U2 eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour 2018

Beautiful Night in San Jose

When & Where
A beautiful night began early on this beautiful day in San Jose, Monday 7th May 2018. As morning light broke, local fans got busy firing up a home-made kitchen right in there in the street outside the SAP Centre and proceeded to rustle up hundreds of pancakes for fellow early birds in the GA line. (Even local news were there.) A homely welcome to this home away from home for the band and fans on the #U2eiTour, night one of two in the city.

Set List
Delight from the crowd as Gloria makes its first appearance in the tour, and a welcome return to the set for Raised By Wolves, check out the full set set list :

Social Posts 
@AstriusCatfox (via Twitter)
‘Shoutout to #Bono and #U2 for throwing up the #NeverAgain hashtag, calling out the Charlottesville NeoNazis, and calling on the US to #resist. Y'all fuckin' rock and that was the best concert of my life’.

@echojustice (via Twitter)
‘Tonight was a perfect hope storm of deep creativity, bearing witness, and truth telling @U2. #JOY A much needed set list for such a time as this. #loveisbigger #healing’

In The Press 
For some, like Jim Harrington for the Bay Area News Group, it's not just what the band played at the show, its what they left out, that stood out…
‘Could a U2 show that didn’t include such favorites as "Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For," "With or Without You" and "Bullet the Blue Sky" — all celebrated staples of the U2 setlist for decades — be satisfying to behold? If you answered anything short of "yes" then, clearly, you weren’t at SAP Center on May 7, as Bono and the boys left all things "Joshua Tree" in the desert and still managed to deliver a brilliant outing for the packed house in San Jose. Say what you want about U2. But this band, which also performs at the same venue on May 8, has guts to spare. Try talking Bon Jovi, the Stones, Journey or basically any other classic rock band into hitting the arena trail without packing their best-known songs. It’s not going to happen. But U2 is a different kind of a classic rock act, one that is wary of being pigeonholed as a nostalgia act. Thus, after embracing its past like never before with last year’s "Joshua Tree" celebration, it makes total sense for the band to go the exact opposite way and fashion one of the most challenging and refreshing road shows of its career…
…The pacing was superb throughout the night, as the group mixed old and new, familiar and fresh, anthems and ballads to near perfection. Nothing ever felt stale. Nothing ever felt out of place’.

If You Had To Pick One Song 
It's Acrobat that is still drawing new emotion from long time fans, at the show and online, first time ever on a tour, third time ever payed live.

@U2Baja (via Twitter) ‘I could listen to Acrobat live over and over again. That song means so much to me, there are truly no words for me to let someone know how deeply it touches my heart and soul’

@corianderstem (via Twitter) ‘I have a bunch of mixed thoughts on the show, but holy shit, Acrobat. Acrobat is worth the price of admission’.

@explorativewoman (via Instagram) ‘Brought to tears thanks to @u2 playing a song that has gotten me through many hard moments in my life. Absolutely overwhelmed to have finally heard this song live. I won’t ever forget this’

What did Bono Say?
"Tonight's show is a very personal story. Could be Larry's, could be Adam's. Could be Edge's. ... I have very few memories of childhood. My mother especially. I wrote to remember." (The Ocean / Iris intro)

"This is a song about stubbornness" `(Staring At The Sun intro)

"Desire, Greed, Lust, Deceit, Vanity… All essentials to the showman in all his forms… And of course a license to just look in the mirror… haven’t seen you in quite a while" (Desire fades into intro to Acrobat.)

Review on U2.com / Zootopia 
shooboxx (via Zootopia): ‘The show was fantastic! Amazing! Powerful and I am fortunate I got to be in the building.’ 

And if you were at the show in San Jose, add your own review and upload your photos below.