U2 Named in Rolling Stone's Rock Meltdowns

[The Wanderer]

so with the Elevation Tour, U2 decided to do arenas and sell 15,000 seats per show instead of 50,000 or 60,000

in some cities they added multiple shows or even came back for the final leg of the tour, meanwhile during PopMart they would have 10,000 or 20,000 seats empty in some cities and still have 40,000 fans in attendance, and in many cities PopMart sold out altogether and had more than one show

so let's use an example of say Chicago, they played 5 Elevation shows there = about 80,000 or 90,000 tickets sold; now they sold out 3 stadium shows in Chicago for PopMart, that's approx. 150,00 tickets sold

 

[moon_is_playing_tricks]

you nailed it SkeeK, and it's true there was a lot of chaos surrounding the early part of the tour, which Bubba noted in his post, and that's what Larry was referring to, the whole band has said that -- they lost millions of dollars and weren't ready to start the tour and made asses out of themselves on opening night, live on US television

and they quickly recovered a month or two into the tour and started playing some of the best shows of their life

btw, putting Mariah Carey at #31 makes this entire thing null and void, how anyone can say PopMart was worse than Glitter needs to ask themselves which artist had their $30 million contract bought out by their record label shortly after

I totally agree.

As for the band members calling "POP" a mistake, just listen to Bono talk about the album during the Much Music Interview in Canada. I can't quote it word for word, but he basically said something like: "POP was much better received in Europe because the kind of music that was on that record was already being played in the dance halls all across Europe. Even in Canada the album was better received. But, when it reached the states, it wasn't well received because it was a sound nobody was familiar with."

I have been saying since that record came out and since I saw Popmart San Diego and Popmart Los Angeles - it is WAY before its time. The sounds that came out of that album were sounds I had never heard before. U2 pushed the envelope to different places, different sounds.

I was blown away by the two concerts and they will forever be a highlight of my life. I don't believe the boys wanted anyone to take them as seriously as they were being taken - I mean, look at the Discotheque video - camp city. They dressed up like the Village People fer feck's sake. But, because they did that, because the music was something never heard before, they are deemed a failure. Pity.

Moonie

 

[Tip Top Prince]

The ONLY thing wrong with Pop/Popmart tour was the time between finishing the album and starting tour, or lack thereof.

Possibly thanks to Alannis Morrisette, IRONY is sadly mis-understood, possibly leading to the vast majority of the music public not even remotely understanding what Pop was all about. Their problem, not U2's (and not mine either).

Pop =

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

The ONLY thing wrong with Pop/Popmart tour was the time between finishing the album and starting tour, or lack thereof.

hopefully by now U2 has learned their lesson.

 

[verte76]

Well said, Achtung Bubba. I agree and I couldn't have said it better.

 

[verte76]

POPMart sure had its flaws, but in no way does it deserve to be mentioned together with "Glitter".

Rolling Stone lost all credibility with me when one of their reviewers called Britney (ahem) "a true child or rock'n'roll" in his "Ooops..." review. -And- the fact that they're concerned with pretty flesh rather than the actual -music- these days. "Q" is heaps better, anyway.

Ouch!!! Rolling Stone wrote that @#%& ????

It doesn't surprise me. They've "dumbed down" to sell more magazines. Can you say "dunderheads"?????

 

[pinkfloyd]

POP Mart

I've never been to POP Mart show , so i can speak/describe about pop mart in very minimal turns and points : Bootlegs , audio and video , official video

Official video is great , David Mallet 've done excellent job .


Why POP Mart was worse then ZOO Tv .

The design of the stage , with those specific video screens -> they looked great on video , but in reality you don't see the band , so emotions goin away ,

Karaoke - simply stupid .

Some awful videos showing on screens : moving cubes during MW and one clip of the sky from HMTMKMKM ,

Music shape of the band - on first leg terrible , on second bono is loosing voice too many times and as the result of COMPLEtEly frozen static set-list , on third leg band looks very tired , larry looks like he wants to leave every second , while adam smoking smokin smokin


on every leg excellent shows mixed with mediocre gigs with no atmosphere , people siting during songs etc .
Terrible set - list on 1st leg , to do Pride - TLNOE line or start a concert with real thing after Mofo/I will Follow . yuck

Bono very ofthen is forgetting lyrics on all songs almost every show , Edge with his guitar is also very ofthen goin " bad " .

Costumes : Bono's black shades like this were terrible , + bubble pants were completely awful , especially when bono tries to play with them .

 

[Achtung Bubba]

You've only seen POPMart on video, you admit the giant screen looks great, on video, "but in reality you don't see the band." How do you know this?

I was there (Atlanta, November '97), quite far away from the stage, and the screen worked VERY well. Apparently, from way up close, it's just a pop-art-like series of lights behind the band (what does it matter if you're that close?); from my distance, it was a VERY good image of our boys playing.

The karaoke may have well been a bad idea; I'm not sure, since by the time I saw them, they had "discovered" Edge's haunting solo version of Sunday Bloody Sunday. STILL, the idea seemed no less awkward than the nightly call to the White House operator.

The videos on the screen: sure, the BatPhisto icon wasn't that impressive, but that wasn't FOR HMTMKMKM; it was to INTRODUCE the song, to let the crowd know that, for a moment, the Fly had returned. And the Mysterious Ways video was not "moving cubes," but a GIANT lava lamp: VERY cool in person.

Certainly, the band was ill-prepared for the tour; there's no getting around that. Also, Bono's voice may have well been giving out by the time they got to Europe. But, energy-wise, the Atlanta show I saw and the Mexico City show that was released on video demonstrate that, once they had gotten their act together, the tour was VERY fun and VERY energetic.

(And, please, let's not complain about the static setlists: the band has always been about creating the best show possible, even if that has meant repetitive set lists, which hardly anyone but bootleg collectors notice. You want a band to "jam" for a couple hours? Listen to Dave Matthews. Or Phish. Or old Grateful Dead.)

It's apparently true that they occasionally didn't get the crowd reaction they wanted: but that's more an indication that things were amiss, and not another cause for things being worse than ZooTV.

For each person who complained about the setlist, you'll find another who thought it well made: Introducing the show with such an un-pop-like song like MOFO and following that with Bono's OTHER most personal meditation on his mother's death (I Will Follow) was brilliant.

Sure, there were moments where Bono's singing or Edge's playing were off, and that's probably an indication that ZooTV was better (assuming they were more-or-less flawless on a nightly basis - were they?), but the comments about the costumes seems like little more than nitpicking, PARTICULARLY from one who never went to a POPMart show.

I was there. It kicked arse.

 

[pinkfloyd]

i saw video bootlegs , 3 or 5 like been shot from the audience ,

look set-list from mexico city was great ( the best in their career ) but it went on with minimal changes and became booring alittle bit . during zoo tv , you can see the band , during some songs and effects from pop mart you can't , and telephone call was a fun joke , karaoke was a cheap , very cheap trick , i still have no idea why edge did it , i'd prefer if he would some lone acoustic like party girl or van diemens land .

 

[pinkfloyd]

i wasn't talking about bat-macphisto symbol , but about one single picture with view of the sky between two skyscrapers in the video clip , it goes only for a few sec .

 

[Achtung Bubba]

look set-list from mexico city was great ( the best in their career ) but it went on with minimal changes and became booring alittle bit .

Boring to whom?

As far as I can tell, static setlists affect only two groups of people: those who attend multiple shows (particularly three or more) or those who collect a large number of bootlegs from the same tour.

These groups are, I believe, QUITE small compared to the large number of concert attendees who go to one or two shows per tour and get NO MORE than one or two bootlegs per tour.

So, would it be better to change the setlist to please the TINY group of people who care about changing setlists or EVERYBODY ELSE?

(Also keep in mind that those who care about changing setlists do so mostly because of their bootleg collections. Does the band see one PENNY from these bootlegs? NOPE.)

I believe it's better to please the larger group of fans who go to one show (maybe two) per tour. Give THESE people the best damn show you can, even if it IS a near carbon-copy of what was played in a different city to an entirely different audience (not counting the three people who happened to see both shows and the handful of others who trade bootlegs).

Of course, it's your right to complain, but the "static setlist" complaint is REALLY weak.

Bubba

 

[pinkfloyd]

booring for U2 of course !! You can see it sometimes on videobootlegs and feel it on audio live , during elevation tour and zoo tv they had much more fun and more mixing songs .

 

[Popmartijn]

booring for U2 of course !! You can see it sometimes on videobootlegs and feel it on audio live , during elevation tour and zoo tv they had much more fun and more mixing songs .

You mean the Zoo TV tour where they had the same setlist for the 1st and 2nd legs (the indoor shows), had a small change for the 3rd leg and a large part of the 4th leg (basically replace WGRYWH with NYD and add Can't Help Falling In Love at the end), and again some changes for the 5th leg (see the Zoo TV Live From Sydney video for that setlist) and almost no changes inbetween?

Yeah, that was some mixing up...

Marty

 

[Achtung Bubba]

booring for U2 of course !! You can see it sometimes on videobootlegs and feel it on audio live , during elevation tour and zoo tv they had much more fun and more mixing songs .

Further, the Elevation tour's setlists weren't that dynamic, either, but I believe the consensus is that the tour was VERY GOOD for all involved.

 

[pinkfloyd]

did i said that i don't like pop mart????!!! , no , i just pointed out some things , that some people didn't liked , on ZOO Tv they did more changes then on pop mart .

 

[HeartlandGirl]

the PopMart Tour wasn't that bad?? it wasn't any bad

Yeah, I know. I was just saying it certainly wasn't as bad as RS makes it out to be. Admittedly, there were problems in the beginning. I'm actually a monster fan of the POP album and tour. Just wanted to clear that up!

 

[pinkfloyd]

I will follow , i will , i will POP MART rules forever

I'm actually a monster fan of the POP album and tour. Just wanted to clear that up!

You not the only one , staring at the sun .....

 

[Tip Top Prince]

did i said that i don't like pop mart????!!! , no , i just pointed out some things , that some people didn't liked , on ZOO Tv they did more changes then on pop mart .

ZooTV was not Zooropa.

If I need to further explain my point, then it would be lost on the explainee.

 

[pinkfloyd]

it was the next phase of zoo tv , after outside broadcast , with changing from Mirror Ball man to Mr Macphisto , and adding a few songs .

 

[Tip Top Prince]

it was the next phase of zoo tv , after outside broadcast , with changing from Mirror Ball man to Mr Macphisto , and adding a few songs .

It was AFTER an entire new album. Hence the "mixed" setlist. Sheesh!