Stadium Concerts in San Diego: U2

Short answer: U2 has never played Petco Park. Every big U2 show in San Diego happened up in Mission Valley at the stadium that went by Jack Murphy, then Qualcomm, then SDCCU. Now the band is heading back to stadiums for the first time since 2019, and the question is whether San Diego makes the cut.

The 2027 Tour: Carnaval De Luz Presents The Greatest Show On Earth

U2 announced the tour on October 15, 2026. It’s built around Carnaval De Luz, the band’s 16th studio album and first new record in nine years, out November 13, 2026. The title track, co-written with Brian Eno, dropped the same day as the announcement.

Only six shows are on the books so far, all in Latin America, all with Beck opening:

• Tue, Feb. 23, 2027 — Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City
• Fri, Feb. 26, 2027 — Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City
• Wed, March 10, 2027 — Estadio MorumBIS, Sao Paulo
• Fri, March 12, 2027 — Estadio MorumBIS, Sao Paulo
• Tue, March 23, 2027 — Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires
• Thu, March 25, 2027 — Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires

North American and European dates are promised “in the coming weeks,” and an Irish homecoming is in the works. It’s the band’s first stadium run since The Joshua Tree Tour wrapped in Mumbai in December 2019, and the first real tour since the 40-show Sphere residency in Las Vegas. Larry Mullen Jr. is back behind the kit after surgery kept him out of Sphere.

Tickets for the Latin America shows start with a presale on Monday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. local time, with the general on-sale Thursday, Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. local.

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Worth noting: Beck opened U2’s last San Diego show in 2017. If the tour comes through Southern California, there’s a decent chance you get the same double bill nine years later.

Could U2 Play Petco Park?

The old Mission Valley stadium is gone, so U2’s San Diego stadium options are Petco Park or Snapdragon Stadium. Petco has handled stadium-scale tours before, but nothing about this routing has been announced.

U2’s Three San Diego Stadium Shows

U2 played the Mission Valley stadium three times. Only the last one sold out.

Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 — The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, SDCCU Stadium

• Opener: Beck
• Attendance: 54,221 (sold out)
• Significance: Biggest U2 crowd in San Diego history, the 40th and final U.S. show of the 2017 tour, and the last time U2 played Mission Valley

The stadium had been renamed SDCCU less than two weeks earlier, so plenty of people still called it the Q. It was U2’s first San Diego show in more than 12 years.

The crowd waited until almost 9:45 p.m. for the band to come on, with The Waterboys’ “The Whole of the Moon” playing over the PA. U2 opened on the small B-stage with “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “New Year’s Day,” “Bad” and “Pride,” then walked to the main stage and played all of The Joshua Tree front to back under a stadium-wide 8K video screen.

A few things made this one different from the other 39 U.S. dates:

• Mexico City had been hit by a major earthquake three days earlier. Bono worked a “Drowning Man” snippet into “One” and reworked the words toward Mexico, where the tour was headed next.
• Bono dedicated a Latin-flavored acoustic version of “You’re the Best Thing About Me” to his wife, Ali Hewson, who was in the stadium.
• “Beautiful Day” picked up a snippet of Twenty One Pilots’ “Heathens,” the first time U2 had ever done that.
• Camera crews were everywhere and Anton Corbijn, the band’s longtime photographer and director, was on hand, which had fans guessing the show was a dry run for later filming.

The encore ran “Miss Sarajevo,” “Beautiful Day,” “Elevation,” “Vertigo,” “You’re the Best Thing About Me,” “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” and “One.” The next stop was Foro Sol in Mexico City. The stadium came down a few years later to make way for Snapdragon Stadium.

Full setlist on setlist.fm | Video on YouTube

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1992 — Zoo TV Outside Broadcast, Jack Murphy Stadium

• Openers: The Sugarcubes and Public Enemy
• Attendance: 33,575 (capacity 55,000)
• Significance: U2’s first San Diego stadium show

Seven months after playing the Sports Arena, U2 came back with the stadium version of Zoo TV: walls of video screens, satellite feeds, flashing slogans and Trabant cars hung from the rig as lights. It was the arena show blown up to stadium size, and it sat in the middle of a West Coast swing between Oakland and Las Vegas.

The setlist followed the Zoo TV formula of opening with a run of Achtung Baby songs: “Zoo Station,” “The Fly,” “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” “Mysterious Ways,” “One” and “Until the End of the World.” Larry Mullen Jr. took a rare lead vocal on the folk standard “Dirty Old Town.” The B-stage set included “Angel of Harlem,” “When Love Comes to Town,” Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

The encore closed with “Desire,” “With or Without You,” “Love Is Blindness” and Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” The live “Until the End of the World” from this show later showed up on Alternative NRG, a 1994 Greenpeace benefit album, so a little piece of the Murph made it onto a record.

Full setlist on setlist.fm | Video on YouTube

Monday, April 28, 1997 — PopMart Tour, Jack Murphy Stadium

• Opener: Rage Against the Machine
• Attendance: 30,572 (capacity 55,000), grossing about $1.55 million
• Significance: Only the second show of the entire PopMart world tour

PopMart opened in Las Vegas on April 25, and San Diego got the second night, three days later. That’s early enough that the production was still getting its legs. The stage was a mall parody: a 100-foot golden arch, a 165-foot-wide LED screen and a giant mirror-ball lemon.

The band walked out of the Padres’ dugout to start the show. The set mixed new Pop songs like “Mofo,” “Do You Feel Loved,” “Staring at the Sun,” “Gone” and “Please” with “Pride,” “I Will Follow” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” The Edge did a karaoke version of the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer,” a song written by John Stewart, who once lived in San Diego.

The encore started with “Discotheque” and the lemon, then went through “With or Without You,” “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me,” “Mysterious Ways” and “One.” The Union-Tribune’s review called it a mixed night, with big highs and some flat stretches. Shortly after this show, the stadium was renamed Qualcomm.

Full setlist on setlist.fm | Video on YouTube

U2’s San Diego Arena Shows

• Mon, March 28 and Wed, March 30, 2005 — Vertigo Tour, San Diego Sports Arena. San Diego opened the whole Vertigo Tour. Night one dug all the way back to Boy for “An Cat Dubh” and “Into the Heart.”
• Tue, April 17, 2001 — Elevation Tour, San Diego Sports Arena. One night only, about 14,850 people, PJ Harvey opening, and the heart-shaped stage. Salman Rushdie was in the crowd, and the band played “In a Little While” for Joey Ramone, who had died two days earlier.
• Wed, April 15, 1992 — Zoo TV indoor leg, San Diego Sports Arena. 13,824 fans for the arena version of Zoo TV, seven months before the stadium show.
• Mon, April 13 and Tue, April 14, 1987 — The Joshua Tree Tour, San Diego Sports Arena. Two nights early in the original Joshua Tree run, with 13,968 on the first night. Setlist.fm also logs short impromptu sets at the U.S. Grant hotel downtown that week.
• Friday, March 26, 1982 — October Tour, San Diego Sports Arena. U2’s first time in the building.

Browse through the songs of every San Diego show set list on setlist.fm.

FAQ

Has U2 ever played Petco Park?

No. U2’s San Diego stadium shows were all at Jack Murphy/Qualcomm/SDCCU Stadium in Mission Valley.

Is San Diego on U2’s 2027 tour?

Not yet. Only six Latin America dates have been announced. North American dates are expected within weeks.

When was U2’s last San Diego show?

Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, at SDCCU Stadium, with Beck opening.

What was U2’s biggest San Diego crowd?

The 2017 show, with 54,221 people. The 1992 and 1997 stadium shows drew roughly 30,000 to 34,000.