July 8, 2014, First Direct Arena, Leeds, ENG

Show Notes:

Ed, with a huge grin on his face, greets the crowd with “Good evening!” There’s an incident in the crowd during Once that Ed alerts security to during the song. Following Mind Your Manners, a smirking Ed jokingly begins reading…

Show Notes: 

Ed, with a huge grin on his face, greets the crowd with “Good evening!” There’s an incident in the crowd during Once that Ed alerts security to during the song. Following Mind Your Manners, a smirking Ed jokingly begins reading from a sheet in Dutch, mentioning Werchter, before ripping it and saying “Ah, fuck this, it’s good to be here in Leeds.” After Wishlist, Ed takes a phone from a fan, and a basketball is thrown up on stage, which he passes back to Matt, saying “We’re getting all kinds of gifts tonight!” He compliments a t-shirt he has seen in the crowd and a “nice blouse” that his wife “would look good in…Mike McCready would look good in that blouse!” Turning to take aim at Mike, Ed asks:

“Did you ever get naked in Leeds? I know there’s a bunch of places you used to get naked in…”, Mike takes to the mic and says, “Only in Germany…maybe in England…Dublin for sure!”

This goes down to much laughter from the band and crowd. Ghost is given its European debut and is followed by an apology as Ed states, “I fucked that song up, I went into the last verse quicker…it’s my fault, so I’m going to take a picture of me fucking up”. He takes a selfie of him and Jeff, who also gets some of the blame for “fucking up”, on the fan’s phone he placed on the stage earlier and jokes, “My daughter will like that one.” Present Tense is followed by a crowd chant of “Let Jeff sing!” Ed suggests Fernando by Abba as “all you’ve got to do is start it then they’ll sing”. He theatrically breaks into Fernando, and the crowd do take over while Jeff shakes his head no. Following Given to Fly, Ed tells the crowd he “spent a thousand hours in Leeds with the headphones on,” listening to Live At Leeds by The Who. After another chant for Jeff to sing, he takes to the mic to shout “Abba at Leeds!” to which Ed responds, “it wasn’t as popular as The Who’s!”

The band are seated when they return after the break, and Ed begins by introducing his guitar tech Simon to the crowd. He continues, talking about cancer, paying tribute to doctors, nurses, and affected families, stating how it is often “not a fair fight” and explains how he lost his uncle John days before the tour started. Mentioning his Chicago Bears #34 shirt, a regular sight on the tour, he explains that he was wearing it as his uncle passed away, which is why he had been sporting it so often. Man of the Hour is dedicated to a young man called Jonathan who had lost his battle with cancer. Fatal is added to the set after Ed sees a sign from someone who requested it to celebrate their 30th show. The Real Me is the first of the inevitable Who covers of the evening. Porch is nearly 10 minutes long with an extended jam, the band really in a groove. Ed thanks some of the crew, and brings Karen Loria and Matt’s drum tech Neil Hundt on stage and leads the crowd in Happy Birthday for them. Black is transcendent, everyone leaving it all on stage, and Ed gives some insight before the tag:

So crazy, all the incredibly beautiful faces…

from someone who is the loneliest person on Earth,

then all of a sudden this song gets you to all these beautiful faces, it’s crazy…

Leaving Here and Baba O’Riley finish off the Who portion of the program, and Matt’s son Ray plays guitar on All Along The Watchtower. A fantastic show with plenty of rare songs, great performances, and the band in excellent spirits.