Support acts of tonight are The Hours and Glasvegas and during a last minute soundcheck the band played New Year’s Day and Until The End Of The World.

Among tonights attending celebrities are Kevin Spacey (in the royal box), Lars Ulrich, Jimmy Page, Robert Downey Jnr and (the inevitable) Neil McCormick.

Reports are the roof is opened further than previous night, which benefits the sound.
When the last notes of tonights show fade out U2 will have played before an estimated 1.600.000 people in 21 gigs, with three more European shows to go…

The setlist gets a bit of a mix-up with the inclusion of UTEOTW, New Year’s Day and Stay:

1. Breathe [video]
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots [video]
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day (“Here comes the sun” and “London Bridge is falling down” snippet) [video]
6. Until The End Of The World (Break on through snippet) [video]
7. New Year’s Day [video]
8. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Stand by me snippet) [video] [snippet]
9. Stay (Far Away So Close) [video]
10. Unknown Caller
11. The Unforgettable Fire (A Day Without Me snippet) [video]
12. City Of Blinding Lights [video]
13. Vertigo [video]
14. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight remix
15. Sunday Bloody Sunday
16. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
17. MLK [video]
18. Walk On [video]
19. Where The Streets Have No Name [video]
20. One
21. Bad (Fool to Cry and “40″ snippets) [video]
22. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment Of Surrender [video]

Before they play Stay Bono tells the crowd Joe O’Herlihy has buried one of Edge’s guitar picks in the foundation of Wembley stadium when he was visiting the building site…

Big thanks to the Editor-in-chief of U2log and her fabulous live feeds!
All video links courtesy of u2gigs.com/u2006com

Short (and rather LOUD) clip from “Front Of House” Wembley during NLOTH:

Some QIK clips by henryeccles

Mysterious Ways and Your Blue Room were played in full during soundcheck, as well as fragments of Beautiful Day and Get On Your Boots.

Support acts for this first night are The Hours and Elbow.

Among the celebrity guests spotted in the star studded capital are Noel Gallagher, Lars Ullrich, Richard Curtis, Bill Nighy, Roman Abramovich, Will Champion, Brian Eno, Paul Greengrass & Neil McCormick.

For the second time the Bishop Tutu intro is played before One instead of Streets and Mysterious Ways makes a suprise appearance as closer of the ‘main’ set

Setlist:

1. Breathe
2. No Line on the Horizon [video]
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day (with “London calling” intro, “London Bridge is falling down” & Blackbird snippet) [video]
6. Elevation
7. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Moving on up snippet) [video]
8. Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
9. Unknown caller
10. The Unforgettable Fire [video *]
11. City of Blinding Lights
12. Vertigo (Aqcuiesce snippet)
13. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (remix) (Two Tribes and O Come All Ye Faithful snippets)
14. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Rock The Casbah snippet) [video *]
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16. MLK
17. Walk On (You’ll Never Walk Alone snippet)
18. Where the streets have no name [video *]
19. One (Tutu intro)
20. Mysterious ways (tiny snippet of Norwegian wood) [video]
21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way) [video]
22. With Or Without You [video *]
23. Moment of Surrender (dedicated to Brian Eno, “a national treasure”) [video]

All video courtesy of the great u2006.com, except * by Liamjd2008.

(picture via twitpic: andreidore)

Reuters got a sneak peak during build-up in the stadium:

A different perspective on ‘Get On Your Boots’ at Broadcasting House, filmed from a hotel opposite the building.

U2 – Vertigo – BBC Rooftop – Different Perspective from U2 Tour on Vimeo.

Friday February 27th of 2009 was a brilliant day to be a U2 fan in London. The BBC brought us closer than we’ve ever been before for hours of brilliant coverage. My friend and I won tickets to the Radio 1 Live Lounge in the morning, and stayed until the end of the rooftop gig in the evening.

After waiting out in the cold from 9am we finally got into the BBC Radio Theatre and secured a spot at the front next to Edge. Everything was amazingly organised and fans were led into the theatre in the order in which they had queued up. Take note venues of the world!

First song was Get On Your Boots which was deafeningly loud and will clearly inspire mass pogo-ing on tour – just as Vertigo did last time. As the backdrop was simple lighting, there were no lyrics being flashed on a screen as in previous outings at the Grammys and Brits (something of a bonus!). Bono immediately spotted a pregnant woman in the audience who transfixed him. He gave several shout outs to the lovely Gemma throughout the rest of the set.

Next up was one of the undoubted highlights of the new album – Magnificent – which is also going to be a massive live song. It was like being hit by a wave as Edge’s guitar swam in and out of Bono’s yodelling vocals – ‘only love, only love, can leave such a mark’. Magnificent is already a classic and can stand proudly among U2′s other live monsters like Streets and Bad.

Then a surprise – apparently tracks from 2000 are considered to be ‘vintage’ as Beautiful Day was introduced by Jo Whiley. It sounded much the same as usual, no new motifs from Edge, apart from a fluff when he was distracted by Bono frantically waving his arms. Prior to the song Jo Whiley told the crowd that the band wouldn’t be playing the traditional Live Lounge cover because they had been too busy recently to rehearse something. This was greeted with good natured heckling from the audience so Bono chirped up with the line “I kissed a girl and I liked it”. Then at the end of the song he decided to include the Blackbird snippet – informing Edge by way of lead singer sign language. Edge eventually got the idea and Bono managed to squeeze in his homage to Macca.

Breathe was the final track, not a personal favourite from the album, but the band play it with real passion that helps to sell it live. Bono was so into it that he broke out some air guitar during Edge’s solo!

After the show we spoke to Willie who told us that he’s really excited about the tour and album. The band has had a lot of time to prepare the tour due to the delay in the album release and the staging they have planned is going to be fabulous.

All in all it was a fantastic day, and thank you so much to Radio 1 and the BBC for giving us the opportunity to be so close to The Edge (four feet!).

The short set was broadcast live on BBC digital TV (‘red button’)

Immediately after Wednesday night’s Brit Awards, Coldplay and The Killers performed a benefit concert for War Child at Shepherd’s Bush in London. Bono and The Killer’s Brandon Flowers joined Coldplay on stage to play The Killers’ All These Things That I’ve Done together. U2tour.de was on the scene and captured this picture. Click it to see it enlarged.

The NME reports:

Then, having only rehearsed minutes beforehand backstage, The Killers and Bono joined Coldplay onstage to perform ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ together.
Although the U2 man was a bit shaky on the lyrics to The Killers song, the three frontmen led the crowd through a rousing sing-a-long as they repeated the tracks “I’ve got soul/ but I’m not a soldier” refrain.
“This is going to be the best encore you’ll ever see!” declared Martin as the three acts wrapped up the night.

The Observer’s Sean O’Hagan, a long time friend of the band, spent 18 months following them from Fez to Dublin, as they recorded New Line On The Horizon.

He’s captured his travels on film and in part one of this exclusive – but brief- footage the band begins sessions in a converted riad in Morocco.

Watch the video on guardian.co.uk

In part two, available on guardian.co.uk next week, U2 continue recording in Dublin, New York and London, and you can read the full interview and story of the album in next week’s Observer Music Monthly.

They write:

Written and recorded in various locations, No Line On The Horizon is the group’s 12th studio album and is their first release since the 9 million selling album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, released in late 2004.

Sessions for No Line On The Horizon began last year in Fez, Morocco, continued in the band’s own studio in Dublin, before moving to New York’s Platinum Sound Recording Studios, and finally being completed at Olympic Studios in London.

The album calls on the production talents of long-time collaborators Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite.

Billboard runs the story and has a quote from a ‘source’ who heard songs in their early forms: “…amazing and a little out there. I hope they don’t change anything.” (Read more.)

The Ambassador of Conscience Award recognises exceptional individual leadership and witness in the fight to protect and promote human rights. In 2005, U2 and Paul McGuinness were the recipients of the award.

It’s a fun packed week for Edge as the Davis Guggenheim documentary ‘It Might Get Loud‘ in which he’s featured alongside Jimmy Page and Jack White will officially premiere at the Toronto Film festival this Friday, September 5th.