LP14: Songs of Experience - To Valencia and Beyond

[The_acrobat]

All I know is that it'd be extremely lame for U2 to play at the iHeart Radio Festival and NOT have something new to play. For them to show up and just run through Beautiful Day, Vertigo, I will follow and a couple other of their go-to numbers that require minimal rehearsing, on their 40th anniversary nonetheless; they might as well just have a big banner behind them that says "WASHED UP DINOSAUR ACT HOPING TO GET PLAYED ON IHEART RADIO'S CLASSIC ROCK CHANNELS".

To me, that is the biggest clue that we're getting something new this fall. Not these vague comments from band members, if in fact the band members even said these comments. Sting is also playing at this event, and he has a new album coming in November... he'll obviously be playing a new song or two.

 

[Dragonfave]

Well, that's OK. U2 are casting a talented new drummer already.

They already found their replacement

 

[dan_smee]

Some calm and sanity please. U2 have NO reason to play Dreamforce or iHeart Radio unless there is something new/something to hype. 40th anniversary isn't a strong enough reason to play two random shows.


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[prbiker15]

Some calm and sanity please. U2 have NO reason to play Dreamforce or iHeart Radio unless there is something new/something to hype. 40th anniversary isn't a strong enough reason to play two random shows.

Exactly. They just love to bluff.

 

[digitize]

Some calm and sanity please. U2 have NO reason to play Dreamforce or iHeart Radio unless there is something new/something to hype. 40th anniversary isn't a strong enough reason to play two random shows.


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They'll probably play a slightly updated version of North Star, say "it's good to be back!", and then release a new album in 2021.


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[Registered Dude]

Then I'm curious as to when was the last time you considered them "overtly political"?

That's just my point.. They haven't been political as a band for 25+ years.

But yeah, SBS, " fuck the revolution", Bullet, MOTD, "artists against AparTITE", Sellafield, etc. Those are actions / songs of a band adding to the conversation, engaging their audience in a political discussion.

 

[gvox]

They already found their replacement

Gosh such a beautiful song, even acoustically. Feels like Bono and Sade's love child. Love it, thanks for the reminder.


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[BVS]

That's just my point.. They haven't been political as a band for 25+ years.



But yeah, SBS, " fuck the revolution", Bullet, MOTD, "artists against AparTITE", Sellafield, etc. Those are actions / songs of a band adding to the conversation, engaging their audience in a political discussion.

BTBS rant, immigration, Africa, COEXIST, I'm not quite sure how one can say they haven't been political

You can be political without having to be angry.


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[Registered Dude]

BTBS rant, immigration, Africa, COEXIST, I'm not quite sure how one can say they haven't been political

You can be political without having to be angry.


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Fair enough. But they're not writing songs with any real teeth these days.. Closest is, Crumbs? Lordy. Offers as much insight as a Coke ad

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Some calm and sanity please. U2 have NO reason to play Dreamforce or iHeart Radio unless there is something new/something to hype. 40th anniversary isn't a strong enough reason to play two random shows.


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They also had no reason to pay for a commercial during the Super Bowl to release a lead single for an album and then disappear for 6 months... alas, U2 gonna U2

 

[BVS]

Fair enough. But they're not writing songs with any real teeth these days.. Closest is, Crumbs? Lordy. Offers as much insight as a Coke ad

I think SLABT is more biting than anything they've done in years; you can attack subjects from different angles and subtly.

RBW gives just as much if not more insight than SBS or MOTD.


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[bobsaget77]

They also had no reason to pay for a commercial during the Super Bowl to release a lead single for an album and then disappear for 6 months... alas, U2 gonna U2

And then not even put the song, which was well received by fans and mainstream, on the album!


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[dazzledbylight]

I heard U2 can't afford their own security anymore, so they resort to getting fan club volunteers. They all wear An Sung Sukyi masks.

OTOH, that might scare away a few troublemakers!

 

[dazzledbylight]

And love the new logo, HIAS

 

[Oregoropa]

BTBS rant, immigration, Africa, COEXIST, I'm not quite sure how one can say they haven't been political

You can be political without having to be angry.

They should randomize their BTBS rants. Maybe go off on mundane things or sports rivals of the cities they are in.

Future show - Philadelphia 12/18/16

"Guy comes up to me, tells me how many rings Eli has, threw him down, took his wallet . . . . 100, 200. Bought a case of Yuengling Lager, stopped at Wawa, see the sky ripped open, got on my hoodie, and run run run . . . Up the steps of the Art Museum"

 

[Registered Dude]

I think SLABT is more biting than anything they've done in years; you can attack subjects from different angles and subtly.

whiiiiich was my original point exactly.... Bono ain't offering any on-the-nose commentary these days

 

[BVS]

whiiiiich was my original point exactly.... Bono ain't offering any on-the-nose commentary these days

You can't be the angsty teenager all your life. Some grow up and learn to be effective, others grow old and look desperate clinging to the rebel yell.


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[Registered Dude]

 

[lazarus]

They also had no reason to pay for a commercial during the Super Bowl to release a lead single for an album and then disappear for 6 months... alas, U2 gonna U2

Let us not speak of this dark time again.


I don't know if I've ever been as angry a fan as when that album delay was announced. Bunch of pussies, and no one will ever convince me that Danger Mouse didn't have a better album all ready to go.

I say this as someone who mostly likes SOI.

 

[dan_smee]

They also had no reason to pay for a commercial during the Super Bowl to release a lead single for an album and then disappear for 6 months... alas, U2 gonna U2

Agreed - but there was a definitive plan that they bailed on. Unless they bail on SOE...


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[ChargedVT]

Let us not speak of this dark time again.


I don't know if I've ever been as angry a fan as when that album delay was announced. Bunch of pussies, and no one will ever convince me that Danger Mouse didn't have a better album all ready to go.

I say this as someone who mostly likes SOI.

That Superbowl/Invisible no album incident was such an anti-climax. Giving us a taste and then nothing.
The musical equivalent of someone rubbing your package through your pants, putting their hand on your zipper... and then walking away.

 

[Oregoropa]

Anybody else underwhelmed by Invisible ?


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[Gilead12]

Me. I like the vibe, the idea, everything.... I think it's just a TAD glossy, and Bono drops the ball in a pretty big way. The chorus feels like that U2-by-numbers 'big chorus' thing, which I guess is a little bit on Edge too, but what really gets me are the lyrics and the word jumble delivery... Bono doesn't really have any of that spontaneous-feeling Boy-era edge, which is I think what the song calls for.

And I heard him sing the hell out of "Gloria" at MSG, so I know it's not the pipes that are the problem.

 

[lazarus]

I love the song, though it definitely suffers from Bono's too-many-syllables syndrome.

No reason why "unless I start to think at all" couldn't be "unless I think at all". Or "I didn't even want the heart you broke" couldn't be "I don't want the heart you broke".

Luckily the chorus makes up for it.

 

[lazarus]

That Superbowl/Invisible no album incident was such an anti-climax. Giving us a taste and then nothing.
The musical equivalent of someone rubbing your package through your pants, putting their hand on your zipper... and then walking away.

I feel like we were in aborted hand job territory, at least.

Dick was out.

 

[Mack_Again]

Invisible wasn't the best song that works as a teaser for SOI but as a whole thing (album plus Invisible), i thought it worked quite well. i mean thematically and sonically.

 

[blueskies]

I really like the song. Don't quite understand why it didn't make it onto the album. Though thematically, I admit, it doesn't fit 100%. But as a b-side it would have been nice.

 

[lazarus]

Though thematically, I admit, it doesn't fit 100%.

Uhh,isn't the genesis of this song about Bono's reaction to his father thinking that following through with the band was a dumb idea, and coming into London for the first time as a musician and feeling intimidated?

Fits right at home and is a companion piece to the bands origins like The Miracle and This Is Where...

 

[blueskies]

Uhh,isn't the genesis of this song about Bono's reaction to his father thinking that following through with the band was a dumb idea, and coming into London for the first time as a musician and feeling intimidated?

Fits right at home and is a companion piece to the bands origins like The Miracle and This Is Where...

Is it? Hm, I didn't know that. Now the lyrics make a lot more sense though Thanks!

 

[Zoo Lemon]

I see it as a (back then) youngster's reaction to the prejudices of the big city people who were at the cutting edge in fashion, culture, music (almost to the point where even rotten punks, in London, were looking better than them) towards four miserably looking boys wandering for the purpose of a record deal - "I'm more than you see, more than you let me be"; they were still holding hope they would have broken into that world - "You don't see me, but you will" / "I'm leaving the invisible world" - by means of music as expression of a vivid soul as opposed to the surface that everyone was looking at. I see "I won't be my father's son" as "I won't be Paul anymore, I will be Bono". Eventually, that contrast is broken with "There is no them", which can sound as a plain "Who fuckin' cares" or, in a wiser, adult point of view, as if that contrast is ultimately solved as the music is able to reach the most "different" dude.

I really like 'Invisible', although I admit it shocked me at first for the electronic pop feel. But now that feels as something really fresh they did explore - yeah, with Danger Mouse.