How come Acrobat never been played live?

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radioskugga

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Its in the title folks. Have the band ever made a comment on this subject? Is it because the song is difficult to play live? Do the band not like it?
 
It is too difficult to perform live, like another great song, Red Hill Mining Town. At one Elevation concert, Bono told a girl requesting Acrobat that he and Edge would have to meditate in a tree for a month to be able to perform it live. But he did add that it was one of his favorite tunes.
 
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to give U2 forums 4,300 posts per year stating that they should play it even though the band obviously feel it is too difficult to play live/sounds relatively crappy



this post was directed at no one in particular. should you feel this post was directed at you then you're probably right though
 
it's not difficult at all to sing... I do it practically every day (really :yes: )

the drums are easy, no hi-hat at all, which makes it interesting.
maybe the electric guitar is hard, but... hell, it sounds great acousticly
 
There is a bootleg where during the soundcheck U2 did indeed rehearse Acrobat on the ZooTV tour. I'm not too certain which concert this was though. Hopefully someone can help me out. It was also reported that during pre-tour rehearsals and at the Miami soundchecks before opening night of Elevation, U2 did rehearse Acrobat too. I also heard at some other shows later on during soundchecks for two weeks straight during Elevation, they were rehearsing Acrobat. I don't know if this was because they were practicing it and trying really hard to put it onto a show, or if it just a nice warm-up tune (since it is hard) to do whatever in.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is never performed live, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised if they include Acrobat in their soundchecks this upcoming tour. We may hear it sometime, who knows. At least a case can be made that they are in fact trying to learn it live.
 
Acrobat was rehearsed acoustically during the Hershey PA rehearsals for the Outside Broadcast tour during the first week of August 1992. It was only done acoustic, just Bono singing the first verse and chorus. They were experimenting opening the show with it. Bono appeared on the B stage with the house lights up. After he did the first verse and chorus he left the B stage as the BEE noise grew louder and louder. Then the lights went out and the George Bush We Will Rock You opening began and went into Zoo. (I believe they also experimented with Bono on the B stage with the houselights down also, flooded with spotlights) The bootleg audience recording clips that are floating around were recorded at these rehearsals by a fan outside the stadium. Opening the show this way would have been interesting but odd and I think they made the right decision to not to open with it. I'am kind of surprised though that Bono didnt try it during his solo acoustic thing during Zoo. I think he could have done that fairly easily.

I dont think U2 have seriously considered playing the song live since Zoo. They may have messed around with the chords and vocals loosely in other rehearsals or soundchecks but that is it. I dont think we will ever hear this one performed live at a U2 show. If they ever do it, I would imagine it would have to be an off the cuff small show (like a theater or something) where they wouldnt mind screwing up so much or as worried about the show pacing. As has been mentioned before, when U2 goes to their back catalog for a new tour they look for songs that fit the mood and theme of the new album and tour. They typically pick songs that were singles and/or staples in their live show previously. I dont think Acrobat would have fit really. But maybe thats just me.
 
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radioskugga said:
Its in the title folks. Have the band ever made a comment on this subject? Is it because the song is difficult to play live? Do the band not like it?

The band never played it because it wasn't good enough for them.

Cheers,

J
 
Re: Re: How come Acrobat never been played live?

jick said:


The band never played it because it wasn't good enough for them.

Cheers,

J

Even though Bono has said it's one of his favorite tunes.:eyebrow:
 
U2Kitten said:
It is too difficult to perform live, like another great song, Red Hill Mining Town. At one Elevation concert, Bono told a girl requesting Acrobat that he and Edge would have to meditate in a tree for a month to be able to perform it live. But he did add that it was one of his favorite tunes.


:laugh: Imaging Bono and Edge meditating in a tree for a month:laugh:
 
I really don't understand. I am able to play the song completely and it sounds good, so I am left baffled as to why they can't play it. It certainly isn't The Edge's fault.
 
I don't think they felt they could capture the spirit of the original live when they were first rehearsing for ZooTv. And once they decided not to perform it early in the ZooTv setlists, then it wasn't too hard to get lost in the shuffle of the catalogue of songs that U2 have. They were already performing 7 or 8 songs from Achtung, probably didnt feel like going back to it once they were already done with ZooTv. Then they recorded Zooropa and had 10 more songs that they had to rehearse and try to fit in to the setlists.

Basically, my answer is that it got buried.

It wasn't worked out for ZooTv so it's basically a non-issue about it ever being played. If a song isn't performed on the tour that supports the given album, then it wil never be performed.

Could U2, work the song out so it could be performed live? Yes.
Why would they? Only because some fans want to hear it.
I want to hear Exit or Hawkmoon on the next tour, I doubt they play those songs either. The thing is, they've alreayd playe dthose songs, they are much likely to unearth a song that has actually been perfomed.

U2 have almost 200 songs in their catalougue, especially after the new material. After the new songs, the standards that will always be played, the acoustic set songs etc, there is very little room for additional songs to be unearthed.

I think it got buried by the fact that Achtung had so many good songs on it.
ZooTv, EBTTRT, The Fly, MysteriousWays, One, UTEOTW, WGRYWH, TTTYAATW, Love is Blindness all made quite a few setlists, some of those songs are even played as recently as Elevation.

The two exceptions were So Cruel and Acrobat. Bono played the first two verses of So Cruel on an acoustic a few times during ZooTv, it wasn't much of a performance and didnt really do that song any kind of justice. Seeing that Acrobat is one of Bono's personal favorites, I would guess that he didn't want to just drag the song out as some token, perform it acoustically and such. I bet he wanted to give the whole song a performance. And because they didnt get it worked out early, they probably put it off, and then it just got buried.

That or it's too hard to perform, and as others have said, it's not really among their most complicated songs, if they even have any. At least Red Hill Mining Town is murder to sing.

Acorbat could probably be pulled off, but I don't think it will ever be played, not because they can't but because they don't want to. Why play that song over new ones? They would rather play their new stuff. It's both a positive and negative for U2 fans. Seeing the band abandon older songs is sad, and leaves fans yearning for those songs, but at least U2 are a band that has new shit to play, and that more often than not it's good. Nothing, and I repeat nothing is more sad than a band who is touring to support a new album and just plays the "jukebox" of hits.
 
U2DMfan said:

The two exceptions were So Cruel and Acrobat. Bono played the first two verses of So Cruel on an acoustic a few times during ZooTv, it wasn't much of a performance and didnt really do that song any kind of justice.

Actually he sang all of So Cruel acoustically at the 9-9-92 Detroit show and most of it at the 9-15-92 Chicago show. Both were more than the first two verses. He did the 2 versus thing at the 8-22-92 Foxboro show only which unfortunately is the only live show recording of the song circulating.

I thought Bono's performance of the whole song at the Detroit show was actually very good and did do it justice! If you have heard the Foxboro 92 soundchecks where they try to work on the full band version of the song you realize that it wasnt working that way live. The acoustic version worked fairly well, which is why I was surprised Bono dropped it after Chicago.
 
Blue Room said:


Actually he sang all of So Cruel acoustically at the 9-9-92 Detroit show and most of it at the 9-15-92 Chicago show. Both were more than the first two verses. He did the 2 versus thing at the 8-22-92 Foxboro show only which unfortunately is the only live show recording of the song circulating.

I thought Bono's performance of the whole song at the Detroit show was actually very good and did do it justice! If you have heard the Foxboro 92 soundchecks where they try to work on the full band version of the song you realize that it wasnt working that way live. The acoustic version worked fairly well, which is why I was surprised Bono dropped it after Chicago.

Well, thanks for clearing that up for me, the only version I have heard is the 2 verses version, so I guess I was under the impression that he never did the whole song and actually thought I read that somewhere. I'd love to hear the full live version and the full band version from the soundchecks.

I have heard the Hershey soundchecks when they played Acrobat, or were working on it anyways. I thought it sounded pretty cool, and it's unfortunate that they didn't get it together so they could play it live. I don't know why people just won't let it go. There are alot of songs sitting on the shelves that actually HAVE been performed live many times, yet they aren't played either.

I know that the originator of the thread was just wondering why it wasnt played live, but there are plenty of people on this forum who just won't let it go. I love the song too people. Trust me.
 
Id love to hear it live, but I guess it is vocally, quite challenging now. 12 years ago it would've been ok, but not now I dont think.

Maybe Larry could sing it....?:wink:
 
Impressive answers everyone, you guys know U2.

U2DMfan said:

I know that the originator of the thread was just wondering why it wasnt played live, but there are plenty of people on this forum who just won't let it go. I love the song too people. Trust me.

Well I read alot of comments on this forum about Acrobat not being played live and there really seemed to be an obsession among U2 fans with this issue (not only on this forum).

Since it's a good song I asked myself the question of the thread. Another question is why we (fans) are so obsessed by it?
 
i know those songs make me cry
maybe they make them cry and they'd get too choked up trying to perform em all the time...
and they would lose thier meaning ....

just thought id offer some of my cheese

want some wine wid dat?
 
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radioskugga said:
Impressive answers everyone, you guys know U2.



Well I read alot of comments on this forum about Acrobat not being played live and there really seemed to be an obsession among U2 fans with this issue (not only on this forum).

Since it's a good song I asked myself the question of the thread. Another question is why we (fans) are so obsessed by it?

The only reason I can think of is simply that it is the only song from AB they did not play live. Similiar threads have surfaced about Red Hill Mining Town, the only song off JT that wasnt played live.

Personally, it doesnt bother me at all that they didnt play it. I think the song is OK, but nowhere near the best on AB (ducks ;) )
I think it would be cool if they played it live because it would be something different. But other than that, I could care less. There are ALOT of other songs they havent done live or havent done live much that I would rather have them do.
 
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Acrobat is one of my favorite songs EVER. I was in love with this song. The demo version from Salome Tapes is closest we'll get live and it sounds fantastic. I know that if I ever meet Bono, first thing I'm gonna ask him. "Bono, nice to meet you. Big fan. Why don't you play Acrobat - arguably one of band's best songs live?"
 
Class songs, and i might add a very hard drum part to play for 4:30, especially with Larry's dodgy wrists.

Another one they should give serious consideration to is "Gods Country" , 3 minutes of U2 heaven, never done justice live.
 
"And I'd join the movement if there was one I could believe in,
Ya I'd break bread and wine if there was a church I could receive in.
Cause I need it now!!!"

Man, bono just goes off in that song! u2 perfection to me. It's similar to UTEOTW, when all members of the band shine together and do a flawless track.
 
ACROBAT is U2 at its BEST and for me its one of THE defining songs of the band. the highlight is larrys' machine-gun break at 3:10 - 3:12. from that moment on the helical guitar is playing sounds like a derailing train. the sound emphasizes the lyrics.
ACROBAT is the song that defines the tone of the albums most.
the first view offers an almost very dark feeling but in the end the sun is shining through:
...and I can love and I know that the tide is turning 'round
so don't let the bastards grind you down
 
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I'm convinced that is is an easy song to play.... in a sense.
I think there are only 2 reasons why they have'nt played it.
It's obvious that this and UTEOTW are the only 2 songs on Achtung Baby that are'nt electronically enhanced in some way. (One has more than 1 guitar tune, that does'nt sound raw).
There seems to be only 1 guitar sound at a time and the Bass and drumming sound raw, as though they are playing it live.
They could easily just rock on and play it if they really wanted to.
However as I've said...I think there could be only be 2 reasons why they've left it behind.

1. The Drumming is very fast and very heavy and Larry might not be up to it...back and wrist problems. (Of course if it can't be played as it's meant to, then they won't do a half cocked version...just would'nt do the song justice).

2. There is some hidden reason...they would rather not say and would rather leave it alone and not go back there.
 
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