SOE 19: Back To The Studio Part II

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Wherever The Joshua Tree is in the set, how would you prefer it to be played?


  • Total voters
    104
on adam's valentine's day instagram post, inside the studio there was a clear setlist on the wall showing JT in order along with a few other tracks. they're obviously working on these songs inside the studio somehow.

i'm not suggesting that they're working out stage positioning for streets or that bono is practicing jumping around on a mini-catwalk or anything like that. but i can say from partial experience when you haven't played a song like exit for almost 30 years you effectively have to re-learn it from scratch, in u2's case this is multiplied by four. that takes a long time and having another person there who's talent and work they clearly trust and respect to help them work on the arrangement and the sound is an obvious benefit.

it seems like people in this thread are convinced that they are either working on SOE or rehearsing for the tour, but they can't be doing both so therefore tedder = SOE. i'm saying that's not true, what's stopping them from working on trip through your wires a few times in the morning and then working on a new track for the rest of the day. i'm sure they're paying ryan tedder just the same anyways so i don't see how he would mind working with his friends on something like this all that much. it's not like U2 is on working on a restricted studio budget so i doubt his hourly rate is that much of a concern :shrug:
 
Last edited:
In addition to JT rehearsals, they could be rehearsing SOE material live in the studio as well because they plan on playing some new songs. Didn't Bono and Adam say it was a possibility and they would like to? Why not have the producers who are working on the new album there in the studio? If they really are serious about Songs Of Experience and feel confident in the material I think they should definitely use it as a tie in with part of the JT shows. Celebrate the past and present. It happened during 360 with Every Breaking Wave no reason it can't here.
 
Last edited:
they wouldn't be rehearsing for a tour in a studio with producers. Even in the U2 world that would be a new level of nonsense.

Exactly.

Why couldn't they spend time working on SOE as much as possible before the tour starts, given the 2017 release plan and in particular their comments about playing SOE material live on JT30 ?
 
Any of you geniuses ever think that maybe they're doing both? Recording and rehearsing?

Clearly they wouldn't invite Lillywhite and Tedder in to hear how Exit sounds.

Clearly they would be working on the lesser played Joshua Tree songs.

The fuck?

Larry isn't on board with multitasking.
 
And Bono knows Larry can't pat his head and rub his stomach at the same time.
 
sure they would. you record the rehearsals so you can listen back to them afterwards, of course. you need people in the control room to do the actual recording. and we know they're going to need to make some adjustments with the song arrangements from JT in order to perform them successfully live now.

surely it's beneficial to have a well-known and talented producer there who knows how you work in the studio and can offer their opinions and advice on the new arrangements or experiment with mixes and such, than some lowly engineer tech flunky who's only there to press play and stop on the recording. and it also allows them to work on SOE material at the same time if the mood or inspiration strikes. those two things certainly aren't mutually exclusive. it's not like U2 doesn't have the money to have tedder in the studio for a few days for tour rehearsals, and i would imagine if he doesn't have anything else going on, he has no reason not to accept.

it's far from nonsense. it would make less sense if they were there without a producer, actually.

It is much closer to nonsense than it isn't.You don't bring in a world renowned producer like Steve Lillywhitebread to record god damned tour rehearsals to check sound. That seems laughable but this is perpetually insecure latter day U2, so who knows. So lets pretend for a second that they might. To bring in a producer to assist in live performance sound, of the army of producers they've worked with, the one that makes the very least sense to do that is the one that is not a musician. Lillywhite. How exactly would he assist that process? Plus, I'm not aware he worked on TJT at all...maybe some mixing if anything.

Or...lets name the producers that sat in with them as they rehearsed ANY of the SOI, 360, Vertigo, Elevation, POPmart, ZooTv tours...besides none. Because, why?

"Would make less sense if they were there without a producer". That all depends on what they're doing. I admit I don't know. But I will tell you this, there is no good reason whatsoever for SL to be there unless they are capturing music to later be mixed and mastered. You admit they could easily afford to bring Tedder in and I'm sure they could get him to do anything they wanted, probably even for free. And he's not just a musician but a songwriter and a successful one that actually performs live. But they go with Lillywhite because why?
 
Last edited:
But they go with Lillywhite because why?

because maybe they weren't doing tour rehearsals on the days lillywhite is there. maybe they are. maybe they wait for tedder or maybe they don't. maybe they spend 90% of their time doing SOE and are getting in rehearsals the other 10%. maybe the ratio is different. it doesn't matter because we don't know any of those answers. what we do know for sure is they are working on the JT songs in the studio, one way or another. i don't understand why anyone is arguing that this is impossible when it was effectively proven with adam's setlist post.

good lord, why is it so hard for people to grasp that a group of very busy people with multiple projects and commitments upcoming could be doing several things at the same time?
 
You seem to be changing your position. Your original posts were not talking about them doing both at the same time, it was supposing that these producers were there primarily to help with tour rehearsals:

surely it's beneficial to have a well-known and talented producer there who knows how you work in the studio and can offer their opinions and advice on the new arrangements or experiment with mixes and such, than some lowly engineer tech flunky who's only there to press play and stop on the recording. and it also allows them to work on SOE material at the same time if the mood or inspiration strikes.

"if the mood or inspiration strikes" makes it sound like SOE isn't the main focus of what's going on at the moment. Just because Adam had a setlist with JT songs a month ago doesn't mean they're still working on any new arrangements of old songs. I'm guessing that's all been sorted already. Now they're working on new material, and probably won't be rehearsing the JT songs again until they get to the first venue for the week leading up to opening night.

I have to agree with the others. The notion of any of these notable producers being there for anything other than new material just sounds ridiculous to me.
 
I think they'll have blown the cobwebs off side 2 of the Joshua Tree last month, rehearsed that pretty heavily (along with side one after a while) and right now are focusing on SOE in the studio. Then back to full on live rehearsals in April.

They're in the studio redoing some of the album so it has more of a 4-guys-in-a-room feel to it. (The added bonus is they'll also have a decent idea of how to play the songs live too, unlike iHeartRadio where they'd presumably recorded everything piecemeal and found they couldn't play them on stage!)

Sure they might practice a JT time here and there to break up the monotony of working on the album, but full on JT rehearsals under the watchful eye of Lillywhite/tedder/jacknife? Very unlikely.

You don't book (what I assume is) a pricey recording studio in New York with three producers on the clock to rehearse for a tour.
 
I think they'll have blown the cobwebs off side 2 of the Joshua Tree last month, rehearsed that pretty heavily (along with side one after a while) and right now are focusing on SOE in the studio. Then back to full on live rehearsals in April.

They're in the studio redoing some of the album so it has more of a 4-guys-in-a-room feel to it. (The added bonus is they'll also have a decent idea of how to play the songs live too, unlike iHeartRadio where they'd presumably recorded everything piecemeal and found they couldn't play them on stage!)

Sure they might practice a JT time here and there to break up the monotony of working on the album, but full on JT rehearsals under the watchful eye of Lillywhite/tedder/jacknife? Very unlikely.

You don't book (what I assume is) a pricey recording studio in New York with three producers on the clock to rehearse for a tour.


:up::up::up:
 
Yeah there's a difference between a rehearsal studio and renting out EL with 2 big producers at hand; you don't do that to just rehearse or fool around. Now this is U2, so we all understand the apprehension. But it seems they're still committed to the project.
 
U2 will begin Joshua Tree Tour
-Public will be very receptive. Best tour in years. U2 is back

U2 will talk about SOE & maybe even play a new song at the shows
-Public will enjoy the song because it wasn't shoved in their faces like SOI

U2 will release SOE this fall because the public is interested in U2 again thanks to the JT Tour and the new song is pretty damn good. :up:
 
U2 will begin Joshua Tree Tour
-Public will be very receptive. Best tour in years. U2 is back

U2 will talk about SOE & maybe even play a new song at the shows
-Public will enjoy the song because it wasn't shoved in their faces like SOI

U2 will release SOE this fall because the public is interested in U2 again thanks to the JT Tour and the new song is pretty damn good. :up:

Your lips to God's ears.
 
Yeah there's a difference between a rehearsal studio and renting out EL with 2 big producers at hand; you don't do that to just rehearse or fool around. Now this is U2, so we all understand the apprehension. But it seems they're still committed to the project.



Yes. If they don't get SOE out, they risk being perceived as a back catalog touring band by critics. It's do or die and the JT Tour may have paradoxically pushed them more to finish and release the new album.
 
I'm not feeling confident about a fall album.. seeing Tedder.. that worries me

buzz earlier this year suggested they wanted to rerecord a lot of SOE stuff with Lillywhite to help capture a more organic, live feel. Bring closure to 18 months of recording with various producers.

Tedder is an ideas guy.. he's there to bend/break this stuff. He's no "closer."

Hoping he's just there to say Hi
 
I'm not feeling confident about a fall album.. seeing Tedder.. that worries me

buzz earlier this year suggested they wanted to rerecord a lot of SOE stuff with Lillywhite to help capture a more organic, live feel. Bring closure to 18 months of recording with various producers.

Tedder is an ideas guy.. he's there to bend/break this stuff. He's no "closer."

Hoping he's just there to say Hi

Is this just a hunch for you at the moment? Seeing that amount of activity in the studio is promising to me, but maybe I'm an optimist. Perhaps Tedder is an ideas guy, but if they were going down the wormhole with him in particular why bring in all of those other producers?
 
They brought in Tedder during SOI to help critique songs and determine which were worth going after. Perhaps he is there to help them narrow down from this list of 18 songs they have had forever to 11-12?
 
Is this just a hunch for you at the moment? Seeing that amount of activity in the studio is promising to me, but maybe I'm an optimist. Perhaps Tedder is an ideas guy, but if they were going down the wormhole with him in particular why bring in all of those other producers?

yeah just a hunch.. based on seeing Tedder and reading the rumor about extending TJT tour into the fall..
 
To be fair, Tedder's been working with them for a while now - I think it was back in December he was "working on some remixes" with the band.

This could be him tearing up what they've done before to start the process again, but it could just as easily be the tail end of his work with u2, or dropping by in a 'consulting'/advice capacity (rather than full on producer), or as mentioned, just saying hello.
 
Anyone think that them working on SOE along with JT stuff may bring an interesting influence of sound on SOE? I mean, maybe them revisiting JT again will give them inspiration and sway them to keep it a little more stripped down and "open" in the sound.

We'll see, but definitely a possibility.
 
tedder's been working on and off with them through this process for a while now. i don't read anything into his being there.

i don't like that he's become their defacto consigliere. but alas, it is what it is.

also - they are clearly working on Songs of Experience, or whatever they plan on calling the next album. they're also clearly going to do some run thru's of the Joshua Tree songs to make sure they're aces. but they have rehearsal studio space booked already in another part of the northeast, where the stage is currently set up - NOT at Electric Lady Land. so while i'm sure they're practicing the JT songs while they are there, it's certainly not their main reason for being there.

if they were simply rehearsing, they'd probably have stayed in Dublin until it was time to move the stage out of Amish Country and into Vancouver.
 
U2 will begin Joshua Tree Tour
-Public will be very receptive. Best tour in years. U2 is back

U2 will talk about SOE & maybe even play a new song at the shows
-Public will enjoy the song because it wasn't shoved in their faces like SOI

U2 will release SOE this fall because the public is interested in U2 again thanks to the JT Tour and the new song is pretty damn good. :up:

Please God, I hope you're right.

I fear that the tour will go really well, so well that the band will decide to go back to the studio, inspired all the big atmospherics of TJT and apply that to SOE and "get lost in the music" all over again.

Hope I'm wrong!
 
New video for U2.com subscribers is the rest of the Q&A that originally appeared on Facebook.

At the end Bono talks about how it "sucks" that they won't bring the Joshua Tree tour to other parts of the world, but that they will visit those parts on the Songs of Experience tour, which they're currently in studio finishing.

So there's that.
 
New video for U2.com subscribers is the rest of the Q&A that originally appeared on Facebook.

At the end Bono talks about how it "sucks" that they won't bring the Joshua Tree tour to other parts of the world, but that they will visit those parts on the Songs of Experience tour, which they're currently in studio finishing.

So there's that.

Great news, thanks for sharing the info :up: I hope that means the JT tour extension rumours can be put to rest.

This all bodes well for an autumn 2017 release, pending any getting lost in the music again.
 
Back
Top Bottom