropa, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and others.

Looks like you can expect a two-song encore, broken up into two songs in the first and ending with three more. There’s a few other things in store. For more of that, check out the clip below featuring the Edge talking about the 360° Tour.

PROHIBITED ITEMS AT INVESCO (pulled from Invesco’s site)
Please refer to INVESCO Field at Mile High’s prohibited items list. In addition to the prohibited items listed, the following policies will be in effect during the U2 360 Tour show in Denver.

Cameras / Video recorders: Hand-held still camera photography is welcomed at events for non-commercial personal purposes. Cameras must be non-professional cameras with lenses of 3″ or less. Tripods, camera lenses or any other type of equipment which may interfere with other guests enjoyment of the game is not permitted. The use of video cameras, video recorders and audio recorders is not permitted at any time and may result in ejection.

Gates open tonight at 5 p.m. and showtime is 7 p.m.

Signs / Banners: Signs and banners larger than 8 1/2″ X 11″ will not be permitted inside the stadium.

Inflatables/Beach Balls: Inflatables, beach balls, ballons, hula hoops, etc. will not be permitted inside the stadium.

PARKING

Leave early. Parking lots at Invesco Field ($20-30) will be full by 5 p.m. for those looking for cash parking.

If arriving after 5 p.m. avoid the immediate stadium area and exits from I-25 and seek parking at the Pepsi Center ($10-$15) or Auraria Campus east of I-25 (exceptions are those with pre-sold parking permits)

Utilize highway exits other than those in the immediate vicinity of the stadium, including Colfax, 23rd Avenue (I-25 South) or 17th Avenue (I-25 North)

RTD LIGHT RAIL

Light rail capacity will be increased to accomodate the concert crowd on C and E light rail lines, which stop at the Invesco Field at Mile High Station. Ticket holders should utilize the D, H or F light rail lines and transfer to teh C or E lines at I-25 and Broadway, Alameda or 10th and Osage stations.

Ticket agents will be available at key stations. Ticket holders are encouraged to purchase round-trip tickets at the initial boarding station to avoid post-concert lines and delays at ticket-purchasing kiosks.

TAXI SERVICE
Expanded availability of taxi service following the concert will be available on the South stage end of Invesco in Parking Lot A, and also on the stadium’s west side (Federal Boulevard).

Source: Denver Westord

We will be updating this particular post when we receive some photos of the band performing.

Here is the setlist for tonight’s special event.

The full setlist was:

1. Even Better Than The Real Thing
2. I Will Follow
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Mysterious Ways
6. Elevation
7. Until The End Of The World
8. All I Want Is You / Worried Blues (snippet)
9. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
10. Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
11. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
12. Miss Sarajevo
13. Zooropa
14. City Of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo
16. Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet) / Please (snippet)
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. Scarlet
19. Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

Encore(s):

1. One
2. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name
3. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
4. With Or Without You

Source for setlist @u2gigs