Will this concert be a 'greatest hits' tour...?

[bazza]

I HOPE NOT!!

u2 are practicing some older songs...like the fly...lemon etc. A few oldies are good but please - dedicate this to the new content. I expect 90% of the NEW songs to be played including some of the B-sides over the older material!

DO YOU AGREE??

 

[Axver]

I don't see how playing rarer oldies equates to a greatest hits tour. The band have already played the majority of the new album so it's clear there will be fresh material, and they'll also hopefully spring some surprises on us by bringing back fan favourites as opposed to popular radio hits.

What I wouldn't give to hear some Lovetown sets again. Desire --> All Along The Watchtower ...

 

[bazza]

true. but as long as they dont repeat the oldies from the elevation tour...

Lemon would be a good example of a good oldy song...

 

[U2MaNaIcWeIdO]

Oh come on! That's what going to a U2 concert is all about. Yea, I would expect them to play a couple of the songs from HTDAAB, but I would also expect them to play some of their older songs. It wouldn't be a U2 concert if the just play the entire album over and over again. That would be boring and useless. Would you guys imagine them playing Vertigo or All Because of You over and over? I wouldn't.

I'm sorry for the long rant, but I clearly don't understand why anyone would want U2 to not play any of their older stuff. And I'm also confused at what this thread is about (I think you can see it too.)

Sorry about this



Contiune on with your rants.

 

[Axver]

For a lot of U2's career, they were moving away from old material, forsaking more older songs with each tour. This finally ended on Popmart with the return of I Will Follow after its ZooTV absence (yes, I know it was played a few times, but it was absent for all intents and purposes). Now, I think with coming tours, they will be reaching further into their catalogue to present not only the new material and the greatest hits, but also the stuff that made them what they are, and the songs both the band and fans treasure.

In other words, I'm betting we'll see more eighties tracks and hopefully the reappearance of a Zooropa song or two.

 

[Numb1075]

Greatest hits? But aren't they all hits?

 

[melsbud]

As someone who'll be seeing U2 for my first time in Seattle, I would selfishly WISH this was a greatest hits tour! If they played all of the Best Of CD plus their newer stuff, I would die a happy gal. But my guess is it'll be 75% Atomic Bomb and 25% oldies.

 

[Blue Room]

As someone who'll be seeing U2 for my first time in Seattle, I would selfishly WISH this was a greatest hits tour! If they played all of the Best Of CD plus their newer stuff, I would die a happy gal. But my guess is it'll be 75% Atomic Bomb and 25% oldies.

See, and your point of view actually represents most of the crowd that is at a U2 show. The people that typically complain about the "greatest hits" songs being done or the same songs being rehashed are the die hards that have seen U2 many times and are looking for something completely different. The problem is U2 play for the masses which means alot of casual fans (majority actually) that want to hear the hits and will be disappointed if they dont. U2 has been good at throwing the die hards a bone or two here and there. But most die hards are never going to be happy with the setlist if they dont look at it from a realistic perspective. People demanding or expecting Acrobat and Red Hill Mining Town or older songs that were barely played when they were new in the early 80's are going to be disappointed. Its not going to happen. 90% of the crowd would be going WTF if they did alot of those songs.

I say all of this as a diehard fan that has seen them many times over the years. Sure there are songs I wouldnt mind if they dropped. But I understand why they are there and will continue to be there. Its not worth complaining about IMO. U2 are going to suprise the diehards with a few selections on this tour, some you will not expect at all that havent even been mentioned on any of the threads I have seen. Have faith, but dont be unrealistic about it either.

 

[Numb1075]

Well said Blue Room

 

[BVS]

Have they ever done a greatest hits tour? A true greatest hits tour?

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Well said Blue Room

I second that.


But, I would still die a happy girl if Larry started busting out Like A Song at any one of my shows.

 

[ouizy]

The last tour was their greatest hits tour - and from the look of the songs they are rehearsing, I am not all that happy.

Seems the band forgot about 85% of their catalog.

really too bad.

 

[zoopop]

The last tour was their greatest hits tour - and from the look of the songs they are rehearsing, I am not all that happy.

Seems the band forgot about 85% of their catalog.

really too bad.

Amen. I hope U2 don't turn into the Rolling Stones playing the same old war horses every tour. I don't understand why u2 doesn't reach into their back catalogue and play more gems. There the one band who can get away with it.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Amen. I hope U2 don't turn into the Rolling Stones playing the same old war horses every tour. I don't understand why u2 doesn't reach into their back catalogue and play more gems. There the one band who can get away with it.

simple as blue room says, 85% of the people going to see U2 are going for the first time, they would wanna hear the new songs, and the ones they see people get excited over, i.e. streets, or pride

 

[U2girl]

If they have the amount of songs played they had on the last tour - and varying setlists, unlike Zoo TV and Popmart - that's good enough for me.

 

[zoopop]

I think if U2 just mixed up the big hits everynight they could please the general fans and the diehards. Check it out:

8-10 new songs
5 rare gems (for the diehards)
5-7 big hits, but rotate between:

I Will Follow
Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Years Day
Bad
Where the Streets (they could play this everynight)
I Still Haven't Found
Bullet the Blue Sky
With or Without You
Desire
All I Want is You
Angel of Harlem
Mysterious Ways
One
Until the End of the World
Even Better than the Real Thing
Staring at Sun
Discotheque
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Walk On
Stuck In A Moment

If U2 just picked 5-6 of those songs instead of trying to play all of them everynight, it wouldn't be so bad. I know 80% of the crowd at a U2 show are casual fans but they would get into hearing Ultraviolet, The Fly, Unforgetable Fire etc. U2 should reward the diehards like us who have paid every tour to see them.

 

[djerdap]

If they have the amount of songs played they had on the last tour - and varying setlists, unlike Zoo TV and Popmart - that's good enough for me.

Elevation Tour was not a tour with varying setlists.
If you see Pearl Jam, The Cure, Radiohead, R.E.M. concert setlists from the last two years, now that is varying.

 

[U2girl]

It mixed things up more than the two tours people usually drool over.

As for other bands you mention, apples and oranges.

 

[Vorsprung]

I want to quote what my old botany professor said when he was picking an extremely rare flower for his collection during a field trip:

"What is rare has to stay rare, otherwise it will become boring"

Therefor: please don't let them make the next a tour a rare songs tour for the diehard fans (which I doubt anyway)

So a 22-23 song setlist will probaby consist of:

7-9 HTDAAB tracks
8-10 Classic Hits
2-5 rarities
1-3 covers

And to me that's just damn fine!!

 

[Axver]

Elevation Tour was not a tour with varying setlists.
If you see Pearl Jam, The Cure, Radiohead, R.E.M. concert setlists from the last two years, now that is varying.

Elevation had some of the most varied setlists in U2 history. For setlist variation, I'd rank the top three:

1. Lovetown
2. The Joshua Tree Tour
3. Elevation

To the person who said Elevation was a greatest hits tour, I think you need to read the setlists from that time again. U2 brought back 11 O'clock Tick Tock and Out Of Control. In God's Country and A Sort Of Homecoming reappeared. Sunday Bloody Sunday was played full band for the first time since 1993. Stay returned after eight years. The list goes on ...

 

[walkon11]

I want to quote what my old botany professor said when he was picking an extremely rare flower for his collection during a field trip:

"What is rare has to stay rare, otherwise it will become boring"

Therefor: please don't let them make the next a tour a rare songs tour for the diehard fans (which I doubt anyway)

Excellent point...

If they played "Lemon" every night during this entire tour, I would guarantee half the people who post would complain, and want it to be replaced with something else "rare".

You can't please everyone all of the time. I'll be happy so long as they play. Period.

 

[LuminousTimes]

If this was to be a greatest hits tour then I doubt it would be called "Vertigo"...

 

[dazzledbylight]

i read it was at least 7 songs from HTDAAB, which if I could/can get tixs [no luck so far - very ] I'd be very happy w that as i really love this album.

I'd love a few rarities, too. But not everyone's rarities are the same .

I'd love [of course] Acrobat, Lady with the Spining Head, In God's Country {full band electric!}, I Threw a Brick as some of my choices.