Beautiful Day in Lisbon
It's a beautiful day, the sky falls
And you feel like it's a beautiful day
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
When & Where
First night of two, Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal, Sunday, September 16th, 2018.
Set List
Red Flag Day in Portugal for a packed crowd inside this ‘mini stadium’ singing and bouncing along for Vertigo and Even Better Than The Real Thing. Here’s the full setlist from the night one in Lisbon.
In The Press - Lia Pereira & Rita Carmo for ‘Blitz’
(Abbreviated version via google translate)
'Can a concert designed for large rooms turn out to be a family occasion? On this hot Sunday night, U2 proved, with the first of two Lisbon shows from Experience and Innocence Tour, that playing for 20,000 people can be almost as intimate as giving a concert in a bar. First, because it is evident - and moving - the belief that Bono still places in the songs, new and old, and that makes everything more human…
Throughout the night, we are entitled to speeches subtitled in Portuguese, to the careful drawing of the city of Lisbon in 'City of Blinding Lights', to a shout out of Bono to Cristiano Ronaldo, Eusébio and António Guterres ...
...Almost without dead moments, the concert soon followed one of the most tender moments with the unplugged version of 'You're the Best Thing About Me', dedicated to Bono's wife, Ali. And we got to the heart of all the performance. Apparently harmless, 'Summer of Love', from the new album, is in fact a reflection on the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. But only at the end of the track is that, with the shimmering guitar of David Evans, the images of drifting boats fill the screen. Without mercy, videos of Nazi and anti-Nazi demonstrations follow and the hymn 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' is heard with that immortal power. With the audience in perfect boiling, Bono shouts: THIS IS WHO WE ARE. Minutes earlier, Dr. Macphisto had regretted that there were no fascists in that room. But as with serious things one does not play, Bono repeats, as if exorcising evil: THIS IS WHO WE ARE… Fausto is quoted as a beautiful dream that continues to sail the waters of the Tagus to the sound of 'Get Out of Your Own Way' dedicated to the always brilliant 'New Year's Day' or 'One' - a band, a choir, a beautiful love to witness. To the end, Bono still had time to thank Ana Moura for joining the Poverty is Sexist chorus, chanting 'Women of the World Take Over', and to make some headlines: this phase of her life, based on the apparent humility, he is "a quarter of the artist" if not with The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr., and "half a man" if separated from the woman (Ali). Mathematics does not lie, but it is in Paul Hewson that all eyes lie on goodbye - when, after 'Love is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way', accompanied by images of love between people of all sexes, returns to the circular stage and bids farewell to the sound of the simple 'There Is a Light'. Then, always surrounded by security guards, he descends to the public for a well-deserved return of honour - and disappears, no more. A way to kill the ego? It was certainly one of the most impressive concerts we've seen this year, and repeats on Monday in the same room….
On The Socials
@ashley_judd (via Instagram)
Oh my word. Lisbon knows how it’s done. Incredible audience for U2 and we are just getting started!
@ALFRODRIGUES93 (via Instagram)
Legendary live show tonight in Lisbon by U2. Really nice crowd and song selection, simply amazing!
What Did Bono Say?
(as Macphisto) “look at you.. look at you… not a facist in sight! What a disappointment.. I LOVE F..F..FASCISTS? (loud boo’s from audience) Oh you don’t? You love ridiculous ideal like Europe? (cheers from crowd). I mean what’s the point in speaking different languages if you insist on understanding each other?…
U2.com / Zootopia review
Jo (Madfl3a in Zootopia) from France, was at her first show of the tour, and she is still buzzing. She kindly sent us some words soon afterwards.
There's all kind of magic in this world, but U2 is the one I love best. Especially in nights like this one… What a show. What. A. Show. … I’m not sure I have words strong enough to describe this feeling buzzing inside of me right now. Hands still shaking, breath slowly returning to normal, blood pressure slightly off the roof for the next week or so. They're good. They're very very good. Sometimes, when stars align or something like that, band and audience seem in complete osmosis. I think that's what happened tonight. The band was on top shape, Bono's voice could have blown up that wooden roof, and the audience was seemingly very very happy to have them back. It was loud. Like proper loud. Like rocket to the sky loud! Wow. Big fat wow. I probably lost half of my hearing for the next month or so but I'm so glad I did. Because you know what? This loud sound? It's not just yelling or singing. It's joy. It's joy in its purest form. And of course so much love. You can never get enough of that. Love is bigger than anything in its way.
…First gig I do this tour, and from the moment the introduction began, I knew we were up for something special. That something special is a gift they give us every single time, even if we don't necessarily realise it. They push us to be the best of ourselves. I've always found completely amazing how after walking out of music show, I could think that I could do everything. That nothing was impossible. I always felt empowered by some kind of gentle spirit whispering into my ears “you can do something. You can change the world.” Tonight? Hell yeah I can. If innocence was quite an emotional journey to the past, an introspective of our inner selves, a path back to those days past and gone to deal with the ghosts that might still haunt us, Experience looks very different. It feels like a journey to the future. To a better world. To a fairer world. Another path guiding us toward something we all want deep down. Love and peace or else. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of inspiration. And thank god we can always rely on U2 for that. There's all kind of magic in this world, but U2 is the one I love best. And that's probably because they don't only give me music, they also give me hope…
Thank you for giving us new dreams tonight and turning the ordinary into extraordinary once more. Thanks for the magic. Thanks for the joy. Thanks for being now and forever the best band in the north side of Dublin (or you know, north side of this universe if you ask me.)
If you were at the first and show in Portugal, post your reviews and add your photos here.
2026
U2 - Scars
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