Lovetown Tour and ZooTV Tour

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rock888nwo

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is it me, or did the lovetown tour just completely kick ass? the shows at the point were just amazing, especially 12/26/89. I must say, the versions of All i want is you, one tree hill, streets, gloria, wowy, and god pt. II are all unbelievable. I never really liked God pt. II; however, it has become one of my favorite songs. furthermore, the lovetown tour saw the pinnacle of bono's vocal strength, IMO...U2's sound was bluesy, yet driving and powerful

BUT...the ZooTV / Zooropa tour was just great...its was innovative and sounded great also...however, bono's voice unmistakably sounded different than the bono of the JT/Rattle and Hum era...

so...I want to know which era/tour you guys think showcased U2's best qualities (keeping in mind bono's vocal style)...you can discuss favorite concerts, song performances, or whatever you want to back up your decision (remember, we are talking LIVE here)

also, im still working on the follow up to the song elimination tournament...with any luck, ill finish it soon
 
Do you even have to ask?

Lovetown rules all. The perfect tour. :drool:
 
Yeah, with their stale setlists and subpar collection of songs. :|
 
Seriously, how the hell could U2 go from the heights of Lovetown to miserable ZooTV? I just can't comprehend it. U2 were playing up a storm, messing with their setlists, playing their entire eighties catalogue with total mastery - then they come up with this shitty, static ZooTV setlist that acts as if what they'd just proven they'd mastered was only a dream, except for a few hits.

ZooTV: :down: :down:
Lovetown: :bow: :up: :up: :drool: :love: :rockon:
 
Axver said:
Yeah, with their stale setlists and subpar collection of songs. :|
Click to expand...

Any chance you might leave people to express their opinions instead of trolling on others choices? Especially since you're the first to complain if someone insults your precious favourite songs, tours,etc .

Mr Brau is of course correct, as always.
 
Axver said:
Seriously, how the hell could U2 go from the heights of Lovetown to miserable ZooTV? I just can't comprehend it. U2 were playing up a storm, messing with their setlists, playing their entire eighties catalogue with total mastery - then they come up with this shitty, static ZooTV setlist that acts as if what they'd just proven they'd mastered was only a dream, except for a few hits.
Click to expand...

Hopefully when you become an adult, you may gain an appreciation of performance art.

Lovetown is just a very good rock show.

ZooTV is a work of art.

That's the difference.
 
financeguy said:


Hopefully when you become an adult, you may gain an appreciation of performance art.
Click to expand...

I am an adult. It's not as if age is of any relevance here anyway, though. Find a more sensible argument.

Lovetown is just a very good rock show.

ZooTV is a work of art.

That's the difference.
Click to expand...

Work of art? :lol: Work of show-off-ery, more like it. Oooh, big fancy stage. Last time I checked, music was about the audio, not about the visuals.
 
Axver said:
Work of art? :lol: Work of show-off-ery, more like it. Oooh, big fancy stage. Last time I checked, music was about the audio, not about the visuals.
Click to expand...

You know I would agree that it was self-indulgent. Geniuses are allowed to be self-indulgent. :wink:
 
Zoo TV was a parody of U2 taking themselves and society too seriously.

Lovetown was a celebration, a party for all U2 had accomplished and had done. It was also a way of 'sounding off' before going into the studio again.
 
I'm with Axver on this one. I haven't heard much Lovetown and only just got a Point Depot show yesterday, but after what he's said above I've had a look at some of the setlists and it's true, they are amazing! They went through loads of material and really shook things up whereas ZOO TV was the first sign of them honing down the 'perfect greatest hits setlist'.

MEANWHILE...
rock888nwo said:
I must say, the versions of All i want is you, one tree hill, streets, gloria, wowy, and god pt. II are all unbelievable. I never really liked God pt. II; however, it has become one of my favorite songs. furthermore, the lovetown tour saw the pinnacle of bono's vocal strength, IMO...U2's sound was bluesy, yet driving and powerful
Click to expand...

Precisely, Bono's vocals sound fantastic, first time I heard God Part II on Rattle and Hum, I was 'in awe' then I got some live performances, including a video, and it is just gobsmacking!

I think it's probably the best example of live U2 in the sense that they just played their instruments and created an amazing show just on their own without having to go over the top with giant video screens and funny suits!

financeguy said:
Hopefully when you become an adult, you may gain an appreciation of performance art.
Click to expand...

:shame:
 
With Lovetown... there was some kind of innocence, some magic when playing these shows, each song had some sort of meaning to it. Bono would go off on a limb, but wouldn't rant, but rather go into the depths of your heart, mind and soul and make you connect with the music...

And it meant Bono making more songs romantic, like adding lines of "Sexual Healing" to All I Want Is You, and outer space, magical introductions to "Where The Streets Have No Name"

But also, at the same time, rocking seriously from Desire straight into All Along The Watchtower, where U2 was serious, but then let up with a beautiful rendition of Bad.

I can't remember most of it for "Streets" but Bono would say lines like...

"Like spiders exploding into the sky, let's go to the place, where the streets have no name, TAKE ME!"

Plus Edge singing Van Diemen's Land was quite a mellow moment, and Pride was great, as Bono paid tribute to countries.

Closing with "Love Rescue Me" was a great way, it was quite a reflection on the show and the past, BB King was a good addition to the song.
 
Aaah, man the Lovetown introductions to Streets cannot be beat! If a soundboard recording of the one performance where he recites lines from 'Heartland' surfaced, I would die a happy man. The way he says those lines to the intro is just amazing! One of those 'chill down the spine' moments I'm afraid to say...! :ohmy:
 
To me Lovetown was just a pure rock show and signaled the end of U2 as people knew them in the 80's. For that tour they loosened up a bit but at the same time really really really worked their asses off. Even in that U2 Legends Documentary Larry said himself it was hard work each night and he did get burned out during that tour.

ZOO TV, to me, seemed more like performance art. It was an art piece that toured the country for a year and a half. There wasn't a whole lot of spontinaity(sp) but it had its moments.

The great thing about the Zoo TV tour was that there was nothing else like it at the time since America was dominated by grunge and the whole anti rock star thing where people would just play songs and that was it. U2 had done that, but way back in the 80's. In 1992 Zoo TV was just huge, bombastic, it mixed media it was ahead of its time. It was great. Sure, the set lists were static but that's just taking into consideration the fact that U2 self conciously didn't want to play old 80's hits. At the most they relied on maybe 4 songs from their back catalog and forcing the audience to hear most of Achtung Baby, some b-sides including Unchained Melody and Satellite of Love. And this was BEFORE Zooropa and its songs joined the set lists. That was pretty gutsy on U2's part and it proved that they weren't going to be an 80's band getting left behind in the 90's like so many others did.
 
I saw concerts on both tours (for which I will happy) and I saw U2 at their most spontaneous, excitable best on Lovetown and I saw U2 go through the tired motions, Bono reading his lines like a bad actor on Zoo. And then again, Lovetown had U2 attempting blues and Zoo had some of their best music ever.

My heart belongs to Lovetown. :love:
 
ZOO TV is the tour U2 will be remembered for. You see I don't see them doing a Lovetown set on the Vertigo Tour, but I see them doing The Fly and Zoo Station.
And someone mentioned about U2 playing mostly their greatest hits on ZOO TV is nonsense. They mostly played stuff from Achtung Baby and Zooropa.
Even on the Sydney video 13 of the 23 songs are from that album. Only really Pride, Angel of Harlem, New Years Day, With or Without You and Streets are greatest hits...It might not be simple, you might not have even thought they played there best. Bono was even an egomaniac for sure, which I liked, it showed he wasn't an arse and that he wasn't going to be bullied by the media.
But it was so smart arse and so genius even now. You watch ZOO TV and it's still relevant to today's music scene. It moved rock concerts into the 21st century.
I watch Lovetown and cringe at the whole image, as I am sure U2 would too by now.

my favourite quote from ZOO TV :)
'Contradictions are what rockn'roll is all about Sam Shepard said, right smack in the centre of a contradiction thats a place to be. thats where the energy is, thats where the heat is.. And to all accusations of being pretentious, guilty your honour' - Bono
 
PS I don't hate lovetown, I just don't think it's what U2 will be remembered for!
Although I have heard that it was an amazing Musical experience as my brother went :D
BB King rocks
 
Lovetown rules all.

Man if only there were some good recordings from the 1st leg. (Actually thanks to Darren Glenn remastering some shows there now are). Lovetown was U2 at their live performance peak, they actually had fun every single night. Mixing up setlists etc.

The Channel 10 pitcam footage is amazing, I wish a full proshot video from the 1st leg would surface.
 
Zoo TV wins, hands down.

Lovetown was a great tour, with great music, (the Point Depot shows are some of the best I've ever heard) but the band's heart wasn't in it. We've all heard the stories about the band's boredom, how they played a setlist backward one night in an effort to bring something new to the stage.

Compare that to Zoo TV, which was fresh and new every night. Maybe the setlist didn't change much, but everything else did. Nothing was ever the same from night to night. You never knew when Bono was going to order pizza for everyone, for instance. (I missed that show by one night, dammit.)

Zoo TV was U2 at the height of everything. Bono's voice was the best it would ever be. Edge's blistering solo on Bullet the Blue Sky has never been equaled. Larry was still pounding the skins with all his might. And Adam propelled them forward night after night.

Zoo TV brought us The Fly, The Mirrorball Man, and Macphisto. It brought us the horrors of Sarajevo, forcing people to sit up and pay attention. It showed us the cynicism of this new world where CNN was on 24 hours a day and technology was connecting the nations of the world in ways never thought possible before.

Zoo TV showcased a band that knew how to have fun. A band that could skewer their own image, while at the same time still getting their message across. Zoo TV showed us a mature band that knew how to achieve their goals, a band that was no longer afraid of the monster they had created.

And lastly, Zoo TV gave us Bullet-->Running-->Streets. It gave us Dirty Day live. Lemon live. :drool:

There is simply no contest. Zoo TV is now and forever will be, U2's greatest tour.
 
Miss Becky said...Zoo TV was U2 at the height of everything. Bono's voice was the best it would ever be.




...I respectfully disagree...bono's vocal quality on Lovetown was the best it has ever been...the point depot shows are a testament to that...his voice is very good on ZooTV also (but not as powerful, and with distinctly different sound to it)
 
Lovetown was indeed the perfect tour :drool:
The concept of the ZooTV tour was interesting at the time seeing as nobody had ever done anything like it. But at the end of the day it's all about the music and therefore, the Lovetown tour will always be better.
 
miss becky said:
Zoo TV wins, hands down.

Lovetown was a great tour, with great music, (the Point Depot shows are some of the best I've ever heard) but the band's heart wasn't in it. We've all heard the stories about the band's boredom, how they played a setlist backward one night in an effort to bring something new to the stage.

Compare that to Zoo TV, which was fresh and new every night. Maybe the setlist didn't change much, but everything else did. Nothing was ever the same from night to night. You never knew when Bono was going to order pizza for everyone, for instance. (I missed that show by one night, dammit.)

Zoo TV was U2 at the height of everything. Bono's voice was the best it would ever be. Edge's blistering solo on Bullet the Blue Sky has never been equaled. Larry was still pounding the skins with all his might. And Adam propelled them forward night after night.

Zoo TV brought us The Fly, The Mirrorball Man, and Macphisto. It brought us the horrors of Sarajevo, forcing people to sit up and pay attention. It showed us the cynicism of this new world where CNN was on 24 hours a day and technology was connecting the nations of the world in ways never thought possible before.

Zoo TV showcased a band that knew how to have fun. A band that could skewer their own image, while at the same time still getting their message across. Zoo TV showed us a mature band that knew how to achieve their goals, a band that was no longer afraid of the monster they had created.

And lastly, Zoo TV gave us Bullet-->Running-->Streets. It gave us Dirty Day live. Lemon live. :drool:

There is simply no contest. Zoo TV is now and forever will be, U2's greatest tour.
Click to expand...

I agree a 100%. All of you who didn't get the "ZooTV is a work of art" must've missed the thousand messages flowing across the screens and Bono dressed up as the devil.

Lovetown was music. ZooTV was much more than this. Satellite link-ups, cultural references, irony and honesty. While I prefer the setlists of Elevation/Vertigo, ZooTV and Popmart are the only tours I consider as art. I feel the same way when I say Numb is 100 times more an artistic masterpiece than With Or Without You.
 
Also, if they'd performed Heartland each night, I reckon Lovetown would've been much better.
 
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