U2 - ZOO TV - Live from London, 11.08.93

U2
Live at Wembley Stadium
London, England
August 11 1993
Audience recording (A-)
Photo by Andrew Murray!

This is the first of four nights at Wembley Stadium on Zoo TV, and the second of five in London overall after the Earl's Court show in 1992, and just like that show over a year prior, this was a night to remember for the band. To start with the setlist, another Zooropa song has been added - Babyface! This puts the total songs from their new album in the set to four, along with Numb, Stay and the title track itself. Unfortunately, tonight's debut is a rather ramshackle performance, leading to it being dropped after only five performances. This, plus the addition of the title track, makes tonight's (and the following night's) setlist very special. Also, the satellite link-up with Sarajevo is once again done here, just before Bad as always. Performance wise, this show is fantastic too! Although Bono is slightly weak for Zoo TV standards in spots, he still gives it his all, leading to stellar versions of Bad and Bullet The Blue Sky. Bullet in particular is my all time favourite version, it's absolutely perfect in every sense of the word, featuring immense belting, the hilarious yet great addition of Bono screaming "fuck you" to various countries and flawless playing from The Edge. Good performances are throughout though, enjoy this one.

Of course, there's one major thing that happened here that hasn't been touched upon yet. For MacPhisto's phone call at this show, he tried to call Salman Rushdie, who had been in hiding since 1989 following the publishing of his book The Satanic Verses, which led to a fatwa, ordering his own execution, being announced by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, essentially placing a bounty on his head. Not only did he answer the phone call, but he was in fact in the audience at the time. He comes on stage soon after, hugging Bono and making international headlines, as he had just made his first public appearance in four years. This is actually what MacPhisto is referring to in his legendary Sydney speech, when he says "Salman Rushdie, I give you decibels". Thankfully, this moment has been captured by photographer Andrew Murray, and is what I have used for the thumbnail above. Rushdie remained a good friend of the band from this point onwards, with him being a regular attendee for the rest of the tour, with a backstage pass too. He'd also go on to write the lyrics to a song in one of his books, which became The Ground Beneath Her Feet when the band recorded it around the same time as All That You Can't Leave Behind.

This show has been recorded on a rather decent audience recording, unfortunately marred by some compression as this is from a bootleg, but still very listenable and clear. Enjoy this performance!

Intro - 0:00
1. Zoo Station - 5:18
2. The Fly - 10:06
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing - 16:24
4. Mysterious Ways - 20:05
5. One/Unchained Melody - 27:21
6. Until the End of the World - 33:28
7. New Year's Day - 38:23
8. Numb - 43:46
9. Zooropa - 47:59
10. Babyface - 50:47 - First live performance
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - 56:23
12. Satellite Of Love - 1:01:38
Sarajevo satellite link - 1:05:30
13. Bad - 1:11:29
14. Bullet the Blue Sky - 1:17:43
15. Running To Stand Still - 1:23:32
16. Where the Streets Have No Name - 1:29:20
17. Pride (In the Name of Love) - 1:34:52
Zoo TV Crew Confessionals - 1:43:00
18. Desire - 1:47:34
19. MacPhisto's speech and phone call - 1:52:28
20. Ultraviolet (Light My Way) - 1:57:16
21. Love Is Blindness - 2:02:16
22. Can't Help Falling In Love - 2:07:50

U2gigs link:
https://www.u2gigs.com/show614.html

Видео U2 - ZOO TV - Live from London, 11.08.93 канала Carbide