Why did U2 place it 'safe' for 5 nights???

[jag0918]

You would think that U2 would have played something out of the ordinary in NYC. Ok.....Fast Cars, Crumbs, First Time & Stuck were played...but for the most part that is part of their 'standard' setlist this leg of the tour.
But 5 nights at MSG and really no shakeup....supposedy Daddys Gonna Pay was being rehearsed. Also, they didnt play NEW YORK..neither one of those songs are really my favorite but fact of the matter is....No Discotheque, no Mofo, nada. Im not saying that this is a disappointment, but you would expect NYC to get a REAL treat, ya know what I mean ?

 

[Chizip]

i can see this thread turning ugly, so how about this time instead of people replying with smartass answers and insults, i challenge you to come up with a well thought out reply to suport your argument, and maybe there could actually be a decent and civilized discussion.

 

[U2Man]

All tickets on this tour sold out too early

 

[jonathan26]

hey all...i went to 4 of the 5 MSG shows this past week, and have seen them 9 times so far this year...thats just a preface for my thoughts so you know that i'm sufficiently die hard...that said, i understand why they have to play certain of the same songs every single night..from the logistics of their stage/lights set up, to the fact you have many a first time u2 concert goer in the crowd every night of this tour, its a given, they have to play One, Pride, Sunday, Streets, Beautiful Day....you get the idea...and even that opener of City of Blinding Lights is special enough to be there every night along with another set-piece Bono drumming away on Love and Peace or else....but I think where they are dropping the ball is that when they are in a city 5 nights, or even 3 for that matter, there is no reason Miracle Drug has to be played every night, Bono's speech before it is lovely, but i mean, once or twice a city is fine and the same goes for a few other Dismantle tunes that are wonderful and truly should be played at least once in a city...but i mean they didnt have to play Sometimes you cant Make it on your own all 5 nights...Bono surely could have dedicated another song to his father one of those 5 nights. Or even "All Because of You"..if it was missing one night from the final encore but replaced with some other magical U2 song, I dont think newbies would have been cursing the day they didnt get to see it live...Its here and there where a little judicious substition could have really mixed things up and thrilled the newbies and diehards alike. What do you think? All in all i have to say i've had an amazing time at every U2 show i've been to this year and i look forward to seeing them in Vegas and again in New York in November, but I can admit to being a bit disappointed that the U2 New York shows were just so similar...i know I'm not alone in that feeling. Yes it was a thrill to see/hear Gloria last night, and i'm thinking U2 could have created a few more of those thrilling moments without sacrificing the core/heart of their show and while still featuring plenty of Dismantle. Thats just my $.02.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

arent there 2 more shows to be played at MSG next month? could they be the shows where we see the shake up?

 

[Aardvark747]

Thats just my $.02.

God that phrase bores me

 

[U2Man]

arent there 2 more shows to be played at MSG next month? could they be the shows where we see the shake up?

I admire your optimism, KUEF.


(this was not a mocking comment).

 

[Chizip]

God that phrase bores me

way to add to the discussion

 

[Ifeelnumb84]

U2 "played it safe" because probably 80 to 90 percent of the people at a given concert are seeing U2 one time and one time only this year.
They are not going to cater to the fans who see them 20 times per tour, nor should they.
I saw them twice this year, they played nearly identical setlists, and I loved all four hours of it.

 

[kassandra]

U2 "played it safe" because probably 80 to 90 percent of the people at a given concert are seeing U2 one time and one time only this year.
They are not going to cater to the fans who see them 20 times per tour, nor should they.
I saw them twice this year, they played nearly identical setlists, and I loved all four hours of it.

Agreed!

 

[cdparky]

Just one point about what makes a gig - the set-list alone does NOT make a great show. Sure, it helps but what makes a great gig is that the band play well and then the connection between audience and band goes off. They could reel out 20 unplayed rare songs which would have most people on this board wetting themselves (including me) but 90% of the 20,000 in attendance would be bored and sap the energy from the show.

Re MSG, the first 3 nights featured 5 changes each night - expecting any more is pretty optimistic - U2 have never done that (even Lovetown was largely blocks of the same songs moved around). If these changes weren't "surprises" then can I suggest you shouldn't have looked at all the set-lists leading up to the show? It's not that difficult really, I managed because I wanted anything new to surprise me (I couldn't believe it when they started up The First Time). Over the 5 nights they've played 33 (I think) different songs in their entirety, which isn't far short of the entire Elevation tour (sure someone can correct me on that) so that isn't really a lack of variety is it.

As for playing the Atomic Bomb songs like MD, ABOY, SYCMIYO, well they are promoting that album so of course they will be played every night. Yes, there are plenty of other songs they can play but does anyone really want to hear Walk On, Please, Staring at the Sun etc butchered because they haven't been rehearsed properly?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i went to friday, saturday, monday and tuesday... i was not in the least bit disapointed.

was a little "u2-ed out" by the end of the weekend... but i had a great time at all 4 shows.

baisicly, we're kidding ourselfs if we think they're gonna come out and do some vast setlist change this far into the tour... like all of a sudden they're gonna resurect johnny cash from the dead, plop him on stage and do the wanderer or something... it's just not gonna happen. if you keep hoping for it to happen, you're gonna continue to be disapointed.

the only thing that wasn't there that i would have liked to see was until the end of the world... didn't get it, but, eh whatever... didn't think i'd get to see wild horses, and bringing back zoo station and the fly was very nice...

they are what they are, and no matter how much we may want them to start having springsteen/pearl jam-esque setlist changes, it's simply just not gonna happen.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Just one point about what makes a gig - the set-list alone does NOT make a great show. Sure, it helps but what makes a great gig is that the band play well and then the connection between audience and band goes off. They could reel out 20 unplayed rare songs which would have most people on this board wetting themselves (including me) but 90% of the 20,000 in attendance would be bored and sap the energy from the show.

Well said. From the sounds of some reviews, some people weren't too keen on this last show. But it, of course, varies from person to person. Before I saw my first show in TO, I thought I'd get bored with the regulars like ISHFWILF, One and Pride...but I went out of my mind when I heard them. It was amazing to see all those people in the arena clapping and singing, becoming one with the band. I could do that night after night and I wouldn't get tired of it. You people who had the opportunity to go to all five shows are so lucky.

 

[JOFO]

night 5 was good show, but the encore was bad.
I would so much have preferred zoo station/they fly, etc.

I wasn't looking for crumbs, uteotw, and certainly not dirty day or please and mofo.

I've seen vertigo x2 live now....not the greatest way to cap off a week at msg.

 

[popacrobat]

mofo hasn't been played yet, i doubt it was even really "soundchecked"

daddys gonna pay, i doubt that was soundchecked either. bono snippeted it so i guess that means that they are going to play it.

just because they are in new york doesnt mean they are going to play new york... will they play miami in miami?

did they mix up the setlists a lot for THIS stint? no, not really. but they still played bad, crumbs, fast cars, gloria, zoo station, the fly, stuck in a moment, the first time, wild horses and vertigo x2. all i want is you came out of the blue, i will follow came back.

u2 have NEVER messed with the main setlist in any tour. this is the MOST varied tour in terms of songs played, setlists etc... sure, i'd have liked to see discotheque again, but hey at least i saw it in toronto with the popmuzik intro and all.

the only thing id change would be the first time opening up the encore, put fast cars there or something more upbeat, but hearing the first time is pretty cool. i was at 4/5 of these shows, and they were all great shows.

i really dont understand (not accusing anybody in this thread here of doing it... yet.) complaining about a show you didn't even attend.

 

[cdparky]

i really dont understand (not accusing anybody in this thread here of doing it... yet.) complaining about a show you didn't even attend.

Well said!

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I admire your optimism, KUEF.


(this was not a mocking comment).

wouldnt call it optimisim, its fact that the still have 2 more shows in MSG, now i dont know if they will mix it up or not, but surley if they were planning on mixing it up they would save it till the actual LAST shows in that city

 

[catlhere]

Agreed!

I second that. I wonder if anyone who wishes they would "shake up" the setlist will stop buying their albums and seeing their concerts because they don't play half the songs off Pop? Since I've liked every single setlist this tour, does that make me a casual U2 fan?

 

[Soulrock2]

I got my best U2 concert experience in a lifetime watching Boston I & II and NY 1 & II this 3rd leg. I'm not talking about watching setlists on a computerscreen, but watching the gigs in real life. I wonder how many of the complainers have actually seen Fast Cars or Crumbs at a U2 gig...

Bottom line: It's about the whole gig, not about certain individual songs. I enjoyed the standard songs just as much as I enjoyed the 'rarities'. It's like cdparky wrote: If there's a certain connection with the crowd (i.e. the magic in the air, the band going off), the setlist doesn't matter at all. Boston 3rd October is the best example.

Have fun with the setlist debate while I'm still on cloud 9.

Cheers,
Soulrock

 

[Jamila]

I admire the original poster's honest question and agree with those who have said that U2 will probably stick with a more predictable setlist.

Although we all love U2 and will go to as many concerts as we can afford to go to, the simple (yet painful) truth is that U2 has gotten stuck in their own moment of repetitious concerts - all the way down to the well-rehearsed ad libs and the quickly becoming nauseous "Bono pulls girl up on stage" routine.

As someone who has dearly loved and followed this group for 25 years, I am very concerned.

U2 is trying to please way too many people - from those of us at their beginning to people who are old enough to be their children.

It's very difficult to please everyone and in trying to do that U2 can easily end up pleasing no one.

All I wish is that U2 would take some chances again - with their setlists, with their ad libs and definitely with the people they pull up on stage.

By trying to play it safe and trying to bring as many people to their concerts as possible ($), U2 is at risk of losing the one thing that got them to the top - their SPARK.

My thoughts. My opinions. From someone who has followed U2 from the beginning.

I wish U2 would just please themselves more onstage and think less of how people will perceive them.

THEIR TRUE FANS WILL ACCEPT U2 NO MATTER WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO PLAY ONSTAGE.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Jamila ZooTv and Popmart? well infact everything apart from lovetown, they have repeated setlists, thats why i cant see what the big deal is

 

[U2girl]

Soulrock.

U2 changing the main set? Keep waiting, not gonna happen.

 

[corianderstem]

Although we all love U2 and will go to as many concerts as we can afford to go to, the simple (yet painful) truth is that U2 has gotten stuck in their own moment of repetitious concerts - all the way down to the well-rehearsed ad libs and the quickly becoming nauseous "Bono pulls girl up on stage" routine.

I wish U2 would just please themselves more onstage and think less of how people will perceive them.

First of all, why is "girl on stage" becoming nausea-inducing?

Secondly, who's to say U2 isn't pleasing themselves onstage? I certainly don't hear THEM complaining about their own setlists.

 

[ramblin rose]

Jamila ZooTv and Popmart? well infact everything apart from lovetown, they have repeated setlists, thats why i cant see what the big deal is

I've decided not to go there. I've also been seeing shows since 1981, btw. Whatever.

 

[mobvok]

It's really hard for me to get pissy at U2 for not whipping out some bizarro song for MSG 5 when in the third leg we've had

Gloria
Crumbs
The First Time
Discotheque
Fast Cars
Wild Horses
In A Little While
Stuck (Acoustic)
Walk On (Acoustic)

So in the big picture, I'm pretty happy with *what* songs have been played. MSG 5 is just a number.

 

[mabel]

Alright...I know this is going to get rambling (and I'm sure most of what I have to say has been more articulately posted by someone else by this point in one of the many threads devoted to bitching about last night's show) but I don't really care, I'm going for it anyway!

I don't really know what the rest of you expected from this concert. Like 5/21, I think people project way too much on a date they think will be an out of this world concert. Don't get me wrong, to a certain extent, I did that too, w/ MSGV...though, you know what? It probably was still the best of the 5 shows, and that's really all I wanted it to be! It was 24 songs long, and the crowd was beyond crazy. Bono even said "You New Yorkers are noisey fuckers" when the screaming was so lengthy after Pride. Frankly, I don't care that DublinIII was probably one of the best shows of the tour (outside of the fact that I know someone that was there, and I'm glad he had a great show, and the fact that it'd be a boot to get my hands on), because I couldn't be there. To a certain extent, I do it to, but I don't quite see why it's worth getting so invested on the setlist (not even the performance or the crowd, or the atmosphere, etc) for a show that so many of you weren't at. To an extent, I can see being concerned about other shows in your city. I was bummed that Boston II and III in May had such great sets, because by luck (or lack thereof) of the draw, I ended up w/ BostonI, given the choice I probably would have preferred one of the other two. But in the end, they were all sold out anyway. My pining over BostonII having Out of Control and Boston III having WGRYWH was just as irrelevant as seeing that DublinIII had the only Gloria in Europe. Whoa, that whole rant went nowhere...moving on.

I think we all know U2 doesn't shake things up much, so I think over the course of 5 shows, getting 30+ songs, including several that haven't been played on the leg (or had only been played once or twice) is pretty impressive.

In the grand scheme of things, could they stand some shifting around (even if it's just the order of some songs)? Probably. Could they stand to swap out some songs that have been played on the tour (not even taking into consideration bringing in new songs) a bit more? Sure. (I seriously would be A-OK w/ never hearing Miracle Drug again. I'd totally put OotS in regular rotation with MD, rather than once every 1/2 dozen shows for Yahweh) But, it's not like they're the only band out there that doesn't shift things around drastically. I'd say the constant shifters are more the exception than the rule. And (at least for N. America) at least we aren't getting the EXACT same setlist every night like McCartney is doing. I went to 3 shows this week and heard something like 29-30 different songs. I really don't really have any complaints about that. Yes, there are some songs (and realistic songs too...I don't think you can reasonably be disappointed that Electrical Storm or Mofo aren't popping up at your concert (or the concert thousands of miles away that you're watching the setlist party for). I think watching the setlist parties can only set you up for disappointment. You can't tell me that if you hadn't watched the setlist parties for the entire tour, went in totally cold and showed up on Friday and heard Electric Co, Gloria, Miss Sarajevo, For the First Time, Fast Cars, I have a feeling you'd be pretty content! Who cares if they play Miss Sarajevo everynight?! If you hadn't been watching the setlists, that'd come as a shock and a half! I swear there's really no pleasing you guys. If they brought out Electrical Storm and permanently replaced it with something else for the rest of the leg, I swear w/in a month, a bunch of people on here would be bitching about it.

All in all, I think the tour did a pretty damn good job of mixing things up on the whole. Maybe people aren't looking at the big picture enough. There've been probably close to a dozen songs played on this tour (with some regularity) that hadn't been played in a decade or so, including some that haven't been played in 20 or so years. Plus, to date, they've played all but 2 songs from HTDAAB, including the bonus track! I don't think that's necessarily anything to dismiss so passively.

Anyway, enough of that. I'm sure the vast majority of the people that were at last night's show had a great time. I know I did. While there a small qualms here and there, I realize most of that stems from the fact that it was my 4th show of the tour, 3rd in a week. U2 (or any band for that matter) can't completely cater to that portion of the audience, as I would tend to think that the percentage of people that attend multiple shows in one stand in a city is probably much, much smaller than the percentage of people that go to one concert the entire tour. And I'd imagine having a thousand or so (or whatever fraction of) people being floored by hearing Mofo doesn't quite outweigh the rush that comes following the first few notes of Pride and Streets, when nearly every single person in the arena explodes with energy.

 

[cdparky]

By trying to play it safe and trying to bring as many people to their concerts as possible ($), U2 is at risk of losing the one thing that got them to the top - their SPARK.

What got U2 to the top in the first place is their ability to make consistently good to excellent albums, then be able to go out and play them live and unlike nearly all of their contemporaries have an audience that genuinely wants to hear the new songs. It had nothing at all to do with set-lists or playing rarities or anything like that - quality of performance is the most important ingredient. Zoo TV is (arguably) their finest tour yet would be savaged in forums like this were they to have done it today with the static set.

Atomic Bomb is an excellent album (best since Achtung Baby IMO) and they remain one of the best live acts on the planet. So how exactly are they losing their spark?

 

[catlhere]

If they brought out Electrical Storm and permanently replaced it with something else for the rest of the leg, I swear w/in a month, a bunch of people on here would be bitching about it.

All in all, I think the tour did a pretty damn good job of mixing things up on the whole.

Exactly. I think that people seem to want a new 20-some songs every night. Also I get the impression that alot want change, but only if it means songs THEY wanna hear. It's like people would only be happy if half the song list was from Pop and the rest were B-sides. It's the VERTIGO tour, they promote their current album, as well as pulling out the oldies but goodies. I think the setlists are great. If I could have imagined that the first U2 concert I went to see earlier in the year had Zoo Station, One, Pride, Mysterious Ways, Still Haven't Found, and Streets, I would have thought this is the best band ever, which it is. I don't see how anything they play could alter anyones opinion about that. But to each their own.

 

[ramblin rose]

What got U2 to the top in the first place is their ability to make consistently good to excellent albums, then be able to go out and play them live and unlike nearly all of their contemporaries have an audience that genuinely wants to hear the new songs. It had nothing at all to do with set-lists or playing rarities or anything like that - quality of performance is the most important ingredient. Zoo TV is (arguably) their finest tour yet would be savaged in forums like this were they to have done it today with the static set.

Atomic Bomb is an excellent album (best since Achtung Baby IMO) and they remain one of the best live acts on the planet. So how exactly are they losing their spark?

 

[Utoo]

Someone a while back wrote a very intelligent post about how after the HTDAAB songs and the standards that must be played (like it or not), there really are only a few slots left open for rotaters or surprises. That said, the band actually has rotated in a fair number of songs into those slots.

I think that in terms of not playing Bomb songs like Miracle Drug every night just because they're playing 5 nights in a row, well that's just not going to happen. This is, after all, the Vertigo Tour, advertising HTDAAB. They're going to play as many of those songs as they can. And why rotate those if you can repeat them and engrave them into people's memories? I'm only now starting to really like a few Bomb song now that I've played the album a thousand times. As for Miracle Drug and Sometimes in particular, think of it as a surprise if they don't show up---they're clearly pretty special to Bono, and any song that has a speech before it is sure to show up every night.

All the rest of the problem is that we let our imaginations run wild a bit too much. As much as we'd all love to hear Mofo, Acrobat, Dirty Day, and One Tree Hill , we can't seriously expect it to happen if they've not come up yet---even if it is a 5th night. To bring in a new song requires a good bit of rehearsal. I'd say that a 5-night stand would actually work against a new song, as there'd be almost no time to rehearse it.

Basically, it seems like they've got a decent number of rotating songs on this tour, especially this leg. If sticking to the songs in that fairly large number is "playing it safe," then I'm okay with playing it safe. Hell, I'm praying that I get the rotaters I want to hear--forget about something entirely new!