Definitive Live Performances: Best, Personal Favorites, & New Discoveries

[ToRontoRon]

Just going by the official releases for my list:


Bad/40/Streets from the Elevation tour in Boston is my favourite performance of all time.  That camera shot on Bono as it goes towards him at the beginning of Streets is pure magic.

Also love Still Haven't Found/All I Want is You from Milan.

With or Without You from Rattle and Hum is great too.

One from Paris, I & E tour.  I just love all the shots of the crowd, and the crowd singing along.

Running to Stand Still from Chicago, Vertigo tour.

Angel of Harlem from ZOOTV in Sydney.

The Fly, also from the Elevation tour in Boston.

And my last one might be controversial, but I love I'll Go Crazy from the 360 tour.  Larry playing the bongos and interacting with the rest of the group on the floor is good to see.  They're just having fun with a fun song.

[Sonofabono]

Dublin 93 is soooo good. First time I actually enjoyed Zoo Station. They do Bad-->snippet of First Time-->Bullet-->RTST-->Streets right before the encore and it's so good.  I had it on CD and scratched it up so bad I couldn't listen to Bad anymore and that was a bummer. Also Pride with the snippet from MLK's "I've been to the mountaintop" speech gives me chills.

I was at one of the Chicago shows in 2015- I loved the whole set from I Will Follow (first time I liked that one too, even though I've been a fan of the band since 2002ish) all the way to End of the World.
They pulled out AIWIY that night too. SOOOO good.

I love the Glastonbury show too. Whole thing's on youtube, I'm sure you've all seen it more than I have.

[laoghaire]

You have Dublin 93 back now right? There's a high quality audio on YouTube.

[miracle_al]

I definitely second #4 ('Please' Live from Rotterdam).  That performance is an absolute showstopper, and one of the best performances that U2 has ever committed to tape.

[Sonofabono]

You have Dublin 93 back now right? There's a high quality audio on YouTube.

I don't have it burned to a disc yet but yeah I've seen that. Praise the Lord for Youtube lol

[EdTocino1]

For me, an amazing performance that hasn't been mentioned yet is Bullet/Zooropa/Streets from Paris 2015. The performance was a month after the Paris attacks, yet these songs call for a welcoming of refugees and choosing "love over fear", and imo, it was spectacular.

[A_Fly_On_The_Wall]

A few of my favourite live performances from U2 would include (in no particular order):

1. Love And Peace Or Else - (Chicago)
2. Get On Your Boots - (Glastonbury)
3. The Fly - (Boston)
4. Out Of Control - (Slane Castle or Paris)
5. Until The End Of The World - (Rose Bowl)
6. Love Is Blindness - (Zoo TV)
7. All I Want Is You/Where The Streets Have No Name - (Slane Castle)
8. Mysterious Ways - (Zoo TV)
9. 11 O’Clock Tock Tock - (Red Rocks)
10. The Electric Co. - (Chicago)
11. Please - (Mexico City)
12. Every Breaking Wave - (MTV EMAs)
13. Magnificent - (Rock And Roll Hall of Fame)
14. One - (Chicago)
15. Bullet The Blue Sky - (Zoo TV)
16. Raised By Wolves - (Paris)
17. City Of Blinding Lights - (Rose Bowl)
18. I Will Follow - (Paris)
19. Last Night On Earth - (Mexico City)
20. Walk On - (Slane Castle)

Plenty more to choose from but I reckon that’s a fairly decent list as a whole