Aardvark747 said:Gimme Gloria at Cardiff....
Gimme Gloria any day of the week!
Aardvark747 said:Gimme Gloria at Cardiff....
Fano said:
An Cat Dubh ,Into the Heart,Electric Co. ,The Ocean, Bad and Gloria are outdated songs.
They have a punkish feel that iis not effective in this decade.
nickypiemcg said:
The popkids??? I was really happy with the setlist. Not everyone can see U2 in multiple cities! They have to cater for the majority. I'm sure everyone pays the same ticket price so why should you feel like U2 owe you a setlist you want just because you are a "diehard"?
smileplease said:
Paul McGuiness says that the bad actuagot fed up with the same facers being in the front rows in the heart of the Elevation tour.
Muad'zin said:
My respect for McGuiness drops even lower then it already is. If they think so then they should quit the music business then cause when U2 becomes unfashionable those casual fans U2 seems to love are going to desert in droves and all that will remain are the die hard facers. Who by buying those tickets go above and beyond in supporting the band in the lifestyle they've grown accustomed to and allow Bono to stand next to world leaders and stuff. Cause where the casual fans when Popmart was doing stadiums not sold out? Respect the facers, mr. McGuiness and U2, don't bite the hand that feeds you! No band survives without its core audience.
KUEFC09U2 said:you know it must be great for all you "old timers" who have been to over 1000 shows bla bla bla, and then turn round and say ooo they should drop this and that, well what about people like me? what about the ones who havent seen them as many times as you have? what gives you the right to say they should drop them, when so many are hearing them for the first time? i know maybe you guys should all stop going? hows that sound?
some people make me laugh sometimes, if you dont like it, then dont go, if you went the shop and bought a tin of beans, and didnt like them, you wouldnt buy the same beans again, so dont go and see this tour again if thats how you feel? maybe you should just let the ones who are enjoying them even being on tour again have this moment and enjoy it, without having to log onto a message board and see constant *****ing and moaning
oh and i have only seen them 3 times, popmart, elevation and vertio, and if your going to multiple dates, then what gives YOU the right to ask for different songs? they dont know that your following them about, all they know is there in a complete different city than were they came from, so over 70% are there for the first time this tour
bcrt2000 said:didn't you guys watch the interview with that dutch dude a few shows after their chicago gigs? bono said something to the effect of "u2 isn't a jukebox... i know there are some people out there who want us to play different set lists every night, but we're looking for a certain feeling, and when we get that feeling, the concert doesn't feel like 20 songs, but it feels like one big song"
i would enjoy anything they decided to do, but i go to a U2 show looking forward to hearing pride, bullet, streets and so on, i also go to a U2 show looking forward to hearing the one or 2 suprises they WILL throw in, who ever thought we would hear electric co? Zoo Station? i never, so my expectations for a U2 show are to look forward to hearing pride etc, look forward to hearing the one or two suprises there gonna throw at me, look forward to hearing the new stuff, its really very simple, hence why i enjoy the shows so much,cmb737 said:
You are telling me if they rotated through a larger group of songs, you wouldn't enjoy it? Playing Acrobat, Please, A Sort of Homecoming, Ultraviolet, Out of Control, among others? That would suck? You wouldn't like the fact that you were at a show when they played Bad? Or Exit? That wouldn't be a like a little badge of U2 fandom..."I saw Exit for the first time in...." I think it makes everything better. First timers, long timers...everything. Do you really need New Years Day and Pride? (which to your own admission you have most likely now seen three times?) By the way, we only critique because we care. If we didn't care, none of us would have spent thousands and thousands over the years on this silly band.
this is my whole point, but people will always disagreemikal said:
these conversations just get more and more harsh every time.
i just wish we could allow U2 to play what they feel like playing and just enjoy the fact that they're still touring in their mid 40's. go ahead and call me "blind" for saying this. i don't care. it's how i feel.
Muad'zin said:I can see what you mean and personally I'm okay with the fact that they want to operate from a standard setlist and that we are lucky indeed that they vary it on multiple nights. This will of course never satisfy those people who seek more variation. To which the valid answer will always be, if it bothers you, don't go so much. But the core of this debate was not setlist variation on multiple nights but that the european setlists are basically boring. They might pull it off when actually playing at the moment because of the magic they always seem to turn on. But its still not as good a setlist as those of previous tours. In a way its like Chinese food. Yes its tasty at the moment. But a few hours later you already feel hungry again and you wondered why you didn't go for something more filling.
have you any more shows to go to? maybe there will be one show you go that will reignite your love for seeing them livecmb737 said:
Great point, and I feel that I am at a point in where U2 will steadily decline in my concert and listening time...what first drew me into this band is no longer there...their pushing the envelope, their dirtiness, their undefineable euro-trash/royalty on top of american criticism and love affair. Their contradictions and their "what did Bono just say?"
Perhaps I am getting old...or they are...one or the other, but most likely both.
I will always love them...but I will always love the Beatles too. Challenge me, I say. There is so much great music out there, I want U2 to challenge in spirit and performance not only in title. They do, but will they continue? I am not sure...
Hell, I guess this entire debate is a contradiction in my head. It's like trying to explain why you love and hate your parents all in the same sentence.
cmb737 said:
Great point, and I feel that I am at a point in where U2 will steadily decline in my concert and listening time...what first drew me into this band is no longer there...their pushing the envelope, their dirtiness, their undefineable euro-trash/royalty on top of american criticism and love affair. Their contradictions and their "what did Bono just say?"
Perhaps I am getting old...or they are...one or the other, but most likely both.
I will always love them...but I will always love the Beatles too. Challenge me, I say. There is so much great music out there, I want U2 to challenge in spirit and performance not only in title. They do, but will they continue? I am not sure...
Hell, I guess this entire debate is a contradiction in my head. It's like trying to explain why you love and hate your parents all in the same sentence.
thats one thing that gets to me though, people who say this tour is scripted, then what about ZooTv and Popmart? 2 of the most scripted tours in U2's history, am really not getting at you, it just bugs me so much, also elevation did have its scripted part, the whole accoustic set, where bono would either "introduce" the band, or when he used to speak about bin laden or whoever before please, each tour has its scripted parts, but each tour also has the out of the blue moments that make the concert that something special, for example in manchester, during the end of streets bono brings a lady up on stage, because she had a slogan on her t-shirt (cant remember what) then you had bono calling the manchester crowd "drunk people" which was funny as hell. but each to his ownRademR said:As for me, I voice my opinions about the setlists, good and bad.
For example, my biggest complaint is BTBS...God, please get rid of this song!! The new version is so inferior to ZOO and Popmart and it gets played EVERY show.
And I say don't throw it out completely, just play it every few shows. There are so many other non-single songs to play. Why play a song every night that casual fans have no idea about and die hards are 50-50 in their opinion on?
Sure, I have opinions on the setlists...Vertigo being played twice, the bad segue from Pride to Streets. Honestly, if they just brought the red background back and turned on the house lights when the opening climax hit my complains would cut in half.
But these "suggestions" are minimal. The setlists are just a good thing to debate to me.
My real issue: I've only attended Elevation and Vertigo tour. The problem for me with this tour was the lacking emotion to me compared to the last one.
For the 4 shows I went to, there wasn't as much interaction with the crowd. A couple shows I felt the band was sort of running through the motions. One night Bono seemed to be in "chill mode", rarely coming out on the ellipse.
And everything seemed so programmed, which added tremendously to that feeling.
For example, I went to 4 shows...EVERY show at the end of "An Cat Dubh" he lies down in the exact same spot, reaches out and tries to bring a child on stage. The first time it's really cool to see, then the last three times I was like "this is kind of setup and fake". Also sort of corny.
During Elevation, every speech he made before "One" seemed emotional and heartfelt, at least to me. One of the shows I went to on 6/15/01 in DC, he rambled on for like 10 minutes about Africa. That shit was awesome. Quoting the bible and all that, speaking with his heart.
On the Vertigo tour, every speech was the same basically. The second half of the leg he used the same speech every night I think. The "man on the moon" speech. The first time I heard the line "put mankind back on earth" I was like, "that's my boy, Bono. Yeeaaa!" Then the third time I heard it, I was like
The speech at the end of "Pride"....by the 4th time I heard "a dream big enough to fill the whole world" I sort of wanted to cringe.
Even the cell phone thing, which is absolutely beautiful, kind of gets played out when it's not spontanoeous.
Maybe I'm alone, but when I listen to Elevation or ZooTV bootlegs, I can kind of FEEL the band having fun and the crowd eating it up. On some of the Vertigo boots it sounds like they are kind of running through the setlists. I have downloaded almost every boot available, and have actually deleted a few. That's a big statement for me, as I own EVERY u2 bootleg I can get my hand on, even if the sound quality sounds like the recorder was sitting in the parking lot.
That's my one beef I guess. The Vertigo tour blew me away and it was unbelievable. I'll never forget the 4 shows I went to. I think in most aspects it beats out the Elevation tour, but the one thing the prior had was that emotional feeling that it seems only u2 can give me. And that one thing is a big one.
Before I get retaliation, to me u2 still blow away everything else I've seen. I'll be a fan forever, I'm going to 2 shows this fall and they will be some of the best nights of the year for me, maybe of my life.
KUEFC09U2 said:thats one thing that gets to me though, people who say this tour is scripted, then what about ZooTv and Popmart? 2 of the most scripted tours in U2's history, am really not getting at you, it just bugs me so much, also elevation did have its scripted part, the whole accoustic set, where bono would either "introduce" the band, or when he used to speak about bin laden or whoever before please, each tour has its scripted parts, but each tour also has the out of the blue moments that make the concert that something special, for example in manchester, during the end of streets bono brings a lady up on stage, because she had a slogan on her t-shirt (cant remember what) then you had bono calling the manchester crowd "drunk people" which was funny as hell. but each to his own
ZooTv was actually VERY political for a wee while... with all the sarajevo TV link ups and what not...RademR said:
Good points. I didn't attend ZOO (too young) or popmart so I couldn't attest to that. I have seen a lot of DVDS and videos though. Maybe it's because that stuff was centered around "the essence of cool and dirty" and this stuff is the politics and the more serious stuff. I don't know, maybe it's just me
I liked the band intros during Elevation though. He did use the same jokes a lot, but they were great (Edge having "more kids than Abraham"). He mixed it up a lot too though. One time I remember hearing him introduce the band with the Backstreet Boy names or something.
But ya got a point.
but thats simply not true, the band are playing to a new audience in every city they go to, well they are over here anyway, i mean i would say only 20% of people going to shows here are going to EVERY show, hence playing to a new crowd of people that havent even heard the said setlistouizy said:very very good point.
I think the band fails to see something critical - that their fanbase has grown with them, and because of that we try to go to as many shows as possible. They are not playing to a new crowd every night (although they may believe that.)
Thus, it would be interesting to mix it up a bit.
A band like Pearl Jam does not repeat songs because they know (and hope) that some of their fans are seeing more than one show in more than one city. Yeah, they play Even Flow, and Alive every night, but they vary their setlists to the point that there is no way of predicting what they will play on any night.
The U2 camp has become so fixated on making the show a perfect piece of theater that there is no room for deviation.
If the band decides to break out One Tree Hill because Bono feels like it, the crew make it impossible to do so. They would need special lighting and video sequences to go along with the song. Now, of course they should be able to turn all that shit off and just play the crap out of the song, but that is not how they operate. They rehearse lighting, video, and sound moves for every song.
This makes for a perfect show, but clearly the lot of us in here are desperate for anything but the perfect show.
I have said this before and I will say it again, I would much more prefer to see the band play a bigger more random mix, hell even if it was soley B-sides, and screw up every song than see the same exact show I saw already.
Enough Pride, enough BTBS, c'mon guys - experiment, throw in an Ultraviolet, a Heartland, A Sort of Homecoming, any song from the catelog that is not rehearsed to be perfect.