'I was callin' out, I was callin' out...'

12 Sep 2017

‘I Was Cold and You Clothed Me, Honey...'
’Still Haven’t Found' in Kansas City. #U2TheJoshuaTree2017.

When & Where
Tuesday, September 12th 2017, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri; the 37th show of the #U2TheJoshuaTree2017

Set List
‘I was cold and you clothed me, honey/I was down, and you lifted me, honey…'

Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium calls itself ‘the loudest in the world,’ and it has, in fact, with the help of its legendary Chiefs (American) football fans, set a record for the highest noise level ever recorded in a stadium: a whopping 142.2 decibels during the first quarter of a Chiefs game in September 2014. Well U2 fans must have come close to breaking it Tuesday night during the two-hour show that featured the second live concert performance of the band’s new single, ‘You’re The Best Thing About Me.’ The crowd was so loud and enthusiastic during ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’, Bono asked them: ‘Is there such a thing as Kansasians?’ Bono asked. ‘I don’t know. But you kick ass, that’s for sure.’ The band closed the night with ‘One’, which included a snippet from ‘Drowning Man’—‘ Rise up, rise up with wings like eagles…’
Here's the complete set list from Kansas City

Social Posts
@chrisbess4life: ‘@U2 Thank you for reminding us how good we were, are, & can be, when we act as one. #America #KansasCity #U2TheJoshuaTree2017’

@jeannaesbrown: ‘@U2 thank you for coming to Kansas City! We sand with you all night long! An inspiration we will share with all!’

@apophatic (aka Rick Quinn): ‘It was a transcendent show and musically the band kicked ass,’ said Quinn of Nashville, a longtime fan who traveled from Tennessee to Missouri for Tuesday night’s gig, his sixth show. We caught up with Rick after the show, where he shared some of his highlights from the ‘epic’ night in Kansas City: ‘During ‘New Years Day’, before the Edge's distinctive solo, Bono was involved in a wordless call and response with the stadium as he stood poised on the far end of the catwalk as the thrust his arm forward, palm open to different corners of the stadium like he was willing the band's hope and fervor to us gathered. The crowd excitement hit a fever pitch through that opening set and into Where the Streets Have No Name. At the end of that song the ovation thundered at decibel level that deafened those of us on the floor and surprised the band… The show was incredible and the atmosphere was electric and intense from the opening four songs from War and The Unforgettable Fire all the way through the playing of the Joshua Tree in a way that seemed to both buoy and surprise the band.’ Rick attended the show with his younger brother, Jeff—it was his birthday Tuesday and a true full-circle moment for the Quinn brothers: ‘My first show was The Joshua Tree 1987 tour in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I had tickets for both of us, but the person who agreed to cover Jeff’s work shift the night of the concert in ’87 bailed at the last minute. Thirty years later, we’re making it right.’

If You Had To Pick One Song
‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. ‘I believe in the kingdom come/When all the colours will bleed into one’ @mariettan70: ‘In this moment is strikes me as such a religious experience for people. I look around at the people near me who are shouting ‘I still haven't found what I'm looking for’’

What (else) did Bono Say?
@jenfosterlerner: ‘Bono remains, in my opinion, the coolest man on the planet. And again, so relevant. Thank you, @U2 for blessing Kansas City with a show.’

At the close of ‘Mothers of the Disappeared’ (and the Joshua Tree album as a whole), he said: ‘Thank you to Anton Corbjin for his beautiful films and images over the years. Thank you for making these songs large enough for us to live in and on. Thank you!’

After ‘Elevation’ during his introduction to the new single ‘You’re The Best Thing About Me,’ Bono said: ‘You feel elevated? Do you feel enervated? Regenerated?...After some old songs would you like to hear a new song? Would you like to hear ‘You’re the Best Thing About Me’? We’ve played it once before and … hahaha…OK. Alright. Concentrate. Don’t screw this up for the missus.’ (He didn’t.)

In his intro to ‘One’ Bono reminded the crowd that America is an idea, not just a place. ‘A great idea...one of the best ideas ever,’ he said. ‘Now, after Charlottesville and all that, we’ve seen a twisting of that idea. A stirring of animosities. A summing of dark spirits. Inner division in these United States of America. But then watching Texans and Floridians cross every kind of divide to help their neighbor—that has reminded the world who you are and who this great country is. That is who you are.’

‘Kansas City’s favorite daughter’ Kaleen Fogel, wife of Live Nation’s Arthur Fogel, got a shout out during ‘Ultraviolet’ and Melissa Etheridge, a native of Leavenworth, Kansas, was included among the women of the HERSTORY installation. And he honored the hometown baseball team by changing the lyrics of ‘Beautiful Day’ to ‘see the world in white and blue/KC Royals right in front of you…’

What The Press Said.
From the Kansas City Star: ‘U2 and Bono preach unity and love to a boisterous crowd
‘Arrowhead Stadium is one of the biggest and loudest of its kind, but Tuesday night U2 turned the gargantuan sports venue into a church, a place of spirituality. Tuesday’s show was U2’s first in Kansas City since November 2001, and it showed many in the crowd of 40,000-plus hadn’t seen the band in the interim, or longer, Thus the rousing reception and feverish reactions from the beginning of the two-hour-plus show until its finish ….“The Joshua Tree” is the recording that turned them into an arena/stadium band and identified them as men with grand ideas, political and otherwise. Thirty years later, the songs hold up surprisingly well. U2 has been a band that has refrained from bouts of nostalgia, insisting instead on reinventing itself or taking musical swerves instead of plumbing its past or repeating itself. Yet they made most of “The Joshua Tree” material sound invigorated, if not fresh. The opening riff to “Where the Streets Have No Name,” the album’s opening track, aroused a raucous ovation and brought many in the big crowd to their feet and incited widespread singing-along. The momentum did not wane after that.’

Review on U2.com:
Leslie61714: 'When you take your rad mum to the U2 concert because she took you to your first!'

Were you at the show in Arrowhead Stadium? Tell us all about it. Add your own review and photos on our tour pages.

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