david
ONE love, blood, life
I'd imagine a blank stare from The Edge in response to that question.
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Shuttlecock XIV: Bono the Vampire Slayer
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I'd imagine a blank stare from The Edge in response to that question.
Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Oh, have you heard SOE already? Good to know you've already passed judgment on it before they've even released it.
I'm sorry, but whatever you think of SOI, or the album before that, or the two before that, I'm not ready to write off a band that is still capable of making the last three tracks on SOI. That's a vital artist as far as I'm concerned. Personally, I'd rather hear those songs live than the entirety of JT.
Bottom line, we don't know what SOE is going to sound like or how good it's going to be, and the only thing we can have confidence in is that it won't sound completely like its predecessor. And for me, that unknown is better than any backwards catalogue-diving, because it's new an waiting to be explored and dissected.
I would think someone into new music as much as you are would understand that.
namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
Hey, I'm with you as far as SOI is concerned, I think it's the best record they've put out since ATYCLB, maybe even Pop, and I'm also hopeful about the quality of SOE like you are, but just because one supports the idea of this JT tour doesn't mean one is writing the band off. They can do both things.
And I really can't understand why you wouldn't be excited about the prospect of the band performing fucking EXIT again after all these years.
I want them to keep producing good new music too, but I'll also support tours like these. Hell, I'd support a 35th anniversary UF tour in 2019 if it means we get to hear Wire live again. It's not about the staples we've all heard a million times, it's about the deeper album cuts that never see the light of day anymore.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Did anyone notice that the band is apparently putting SOE on hold because it might not be relevant enough to the current political climate? That's simultaneously a total cop out and intriguing. Assuming it's not just a lame excuse, it makes you wonder what they wrote in the first place that would require an update now.
OP
OP
GirlsAloudFan
Blue Crack Addict
I will be at the Soldier Field show. I do think J. Tree is their second best album.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
The good thing about this tour is that the 'Cock Force is reassembling.
(I'm looking at you, Mofo.)
(I'm looking at you, Mofo.)
I must admit I'm surprised how many people - perhaps moreso on the Other Place than here - are dead against the band touring a full album. Don't these people go to concerts? Playing full albums is perfectly commonplace now. In the past year I've seen bands play albums that aren't released yet, albums they released within the past year, albums they released within the past five or ten years, and albums released thirty years ago. Bloody everybody's doing it, because funnily enough they're proud of the songs and people want to hear them.
In this age of "nobody buys albums any more", it's also a pretty decent trick to get a whole bunch of people to pay to listen to it in sequence and get the energy and vitality of a live show. A real lazy cashgrab would've been just putting out another anniversary edition of JT and doing fuck-all else with it; take more money from collectors and stay home. Sure this way with a tour they make a tonne more money, but also have to expend a tonne more effort to get it, and demonstrate much more of a commitment to the album than just digging up another couple of rickety old demos and whacking them in fancy packaging.
Anyway, this is about the only thing U2 could do that would excite me. They've been a dreadful studio band for almost 20 years, churning out one rubbish adult contemporary song after another with only rare glimpses of their past talent - and even those are less satisfying because Bono's lyricism has fallen off a cliff into the ocean and only rarely comes up to gasp for air. There is so much great new music out there that there's no need for yet another sub-par release. But U2 remain a pretty good live band with a back catalogue of unbelievable depth. So I think I'll extend a European work trip by a week or two to catch a couple of shows. I'm wary of being dudded, like how the band walked back their plans for IE's "pairs" of shows, but I doubt I'll get any other chance to hear Red Hill Mining Town or Exit.
Bring on the 2020 Boy Tour, I say. The funny part is that for a band obsessed with relevance, touring The Joshua Tree is going to get them a whole lot more favourable attention than anything new they could do. They're not wrong that that album is still relevant today.
In this age of "nobody buys albums any more", it's also a pretty decent trick to get a whole bunch of people to pay to listen to it in sequence and get the energy and vitality of a live show. A real lazy cashgrab would've been just putting out another anniversary edition of JT and doing fuck-all else with it; take more money from collectors and stay home. Sure this way with a tour they make a tonne more money, but also have to expend a tonne more effort to get it, and demonstrate much more of a commitment to the album than just digging up another couple of rickety old demos and whacking them in fancy packaging.
Anyway, this is about the only thing U2 could do that would excite me. They've been a dreadful studio band for almost 20 years, churning out one rubbish adult contemporary song after another with only rare glimpses of their past talent - and even those are less satisfying because Bono's lyricism has fallen off a cliff into the ocean and only rarely comes up to gasp for air. There is so much great new music out there that there's no need for yet another sub-par release. But U2 remain a pretty good live band with a back catalogue of unbelievable depth. So I think I'll extend a European work trip by a week or two to catch a couple of shows. I'm wary of being dudded, like how the band walked back their plans for IE's "pairs" of shows, but I doubt I'll get any other chance to hear Red Hill Mining Town or Exit.
Bring on the 2020 Boy Tour, I say. The funny part is that for a band obsessed with relevance, touring The Joshua Tree is going to get them a whole lot more favourable attention than anything new they could do. They're not wrong that that album is still relevant today.
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
I'm hoping that saying publicly that the entire album will be played will make them do it every time. They may backtrack on that, just like they did on the twin shows idea, and the idea that they'll release a companion album right away with the last two albums.
By the time they get to Europe, the "entire album" concept may be abandoned for a greatest hits show. I hope to fuck I'm wrong, but this is U2 we're dealing with. Maybe after some sleep I'll feel more optimistic.
By the time they get to Europe, the "entire album" concept may be abandoned for a greatest hits show. I hope to fuck I'm wrong, but this is U2 we're dealing with. Maybe after some sleep I'll feel more optimistic.
PhilsFan
Blue Crack Addict
The following are my thoughts on U2 playing a live show in the city of Philadelphia:
It is good.
It is good.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Don't get cocky. You're really tempting the gods.
PhilsFan
Blue Crack Addict
Good point, it would probably be best for me to go back into hiding for the next five months.
DaveC
Blue Crack Addict
i'm definitely far more excited for this than i would be for SOE and I+E leg 2. i can't wait to hear exit live.
that being said, those of you who think red hill mining town is going to be any good are in for a disappointment. bono couldn't even hit those notes live in 1987. they're going to have to bring the entire song down several keys and make it nearly unrecognizable, or use it for a pre-recorded segment like they did with the wanderer.
that being said, those of you who think red hill mining town is going to be any good are in for a disappointment. bono couldn't even hit those notes live in 1987. they're going to have to bring the entire song down several keys and make it nearly unrecognizable, or use it for a pre-recorded segment like they did with the wanderer.
Given both legs are explicitly billed as playing The Joshua Tree, it will be a huge dick move to abandon the concept at any stage. Imagine the vocal complaints and poor press. The IE pairs of shows thing was bad enough and that wasn't core to the tour's theme, and although it was announced officially it wasn't prominent enough that press and casual fans were commenting on it heavily. Indeed, I remember having to dig up the wording of the official announcement to shut up the likes of U2girl who thought it was just an off-hand interview comment.
But my trust in this band doing what they claim they'll do is at an all time low. Part of me expects that if I do go to the London and/or Berlin gigs, I'll hear about six JT songs max.
The Philly show will be the one night they do Magnificent instead of Exit.
Oh I'm keen for Red Hill Mining Town for the novelty. If it's any good, all the better.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Or that will be the night they try an alternate topical version with new lyrics: (Br)exit.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
I'm almost more disappointed by its continued delay that we don't get to Shuttlecock a new batch of song titles than I am about not hearing new tunez.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
You know the odds of them doing this are really high.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Hard to disagree (except for their pooh-pooing of No Line and SOI).
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
They didn't really give those albums a chance in the original reviews either. Odd, after The Bomb got a surprising 6.9
prbiker15
Blue Crack Addict
Yeah, I feel the same way.
Hard to disagree, and I'd remove your caveat too - even if I think both of those albums are steps up from HTDAAB. SOI seems more criticised for its distribution than its music anyway, and that's a fair call.
OP
OP
GirlsAloudFan
Blue Crack Addict
Article is basically stating the obvious every step of the way, at least for us more hardcore fans. Nothing there that any of us don't already know. I guess we are not the intended audience, though.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I don't care for Pitchfork's writing more often than not, but that article was fine. Nothing particularly illuminating, but they aren't wrong.
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