Joshua Tour Europe Summer 87

[chrisbougeard]

Hi guys, i know this is a tricky question but here goes :

I saw U2 twice on the Joshua Tree tour (Paris Hippodrome and Cardiff arms park) at both gigs they DIDNT play Where the streets have no name....

As this song was "probably" the most important (was certainly the most difficult to create) on the album it vexes me to this day as to why they didnt play it but chose to play lesser songs at both gigs like "i trip thru your wires" and "in gods country".

Intriguingly they only ommitted streets during the summer europe concerts but played it at every gig in the 2 north american tours.


Any theories?

Best wishes,

Chris

 

[Popmartijn]

U2 wanted to open with Streets, with the red lights in the dark (and then all the lights on). They didn't consider any other position in the setlist for Streets (so in the encore, etc.). The shows you mention were outdoor stadium shows. It was still light at the start of those shows, hence U2 not opening with Streets.



And welcome to the forum!

 

[Galeongirl]

Certainly one of the better first posts I've seen! And What Martijn said is the same thing I heard.

 

[chrisbougeard]

Hi everyone,

thanks for your replies!!

Yes, i think you are probably right, artistic reasons seemed to have influenced the boys from not opening up with streets on all the european outdoor shows in 87. They did try it at the first night at wembley and croke park and i dont personally think the performance suffered due to it not being dark...

They did however play it as an encore at the second night at wembley (which i guess would have been in the dark) pity they didnt do that instead for the other dates...

I did have my own theory, i suspected they might have been reluctant to open with streets for the big outdoor shows because they were concerned for crowd safety. If you watch the croke park 87 footage when they kick off with streets the place goes berserk and a LOT of people seemed to be getting crushed/pushed in the crowd especially at the front. I thought maybe after seeing this happen at the first few european outdoor shows when they did open with streets they figured maybe it wasnt so cool to play it at the start and opted for the stand by me opener which in itself was a great way to start the show as them suddenly turning up on stage to start singing along with the track was totally unexpected.

cheers everyone!

 

[65980]

I just wanted to add that the song is actually called "Where The Streets Have No Name", not "Streets" as it's known on Interference.

Come to think of it, it's not called WTSHNN either!

Just sayin'.

 

[Popmartijn]

I just wanted to add that the song is actually called "Where The Streets Have No Name", not "Streets" as it's known on Interference.

The band doesn't mind, I guess...

 

[RedRocksU2]

Good post;

Hi guys, i know this is a tricky question but here goes :

I saw U2 twice on the Joshua Tree tour (Paris Hippodrome and Cardiff arms park) at both gigs they DIDNT play Where the streets have no name....

As this song was "probably" the most important (was certainly the most difficult to create) on the album it vexes me to this day as to why they didnt play it but chose to play lesser songs at both gigs like "i trip thru your wires" and "in gods country".

Intriguingly they only ommitted streets during the summer europe concerts but played it at every gig in the 2 north american tours.


Any theories?

Best wishes,

Chris

Bad post;

I just wanted to add that the song is actually called "Where The Streets Have No Name", not "Streets" as it's known on Interference.

Come to think of it, it's not called WTSHNN either!

Just sayin'.

IMHO

 

[bigjohn2441]

The band doesn't mind, I guess...

 

[TheEdge25]

I really want to know the process through which the band decides on the set list for each night. Also, Popmartijn, where did you get that picture of the setlist?

 

[65980]

The band doesn't mind, I guess...

Yes, I'm well aware that the band are able to speak short-hand of their own songs. However, they also call Larry "Babyface", but it doesn't mean we should.

It's my Interference-commitment that I type out the full names of songs.

Then again, I am an anal-retentive editor.

 

[U2387]

Hi everyone,

thanks for your replies!!

Yes, i think you are probably right, artistic reasons seemed to have influenced the boys from not opening up with streets on all the european outdoor shows in 87. They did try it at the first night at wembley and croke park and i dont personally think the performance suffered due to it not being dark...

They did however play it as an encore at the second night at wembley (which i guess would have been in the dark) pity they didnt do that instead for the other dates...

I did have my own theory, i suspected they might have been reluctant to open with streets for the big outdoor shows because they were concerned for crowd safety. If you watch the croke park 87 footage when they kick off with streets the place goes berserk and a LOT of people seemed to be getting crushed/pushed in the crowd especially at the front. I thought maybe after seeing this happen at the first few european outdoor shows when they did open with streets they figured maybe it wasnt so cool to play it at the start and opted for the stand by me opener which in itself was a great way to start the show as them suddenly turning up on stage to start singing along with the track was totally unexpected.

cheers everyone!

2 great posts and your theories are probably as good as any!!

It could be similar to how City of Blinding Lights was played mid set once it was dark in Europe and Vertigo opened in the daylight in summer 2005.

But a couple of things make me as confused as anyone by the omission of Streets at the gigs you went to:

1.)Streets didn't always open. Granted, it opened the vast majority of JT leg 1 shows in North America. However, when there were 3 nights in a smaller arena or city(as there often were, more dates were added when JT exploded to the top of the charts unexpectedly) the 3rd night featured a set list shake up.

This is when the "Stand by Me" walk on to the stage and pick it up started, then they'd go right into Pride/MLK/Unforgettable Fire.

Streets would open the encore, and I Will Follow and Still Haven't Found were moved down to join it.

So its not like U2 were strangers to putting Streets elsewhere in the set, so why didn't they play it? You'd think, with it being the best live song from Joshua Tree and one of the most popular and clearly a tour staple........

Who knows??

2.)Streets opened plenty of shows before and after the gigs in question, so if they were so concerned about the crowd pushing at Croke, they wouldn't have opened with it again.

Plus, they played plenty of songs that you could make a case for there being more people pushing each other around(Electric co, I Will Follow, Exit, Out of Control) on the 2nd leg of Joshua Tree.


I guess what I am trying to say, in a very long winded non concise way(as you will find out, is my style around here!), is that U2's decision to omit Streets from a few JT shows was just flat out inexplicably strange.

 

[U2387]

Yes, I'm well aware that the band are able to speak short-hand of their own songs. However, they also call Larry "Babyface", but it doesn't mean we should.

It's my Interference-commitment that I type out the full names of songs.

Then again, I am an anal-retentive editor.

I will make sure to catch you and give you the proper level of scolding if you ever type "Still Haven't Found What I'M Looking For" instead of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

Only kidding... I am anal retentive about certain things too, U2 song abbreviations is not one of them, so long as I can make out what song the person is referring to.

 

[U2387]

The band doesn't mind, I guess...

That was a great, great set list!!

Easily the best performance of Bad on 360.

Until...End of World and New Year's Day in the same set as Stay, Bad, Ultraviolet, Unforgettable Fire.

This was before U2 developed a quota of 5 ATYCLB songs on 360!!


My only gripe is with the "no Tutu" slot!

If you don't have that video telling us its time to get political for a couple more songs, you take full advantage of this and bust out the one off surprise Out of Control or Gloria between Streets and Bad!!

360 has not yet got the occasional surprise/improvised addition that made the Vertigo Tour so great in terms of set list quality!

 

[doctorwho]

Yes, I'm well aware that the band are able to speak short-hand of their own songs. However, they also call Larry "Babyface", but it doesn't mean we should.

It's my Interference-commitment that I type out the full names of songs.

Then again, I am an anal-retentive editor.

I know you don't post much, but you've been on this site since '05. By now you must have come across this:

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f189/alphabetized-list-of-u2-song-acronyms-146467.html

It's the abbreviation list for the songs. It's a lot of work writing some of U2's longer song titles out each time we refer to the song. Some of us will use acronyms (WTSHNN), some say "Streets" and some say "Where the Streets...". This site is not meant to be a newspaper or magazine article - but even if it was, after the first time of writing the songs full title, abbreviations would definitely be used. That's VERY common - and as an anal-retentive editor, you should know this.

 

[65980]

I know you don't post much, but you've been on this site since '05. By now you must have come across this:

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f189/alphabetized-list-of-u2-song-acronyms-146467.html

It's the abbreviation list for the songs. It's a lot of work writing some of U2's longer song titles out each time we refer to the song. Some of us will use acronyms (WTSHNN), some say "Streets" and some say "Where the Streets...". This site is not meant to be a newspaper or magazine article - but even if it was, after the first time of writing the songs full title, abbreviations would definitely be used. That's VERY common - and as an anal-retentive editor, you should know this.

I was actually joking.

 

[Popmartijn]

That was a great, great set list!!

Easily the best performance of Bad on 360.

Until...End of World and New Year's Day in the same set as Stay, Bad, Ultraviolet, Unforgettable Fire.

This was before U2 developed a quota of 5 ATYCLB songs on 360!!


My only gripe is with the "no Tutu" slot!

If you don't have that video telling us its time to get political for a couple more songs, you take full advantage of this and bust out the one off surprise Out of Control or Gloria between Streets and Bad!!

360 has not yet got the occasional surprise/improvised addition that made the Vertigo Tour so great in terms of set list quality!

In the end that was not the actual setlist of London 2. ISHFWILF was played instead of One, which moved back to its regular slot. I can't recall the use of the Desmond Tutu video, but it might've been moved to just before One (so after WTSHNN). And in a way, that made more sense, since Desmond Tutu was urging us to act together as one.

And yes, it was a great show!

 

[KEVIN051269]

To the original question. The correct answer is probably that at the time 'Streets' was not the huge anthemic song synonymous with U2 live performances that it later turned into so not guaranteed to make every setlist.
I dont buy the 'only playing it in the dark' theory as there were indoor shows where it was not played. The song that U2 wanted to 'play in the dark' I seem to recall was actually 'Bullet'.
Simple fact is that U2 pretty much had 2 setlists and one of them didn't include 'Streets'.
As for the 2nd night at Wembley in 87, it was played in the dark and one of the rare occasions that the song was included in the 'Stand By Me' set and if you look at the setlist from that one it was a pretty unique show

 

[cathalmc]

I read somewhere last year (I think it may have been Matt over on @U2) that U2 didn't realise what a huge stadium anthem they had with Streets until later on in the JT tour. Dunno what the sources were for this but it seems plausible.

 

[U2FanPeter]

I've always heard that it was not a favourite amongst the band members themselves. It took until the later part of the tour for the song to take off in a live setting.

I don't believe the "dark" theory if it couldn't be played as the opener.
-It opened a number of outdoor stadiums gigs on both sides of the Atlantic
-it was played 2nd a bunch of times in 87
-Played in the encore in a bunch of gigs in 87(LA/Boston/Hartford/NJ first leg)
-it was skipped at a couple indoor arena shows(Munich/Glasgow?)

 

[rastacruz]

Was the opening song of the encore when I saw a May '87 show (indoors). Stand By Me > Pride opened the show.