maybe this was their plan all along. they gave the tour an ambiguous title that had nothing to do with the album (unlike every other tour they've ever done) so maybe they always planned on dropping the focus.
Going for '360' over 'Kiss The Future' was pure marketing, I would think. They wouldn't have been
planning to 'drop' No Line from the outset. But it was a tour/concept wholly separate from the album, both thematically and in terms of consideration for the actual music, which is unique for them and I would suggest a little bit... I mean, it was obviously wildly successful (both commercially and genuinely) but it's not necessarily a good turn for the band. That
is to me a little bit 'Rolling Stones' territory, even if what U2 put in and get out is very different. Despite it's success, I would definitely chalk that up in any list of 'Where are U2 really at these days?' But No Line, I would guess, would have had far better and longer representation if it had simply been an arena tour.
The next album may be the most important one they've ever released.
'Most'? No. But it will certainly set up and determine how their final phase goes, and thus play a large degree in determining their legacy. Really - harsh chat here - there are probably only a couple of U2 albums to go. Not much room for fucking up, one way or another.
Another misguided chase for the bottom (even if in reality, like No Line, it's only a few songs, but they happen to be the shopfront window) and the 'U2 Story' will forever take an ugly turn at the end. If they say 'fuck it' and just go for it without 'hit single' consideration, while gaining critical appreciation, then there'll be a lot of respect there but given it would almost certainly lead to lesser sales again, they'll have to cop a narrative of not being as big as they were, and not as 'relevant' in the way
they seem to define that. Or they'll somehow manage both critical and commercial, and succeed, which would safely lock them in as some sort of all time something. I think they'll obviously be gunning for that last option, but I don't quite trust that that simply doesn't mean they'll end up with the first option. Nothing we've heard post No Line really inspires much hope, either in what we've heard musically or in what we've heard from them in terms of how they read the No Line 'failure'. But a good thing: none of what we've heard is from the Danger Mouse stuff.
But yeah, it's not the most important. But they do have a red pill/blue pill choice here that they haven't had since post-Pop, but I'd say the stakes are elevated to roughly the same as post-R&H.
Personally, I'd just like some really great music. No bullshit. No sense that you're listening to stuff that's been compromised via one eye on what an imaginary focus group might be suggesting, which even on the better end of No Line, you do get some sense of.
I don't need them to suddenly be a genuinely exciting, 'relevant' band again, I'd be quite happy for them just to release very high quality, far quieter or smaller, 'mature' albums that break no real new ground, but really sound like a band with their experience, both in years and musical fucking around. No Line as a whole is great, but you can't tell me that after all this time, that's the best they can do.
Outside of my own enjoyment, I would like to see the band have a bit of a 'golden age' at the end. It would be a shame if a respect for or appreciation of U2 remains decidedly uncool/unacknowledged until the morning after they quit or their plane crashes or something, and then there's a sudden and widespread 180 turn on them (and you
know that's exactly what will happen.) More articles with headlines like this (if not quite the backhanded nature of it):
Isn't it time we learned to cherish U2? as a reflection of a genuine re-think (or acceptance, or 'brave' acknowledgment) but U2's musical output and career decisions from here on out will almost wholly determine whether or not they actually get to see that sort of thing take hold. Another album like either Atomic Bomb or No Line and they've fucked it, basically.