U2 Launch 360 Tour With Call to Space Station, Jackson Tributes

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U2 paid tribute to Michael Jackson at the band's first date on their 360° Tour in Barcelona, Spain, last night as Bono dedicated "Angel of Harlem" to the Thriller singer. "We wrote this one for Billie Holiday but we are going to play it tonight for Michael Jackson," Bono told the crowd of over 90,000 at Camp Nou stadium. The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. also weaved bits of Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Man in the Mirror" into the song, Reuters reports.

(Check out photos of Bono and Co. — and "the Claw" — from their kick-off gig.)

Performing on the innovative set dubbed "the Claw" for the first time, the two-hour-and-20-minute gig featured a mix of songs from the band's latest LP No Line on the Horizon (seven tracks, including "Breathe," which opened the show), as well as greatest hits like "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "One" and "Unforgettable Fire." Still, the band's amazing new stage threatened to steal the show. The Claw features a 360-degree video screen, an awe-inspiring light show and apparently, a satellite linkup to space.

After the fourth song of the set, Bono rang up the astronauts on the International Space Station via satellite, who appeared live on the Claw's 360 screen. According to U2's official site, Bono asked, "Commander, can you see Barcelona?," to which the astronauts replied, "Right now the most beautiful sight in our cosmos is the blue planet Earth" — a nice segue into "Beautiful Day."

U2 continue their stint in Barcelona tomorrow, July 2nd, before visiting the other 30 cities on the 360° Tour. Their first North American show is on September 12th at Chicago's Soldier Field.

Set List:
"Breathe"
"No Line on the Horizon"
"Get On Your Boots"
"Magnificent"
"Beautiful Day"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"Angel of Harlem"
"In A Little While"
"Unknown Caller"
"Unforgettable Fire"
"City of Blinding Lights"
"Vertigo"
"I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"Pride (In The Name of Love)"
"MLK"
"Walk On"
"Where The Streets Have No Name"
"One"
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"Ultraviolet"
"With Or Without You"
"Moment of Surrender"

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Song Stories

“Jimbrowski”

Jungle Brothers | 1988

Jungle Brothers sampled, among other things, jazz, James Brown and house music. The New York crew's lyrics were equally diverse but never short on clever wordplay or a playful sense of humor, as exemplified by this song from 1988's Straight Out the Jungle. "The idea for that came at the end of a studio session, with Mike, me, Red Alert and a woman Red was dating at the time," says the group’s Afrika Baby Bam. "Red was flirting with her and kept saying 'Jimbrowski' the whole night. Mike and I wrote the rhymes on the way back from the subway."

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