U2 Send Birthday Wishes to Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey

Posted on Sep 24th 2009 2:34AM by Melissa Olund
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U2's 360 tour landed at New Jersey's Giants Stadium with fortuitous timing. Wednesday's show, originally slotted for Friday, coincided with a special day for one of the Garden State's most famous residents.

After leading off the show with a quick succession of 'No Line on the Horizon' standouts and old favorites, Bono paused during 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' to send some birthday wishes. "Happy birthday Bruce Springsteen," he said. "60 years old. 16 years old." As the sold-out crowd sang the familiar chorus, Bono called, "Sing it for the Boss." Not satisfied that Springsteen could hear the stadium's wishes all the way to his horse farm 40-plus miles away, Bono urged, "No, sing it for the Boss!" As the song wound down, the band quickly huddled before launching into Springsteen's own 'She's the One,' with Bono tweaking the chorus to "He's the one."

Springsteen wasn't the only superstar on U2's minds at their first of two nights at the Meadowlands. After rain began to fall while the 360-degree video screens beamed rainbows for 'Beautiful Day,' they took a moment to pay tribute to a famous friend in the crowd. "Something for Quincy Jones, who I love like a father, a son, a brother," Bono said before singing the chorus of Michael Jackson's 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' with sparse accompaniment from the band.

The nearby city of New York got its own special tribute from the band during the Big Apple-inspired (and Obama campaign-borrowed) 'City of Blinding Lights.' Twin beams of light sliced through the cloudy sky as the Edge's familiar riff echoed around the stadium, reminding everyone in attendance of how the Manhattan skyline has been forever changed.

Other standouts of the two-hour plus show included 'Your Blue Room,' a song from the U2-Brian Eno side project Passengers, never played live before its introduction on the 360 tour. The title track from 1984's 'Unforgettable Fire' pleased longtime fans, while Bono's amazing laser pointer coat turned 'Achtung Baby' fan favorite 'Ultraviolet' into a memorable second encore.

U2's 360 tour continues its North American leg Thursday night at Giants Stadium, and continues through October. U2 will perform as the musical guest on the season premiere of 'Saturday Night Live' on September 26.