Rank the Tours

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I agree for the most part about Lovetown. I remember back then the rumor was they were going to play the U.S. that spring 1990. Obviously those hopes were dashed and proved to be false. It was a tour when the band seemed to be playing their best at the beginning. Which is unusual as it usually takes several weeks or a month for them to warm up on a tour. They were playing blazing shows throughout the Australian leg. Europe was still great, but not quite the same power the Australian leg seemed to have.

It is sort of funny that Lovetown is considered by a lot of fans (myself included) as one of their better or best tours. The band themselves disliked it and were miserable (for personal and professional reasons) on the road for that tour. Obviously that misery fueled some incredible shows.
 
It is sort of funny that Lovetown is considered by a lot of fans (myself included) as one of their better or best tours. The band themselves disliked it and were miserable (for personal and professional reasons) on the road for that tour. Obviously that misery fueled some incredible shows.

They were miserable during the recording of AB as well, and seemed to be in a pretty good place during the recording of Bomb.

Draw what conclusions you will about their artistic process, and the concomitant results, from that. ;)
 
They were miserable during the recording of AB as well, and seemed to be in a pretty good place during the recording of Bomb.

Draw what conclusions you will about their artistic process, and the concomitant results, from that. ;)

Okay... brainstorm people! How can we make their lives complete crap from here on out?! :D
 
Okay... brainstorm people! How can we make their lives complete crap from here on out?! :D

All they'd have to do is hang out here for a few days.

If the "Bono is going bald" thread doesn't do it, then the "Bono faked his back injury" should do the trick. Or perhaps the "Bono's voice hasn't been the same since the Mt. Temple School days" stuff.

Oh, or it wouldn't take them long to run across the clairvoyants here opining that "Bono lies about EVERYTHING." Or maybe the "They are INSANE for not releasing a new album yet" fun.

Oh, or they could pop over to one of the Random Music Threads and learn about how talentless they are when compared to genius bands like Lotus Blossom and Dum Dum Girls.

Really, there are endless amounts of misery for them to find here from their "fans" if they'd only look! Then they could just sing about the grief. Instant inspiration! And they don't have to kill anyone. Just stop by the U2 Fan Community where their biggest supporters hang out!

Unfortunately, something tells me they don't spend much time here, and their lives are going to be pretty good from here on out. :)
 
Nick66 said:
They were miserable during the recording of AB as well, and seemed to be in a pretty good place during the recording of Bomb.

Draw what conclusions you will about their artistic process, and the concomitant results, from that. ;)

There's probably a stronger argument to be made about correlation between misery and quality than about hair length and popularity.
 
They were miserable during the recording of AB as well, and seemed to be in a pretty good place during the recording of Bomb.

Draw what conclusions you will about their artistic process, and the concomitant results, from that. ;)

I don't necessarily agree about their personal status when it comes to recording. I was merely talking about one particular tour and I wasn't implying it in any other context. They were having a great time on the Zoo tour. So some type of theory or generalization about touring and their personal status is out the window right there. :shrug:
 
I don't necessarily agree about their personal status when it comes to recording. I was merely talking about one particular tour and I wasn't implying it in any other context. They were having a great time on the Zoo tour. So some type of theory or generalization about touring and their personal status is out the window right there. :shrug:

Well, I wasn't drawing any conclusions to agree or disagree with. Merely making an observation.

They don't have to be miserable to put out a good record; nor content in their lives to put out a mediocre one. Just agreeing with someone else who noticed it's happened. :)

Correlation doesn't always equal causation. Though I have it on good authority that they put out their best music when Bono switches to decaf.
 
Going by tours I've been too.

1. ZOO TV
2. Lovetown
3 the Unforgettable Fire
4. Joshua Tree
5. 360
6. Elevation
7. Vertigo
8. Popmart.

ZOO Tv wins by some way but that isn't a slight on the other tours as every tour I have been to has been magnificent in it's own way, just for me ZOO TV had everything, even the depth of emotion was there for me, you just had to find it yourself a bit more than usual.
Best individual show I ever saw though was one of the Dutch Lovetown gigs, I'll have to check which one.
 
I haven't seen enough shows, or really heard enough bootlegs, to accurately rate the tours.

I will say that that out of the shows I have seen, the Popmart show was the MOST memorable and mind-blowing concert I've ever been to. At the time I was a "casual fan," and didn't care much about set lists or how Bono's voice compared to Lovetown, etc. I'm a highly visual person and was studying art and graphic design at the time, so that's probably why it had such an impact.

And out of all of the tours I missed, I have the biggest regrets about missing ZooTV.
 
To this day the Popmart intro is the most epic intro in rock n roll history.

-Mission Impossible Theme comes on the PA
-Pop Muzik starts
-Lights go down
-Crowd going nuts
-Pop Pop Pop Muzik
-Then U2 walks thru the crowd to the stage
-Bono getting the crowd hype
-Mofo Begins

If that was anyone's 1st U2 show or their 1st rock show that's pretty mind blowing stuff.

If U2 did that today 9.9 out of 10 interferences would blow up.
 
To this day the Popmart intro is the most epic intro in rock n roll history.

-Mission Impossible Theme comes on the PA
-Pop Muzik starts
-Lights go down
-Crowd going nuts
-Pop Pop Pop Muzik
-Then U2 walks thru the crowd to the stage
-Bono getting the crowd hype
-Mofo Begins

If that was anyone's 1st U2 show or their 1st rock show that's pretty mind blowing stuff.

If U2 did that today 9.9 out of 10 interferences would blow up.

I thought it was pretty lame.
 
To this day the Popmart intro is the most epic intro in rock n roll history.

-Mission Impossible Theme comes on the PA
-Pop Muzik starts
-Lights go down
-Crowd going nuts
-Pop Pop Pop Muzik
-Then U2 walks thru the crowd to the stage
-Bono getting the crowd hype
-Mofo Begins

If that was anyone's 1st U2 show or their 1st rock show that's pretty mind blowing stuff.

If U2 did that today 9.9 out of 10 interferences would blow up.

It was pretty bad ass seeing the Vertigo screens turn into a radio dial, and then the Pop symbols, and Pop Muzik start up while Bono walked round the ellipse before they launched into that awesome version of Discotheque, that they only played twice for whatever reason.

And they only did the Pop Muzik intro one time in Toronto. A shame.
 
popacrobat said:
It was pretty bad ass seeing the Vertigo screens turn into a radio dial, and then the Pop symbols, and Pop Muzik start up while Bono walked round the ellipse before they launched into that awesome version of Discotheque, that they only played twice for whatever reason.

And they only did the Pop Muzik intro one time in Toronto. A shame.

God, Vertigo Tour Discothèque and its Toronto intro still sound epic even over low-quality IEM bootleg.
 
1. Lovetown
...
2. War Tour
3. Joshua Tree Tour
4. UF Tour
5. October Tour
6. Boy Tour
(2-6 being fairly close, if not quite equal, in my mind)
...
7. ZooTV
8. Popmart
9. Vertigo
(pretty much equal; would probably switch order if I made this list again in an hour)
...
10. 360
 
Glad to see I'm not the only one ranking 360 low. The final leg show I went to put my Vertigo show to shame; Bono was drunk as fuck, they rolled out one great rocker after another (something the first few legs sorely lacked) and capped the night with One Tree Hill. It was magical.

That being said, I'm not envious of those who saw U2 replace NLOTH and Breathe with Glastonbury and North Star while playing as many ATYCLB songs as they did NLOTH. I'll take Zooropa over In A Little While any day, thanks.
 
I just realised I forgot Elevation in my ranking (probably says it all with regards to my opinion of it, especially the third leg). It would be 10th, between Vertigo and 360.

Glad to see I'm not the only one ranking 360 low. The final leg show I went to put my Vertigo show to shame; Bono was drunk as fuck, they rolled out one great rocker after another (something the first few legs sorely lacked) and capped the night with One Tree Hill. It was magical.

That being said, I'm not envious of those who saw U2 replace NLOTH and Breathe with Glastonbury and North Star while playing as many ATYCLB songs as they did NLOTH. I'll take Zooropa over In A Little While any day, thanks.

If the final leg of 360 was the only leg of 360, it'd definitely rate higher ... but that was too little, too late in my books. I won't go on at any great length because I think my opinion on 360 is reasonably well established around these parts. It boils down to the factors you named, plus the fact I just don't like stadium tours to begin with (Lovetown's weakest shows are easily the four big stadium gigs in New Zealand, much as it pains me to say so), my general disinterest in Bono's current vocals, Bono's habit of wailing over every-bloody-thing Edge tried to do, the fucking masks, and honestly just this feeling of being underwhelmed that I couldn't shake. Underwhelmed by the performances; underwhelmed by the song selection; underwhelmed by the attempted spectacle. The only other tour where I get a distinct sense of being underwhelmed is the third leg of Elevation.
 
The one Vertigo show I saw remains the best night of my life. The three 360 shows I saw were great (Melbourne I in particular) but not in the same league, probably because I was listening to more than one artist by the time December 2010 rolled around.
 
I just realised I forgot Elevation in my ranking (probably says it all with regards to my opinion of it, especially the third leg). It would be 10th, between Vertigo and 360.



If the final leg of 360 was the only leg of 360, it'd definitely rate higher ... but that was too little, too late in my books. I won't go on at any great length because I think my opinion on 360 is reasonably well established around these parts. It boils down to the factors you named, plus the fact I just don't like stadium tours to begin with (Lovetown's weakest shows are easily the four big stadium gigs in New Zealand, much as it pains me to say so), my general disinterest in Bono's current vocals, Bono's habit of wailing over every-bloody-thing Edge tried to do, the fucking masks, and honestly just this feeling of being underwhelmed that I couldn't shake. Underwhelmed by the performances; underwhelmed by the song selection; underwhelmed by the attempted spectacle. The only other tour where I get a distinct sense of being underwhelmed is the third leg of Elevation.

Oh I forgot about those fucking masks, they knock down 360 a place in my rankings all by themselves.
 
I only went to two U2 shows: Vertigo Amsterdam III (16-7-2005) and 360 Amsterdam II (21-7-2009). Both shows were great: first show had Wild Horses (first time) and Miss Sarajevo (first time) and the second had awesome versions of Until The End Of The World (first time) and Bad (first time). Bono's vocals were spot on at the second show....superb.

I rank Zoo TV and Lovetown as number one (equally), based on bootlegs.
 
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