A Night At The Roxy

29 May 20158

After two nights of a five night stand at the Forum, the band went back in time last night, returning to their club roots to play the 500 capacity Roxy, their first show in such an intimate L.A. area venue in decades.

If the U2ie Tour  has been reinventing the arena show as an intimate tour de force, this scrappy, charged club gig for a few hundred lucky KROQ contest winners packed a stadium's worth of energy - from crowd and band alike - into a club the size of the first L.A. venue the band ever played.

Like that show, way back in 1981, the setlist at The Roxy shared five songs with  the U.S. Boy Tour setlist.

The show opened with The Ocean as the band did so often back in those days, likewise careening into a furious 11 O'Clock Tick Tock reappearing for the first time since 2001.

I Will Follow conjured the magic of the days when the
band first heard the news that the song was in heavy rotation on KROQ
before it made a dent in the charts in their own hometown.

The Electric Co. segued into Beautiful Day, which Bono sang while embracing a young fan, ending with customary refrain of I Remember You by the Ramones - in the venue where the Ramones live set from 'Rock'n'Roll High School' was filmed.

Elevation was played live for the first time since the close of the 360 tour in 2011 and while Bono suggested he wasn't certain if the band could remember how to play the next track, they didn't let us down with a beautiful, singalong Stuck In A Moment (That You Can't Get Out Of). 

'Can't believe the news today...' A fired up classic original version of Sunday Bloody Sunday was dedicated to Dennis Sheehan who 'had the dignity that our music aspires to' before Out of Control, taking us all the way back to 1981 again, closed the main set.

First time around in clubs like this, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock and I  Will Follow would have been played again but there's a few more songs in the repertoire now. Vertigo opened up the encore, with Bono falling backward into the arms of fans at the front of the stage - 'that was worth coming for' - while Song For Someone went out to two special fans in the house tonight, 'Two beautiful strands of DNA... almost as beautiful as their mother.'

This is how Rolling Stone describe the close of the show.

'At night's end (Bono) spoke of U2's first trip to Los Angeles and a visit to Zuma Beach in search of Brian Wilson's house. He noted there was a Beach Boys album at U2's first rehearsal in 1976. "We heard he had a piano in a sand pit and we just thought this man had the music of the spheres," Bono said as the band eased into Songs of Innocence's celebratory "California (There Is No End to Love)." They added a bit of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and closed a short but potent set with a forceful, mystical sound of their own.'

A magical night. We'll have more reports on the show coming up from some of the U2.com competition winners who were lucky enough to see it...

Comments
8
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Fabrizio Viera
GOOD SHOW, GOOD NIGHT WITH MY FAMILY IN
WOW.... THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST U2 SHOW I EVER SEEN.....
pam_aycock
Bono pulls girl on stage
Tried to upload this photo before, hopefully it works this time. Its of Cassie, the girl Bono brought onstage and held in his arms during the song, Beautiful Day.
pam_aycock
A "Beautiful Day" & a dream that came tr
"Cassie" is the name of the young fan that Bono brought up on stage during "Beautiful Day"! She is my daughter-in-law and is not only beautiful on the outside but on the inside too. Her and my son have tickets to every U2 concert in California. They are true die-hard fans and for them to win tickets to the Roxy was a real dream come true!! They are still in U2 heaven from that entire experience!
chris42
One man's set list
California Raised by wolves The Fly The Wire Three Sun Rises In God's country Streets have no name Ultraviolet Electric Co Until the end of the world Mysterious ways Vertigo Your blue room Lemon Mofo Surrender Two hearts beat as one Desire Spanish Eyes Silver and Gold Bullet the blue sky Stay ( Faraway, so close) Love is blindness Hopefully the boys will read this. :) TK-41066 out....
Marvgadgie
Wow
Looks great - the opening songs look like a 1981 gig. This would make a great DVD or subscribers special gift type thing.
AaronWolfson
U2 - Rock&Roll Dreams Realized !!!
Having grown up around the Sunset Strip, and having U2 play the Roxy is a dream come true. Especially when they are playing music about things that inspired them at the start of their great music adventure. An adventure that we all share with them. In my early band days as kids, we went to see Led Zeppelin at the Forum. Now U2 is playing that venue, and the vision that Dennis Sheehan had really has come true. Thank you for Rock&Roll dreams realized !!!
the shev
theshev
delighted for my mate Harry Kantas who won 2 tickets here on U2.com.shame I was'nt there with him as like Vancouver.see u all in New York
yardie
Great set list
So reminiscent of their early days in places like Queens University in Belfast. Thanks U2.
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