‘Until The End of the World’

'In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows
But my sorrows they'd learned to swim
Surrounding me, going down on me
Spilling over the brim
Waves of regret and waves of joy.
I reached out for the one I tried to destroy.
You, you said you'd wait till the end of the world...'

‘Until The End of the World’ on the opening night in Boston.

When & Where
Thursday June 22nd 2018, TD Garden, Boston, MA. Opening night on the longest day, show 22 of #U2eiTour.

Set List
Cry out during Pride to 'one boy caught at a border fence'… and Gloria returns after missing one show. Here's the full set list. 

In The Press
Jason Greenough for Vanyaland
'Over the course of their 40-plus years as a band, U2 have pretty much done everything there is to be done. But hot damn do they keep finding new and creative ways to make their fans fall in love with them all over again. Case in point: Thursday night (June 21), their first of two nights at Boston's TD Garden.  The Irish rock legends ushered in summer with a blistering set of new material, a few deep(-ish) tracks, and only a handful of their most precious staple tunes as Bono and crew set out to tell the "deeply personal story about a boy searching for his manhood" on the Innocence + Experience Tour. (Spoiler: The "boy" in the story is Bono.) The quartet continued to boost their already awe-inspiring and widely-acclaimed light show and visual game, as they began the night with two tracks off of their most recent effort Songs of Experience — "Love Is All We Have Left" and "The Blackout" — whilst suspended above the stage inside an 80-foot long two-sided video screen that served as both a social awareness bulletin board and a visual storytelling tool. The crowd was digging what the band had in store from the very first note of the evening, but something has to be said for the absolute eruption that ensued as The Edge, who was more active than usual as Bono's right-hand man, blared the opening riff to "I Will Follow" once the band made their way out of the screen and onto the main stage.  Judging by the obviously weathered, but still-present, raw power of Bono's operatic vocals, and the musical stamina of his cohorts, it may come as sort of a surprise that each member of the band is pushing 60 years old. Even so, the band did not show their age, as much as they further showcased their instrumental expertise and creative confidence by smashing through a handful of songs, including "Beautiful Day," "Iris (Hold Me Close)," and "Cedarwood Road," before doling out a dose of the reality of growing up in 1970's civil war-torn Ireland, with an intense, Irish-flag-light drenched rendition of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Following a short intermission that was filled in with a comic book version of the band's journey from Dublin to the states (set to "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me") the band re-emerged to christen the "E" stage at the other end of the floor with "Elevation" and "Vertigo". It was before the latter that Bono explained, in a storyteller's fashion like he had done periodically throughout the evening, that it's a track that marked a chapter in the band's career where "it started to get to our heads," as he put it. Further tapping into the hits vault, the boys from Dublin belted out "Desire" as a disco ball hung from the ceiling and turned an already aesthetically pleasing show into a full-on party scene. Donning a top-hat and eye shadow, Bono brought back his Zoo TV-era alter ego, MacPhisto, to play "Acrobat," which the frontman tagged with a hauntingly fitting spoken rendition of the first verse of the Rolling Stones classic "Sympathy For The Devil." He added a little creative license for an updated second verse: "I was there in Charlottesville/With the Nazi flag/And the KKK/And I sprayed painted/The first lady's jacket/But she still wore it anyway/You can't make this shit up." It was obvious that the band wanted to experiment with a number of creative and visually-pleasing aspects throughout the evening, and did so much so, that it's nearly impossible to effectively describe on a computer screen what transpired and how. If nothing else, that confidence in experimenting, in addition to revisiting early-'90s nostalgia showed, yet again, that the ascension from innocence to experience has made them more thorough, more exciting, and more creatively powerful in their approach. As drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton made their trek back to the main stage, Bono and The Edge stayed back on the "E" stage to pop off a socially-charged acoustic duet of "Staring At The Sun" as a montage displaying the behavior of modern-day Nazis garnered equal parts boos and applause, assumedly for the same reason... Thursday night showed that age has treated U2 very well, but experience has treated them even better.

On The Socials 
@BDub1966 (via Twitter) 'Thanks @U2 for another homecoming show @tdgarden that shook our souls and blew the roof off! See you tomorrow for night two. Ill never forget #Acrobat.'

@deadrndishwtr (via Twitter) 'Fav moment tonight in Boston when #Bono as #Mephisto said "I spray painted her jacket and she wore it anyway. You can't make this shit up!"'

@ReginaIBCLC (via Twitter) 'Amazing how well Pride is working. Very powerful combined with Staring at the Sun. #Boston was electrified by it.'

jenavsu2 (via Instagram)'My Irish heart has loved U2 for 20+ years now. My original boy band. My 8th show tonight. Things change, but I still love them like I did when I was 13.'

@tanyaemery (via Twitter) 'The best show I have ever seen. So many goosebumps, a few tears. Unbelievable.'

Experience(s) Of The Day
When the singer pulls the girl standing next to you up on to the stage.. and you remember to video it for her. 

jennifer.hawker (via Instagram). ''Will jig for U2! This gal Michelle, who was standing so close behind me I swore Bono was looking at me when he came over to get her out of the crowd, had the thrill of a lifetime last night. I am so glad I happened to catch her right after the show for a pic and to get her contact info so I can send her the full clip which is a tad longer than IG will let me post here'

And, when you think you spot yourself, (or part of yourself!) on the official @U2 instagram photo.  
dreamoutloud2 : Ha! I think that's my hand giving the peace sign!! '

What did Bono Say?
Before the final song of the night, Bono sent birthday wishes to Irish Poet Paul Muldoon and recited his poem Hedgehog.

The snail moves like a
Hovercraft, held up by a
Rubber cushion of itself,
Sharing its secret

With the hedgehog. The hedgehog
Shares its secret with no one.
We say, Hedgehog, come out
Of yourself and we will love you.

We mean no harm. We want
Only to listen to what
You have to say. We want
Your answers to our questions.

The hedgehog gives nothing
Away, keeping itself to itself.
We wonder what a hedgehog
Has to hide, why it so distrusts.

We forget the god
Under this crown of thorns.
We forget that never again
Will a god trust in the world.

'Giselle and Tom right in front of you' Beautiful Day shoutout to model Gisele Bündchen and her partner New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady 

U2.com / Zootopia Reviews
Nawlins. 'Uhhhhmazing!!! Blew the roof off the DC show!  So glad to see them this tour in 3 different cities.'

emily_carcerano.  'It was incredible. So much energy. Best crowd I've seen so far in my shows other than Montreal. Can't wait to do it again tonight. ❤'

And if you were at the show, add your own photos and reviews here.