U2 Vertigo Tour Leg 1 US 2005

U2 decided to go back to stadiums and were on tour again in 2005.

The beginning of the tour was in a certain way postponed (a few first the first dates were cancelled/postponed) and the same happened to the final part of the tour that was visiting Oceania. We all know why this happened so I'm not gonna repeat it.

There were 4 different legs and 4 different itineraries can be found, even though I guess a fifth one had to be issued to update the final dates information.

First leg was as usual North America, where they played 29 concerts from March 28th in San Diego to May 28th in Boston.

About the itinerary for this leg, front cover is black and red, a very Vertigo election. Also printed on it we can find a big V with a 1USA text, both in white ink. This will be the design for most of this tour itineraries.

Also an interesting detail that is worth to mention: This is the first U2 itinerary book that is not printed 100% in Black & White inks. Other colours have always been used on front and back covers, but inner pages had always been completely B/W. From this itinerary some other inks are used also on the inner pages.

So, if someone is offering you a Vertigo or 360º itinerary and there is no colour (apart from the cover) it is probably a fake copy.  

As you all might remember, before starting the Vertigo tour, U2 rehearsed in Mexico, Vancouver and Los Angeles. This first itinerary is covering from March 14th when Vancouver production began, to the end of this first leg.

It was on March 14th when U2 was inducted to the RNR Hall of Fame in New York city. Right after the ceremony they all flew to Toronto. They had planned to rehearse there until the 19th and meet again in L.A. where they had dress rehearsals between the 24th and the 27th.

Opening show was in San Diego on March 28th where they arrived that same day and went straight to the venue for soundcheck. A rehearsal was also planned for the 29th, between first and second Vertigo shows.

U2 spent a few days off in Mexico at the beginning of April, travelling from there to a few shows in the south of the States. They also took some holidays in Bahamas during this leg.

On May 28th, right after the final Boston show, the band flew out on a break until Brussels rehearsals for the european leg.

RATING: B 
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The Collector

U2 Vertigo Tour Leg 2 Europe 2005

Once again, summer means Europe for U2. So on June 2005 the Vertigo tour lands in Europe for a total of 32 concerts, starting in Belgium on June 10th.

Itinerary is very similar to the previous one. Black and red cover but this time the white text is "V 2Europe".

As I explained on a previous entry, Vertigo itineraries are printed in more than black and white ink.

At the top of  each page a U2 Vertigo //2005 logo is printed in black, white an red.

According to the book, U2 were in Brussels on the 8th of June and rehearsed that evening and also on the 9th. I'm not sure if they really rehearsed both days.

On Monday June 13th U2 had a day off in Cologne and they had a show/interview on the german TV. This was already confirmed when the itinerary was printed. After that, they left Germany heading to the UK.

On July 2nd, Live 8 was held at London's Hyde Park. U2 had a gig in Viena but they wanted to be in London so, after their appearance on stage with Paul McCartney, they left for Viena. They were expected to arrive at 6:45 pm but it seems there was a delay on their trip to Austria and the concert was also delayed.

On August 3rd, U2 flew to Munich where they were playing that night. After the show, they flew out but this time from Nurnburg. According to the book their plane had to re-position from Munich to Nurnburg while they were on stage.

Once again Nice was the place where U2 spent most of their days off.




RATING: B 
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The Collector

U2 Vertigo Tour Leg 3 US 2005

After spending the summer on tour in Europe, a third leg was due to start in Toronto by mid September. This leg should cover Canada and the U.S. for about three months, before the tour heads to a ROW leg including South America and Oceania.

The itinerary for this leg has once again a black and red front cover with a white text on it. This time the text reads V 3USA.

This 3rd leg was starting at Toronto's Air Canada Centre on September 12th but the band had planned some rehearsals from the 9th to the 11th at the same venue. They landed in Toronto on the 9th and had a rehearsal planned for the same evening.

Once again most of the band spent a few days off in Cancun. They did the same on the 1st Leg of this tour and later on the 2nd Leg of 360º tour.

After the last show of this leg ,Portland Dec 19th, the group flew straight back to Dublin except Edge who stayed in the States. 







RATING: B 
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The Collector

U2 Vertigo Tour Leg 4 R.O.W. 2006 (Postponed dates)

Fourth and final Vertigo leg was scheduled for February to April 2006. Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Honolulu where the final countries waiting to see Vertigo tour and U2 live.

As we all know part of these dates were postponed so plans had to be changed for the last 13 shows of the tour. If we consider this, we assume the information contained on this leg itinerary was only used for the first part of the leg and, as I said in a previous entry, I guess a second itinerary for those 13 shows had to be printed with updated information about the final and confirmed dates of the tour.

This time the front cover of the itinerary was similar but different enough to the rest of the itineraries of this tour. On this new design cover, V 4ROW was printed in white ink, being ROW a Rest of World abbreviation.

Once again, pages include a Vertigo logo this time in two different blue tones, red and white.


So...if you have one of these books and it's all in B/W it might be a fake.

About tour dates, South American part of this leg remained as it was printed on the book. Big changes came for the rest of the countries and not just because dates were postponed.....

This was the original plan for that final part of this leg: Auckland (2 shows), Brisbane, Melbourne (2), Adelaide, Sydney (2), Yokohama and Honolulu. A total of 10 shows.

Once the leg went ahead, the real itinerary was: Brisbane, Sydney (3), Adelaide, Melbourne (2), Auckland (2), Saitama (3) and Honolulu. So, different order and 3 more shows after adding 1 date in Sydney and 2 more in Japan after moving from Yokohama to Saitama.

Before the opening show in Monterrey, U2 rehearsed in Los Angeles on February 7th and attended the Grammy Awards at Staples Center on the 8th before flying to Mexico on the 11th. That same day they had planned to rehearse in Monterrey.

Once in Mexico city they recorded with Mary J.Blidge the video for "One" on February 17th.

After playing in Sao Paulo the group spent a few days off in Salvador, enjoying the Carnival with Gilberto Gil as we saw on TV or internet. Adam prefered to stay in the Sao Paulo area and join the rest in Santiago on February 25th.

After the shows in Buenos Aires, the book says that group and management left to various destinations. Next show was on March 17th but as I said that part of the leg was postponed. The rest of information on this itinerary was not used and most of it probably changed with the resume of the tour so I'm not gonna go deeper on that part.

The tour had to finish on April 8th. The truth is that Vertigo tour wasn't really over until December 9th'06 but Honolulu was kept as the final place Vertigo tour would visit.

RATING: A
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The Collector

U2 Vertigo Tour Leg 4 R.O.W. 2006 (Final Dates)

Weeks after U2 had postponed the final dates of Vertigo tour, a new schedule was announced so fans from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Honolulu could finally get ready to see their favourite band.

So, the final Vertigo tour concert would take place in Honolulu as it had been announced months before.

In terms of itineraries, I was quite sure that a book was printed with the information concerning those 13 final shows but I never saw it until January 2013....that means 7 years after the end of the tour !!

As we all could expect they used the same design they had used before those final shows were postponed... but there is a little difference: This second edition of the Vertigo ROW itinerary comes with both laminated cover and backcover.

This book does include all the information related to those dates that were postponed so we see a total of 13 shows, starting in Brisbane on November 7th 2006 and ending in Honolulu on December 9th 2006. There were shows in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and that final one I already mentioned in Hawaii.





The information for the shows in Mexico and South America was off course left out of this itinerary as they were not postponed and went ahead on their original dates (Feb/March'06).

So what we can find on this book is all the info since the band left Dublin on October 30th, with the 5 rehearsals in Brisbane included, the 13 shows and their way back home once the Vertigo tour was finally over.

Nice to know that before heading to Australia the band spent just a few hours in London for the Q Awards on October 30th 2006. As mentioned before there were 5 rehearsals at QSAC Stadium near Brisbane. The band was flying on helicopter from the hotel on the Gold Coast to the Stadium.

You will probably remember that during this leg the band recorded a video for Window in the skies in Melbourne. They also played live for Japanese program TV Asahi at the top of the music station building. None of those events is mentioned on the itinerary.






After the show in Honolulu the band was ready for a trip back home on December 10th.

Next step....meet the Claw in Barcelona.

RATING: A+
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The Collector