Stand By Thee: U2 Completes Its Mission In Milan

The four months of U2’s world tour finished the fourth date after a two-night stand in Milan, Italy on July 7^th and 8^th, 2009. Returning to San Siro Stadium for the first time since the Vertigo Tour (when the band recorded the DVD that was released as a bonus with the deluxe version of the U2 18 Singles package in 2006), these Milan shows were filled with significance, signaled by serious speeches and special occasions.

U2’s visit to Italy coincided with the G8 meeting of world leaders, and Bono seized the moment to scold controversial Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi for not living up to previous promises concerning Africa. Bono praised Italy but not its leader: “Italians have many gifts to the world, modern physics, the Renaissance, the piano, the gift of singing from Pavarotti to Puccini. You have so many gifts. In the next few days your leader will have to decide where he stands on the gift of life that lives beyond these shores.”

Fans most concerned about the evolving setlist saw certain patterns emerge: a core of twenty songs provide the anchor for this leg of the tour, opening and closing with tunes from No Line On the Horizon; after the sixth song, the band has included its widest mix of surprises and its daily changes; despite the obvious and overwhelming similarities between gigs, no two shows have been precisely the same. And Wednesday brought the tour’s first appearance of an acoustic version of “Stuck In A Moment.”

On Tuesday night, Bono and the band celebrated the 18^th birthday of actor Eve Hewson, the daughter of Ali and Bono, born in the seventh hour of the seventh day of the seventh month back in 1991, a few months before Achtung Baby was released. After Bono told the audience that Eve is the least shy of the entire Hewson tribe, Eve got kisses from Adam and Edge and exchanged eye contact with Larry. Then, the singer coaxed 90,000 people to sing her “Happy Birthday” before the band played “Party Girl.” During the song, dad and daughter shared a dance and a few sips of champagne. Fans might recall that Eve danced with Bono during “Mysterious Ways” on the Slane Castle DVD from 2001.

The Tuesday night version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” included an extended snippet of “Stand By Me” and the Wednesday night version of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” brought bits of “Get Up Stand Up.” The latter song’s presentation includes bathing band and claw in green light, a gesture of solidarity with the democracy movement in Iran. So far, to the dismay of some fans, the 360 shows have been packed with Bono’s politics, a spirited and spiritual embrace of all humanity that could be summed up as “stand by thee.”

Interference is extremely grateful to all the other U2 fansites for their hard work covering the tour. In particular, we want to thank U2gigs.com, especially for all the photos for this story, here and on the front page, by Matthias Muehlbradt and Martin Stieglmayer.