It is not that easy, isn't it:
"Out Of Control": hasn't been played for more than 10 years (!) on U2's stages. And even during THE JOSHUA TREE and LOVETOWN Tours it hasn't been anything but a regular in the sets. In other words. You had to be in Hampton or Rotterdam to get it ... Then U2 decied to play this tune again, as a kind of 2nd night regular during ELEVATION: full band, full electric, with the middle, Bono doing a great job in the middle parts. Then you still had a (slim) chance to ge this rocking stomper, sung and performed better than ever before. And now you talk about: speed it up, othterwise it's boring. Of course it's not the fast paced punk rocker it was, but has gained more maturity, wisdom - and by that is more convincing than ever ...
"11 O' Clock Tick Tock": You don't have to lament too much about it being performed - because U2 obviously this beautiful tune any more. It was a kind of gift to play it to the die-hard fans as an "obscure song from our past" (Bono, Vienna '01). u2 played it even back to back to "Out Of Control" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". You felt, you were back in times. I was crying to get it delivered more intense than ever. And a with "Out Of Control", the phrase boring didn't come to my mind - just luck, pure luck.
"An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart" didn't work in VERTOGO's gigs? Yes, but that's not the band's fault. The usual concert attendant simply didn't know these tunes any more. It took 20 years for the band to redicover their first album - and they played those two as a part of a mini BOY gig in their shows. For me it didn't matter, that the pace was slowed down - oh, but it did: It sounded even better than in the early days. I loved to hear these tunes and I fear, they will be lost in the archive's shelves now again for years to come...
"I Will Follow" now is a different story: U2 slowed the song not only down - even the LOVETOWN versions did so - but they did something, I do not like at all: The band decided to mutilate it, cut it short. Ad I'm not talking about the fun versions on the B-Stage '93 during the ZOO days. I do talk about the snippeted bollocks version '97/'98: in my opinion the low point. From that on we didn't only get the full version back (including the beautiful, shimmering "Your eyes..." middle part) but also the pace was/is right. During ELEVATION and VERTIGO there were really perfect, hard rocking versions - wow!
"Gloria" '05 was astonishing. Beauiful performances,
beautifully sung - and even inserting some quotes by Van's/Patti's "G-L-O-R-I-A" at the end. Pure sould, pure faith - a real classic from one of U2's most underrated albums. More from OCTOBER please ...
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a critical one on the other hand. With no doubt one of the big anthems, the band seems to have problems with it. The tune was left off at all during the whole '89/'90 LOVETOWN tour. And even during the indoor shows '92 - when a lot of fans were desperately waiting for it - there was no way to hear it live. Finally it came back: as the center song of the set, making a political statement for what was going on in Europe, too. But it wasn't like in the 80ies, it wasn't stretched with the 2nd drum coda - but linked to the overkill of "Bullet The Blue Sky". Boring? You must be kidding... If you talk about slowing down, it did even more - with Edge delivering it acoustically during the later POPmart shows '97/'98. From the Sarajewo tribute, it became a regular. Then we got it back in full glory (including the 2nd drum coda sometimes) in the ELEVATION days. Initially played slower, it broughjt space for interesting snippets and performances - a highlight of the show. And on the 3rd leg it was played fast and hard, so what to argue about. In VERTIGO it allowed Bono room for his polical message-raps and statements, sometimes often too much repeating itself, I fear. But on the other hand, especially again on the last leg, we got the "Clash-tribute" with "Rock The Casbah" - great, great, great!
"Pride" is different again: Now becoming cut short, it only got the right tempo a few times during the last decades. Now more important is the sing along effect for the masses - I don't like this evolution at all - play it full, right paced. And sing it like in Melbourne's first night '06 - you had to listen to it ...
