Songs to come on this tour:

[onyourkneesboy]

Has anybody noticed that "IF" there are 1 or 2 changes in the setlist so far, U2 almost only play the "safe" songs ? (apart from: Who's gonna ride.., Party Girl)

For example, for now: I will follow, with or without you, all I want is you, still haven't found, until the end of the world (although this one's always welcome!)

I mean, it looks like that if they change songs, they tend to choose the songs that can be played by them on "AUTOMATIC PILOT". Because they played them so many times in their life. Also are they songs that are still around from the last Elevation-tour and so still in their fingers. Are they just to lazy/old/fullfilled to put some effort or time in practicing some other stuff? Or do they just don't have the time? They have all this beautiful songs, technology and crew to choose from. Be original, use it!

So than, in this categorie still to come:
angel of harlem, gone, desire, stay, love comes to town (last 3 acoustic of course!) even better than the real thing, staring at the sun...

I really don't ask for the impossible (acrobat, red hill.., unforgettable fire, dirty day, lemon, hawkmoon, when i look at the world, ...)
But it already IS a "Greatest Hits/Singles-tour": 16 out of 20/21 songs played are/were singles! They seem to want to please the MAJORITY-crowd who only freak out on Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Years Day, Pride, Vertigo (because they know it from the radio!)
These same people are going for a beer if U2 would play Please, God's Country or Love is Blindness !!
But U2 shouldn't be afraid of this happening. Remember Bono's phrase in an interview during the opening of Zoo TV: .."We might loose some of the pop-kids, but we don't need them !" That's the right attide! TEACH the crowd by playing also the more unfamiliar songs. This is the backbone of U2 and made them special and got them so many loyal fans!! These people will come to the concerts anyway by now!

Come on U2 !! You owe it to your MASSIVE SLEW of fans to get the setlists a little bit more ballanced: next to all the greatest hits: play Please for us, God's Country, Ultraviolet, Mofo, Electrical Storm, Hold me thrill me kiss me kill me, Crumbs, Original of the Species (full guitar version!)...(But keep Zoo Station and The Fly in!!) It's nothing you haven't done before.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not an "old-fart-fan". I'm very excited to see them this year like I have for many years, and the show looks incredible but the setlist could be a little more balanced. This would bring much more colour and variety in this tour. Come on, boys! Put some time in it!

What do you think?

 

[jochen]

Great to read that mail.
Nobody besides you and me says anything against the boring setlists. I wrote a similar mail a few days earlier but everyone blamed me for that.
No one on this list allows that anyone says something against U2. An if you are honest to yourself you have to say that the setlist is always just on the safe side. Nothing interesting happens on this whole tour.
Some friends of me and myself are cancelling some U2-shows to see more Springsteen-shows. He does the interesting setlists.
I can not understand U2. They can not have fun playing every night the same set. And they have to find a way to satisfy the one-time-visitor and the die-hards. The die-hards are the fans which they are living from for years. So in gods name the have to screw up the setlist and go away from the all-night-the-same-set.
It can not be, that the part from COBL until the end of the show is everynight the same (except from 1 songs or so). And it also can not be that they Vertigo twice every night.
Come on guys and give us what we want.....

 

[zwervers2]

Great to read that mail.
Nobody besides you and me says anything against the boring setlists. I wrote a similar mail a few days earlier but everyone blamed me for that.
No one on this list allows that anyone says something against U2. An if you are honest to yourself you have to say that the setlist is always just on the safe side. Nothing interesting happens on this whole tour.
Some friends of me and myself are cancelling some U2-shows to see more Springsteen-shows. He does the interesting setlists.
I can not understand U2. They can not have fun playing every night the same set. And they have to find a way to satisfy the one-time-visitor and the die-hards. The die-hards are the fans which they are living from for years. So in gods name the have to screw up the setlist and go away from the all-night-the-same-set.
It can not be, that the part from COBL until the end of the show is everynight the same (except from 1 songs or so). And it also can not be that they Vertigo twice every night.
Come on guys and give us what we want.....

nobody??? Maybe you should read some more threads posted by yours truly and others The most interesting thing that happened was the jean genie cover. Now THAT's interesting...Nobody can denie that it is a very safe show to say the least. but the jean genie cover in new york.now that's the sparkle..not vertigo twice(i'm sorry guys keep hating it).

excellent posts by the way

 

[The_acrobat]

Songs to come on this tour? Hmmmm, let me think.

PROBABLY VERTIGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!

 

[zwervers2]

Songs to come on this tour? Hmmmm, let me think.

PROBABLY VERTIGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!

No way that they will ever play this song..Too difficult, not many people know it..Can you imagine if they would do something like the boytour..open with a song and finish with the same song. Now THAT will NEVER ever happen again..I mean they have so many great songs...hey wait just a minute

 

[jphelmet]

The most interesting thing that happened was the jean genie cover. Now THAT's interesting...Nobody can denie that it is a very safe show to say the least. but the jean genie cover in new york.

I liked hearing dream genie at the msg show, but it was in no way a highlight of the show. It may be interesting, but no many people go to a concert for rare cover songs. its a perfect example of killing the momentum. the play when quiet, and almost no one had any idea what they were playing.

I am not bashing you guys- i would prefer to hear 'rare' songs mixed, but i know every word to every song they have ever written. I am not the majority of the crowd.

the reason people keep jumping on you, or anyone for that matter that keeps bashing setlists, is simply this is the way U2 has done it for 25 years. there is no reason to complain on and on about the way they tour and do their setlists. what makes you think they are suddenly going to change after 25 years of doing it one way.

i agree with you, if you do not want to see a setlist that will be 90% the same - don't go see them over and over. go see bruce springsteen.

although i would prefere more variety, u2 playing the same set every night is still the best show there is.

 

[Lancemc]

How's a different question for the crowd here..

Is there anyone else that LIKES the setlists???

I mean come on

Gloria
Electric Co.
The Ocean
An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart
Zoo Station
40

...plus rocking versions of the new tracks and the best version of The Fly EVER.

It's a rock solid concert, better than Elevation, and I fail how to see this is "boring".

 

[BEVERLY56]

I think they are giving the majority of fans who are coughing up the big bucks exactly what they want. Listen to the people bitching because "Bad" isn't being played in Europe! They're touching on just about every era of their music. Personally I am not very familiar with the real early stuff, to me that was all new. But a U2 concert w/o One, or Pride, or Mysterious Ways? Forgeddaboudit!

 

[U2matthew]

There are people in this world who complain about everything and no matter what tunes were played they would say they wanted such and such. These people are not true fans no matter what bs they state.

 

[zwervers2]

How's a different question for the crowd here..

Is there anyone else that LIKES the setlists???

I mean come on

Gloria
Electric Co.
The Ocean
An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart
Zoo Station
40

...plus rocking versions of the new tracks and the best version of The Fly EVER.

It's a rock solid concert, better than Elevation, and I fail how to see this is "boring".

You are right. When the first 2 concerts of the American leg were played I was THRILLED. but....gloria has dissapeared, an cat dubh, into the heart, ocean, 40 have not shown up..uteotw has been skipped again..a part of the boringpart has to do with the lack of surprisefactor due to the internet, times have changed in that matter and not always for the better. I do however feel that U2 should counter this by playing diferent sets each night they have THE material, bono can sing again, the stage looks fantastic, everybody is excited...They have hundreds of great song literally lying there...once, just once should they allow themselves to do a worldtour where they can play 90 different songs..it's not liek popmart or zootv that actually had a concept..

In reply to some poster about the complaining. It's not complaning, it's seeing opportunities how things could be even better than the greatness that's already there. just because you have critism it doens't make you a lesser fan. on the contruary one might argue. some people here see bnoo's toilet visits as an artistic statement

 

[zwervers2]

I think they are giving the majority of fans who are coughing up the big bucks exactly what they want. Listen to the people bitching because "Bad" isn't being played in Europe! They're touching on just about every era of their music. Personally I am not very familiar with the real early stuff, to me that was all new. But a U2 concert w/o One, or Pride, or Mysterious Ways? Forgeddaboudit!

You really have a point here. .
Lot's of people go totally crazy when they hear Elevation while some "older"fans feel this song is horrendous. It would be nice to see U2 in a club again with only rarities like the stones did.
Now THAT would be something...

 

[Lancemc]

I am beginning to see what you are saying, but in reality you just want the best-case-dream scenario in a concert. Now, by that I don't mean you expect all your favorite songs played every night, that's just stupid. But it seems we just expect U2 to be spontaneous every night.

The thing is, that's almost impossible. Sure, they HAVE hundreds of songs to choose from, but there is a problem when you a band as huge as U2, will expensive tickets, millions of people attending concerts and an extravagent stage production, especially the European shows. They almost HAVE to play a static setlist. In order to put on a stunning visual show as well as play their BEST performances night after night, adding new songs every show is just not practical.

There is also the fact that really, the MAJORITY of people attending their concerts and unfortunately not us. Us being hardcore fans that have discussions just like this one about the setlists every night. But I digress. My point is, the majority of fans come to hear all their favorite songs, which happen to be big singles like Vertigo, Beautiful Day, Streets, One, Pride, sunday Bloody Sunday etc. U2 knows this, and wants to appeal to the biggest number of people possible to create a great show for their audience and please everyone, or try to at least.

Oh well, that's all I have to say on the matter.

 

[zwervers2]

I am beginning to see what you are saying, but in reality you just want the best-case-dream scenario in a concert. Now, by that I don't mean you expect all your favorite songs played every night, that's just stupid. But it seems we just expect U2 to be spontaneous every night.

The thing is, that's almost impossible. Sure, they HAVE hundreds of songs to choose from, but there is a problem when you a band as huge as U2, will expensive tickets, millions of people attending concerts and an extravagent stage production, especially the European shows. They almost HAVE to play a static setlist. In order to put on a stunning visual show as well as play their BEST performances night after night, adding new songs every show is just not practical.

There is also the fact that really, the MAJORITY of people attending their concerts and unfortunately not us. Us being hardcore fans that have discussions just like this one about the setlists every night. But I digress. My point is, the majority of fans come to hear all their favorite songs, which happen to be big singles like Vertigo, Beautiful Day, Streets, One, Pride, sunday Bloody Sunday etc. U2 knows this, and wants to appeal to the biggest number of people possible to create a great show for their audience and please everyone, or try to at least.

Oh well, that's all I have to say on the matter.

The funny thing is that I totaly agree with you and most of the others(not the I love everything but hey).
It is jsut my opinion(nothing more nothing less) that they could keep it interesting and fresh by only changing a couple of things.I posted a setlist two days ago and I will do it again now with some adjustments based on last night set.

Here we go..you will find that without a lot of changing people can be surprissed(hardcore fan or not) each night..

0 Everyone
1 All because of you
2 Out of control or I will follow
3 Elec co.
4 Gloria/ocean or An cat dubh/into the heart
5 Elevation
6 Beautiful day
7 Miracle drug
8 SYCMIOYO
9 LAPOE
10 Sunday bloody sunday
11 Bullet the blue sky
12 Running to stand still
-----human rights-----
13 Crumbs or Pride
14 Streets
15 One
--------------------
16 Zoostation
17 The Fly
18 Untill the end of the world
19 Mysterious ways or Who's gonna ride or Gone
---------------------
20 City of Binding lights
21 Vertigo
22 OOTS or Yahweh or WOWY or Still haven't found
23 Bad+40 snippet or 40 or 11 o'clock(on very special ocasions)

and this is just a very basic set and you have almost 300 different concerts. especially for the people who visit ore than one concert this would keep it fresh..I think

 

[Lancemc]

It's actually 192 different concerts. I see your point.

 

[zwervers2]

It's actually 192 different concerts. I see your point.

realy: I calculated 2*2*2*3*4*3 optional songs tha's ehm 288...
anyway...this is what i meant all along..nothing drastic and still you are surprised at least 6 times a night..I understand that they must have the staple songs but as you can see they are left intact. If I had my say: elevation, sbs and some others wouldn't make the concert but that won't happen and to be honest I'm not sad about it...I think with this list and maybe one more adjustment EVERYONE could and should be happy...

 

[zwervers2]

realy: I calculated 2*2*2*3*4*3 optional songs tha's ehm 288...
anyway...this is what i meant all along..nothing drastic and still you are surprised at least 6 times a night..I understand that they must have the staple songs but as you can see they are left intact. If I had my say: elevation, sbs and some others wouldn't make the concert but that won't happen and to be honest I'm not sad about it...I think with this list and maybe one more adjustment EVERYONE could and should be happy...

It is 288 right????

Getting confused haha

 

[Lancemc]

Ooops. I didn't see you also added GONE to the setlist. Yep, that makes 288 then.

 

[zwervers2]

Ooops. I didn't see you also added GONE to the setlist. Yep, that makes 288 then.

Can you imagine I didn't even add AIWIY and New yearsday..

 

[Lancemc]

or Please

 

[Zoocoustic]

The bold confident U2 of ZooTV is dead.

This is the safe, reserved U2 of the new millenium.

 

[U2Fan101]

I'm torn.

As a diehard U2 fan, I know every song. So when I go to a show, it's not the classics I want to hear, but rarities. Why? Because I hear classics on the radio all the time. I want something that I rarely hear. So part of me is upset with the setlists, and especially with the fact that they keep doing the Vertigo X2 thing.

Yet, on the other hand, I understand the two reasons why they do what they do. 1) They want to appeal to the masses, and the masses know the hits. Thus, the majority of your show should have the hits. And there are songs for die-hards : Zoo Station, Electric Co. These a common listener wouldn't listen to on his own. 2) They want to play what they want to play and I think I should be happy with that.

The main issue is that as a die hard fan, nothing is good enough for me setlist wise, especially someone like me who studies setlists day in and day out. What would make me completely happy? Dave Matthews style setlists each night. I love change, and I'm never going to get that.

It's a struggle for me, but I should be happy that U2 is still making good music, is still appealing to the masses, and can still put on kickass shows. Do I think the setlists need work? Yes. But I'm a diehard fan, and diehard fans are only a small percentage of what makes up the U2 concert-goers. And I realize that, and accept the fact that the show will be mainly geared towards the 80 percent at the show who are casual. Just like 16-19 songs will be classics, and 5-8 songs will be for the diehards. Not really a bad thing if you think about it.

I guess my biggest hangup with the setlist right now is the fact that U2 plays Vertigo twice. Why? No song should EVER be played twice in a setlist. They have too many good songs in their back catalog to do something like that with their setlist. I'd rather have another classic song in there than hear Vertigo twice.

Just my two cents. Again, I'm torn with my opinion on the U2 setlists.

 

[zoopop]

The bold confident U2 of ZooTV is dead.

This is the safe, reserved U2 of the new millenium.

You say that, but U2 is mixing it up more this tour than ZooTV. And we still have a ton of shows to go.

 

[walkon11]

You say that, but U2 is mixing it up more this tour than ZooTV. And we still have a ton of shows to go.

I don't have the stats, but the last two tours have shown more "changes" per setlist than the 90's tours did.

That being said, a "Greatest Hits" Tour is simply a tour that is NOT in support of a current album. So this is NOT a "Greatest Hits" tour. It still amazes me that AFTER songs like Zoo Station and Running to Stand Still are setlist "regulars", and 1st leg constants included such obscure songs as "The Ocean" and "An Cat Dubh", we get these threads...

Can we have a pool to try and guess how many more "This setlist is too safe" type threads we get before the end of the year (and thus, tour)?

I say 117.

 

[jphelmet]

The bold confident U2 of ZooTV is dead.

This is the safe, reserved U2 of the new millenium.

this is hands down the funniest, most absurd comment yet.

 

[AtomicBono]

You say that, but U2 is mixing it up more this tour than ZooTV. And we still have a ton of shows to go.

Exactly. We've already had some surprises this tour (who would have predicted the Boy songs?? Plus Who's Gonna Ride, Party Girl, Zoo Station, 40...) and I suspect more are yet to come...I really truly believe we'll get at least one Pop song this tour, HOW COULD WE NOT?? It will probably be Gone but you never know... it only seems "static" to us because we look at setlists every night, they're actually mixing it up this tour more than ever before I'd say. Would I like U2 to be more dynamic with setlists? Yeah, I'd love it if they, say, took out Pride for Please, but the majority of the crowd wants to hear Pride, wants to hear the big hits. I'm betting the crowd goes ten times as crazy for the second Vertigo than The Electric Co. Sad but true.

 

[Niceman]

I guess my big complaint is where is the rest of the new album? I love those songs!?!?

One Step Closer
A Man and a Woman
Crumbs
Fast Cars

I would drop any old song from the setlist to hear any one of those

Or even Electrical Storm!!!

 

[Chizip]

You say that, but U2 is mixing it up more this tour than ZooTV. And we still have a ton of shows to go.

Back in the ZooTv days static setlists didn't matter as much, because unless you went to multiple shows you didn't really know what to expect. We live in an information age now, the rules have changed. And it's a little disappointing U2 hasn't been able to adapt their show to the information age.

Also they were using brand new technology that pretty much locked them into a static setlist. Technology has improved these days where it is much easier to coordinate the video production with a varied setlist.

 

[Blue Room]

The bold confident U2 of ZooTV is dead.

This is the safe, reserved U2 of the new millenium.

Are you kidding me??? I think some of you need to go back and look at the Zoo TV setlists again. Zoo TV and Popmart were the most static setlists the band has ever done. Zoo was risk taking because of the stage production, not the setlist.

Also, people refer back to Bono saying "We may lose the POP kids, but we dont need them" comment are taking it out of context. He was asked by MTV right after the first show in Lakeland, why they were not play any songs prior to Unf. Fire. Not why they werent playing any hits. Fact of the matter is, other than the Achtung songs they were pretty much sticking to the standards only (Pride, Streets, Bad, Bullet, WOWY, etc). U2 have almost always played alot of the new album for any tour. They played more of Achtung on average for Zoo than most other albums. But not that much more really. So the POP kids he was referring to were those that wanted to hear songs off the first 3 albums. Of course later in the tour SBS and NY Day were added. So I guess they did want some of those POP kids after all!!

 

[ZOOTVTOURist]

@Blue Room

100% agree. I was shocked Bono talking that way about their early fans and records in 1992 - and very glad, that at least they started to perform tracks from WAR and the obvious (short version) of "I Will Follow" from BOY later in the tour. But I've had to wait more than other 10 years to hear much more from these days with some of the strongest tunes U2 have ever written. The current tour has one of the best albums to promote, you can think of - and one of the best balanced set lists in U2's career to date: with excellent new tracks, a bunch of "Greatest Hits", many too long neglected tracks from the past and always some surprises (snippets, songs, song versions). So stop bashing the setlists - they are perfect!

 

[zwervers2]

Back in the ZooTv days static setlists didn't matter as much, because unless you went to multiple shows you didn't really know what to expect. We live in an information age now, the rules have changed. And it's a little disappointing U2 hasn't been able to adapt their show to the information age.

Also they were using brand new technology that pretty much locked them into a static setlist. Technology has improved these days where it is much easier to coordinate the video production with a varied setlist.

man o man it's like talking to the mirror..again I agree

I do however think that nobody will "win"this debate. The people who love the setlist think they are right and the people who dare to say that u2 needs to adapt a little more do think they are right. The only thing I want to say is that I'm sick of hearing the "they gave us 25 years of their lives" speech, the "we should be thankfull that they tour"speech and the "give me your ticket speech". Love this discussion by the way and some good points from both sides have been made.

Love and peace......or else