what format would acrobat live take?

[dal975]

to the best of my knowledge, acrobat has only been rehearsed/practiced/played live/released on one occasion outside the studio, the closed Hershey Stadium outside broadcast rehearsal on 8/6/92. The resulting two takes can be found on the jesus was a cool guy acoustic compilation. It's pretty basic, just bono and edge on acoustic guitar, but then it leads into some pretty heavy industrial noise out of which the opening effects of Zoo Station emerge.

Based on that, and my sense that it's a relatively hard song to reproduce fully on stage, my feeling is that if god willing it is ever played live, it would be a half-assed acoustical version where bono forgets 60% of the lyrics and both larry's hypnotic drumming and edge's brilliant solo towards the end would be pretty much eliminated. I can see it as part of the mid-show mini-acoustic set which they are enamored with. Unfortunately, I can also see it as a bathroom and beer break kind of song for the masses...where do others see it fitting in and in what format? I guess for the sake of argument lets assume they play it on the horizon tour.

 

[Popmart Shopper]

Hopefully the way it was meant to be played.Album version in its fullest form definetely towards the encore portion of the show.Or close to the end of the main set before the encore.

 

[U2DMfan]

Imaginary

 

[The_acrobat]

The only way this song will get played live is if some fan gets pulled onstage, and INSTEAD of playing Party Girl, People get ready or Knocking on heavens door... give Bono the lyrics to Acrobat and just start strumming the chords! He'll be forced to sing along.

 

[AdamThomasU2]

When I get on stage next year i'll be playing In a Little While!

But as for Acrobat, my heart says they will play full band version at the emotional climax of the show next year, but my head agrees with Dal975 OR that it will never be heard live at all

 

[pepokiss]

The only way this song will get played live is if some fan gets pulled onstage, and INSTEAD of playing Party Girl, People get ready or Knocking on heavens door... give Bono the lyrics to Acrobat and just start strumming the chords! He'll be forced to sing along.

I'll do that if I'm lucky and get picked

 

[pacemaker]

I think Acrobat live would work best within its album context... in between Ultraviolet and LIB, AND as a full band performance. And unless U2 decide to play all of their albums live front to back at some point in their career, chances are we would never see that happen while supporting a new album.

I would love to hear Acrobat, in full, live (especially sandwiched between UV and LIB). If we ever do, it'll be a one-two-or-three-time only thing. I think Acrobat in any form would polarize an audience. 1/2 would go apeshit. The other half would, as dal975 suggested, go get another beer or look at shirts, or go to the bathroom... or think it's a new song.

 

[asunder]

Nup, cant see it happening.. I really dont think they're the same band anymore, as in, they no longer feel the bitterness within the song that they felt when they wrote it... If they did attempt it, I dont think that they could do it justice .

 

[kingofsorrow]

we will hear this played live around the same time they play drowning man.

 

[hasin73]

Acrobat full-band live version will make the upcoming tour memorable for years to come.

 

[Ellay]

to the best of my knowledge, acrobat has only been rehearsed/practiced/played live/released on one occasion outside the studio, the closed Hershey Stadium outside broadcast rehearsal on 8/6/92. The resulting two takes can be found on the jesus was a cool guy acoustic compilation. It's pretty basic, just bono and edge on acoustic guitar, but then it leads into some pretty heavy industrial noise out of which the opening effects of Zoo Station emerge.

Yeah it's an interesting one this, because the segue from acrobat into zoo station was clearly planned, though never used.

It means that, before scrapping the idea, they must have planned an alternative song for the opening of the Outside Broadcast tour, (or planned to open with acrobat, which seems highly unlikely)

 

[kingofsorrow]

Yeah it's an interesting one this, because the segue from acrobat into zoo station was clearly planned, though never used.

It means that, before scrapping the idea, they must have planned an alternative song for the opening of the Outside Broadcast tour, (or planned to open with acrobat, which seems highly unlikely)

or maybe, just maybe, they sound checked acrobat then decided "hey let's do zoo station now".

 

[DoctorMacPhisto]

If they play this song on the next tour, I would really want to hear it as close as the album version as possible, with Larry in full swing, and the band as dark as ever. Acrobat as it was meant to be.

Subsequently, my status on this forum is now "Acrobat"...fitting.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I really would love to hear Acrobat live full band on the next tour, with that screeching guitar, those pounding drums and that incredibly rough/brutal guitar solo, would be breathtaking and epic.

 

[U2387]

I agree w/ popular opinion here. If played (I think its unlikely) it would only work in full band form. This is one of Larry's most brilliant tracks and it would not be the same w/ him sitting out. I think there is a good chance of Love is Blindness, Exit and Dirty Day coming back this tour to represent the dark side. 1 of those 3 guranteed.

Love is blindness was snippeted a few times (40 was used as a snippet on elevation) on Vertigo tour. Could this suggest a possible pattern and a comeback for LIB? I would love to see it close a couple dozen shows this tour.