Shane Kimbrough. The song was used again on 3 March 2011 for the eighth wake up call of STS-133; it was played for all of the crew members. The track was used by Barack Obama as the entrance theme for his presidential candidacy announcement in Springfield, Illinois, on 10 February 2007, and it was played before his acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Obama frequently used it as the lead-in as he took the stage for campaign events during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a spectacle that even convinced one student to vote for him, and played it on primary night rallies with supporters. In August 2008, Obama listed "City of Blinding Lights" as one of his ten favourite songs. In his dissertation, music student Jacob Charron speculated that the music used by Obama on the campaign trail was selected because it would not upset the older voters and would be recognizable to the younger voters. The song was also valuable for its global image, ringing guitar line, and suggestions of awakening. U2 performed the song, along with "Pride (In the Name of Love)," to upwards of 400,000 people on 18 January 2009 at the We Are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate the upcoming inauguration of Obama. Introducing "City of Blinding Lights," which the band were asked to play, Bono spoke directly to Obama, saying, "What a thrill for four Irish boys from the northside of Dublin to honour you, sir, the next President of the United States, Barack Obama, for choosing this song to be part of the soundtrack of your campaign, and more besides." Bono modified the first verse to reference the surroundings, singing "America, let your road rise / Under Lincoln's unblinking eyes" in place of "Neon hearts, dayglo eyes / A city lit by fireflies," gave a shout-out to vice presidential inauguree Joe Biden at the end of the verse, and changed a part of the chorus to proclaim "America's getting ready to leave the ground." Formats and track listings Personnel U2 Bono – vocals, piano The Edge – guitar, backing vocals, piano Adam Clayton – bass guitar Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion Additional performers Jacknife Lee – synthesizers Technical Production – Flood Additional production – Chris Thomas, Jacknife Lee Recording – Carl Glanville Recording assistance – Chris Heaney, Kieran Lynch Mixing – Nellee Hooper Mix engineering – Greg Collins,