Snapshots from the first night in New Jersey.
1. Check the
set list2. Another hot show with some surprise twists and turns.
3. One: 'I believe we have the will, Take out your cellphone and light up the night.' As fans signed up with their mobile phones to join the ONE campaign to make poverty history , their names flashed across the screens, adding further to the 600,000 people who have now registered support for the campaign.
4. Zoo Station gets even more dazzling following a visual makeover, courtesy of Irish artist and long-term U2 collaborator Charlie Whisker. The song now arrives with a slot-machine rush of images, stopping and starting with - amongst others - Michael Jackson, Uncle Sam, Saddam Hussein, Bill Clinton, George W Bush and lots of achtung babies.
5. The Fly is ageing well too, tonight arriving with a new look, thanks to work by director Mark Pellington, best known for The Mothman Prophecies and Arlington Road. Mark's been working with U2 since way back on Zooropa.
6. Original of the Species made one of its surprise appearances, to widespread delight. One young woman, held high on the shoulders of a friend, caught Bono's eye and in no time their outstretched hands had met. 'An Irish Girl From Jersey,' said Bono, as her friends waved a huge Irish flag.
7. All Because of You with singer on tambourine segues neatly into Bono briefly reprising Dylan, 'Hey Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me...'
8. And a final surprise: after a beautiful performance of '40', Larry stayed on stage and kept drumming, as he does, but this time he kept on drumming right on into another version of Vertigo, with the whole band out on stage again. No wonder everyone left on such a high.
