Songs of Experience XI

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JamietheEdgefan said:
I'm guessing either this friday or monday we'll get the single (if we do at all). Rumblings should start in the next couple days, or over the weekend depending on the former or latter.
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This has been said every last Friday and Monday for the last three months.

Say it with me guys: there is no new U2 material coming out this year. Playing iHeart and Dreamforce is relying on their legacy, not their future. They're big enough that they don't need new stuff at all times.
 
TinKnight said:
Calling it now:

* No album within the next two years.
* Songs of Experience will not be the name of the new album.
* Tour will resume. Innocence & Experience will be rationalized as SoI was the Innocence component, Experiencing the tour was the Experience component.
* We'll get a single, but it'll be a promotion for charity or a tie-in for a movie.
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TinKnight said:
Calling it now:

* No album within the next two years.
* Songs of Experience will not be the name of the new album.
* Tour will resume. Innocence & Experience will be rationalized as SoI was the Innocence component, Experiencing the tour was the Experience component.
* We'll get a single, but it'll be a promotion for charity or a tie-in for a movie.
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I'm fucking fine with it, man
 
TinKnight said:
This has been said every last Friday and Monday for the last three months.

Say it with me guys: there is no new U2 material coming out this year. Playing iHeart and Dreamforce is relying on their legacy, not their future. They're big enough that they don't need new stuff at all times.
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yeah, they're big enough to play those two without relying on new material. but why? the sole purpose of iHeart is a promotional vehicle. what are they promoting? their past? why? literally every other headliner has new music coming out or just released new music.

it would be very out of touch to go up there and play 6 old classics.
 
If the Dreamforce performance was the only upcoming one, I would agree with a legacy/best of set and expect nothing new. It's an industry event, Bono and Guy Oseary are good friends with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, they're no stranger to charity performances, Salesforce sponsored i+e tour, etc. Their appearance makes sense.

But iHeart Festival is pretty much just a promotional tool for the artists dominating iHeart radio channels. As I've said before, EVERY other headliner and almost every act has new material out or with a release announced and imminent.

Sure, U2 could be the outlier and play a safe "Happy 40th!" set, but they've never wanted to be that band. And I don't think they'd want to be seen as the old legacy jukebox act on a stage of mostly young acts promoting fresh work.
 
BoyOnTheHorizon said:
I don't believe they would just play a new single on the iHeart gig without a build up some days before. I think this Friday is the deadline for us. We could expect at least 30 seconds of the new single.
If the machine doesnt start turning this week just forget it. The iheart concert will be just a old hits mini show....
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While I see everyone's point about how they SHOULD get the single out first before the iheart event. I think, due to the nature of the event, and it being iheartradio - I can still see the very real possibility that they will play the song at the event, and then iheart stations will begin playing it all over the country as the new single U2 dropped at their show.
 
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All this "nothing in 2016" talk is a bit too pessimistic. The Best Thing has been remixed and publicly played by a prominent DJ, and Lillywhite has been doing one of his typical mixes for an album's intended singles.

There's something coming out this year, whether it's only a single or not is what's up for debate here.

One would have hoped for rumors of a video shoot, but there are more signs pointing to its upcoming release than not.
 
They're promoting their legacy.

iHeart skews younger. Most younger people know them as the band that put the album they didn't listen to on their phone without their permission. They're going to play a few warhorses in spectacular fashion and use this as an opportunity to realign their legacy within the greater context of music history.

And honestly, this is pretty much their only way to stay relevant. Bruce Springsteen realigned his career by playing up his youthfulness, while still having one foot in the past. He puts out new content consistently, but knows that 90% of showgoers are there for Thunder Road. That's why he plays 3.5 hour shows. Everyone is happy at the end.
 
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TinKnight said:
They're promoting their legacy.

iHeart skews younger. Most younger people know them as the band that put the album they didn't listen to on their phone without their permission. They're going to play a few warhorses in spectacular fashion and use this as an opportunity to realign their legacy within the greater context of music history.

And honestly, this is pretty much their only way to stay relevant. Bruce Springsteen realigned his career by playing up his youthfulness, while still having one foot in the past. He puts out new content consistently, but knows that 90% of showgoers are there for Thunder Road. That's why he plays 3.5 hour shows. Everyone is happy at the end.
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is Bruce Springsteen trying to get radio hits, playing iHeart Music festivals?

This has a chance to be a very clever move by O'Seary's team - get U2 on the radio by getting U2 to play the iHeart festival, which dominates the billboard charts. It would be awesome to have a GOOD (it has to be good, obviously), poppy, U2 song out there, on the radio, helping U2 reclaim some relevance with the current mainstream.

Playing Vertigo, I Will Follow, Beautiful Day, One and Sunday Bloody Sunday isn't really going to realign their legacy.
 
lazarus said:
All this "nothing in 2016" talk is a bit too pessimistic. The Best Thing has been remixed and publicly played by a prominent DJ, and Lillywhite has been doing one of his typical mixes for an album's intended singles.

There's something coming out this year, whether it's only a single or not is what's up for debate here.

One would have hoped for rumors of a video shoot, but there are more signs pointing to its upcoming release than not.
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couple this with Adam's 'SOE being born" post and the alleged Morleigh post saying that '4 guys from Dublin have new music coming...'
And I just don't possibly see how we don't get something until 6-7 months from now.
That just doesn't fit.

The Lillywhite info also makes me think that the album is ready, but they are still hesitant on the proper mix/arrangement of the first single. They want it to be perfect. So they probably have had it mixed by 10 people and are seeing it anything hits them.

I still think single on Friday or surprise dropped at the iheart show, then possible SNL season premier slot, and then Dreamforce, while iheart stations are simultaneously playing it. Not a bad little promo push.
 
TinKnight said:
They're promoting their legacy.

iHeart skews younger. Most younger people know them as the band that put the album they didn't listen to on their phone without their permission. They're going to play a few warhorses in spectacular fashion and use this as an opportunity to realign their legacy within the greater context of music history.

And honestly, this is pretty much their only way to stay relevant. Bruce Springsteen realigned his career by playing up his youthfulness, while still having one foot in the past. He puts out new content consistently, but knows that 90% of showgoers are there for Thunder Road. That's why he plays 3.5 hour shows. Everyone is happy at the end.
Click to expand...

But playing warhorses isn't going to make people forgot about SOI. Their best shot at doing that, to even a small degree, is to come out with something new. Something like The Best Thing. In a room full of millennials, I don't think playing Pride or SBS is going to blow the roof off the place.
 
2861U2 said:
But playing warhorses isn't going to make people forgot about SOI. Their best shot at doing that, to even a small degree, is to come out with something new. Something like The Best Thing. In a room full of millennials, I don't think playing Pride or SBS is going to blow the roof off the place.
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yeah, exactly. this isn't going to be a U2 crowd.
 
popacrobat said:
is Bruce Springsteen trying to get radio hits, playing iHeart Music festivals?

This has a chance to be a very clever move by O'Seary's team - get U2 on the radio by getting U2 to play the iHeart festival, which dominates the billboard charts. It would be awesome to have a GOOD (it has to be good, obviously), poppy, U2 song out there, on the radio, helping U2 reclaim some relevance with the current mainstream.

Playing Vertigo, I Will Follow, Beautiful Day, One and Sunday Bloody Sunday isn't really going to realign their legacy.
Click to expand...

I think a Vertigo, BD, IWF, EBW, possibly One or MW, and the new single would be a pretty great set.
 
popacrobat said:
is Bruce Springsteen trying to get radio hits, playing iHeart Music festivals?

This has a chance to be a very clever move by O'Seary's team - get U2 on the radio by getting U2 to play the iHeart festival, which dominates the billboard charts. It would be awesome to have a GOOD (it has to be good, obviously), poppy, U2 song out there, on the radio, helping U2 reclaim some relevance with the current mainstream.

Playing Vertigo, I Will Follow, Beautiful Day, One and Sunday Bloody Sunday isn't really going to realign their legacy.
Click to expand...

I could see a phenomenal showing of Vertigo, I Will Follow, Beautiful Day, One and Sunday Bloody Sunday helping reshaping their image in a positive light. It's a marathon not a sprint.

Like I said, I think there will be a single, but I genuinely feel the album is a long way away.
 
lazarus said:
There's something coming out this year, whether it's only a single or not is what's up for debate here.
Click to expand...

Could be a few new or reworked tracks tacked on to a compilation. Maybe "U2 at 40" or some bollocks like that.
 
TinKnight said:
I could see a phenomenal showing of Vertigo, I Will Follow, Beautiful Day, One and Sunday Bloody Sunday helping reshaping their image in a positive light. It's a marathon not a sprint.

Like I said, I think there will be a single, but I genuinely feel the album is a long way away.
Click to expand...

I can get on board with your line of thinking that the album is a bit off. That's how I feel too.

I just think it would be pretty big mistake to show up in Vegas without a new song to promote. iHeart isn't going to just start playing I Will Follow, Vertigo, etc. on heavy rotation.

If The Best Thing is a good song, goes over well at the festival, then yeah, you can bet on it being played somewhat regularly on iHeart stations.
 
Plenty of hot takes today...


Lillywhite isn't a bad thing. U2 clearly trust his gut and skill.. and after working with two new producers for much of the process, maybe he's who they think they need to birth this album
 
You could have TBT tied into Red, much like Invisible was. What better way to rock out a festival full of young people than to get them involved with AIDS.
 
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