Best and Worst U2 Live part 2

[redhill]

Sorry - did not mean to start a new thread but hopefully the mods will leave it as I would love to hear fresh opinions

Best:
Stay - Dublin 93
A Sort of Homecoming - soundcheck from Wide Awake in America
Bad - Santiago, Chile Popmart
Rejoice - Lido Beach Boy Tour (too lazy right now for the date)
Please - MTV awards (who cares if it was the right song as some have mentioned??? It was a phenom performance. The best ever of that song. I know someone will pick a different version where Bono yells forever near the end like a drunk banshee
Mofo - Sarajevo Popmart
North and South of the River - Omagh tribute show
WOWY - Rattle and Hum
Streets - the way it sounds on the Turin Popmart bootleg is hypnotic (okay, so this is not performance but that techno ticking sound sounds great to my ear)
Discotheque - Rotterdam Popmart
Staring at the Sun - Rotterdam Popmart (the vocals here saved a generally lackluster acoustic version of this song that should be performed full band IMO)
New Years Day - South Africa Popmart was it - last night I believe with the best "we can be one" ever by Bono. Why did he do the cop-out Falsetto during Zoo TV anyway?
Streets 12/31/89 - "I can do it....I can do anything!"
11 O'clock - Irving Plaza
DYFL from Vegas Popmart - not the best performance ever but a great try and a great song that should have been kept.
Surrender and Seconds - from that 8/20/83 was it?
Bad - live aid
Walk on - Jay Leno
Gone - Tibetan Freedom Concert
Mysterious Ways Buffalo Elevation - awesome and I was there so I am biased. Bono danced!

Okay, my brain hurts but there are more. I missed a lot from the early days...

Worst:
Pride - almost every time except for some 84 performances and a few from Elevation. South Bend was okay actually... Face it, this song has never translated live.
Walk On - almost every Elevation show. Bono is too tired at this point (the end of the show) to really do the song justice.
ISHFWILFor - any/all Popmart
WOWY - any/all Popmart
Exit - Syracuse JT
Gone - a lot of the time it sucks
Most of Bono's impromptu stuff other than speechs - ad libs in songs especially during LNOE Popmart
ASOH Slane - come on guys, don't massacre one of your best songs ever with one on Bono's best lyric ever at one of your biggest gigs ever!
Spanish Eyes Elevation. I love it when they play rare songs but get it right and floor the diehard fans!

I would LOVE to hear responses and thoughts to these as it took a few minutes to think of all of em. Let me know if you agree/disagree!

J - are you out there? I would love to know what your critical brain thinks.

 

[ElectricalVoice]

Hi!

Just want to say my opinion on this. I can't say i agree with you, especially the worst moments, but i also believe you have forgotten som of the best...

*How can you say pride? On every concert i have been to, pride has been one of the biggest moment where the audience sing along as crazy... And Bono gives everything...
* And Walk on on EVERY elevation-show. I think this song works excellent as a closer, and a great performance. (see Slane - wow)
* And Gone... the best rock song ever has its strength LIVE.
* I Still haven't found - beautiful version on popmart, and i missed it on elevation. Mexico-video - great!

Worst? Have to go for Wake up dead man and staring at the sun (las vegas popmart).

And some (a lot) of the best are missing:

All i want is u Elevation (listen to bono's voice on almost any performance from elevation)
New York - elevation
One (any og the cool versions)
Bullet the blue sky (zoo, popmart, elevation)
Stay -elevation (best version ever)
Mysterious ways
Sunday Bloody Sunday (R&H)
...
...

But taste is the enemy of art

 

[jick]

This thread should be merged with the other one and I have already given my thoughts on this matter.

Cheers,

J

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

I'm not as familiar as most of you guys, regarding live peformances . . . but here are a few.

Best:

*Streets, always
*New Years Day -- Popmart Tel Aviv (loved the way it was performed at Popmart in general)
*11 o'clock tick tock -- Red Rocks
*Out of Control -- Red Rocks (despite the botched opening)
*Stay - Elevation.
*Last Night on Earth -- Mexico City
*Bad -- Live Aid
*WOWY -- Gent '92. (Kind of an odd pick, but I think it was a fresh approach to the song. One of the saddest versions I've heard)

Worst

*A Sort of Homecoming -- Slane. Bono didn't fare a whole lot better at Elevation Oakland. The voice was better, but he essentially forgot ALL the words.

*Hawkmoon 269 - Desire - Running to Stand Still combo -- Turin? 2001 (can't remember if thats right) An absolute mess. RTSS is an incredible song, but it didn't flow . . .

*11 o'clock -- Elevation. Too SLOW. Edge had to change that classic guitar solo at the end.

*Pride -- I have yet to hear a version that even come close to the album recording.

*Wake Up Dead Man -- does not need to be in any U2 setlists

*Who's Gonna Ride your Wild Horses -- Never sounded right. Vocals sound nothing like the album.

*WOWY -- Las Vegas Popmart. Sloppily played, Bono actually hit the notes but it sounded like he was strangling a cat by the end of the song.

 

[mcranston]

*Wake Up Dead Man -- does not need to be in any U2 setlists


*WOWY -- Las Vegas Popmart. Sloppily played, Bono actually hit the notes but it sounded like he was strangling a cat by the end of the song.

Nonsense. Wake Up Dead Man is 3 minutes of musical bliss (live at least). The raw emotion of the song was a perfect way to end some of the PopMart shows. They played One as the 2nd to last song at most shows, but it wouldn't be appropriate to end the show. Playing Wake Up Dead Man, 40, MLK, Mothers of the Disappeared, etc. was a beautiful way of saying goodbye.

With or Without You was nothing to complain about on Popmart. It wasn't as good as it was on previous tours but it was still a great contribution to the setlist.

 

[Axver]

*11 o'clock tick tock -- Red Rocks

Ah, nice to see someone who thinks that as well. That and Bad (8 November 1987) are my two favourite songs ever. I'm a bit of an 11 O'clock Tick Tock and Bad addict ... oh yes, and The Electric Co. That's great at Lido Beach (13 December 1981). I've got a few live versions of it, and I feel that's the best one.

 

[redhill]

J - for someone who is so critical you sure are inconsistent!

I have seen you post a long time ago either here on in Wire that NASOTRiver live Omagh was their best live moment.

Now it is completely absent from your list of best moments!

What is the deal? Maybe YOU are over-the-hill and getting forgetful

I think you were better in the 80's.

 

[gareth brown]

Can't think right now, it's way too late over here! I can't think of my an entire LIST. (Believe me, I do have a mental one, to put it one way! I'm very critical.. )

Best:

Cartoon World- Live at Dublin National Stadium, Feb 1980. Man, that song kicks some serious ass!

An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart- Live at Red Rocks. One of U2's best songs. One of U2's best concerts. Need I say more?

With or Without You (Rattle and Hum- was it played at Tempe, Arizona? I just remember the beginning of the Deleted One Tree Hill from Tempe having the same bit of Bono just walking back to the stage after singing MLK as in the Movie) This version of WOWY is their best, live I think.

The Fly- Elevation 2001, Live in Boston. That new version of the song they play is absolutley fantastic. And the effects Edge use are fucking stonking. The Solo sounds absolutley Mind Blowing!

Worst-

Hold Me, Thril Me...-Live in Mexico City, Popmart- There's something lacking in that song. I don't think it's the string backing, I think the live treatment of that song gets on fine without it. I think it's the second guitar track which would just play chord backing during the chorus, the song sounds kind of empty without it. Bono should've just played Rythm. But couldn't really of put energy into moving around and singing...

Only one I've got right now...

 

[WinnieThePoo]

i'll be nice and sweet

best :

all zoo tv shows

 

[Axver]

Yes, The Fly at Boston is incredible, and so are Bullet The Blue Sky from 11/06/92 in Stockholm and One Tree Hill from 26/12/89. Absolute brilliance.

 

[alexvilagosh]

*Wake Up Dead Man -- does not need to be in any U2 setlists.

Wake Up Dead Man is a great song to either snippet or close a show with. It is certainly better than Staring At The Sun.

 

[Santabono]

I will chime in a give my lean that Walk On HAD to have had more intensity to its performance during ALL the Post-9/11 shows; Slane was nice and emotional for sure.....but occured before "the world changed". But I'm not here to rag on Slane at all. Walk On live was tremendous in general!

 

[Santabono]

By the way, not that it matters much to me, but is this 'Jick' person the same "J" that many had a hard time dealing with on the Wire mailing lists??? Do we read his name "J...Ick!"???

I'm teasing. The old J *did* spark conversation, which I respect!

 

[FelipeVox]

Bad - live aid

Not a good choice. That guitar solo is repetitive and boring, and I always have to skip it. It?s a 3 minute guitar solo, always the same notes... All because of Edge

So, the Rattle And Hum Version is better. It has 8 minutes, the same snippets (Good Bye Ruby Tuesday and Satellite of love) and it?s perfect ;D

Man, all the Rattle and Hum live stuff is crazy... specially the ones on the video... Exit, WOWY...

Only RUNNING TO STAND STILL is better on ZOO TV. That riff is so good, and I love that "Hallelujah" in the end of the song

 

[discothequeLP]

So, the Rattle And Hum Version is better. It has 8 minutes, the same snippets (Good Bye Ruby Tuesday and Satellite of love) and it?s perfect ;D

Ruby Tuesday and Satellite of Love? I thought it was Ruby Tuesday and Sympathy for the Devil

 

[david]

Ruby Tuesday and Satellite of Love? I thought it was Ruby Tuesday and Sympathy for the Devil

Yes, my young lad, it was Ruby Tuesday and Sympathy for the Devil.

 

[Porter]

live aid version of bad has a snippet of "walk on the wild side"

 

[Jim]

Exit - Syracuse JT 'worst live moments'

Are you serious? Just goes to show how differently we see and appreciate things. I think that was a blistering performance!