MAY 12: a free, lunch-time gig at Trinity College / meeting Ted Nugent / photographers to the side / 'People Get Ready' to Holly (almost 3 years old) / Larry sings 'Dancing Queen' - We love you Adam / 'Daydream Believer' in Texas / a 'Midnight Cowboy' / Edge&Morleigh and Bono&Ali at Neil Young / 20th VERTIGO show!

"Early Ireland" - may 12, 1979 - Dublin / Trinity College - U2 perform a free, lunch-time gig on the stairs of the college that attracts more and more students eith each song performed. Most say to listen even when it starts to rain.

"Ted Nugent" - may 12, 1981 - U2 meet Ted Nugent after his show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, in Los Angeles, California.

"War" tour - may 12, 1983 - Passaic / New Jersey - Capitol Theater - Bono asks the photographers at the front of the stage in the press pit to move up onto and over to the sides of the stage so that the people behind them can move closer to the band. Support is "Dream Syndicate".

"The Joshua Tree" tour - may 12, 1987 - On the second night, The Edge's immediate family is in town, as well as Bono's wife Ali. Bono dedicates "People Get Ready" to The Edge's daughter: "Her first ever rock and roll concert, and that's Edge's little baby girl called Holly, she´s here..." During "40 a girl comes running onstage and embraces Bono. "You see, that´s what happens when your record goes to number 1: you get all the beautiful girls!"

"ZOOTV" tour - may 12, 1992 - Lausanne / Switzerland - Patinoire De Malley - Larry sings part of "Dancing Queen", and the song is performed in it's entirety. The boys had fun, and Adam laughed when he saw that somebody in the crowd had a sign with "We love you Adam" on it. Great night, very hot arena...."Support is B.P. Fallon and "Fatima Mansions".

"POPMart" tour - may 12, 1997 - Dallas / Texas - Cotton Bowl - Bono greeted the crowd. "Texas, it's good to be in a state where size really does matter." Big olive, a giant lemon, a huge golden arch, a massive TV screen (833 square yards of "light-emitting diodes").Edge sings "Daydream Believer"

"Elevation" tour - may 12, 2001 - Chicago / IL - United Center - One of the key songs from that first Chicago performance, "I Will Follow," with The Edge's Excalibur-like guitar slicing through the clouds. During a duet with The Edge on the track, "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)," Bono enlisted a member of the audience to play keyboards. "Keep it simple -- no flowery stuff," Bono commanded, and the rookie did exactly that. For "Mysterious Ways," a svelte audience recruit reprised the belly dancer's performance from the 1992 "Zoo TV" tour, prompting Bono to drop in a snippet of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing," before she disappeared back into the crowd without soliciting so much as a handshake. Bono and The Edge forehead to forehead during a storming "Until the End of the World," donning a "Midnight Cowboy" Stetson and affecting a Ratso Rizzo limp while visiting the underbelly of "New York." On the Spartan stage, with no special effects to hide behind, the merits of U2 once again could be observed and appreciated: the solo-free concision of The Edge's riffs (especially the stutter that ignites "Pride"), the forward motion of Clayton's atomic bass (what would the classic "With or Without You" be without him?), and the no-frills clarity of Mullen's drumming (he owns "Sunday Bloody Sunday").

"Neil Young' concert" - may 12, 2003 - Dublin - Bono and Edge, along with spouses Ali and Morleigh, respectively, attend a Neil Young concert tonight in Dublin.

20th VERTIGO tour - may 12 2005 - Chicago, IL - United Center - Kings of Leon - "Vertigo" opens for the 1st time / "Until The End Of The World" debut / "Bad" ends with some "40" - For the last of four nights in Chicago, and with the film cameras off, U2 throws its setlist in the blender. 'Vertigo' opens a show for the first time. 'All Because of You' and 'Original of the Species' are played in the main set for the 1st time. 'Until the End of the World' makes its Vertigo Tour debut. The show closes with 'Bad', which gets extended with several snippets, finally wrapping up with a bit of '40', the traditional show closer this tour. Bono, Edge and Adam gather around the drum kit as Larry finished his set at the end of the show...that moment right there is why they are the biggest band in the world - when all is said and done, their friendship after all of these years, is bigger than anything else. Some photos on U2-vertigo-tour