Future tour ideas?

[Scorpionac]

I searched, but couldn't find a thread on this.

What are your ideas for a future U2 tour? Is it time for them to do some clubs, maybe some rarities? Or do you have some nifty concept in mind? Please don't say ZooTV part 2. =P

My two favourite ideas are U2 doing a show for more hardcore fans (ie. rarities) and U2 doing a show with a (small) orchestra. U2 probably wouldn't want to do just a show for hardcore fans, they always want to appeal to a broad group, so I thought, what about combining those ideas? Anyone going to a 'U2 w/orchestra' show would be expecting something a tad different in the first place, so maybe that would prepare them for the more obscure songs. Would U2 ever tour not in support of an album, though? Hard to say.

Anyway, I made a setlist for a rarities/orchestral show. Just cause I like making setlists.

01. Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car
02. Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad
03. Angel of Harlem
04. Red Hill Mining Town
05. White as Snow
06. The Unforgettable Fire
07. Please
08. Sunday Bloody Sunday
09. Tomorrow
10. Lemon
11. Kite
12. Beautiful Day
13. Always Forever Now
14. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
15. Electrical Storm
16. New Year's Day
17. Drowning Man
18. Where the Streets Have No Name
19. The Electric Co

20. Acrobat
21. One
22. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
23. Original of the Species
24. All I Want is You

Shows would probably be in arenas or theatres.

...What are your ideas?

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I want it to have rockets.

 

[shart1780]

After seeing them last saturday I wonder how they could top the claw... seriously, that thing is amazing. I know it sounds shallow but I doubt I would have enjoyed the show as much if they had a regular stage. It made everything so much more exciting at it just looks so freaking AWESOME.

 

[lemonfly]

bono on rollerblades

 

[breathe]

bono on rollerblades

 

[Registered Dude]

the band will play live from inside a giant hamster wheel, which will roll around the stadium.

 

[BVS]

After seeing them last saturday I wonder how they could top the claw... seriously, that thing is amazing. I know it sounds shallow but I doubt I would have enjoyed the show as much if they had a regular stage. It made everything so much more exciting at it just looks so freaking AWESOME.

It's good to see you actually positive for once

 

[iota]

I like the orchestral idea. At this point, however, I wish they would release a couple of albums without touring them... just to get refocused on making music and finding their voice again. When they do tour again, having a mini orchestra is a great idea..

 

[zoopop]

I think they should do something that would push them as musicians. I know it would hard for U2 to do but if they made it a point to change the setlist every show.

Or maybe do the club, arena, stadium tour mash up ala Rolling Stones.

It will hard to top The Claw though. Very impressive setting.

 

[DeVaul]

arena tour with a stage in the center of a GA floor, maybe a catwalk to each far end of the floor. Stage itself acts as a screen for folks in the nosebleeds. And they don't play any hits.

 

[nickoslo]

next tour indoor will defenitly feauture 3D projectors or some like hologram projectors to create virtual landscape and aslo similiar expanding screen from the claw, or the stage will be one giant screen....

 

[LPU2]

Wow, I just remember I had a dream last night about U2, their new album, and new tour. It was REALLY cool. U2 had done again what they did with Achtung Baby. They stirred everything up and had everyone talking.

The songs had a groovy, lounge beat, with dreamy echo-drenched vocals. I'm thinking Hot Chip or Toro y Moi. But here's the kicker: Edge's guitar was tied into a computer and the sound came off sounding like a series of electronic stacatto pulses...kinda like the synth sound of Kraftwerk. Like this:

Computer World by Kraftwerk - Download Computer World on iTunes

Lounge beat, indy pop with a Kraftwerk-synth-like guitar. Wow, I think I might like this new U2.

Anyway, everyone was raving about it. The stage, though, was stark. Nothing resembling the warmth of U2. Distant, überCool.

But I remember thinking that this was a sacrifice I was willing to make to see U2 lead the way in music again.

 

[theedgeu2]

I kind of expect the next tour would elaborate on the 360 design, but maybe smaller. Whether arena or stadium tour I don't know but part of me thinks the next tour will be arenas and I'd like to experience arenas at least once, even if they might not compare to a stadium show. It definitely will be difficult to top The Claw. I'd say it's the best stage ever built and one of the most brilliant ideas ever. This proves to me that U2 are the greatest band ever to walk the earth. They've got the be one of the most innovative bands in history and this current 360 Tour has made me fall in love with them all over again. I can't express how awesome it is.

 

[shart1780]

It's good to see you actually positive for once

Well I saw them in Seattle last saturday and that was pretty much the most amazing thing I've ever seen so I have a hard time being pessimistic about them. I'm sure that will change once they start making more excuses not to release an album again.

What I wonder is if we can expect another world tour after the next album. If it releases next year, which seems plausible, they'd likely be going on tour summer 2013.... and this tour isn't even finished yet. That seems like a lot of touring. I hope they do. The thought of seeing them live again is more exciting to me than getting a new album, honestly.

 

[partygirl43]

It should be like when they were doing the promos for 'NLOTH'.

Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4nb-vXn4yA

 

[Salome]

i guess it will be scaled down a bit
- after The Claw it's the only place to go -
which will give them more opportunities to play songs of their latest album

 

[popacrobat]

I honestly am not sure if I can see them playing arenas again as they age. They can play two shows in a city and play to ~150,000 people rather than what, 5-6 arena shows to even sniff that?

That said, if Bono is serious about playing lower key songs and rarities in the future for a tour, it'd almost certainly have to be in arenas. It all depends on what the new album ends up being like. If it's got a "rock n roll heart" like Bono is saying, I'd think we'd be going back outdoors - but maybe with fewer bells and whistles.

 

[Joey788]

I actually did an article recently about the ten songs U2 should play live that they haven't in a while. Most of Interference's favorite are in there!

Lemme Get an Encore: U2 ? Consequence of Sound

 

[Unknown Caller]

I'd say Lemon is ripe for a complete re-imagining/overhaul. Make it less of a shimmering guitar/backing track thing than it was on ZooTV and turn it into more of a rock song. It would be epic.

That's my biggest hope for the next tour.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

It - obviously - all depends on what they release next and how long it takes.

If it is within the next two years (haha), then I can't see them doing anything the size of 360. Not just the scale of the staging, but the scale of the tour as well. Neither the band or market would be quite ready for it, in several ways.

I would guess that if they do release something and do want to support it with a tour, it might be more like a blend between Elevation and Vertigo. Elevation was 95% arenas, with only a few scattered stadiums, with the stadiums deploying super-simple staging. So that, but not quite as plain/simple as Elevation. Some kind of 'simple' singular creative element, like the Vertigo light curtains, but definitely more dramatic and 'stand out', with a 'show' very much based around that element. Amon Tobin is getting a lot of hype for this, very different artist and music and all that, but its the type of dramatic/effective but simple (for U2) idea I'm thinking of: YouTube - ‪Amon Tobin 'ISAM' Live (Extended Trailer)‬‏

Not a very long tour either. One shorter US leg, one shorter Euro leg, maybe a short-ish Rest of the World leg. Major cities only.

And in terms of topping 360, whenever they do return to a tour like that (surely only one more of them?) then topping the Claw in scale and staging idea - they might have broken the mold (although a mid-stadium, true '360' show is something I'm sure someone, somewhere is trying to nut out right now.) What U2 could do is look less at a spectacular staging experience, and back to a spectacular theatrical experience, based on a strong thematic or artistic concept, which 360 does not have (all this space stuff was very much an afterthought.)

360 is about trying to shrink the stadium with the band-show at the expanded heart of it, but they could focus less on that, and more on - In what other ways can we expand the show? In what other ways can we reach the whole stadium? How can we make it as much a dramatic ride as it is a huge rock show? And how can we make that not a novelty but a true extension of the music? If you don't have the focus of the show on the band, i.e. the need for the massive rigging that the claw holds, you probably could put the band truly smack in the middle of the field, and instead rig the show elements all around the stadium. Make use of wires and things like that, and really, we might be talking about something that's 5,6,7 years away, lord knows where the relevant technology will be by then.

 

[prbiker15]

I actually did an article recently about the ten songs U2 should play live that they haven't in a while. Most of Interference's favorite are in there!

Lemme Get an Encore: U2 � Consequence of Sound

Nice list! I would really love to hear "Gone", "A Sort of Homecoming", "Dirty Day" and "Please" again, those are just epic songs and would work great in a live setting again. "Acrobat" however, that's a long shot but that should be played - no excuses.

I honestly think they're going to take a lengthy break from touring (3-4 years), maybe find the right album(s) to make and release, and go back to basics with an arena tour. Maybe stick to major cities only, places they've never visited. It might take a while to top The Claw and U2360 - their last tour should be more ambitious and top it.

 

[super fly guy]

I have a great tour suggestion,play my home town!

 

[sisterinthemoon]

Maybe a real actual spaceship. Sure, it'd be an expensive ticket but it'd be pretty awesome. It's practically the only thing that could top the Claw.

 

[U2girl]

Arenas, and follow up on the ideas from Vertigo tour with that sonic technology, and/or 3D images.

 

[nirniva]

The songs had a groovy, lounge beat, with dreamy echo-drenched vocals. I'm thinking Hot Chip or Toro y Moi. But here's the kicker: Edge's guitar was tied into a computer and the sound came off sounding like a series of electronic stacatto pulses...kinda like the synth sound of Kraftwerk.
[...]
The stage, though, was stark. Nothing resembling the warmth of U2. Distant, überCool.

This sounds amazing.
Personally, I'd like to see them do an arena tour using visual effects like this:
YouTube - ‪Nine Inch Nails - Seattle 2008 - AMAZING Lights in the Sky tour visuals!!!‬‏
Seems like it'd be a logical next step for them: scaled-down, but not to the extent of Elevation, and still including some awesome "visual spectacle" moments.