U2 eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour 2018

'Don't believe what you hear…'

'Don't believe what you hear, don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes you can feel the enemy…’

When & Where
Saturday May 26th 2018. Show 12 of U2eiTour is at The Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee. Third ever U2 show in Nashville, first time in an arena setting.

Set List
'Gloria' returns  to position number 5 in the set, and 'Vertigo' closes out with a few lines from The Kings Of Leon's 'Sex On Fire' (with a nod to drummer Nathan Followill who is at the show). Here's the full set list.

Social Posts / Fansite Coverage
The U2eiTour experience in 13 tweets, as witnessed by @U2Interference editor Andrew William Smith.

1. This tour looks & sounds great in the cheap seats.
2, The door is open. You're standing there. You let me in. Gloria!!!!!!!!! 
3. Bono: "At the far end of experience, with some wisdom & good company, he can recover his innocence." 
4. The spoken word/improv over The Ocean seems to get better every night. 
5. Timberline Road in Southfield, Michigan is my Cedarwood Road. What is yours? 
6. Johnny Comes Marching Home Again snippet in SBS tonight.
7. I think that was a very brief Kings Of Leon "Sex Is On Fire" snippet at the end of Vertigo.
8. Nashville is an audience that can shout "Amen" 
9. Meanest MacPhisto speech yet. Trump, Putin, Charlottesville, Mick Jagger all name checked. No more sympathy for the devil.
10. Bono's SATS intro: 'I can't remember writing it & I am not sure what it is about: but willful blindness can destroy a country.'
11. Clear & woke about what is & what is not America. Best transition from blinded sun to humble pride.
12. Is it just me or did they just dirty up the live version of American Soul for the Dirty South?!
13. So thanks Bono, now I get it, 13 is a lullaby for every 50-something parent's inner 13 year old.

In The Press
Juli Thanks write for The Tennessean. 
'U2 rocks Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. After more than 40 years together, U2 can still put on a damn good show. On Saturday night, the Irish rockers – frontman Bono, guitar slinger The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. – brought their Experience and Innocence Tour to Bridgestone Arena. 
The concert fell almost exactly a year after the band's last performance in Middle Tennessee: a headlining set at Bonnaroo. The festival date was part of a tour during which U2 revisited “The Joshua Tree,” the classic 1987 album that featured some of the biggest hits of their career, like “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,” “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “With or Without You.”
This time through the Volunteer State, the foursome eschewed “The Joshua Tree” completely. But the night was still filled with fan favorites, a career-spanning set list that ranged from early '80s singles like “I Will Follow” and “Gloria” to “You're the Best Thing About Me” (from their most recent record, 2017's “Songs of Experience”) and a few surprises.
A brief intermission included a new recording of “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” (U2's contribution to the “Batman Forever” soundtrack) by Gavin Friday and Arcade Fire's Regine Chassagne. Later in the night, U2 performed an acoustic version of “Staring at the Sun” from 1997's “Pop.” “I can't remember writing it, and I'm not sure what it's about,” Bono said of the song, which came from what he described as the band's “psychedelic period.” “I think it's something to do with willful blindness, the kind of thing that can destroy a home, or even a country.” The stripped-down arrangement accompanying images of neo-Nazis and white nationalist rallies brought the song's message to the forefront. Experience and Innocence might be the most tech-heavy tour of U2's career. Two stages were connected by a catwalk that ran through a 100-foot video wall. The band members were able to interact with the images on screen, leading to visually interesting moments like Bono walking through the streets from his Dublin childhood while performing "Cedarwood Road."
 "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is as powerful as it was 35 years ago, and “Pride (In the Name of Love)” can still bring an arena to its feet. 
During the three-song encore, Bono gave shoutouts to some famous friends in attendance, including Al Gore, T Bone Burnett, Oprah Winfrey, Ashley Judd and Bill Frist before launching into a soaring rendition of one of U2's most enduring classics, "One." The song also included a snippet of "Invisible," a plea for unity from the 2014 record "Songs of Innocence:" "There is no 'them,' there's only 'us.' " 
 
Experience Of The Day
@Ava (via Instagram). 'I have loved Bono and U2 since I was a girl. I've been guarded and guided by their work in many moments of my life. I first learned about human rights and activism, not through Martin Luther King as he was blandly taught in school, but through the passion of Bono's voice singing of the civil rights icon in the song PRIDE. I named my first narrative film, I WILL FOLLOW, after their song that meant so much to me and my Aunt Denise. She was the one who first introduced me to their music. I played their song BAD on the day I buried her and it helped me lift my head as I drove to the funeral, like a balm for my wounded heart. My favorite all-time song of U2 is DROWNING MAN. It's not a hit song. It's a heart song. And it lives in mine. In the song, Bono sings the words: “take my hand.” A moment before this picture was snapped, he reached over and took mine in his. I was breathless and speechless. He and Edge were everything a fan wishes their hero will be upon meeting them. Every single thing. My true thanks to all who made the moment possible, especially my friend @Oprah, who knows my heart and that this would make it shine and shimmer and sing. It did. In more ways than I can express. It's a beautiful day. xo'

Review For U2.com 
Michelle Johnson is part of our mod team over in zootopia and was at the show tonight. Still buzzing, she sent us her thoughts right afterwards. 
'Only the second indoor show that U2 has ever performed in Nashville and they brought their experience like it was a familiar home. Leading the audience through their innocence to experience, the crowd was eager to have it all. “Love is All We Have Left” began as we all looked on with wide eyes, then came alive with “The Blackout”. The band quickly took us back to the beginning with “I Will Follow” and moved through their journey from there. We all danced and sang along with energy and passion.  After Bono takes us down Cedarwood Road and the Troubles via Sunday Bloody Sunday, we entered the experience stage. From the e stage, Bono asked, “What do you desire, Nashville? A quiet night in? I don't think so!” Again the band had Bridgestone Arena rocking through “Elevation”, “Vertigo” and “Desire”.  And MacPhisto seemed to be in a particularly menacing mood tonight before “Acrobat”. The band moved on to the acoustic songs and Bono said he doesn't remember writing “Staring at the Sun” or know what it's about but the audience remembered it well and lent their voices. The focus was the American Dream from “Pride” to “American Soul” and the passion of being in the heartland of that history brought an extra element to that part of the set. 
The encore began with One, and Bono mentioned that Oprah Winfrey, Michael W Smith, Al Gore and Ashley Judd were in the house. The arena became a sea of swaying lights as we sang “we get to carry each other”  Bono told us that he never grew up but has gone from 11 to 13 now and that “13” was written for their kids and for our kids too. The band gave Nashville a night to remember and hopefully Nashville gave the band a night to remember'. 

if you were at the show add your photos and reviews below.