Is this the BEST tour yet...?

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2nd Leg ZooTV still stand for me as the greatest live shows i've ever witnessed by any band ever. I actually think those shows changed my life. :reject:

From the minute you walked in the building, something happened, maybe it was the time or the place, but nothing since has even come close.
 
I think the Joshua Tree was the greatest tour because it was 100% about the music. No Huge Video Screens, Elaborate stages, explosions, or light shows. That music was just so good that it didnt need anything else to compliment it. Now thats just my opinion. Plus Breathe as an opener pales in comparison to Where the Streets have no Name.

Plus its really hard after 8 or 9 shows to say that this is their best tour ever. Give it some time. Zoo Tv was awesome because it caught us by surprise it was the first time we ever saw the band with such an elaborate get-up. We were used to just 4 guys and their instruments and were all blown away when we saw the Zoo Tv Stage.

NLOTH is a really good disc but in my opinion it doesnt have the power nor the creative lyrics that the Joshua Tree had. I mean the Joshua Tree was a once in a lifetime album one that we are all so blessed to have been around for.
 
it's my best U2 tour experience so far! (out of ZooTV, Elevation, and Vertigo) :)

i think my Elevation experience comes a close second, then ZooTV a close third, then Vertigo way way down the line lmfao :D (although i loved hearing the Achtung Baby songs on Vertigo, that was a major highlight for me)

should point out though that this is based on the overall logistics and stresses involved, not the performance necessarily
 
I think the Joshua Tree was the greatest tour because it was 100% about the music. No Huge Video Screens, Elaborate stages, explosions, or light shows. That music was just so good that it didn't need anything else to compliment it. Now that's just my opinion.

It's my opinion, too :up:
 
U2 keeps getting better as a band
+ as a spectacle 360 makes their 90s shows look like well meant little experiments with screens

best tour ever yeah
 
Far too early to call it the best or worst. I'm not particularly impressed with what little I've seen, but that's hardly enough to go on. No matter what, NLOTH is the best album they've supported since the Pop era, and that is a lovely feather in 360's cap.
 
In order for a U2 tour to be truly great, the live versions of the new songs have to be somehow even MORE amazing than the album versions. U2 did this with TUF ("Bad" with extra verses, amazing live version), and JT (Streets, extra verses on WOWY, etc. became better songs live) and with Achtung (extra verses on One, etc.)... I don't know if the NLOTH songs have necessarily improved yet. They sound really good, but so do the album versions.

So for now I'm not ready to call this the greatest tour ever. ZooTV was brilliant because there was an actual theme to the show, same with PopMart. This one just seems to have some fun visuals, but they aren't even close to Jenny Holzer's visuals for 'The Fly' during ZooTV.
 
I suppose only a certain segment of the board will think positively of this, but, this was the set list from my first ever U2 concert (my first concert of any variety, actually):

Where The Streets Have No Name
I Will Follow
Trip Through Your Wires
People Get Ready
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
MLK
The Unforgettable Fire
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Exit / Riders On The Storm (snippet)
In God's Country
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Maggie's Farm / Cold Turkey (snippet) / School's Out (snippet)
C'mon Everybody
Trip Through Your Wires
Bad / Ruby Tuesday (snippet) / Sympathy For The Devil (snippet)
October
Springhill Mining Disaster
New Year's Day
Pride (In The Name Of Love)

encore(s):
With Or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)
Gloria
40

Trip was played twice, unfortunately, because Bono thought they fucked it up the first time. Anyway, I'm sure this set list can be picked apart, but, I would listen to this set list numerous times before I had a major issue with it. It should be noted that Pride had not gotten truly annoying yet, and the Bullet from this tour, for me, was awesome. And, of course, opening with Streets is an amazing way to start the show.

So, not perfect, but, it was truly a transcendental show for me, and I have the bootleg and it gives me the chills every time.
 
I dont think one can really say. As we have seen in this thread already, we all love this band and follow them intensely. There is at least 1 of us here who can come up with a reasonable explanation for why any tour was their best ever. It comes down to subjectivity. The only objective thing we can look at is the performance- pretty much everyone likes Adam, Edge and Larry firing on all cylinders with Bono's voice in top form. That is what we have for 360, so from a performance standpoint, I think it may only be topped, as a whole by Lovetown. There were war and JT tour gigs that were individually superior to 360 or Lovetown gigs, but as a whole.

My very subjective list, keeping in mind that different people like different things in terms of stage set up, choice of songs, overall mood U2 is seeking to create, venues, etc: 1.)Lovetown-raw power in Bono's voice, some of the best Edge work in terms of adding solos(Desire, All along the watchtower, etc) I have never heard the band tighter. Set list variation was great, pretty much once they got by the obligatory R&H songs, it was a grab bag of the 80s U2 catalog in different order by night. BB King band added a very nice touch to the encore.
2.)Zoo TV-Spectacular visuals, Bono alter egos, complete change of direction for the guys, the first real elaborately staged mainstream rock tour. This was truly groundbreaking, and it does not get better than Zoo station to open, with Real Thing, MW, RTSS-Streets, all of the Zooropa songs mixed in. Reworked versions of Desire and Bullet to fit stadiums kicked major ass, LIB.
3.)Joshua Tree-For simplicity, this walks all over elevation. Yes, Bono had some blowouts in his voice, but overall, nospokenwords said it very well. Height of their fame and popularity, electric atmosphere every night, supporting one of the best albums ever. U2 had become the biggest band in the world overnight, and this seemed like the celebration of that before the uncertainty that followed. I personally liked the setlists as well.
4.)Vertigo-Band seemed genuinely comfortable for the first time in a while, taking risks-electric co, gloria, an cat dubh, zoo station, first time debut, wild horses, the ocean return, play alot of the new album, Miss Sarajevo and Sometimes challenging Bono nightly great set list variation. Bono's voice got better throughout, entire band shows through combination of setlist variation and length of tour/#of shows that they still have it and then some.
5.)Popmart-Great setlists, band very tight, but Bono shot and the stage set up is impressive, but nothing revolutionary like Zoo TV.
6.)Elevation-Back to basics feel much needed and appreciated after Pop, but unlike Vertigo, it is not backed up by great setlists or top notch Bono vocals. Good show for what it was, and it was VERY nice to have U2 big again, but missed the mark in many ways.

Boy-UF run together for me, but I will just say that UF is right around Vertigo in my book, while War completes the 3 way tie or goes a little above Vertigo and Boy hangs out somewhere around Pop if that makes any sense. :)

To answer OP's question, 360 has a chance in my book. Performance and stage setup/visuals are finally coming together in a way that has never been seen before. A little more imagination w/the Claw and a little less structured setlist, and we are talking about a good chance of U2 giving us their best tour at age 50!
 
I think the answer always comes down to opinion, we all have experiences which change our views, for example, i just become a u2 fan when the elevation tour started, so that era will always be marked as my favourite u2 tour, i wasnt a massive fan of the vertigo tour, but the new tour is brilliant, bono is top notch, the stage is the best of the best, and theres 2 european legs :drool: so it all comes down to experiences i guess
 
I honestly dont think anyone who wasn't at any of the Joshua Tree Tour shows can begin to comprehend just how amazing and passionate the shows were. U2 were touring a collection of songs that will remain with the human race as long as we are here. U2 didnt need all the screens and technology back then, coz the songs were strong enough themselves to blow you away. All the ultimate performances of the now "classics" were delivered on that tour (SBS, Bad, NYD, WOWY, Streets, UF etc etc) and IMHO, will never be bettered.
 
Well by that logic you can't judge any tour that you never actually attended, which I can somewhat agree with... but that means you can't judge the latest tour yet unless you've gone.

I also don't buy the "didn't need all the screens and technology" bit. So are you saying that from 87 to 91 something happen and U2's quality went down so they needed "all the screens and technology"?
 
Do any of the large musical acts tour without screens currently? Since we always compare them, what is Springsteen's setup like?

normal_20090508_colwell-springsteen_-_1.jpg
 
Interesting....

I think using the "it was all about the music" argument is kind of BS in that regard because of course it was all about the music back then, they didn't have the technology at the time.

I realize that Zoo TV was a complete departure from previous tours - hell it was a departure from pretty much anything going on in the entire industry at the time. For better or for worse, U2 made that decision to go that route.
 
I honestly dont think anyone who wasn't at any of the Joshua Tree Tour shows can begin to comprehend just how amazing and passionate the shows were. U2 were touring a collection of songs that will remain with the human race as long as we are here. U2 didnt need all the screens and technology back then, coz the songs were strong enough themselves to blow you away. All the ultimate performances of the now "classics" were delivered on that tour (SBS, Bad, NYD, WOWY, Streets, UF etc etc) and IMHO, will never be bettered.


This post sounds like a #1 answer to me.
 
Well by that logic you can't judge any tour that you never actually attended, which I can somewhat agree with... but that means you can't judge the latest tour yet unless you've gone.

I also don't buy the "didn't need all the screens and technology" bit. So are you saying that from 87 to 91 something happen and U2's quality went down so they needed "all the screens and technology"?

I think its safe enuff for me to make an educated guess, having been at UF, JT, Zoo Tv, Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo tours, that this will NOT be u2's defining moment. there seems to be a lot of people creaming themselves over the technology/stage on this tour. A gig is supposed to be about the music? Maybe, thats why 2 of my 3 fave tours, were basic shows (JT and Elevation)

As a footnote, YES, i do think u2s quality went down after JT album, but only because they pulled the once in a generation album out of the bag with the Joshua Tree.
 
I think its safe enuff for me to make an educated guess, having been at UF, JT, Zoo Tv, Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo tours, that this will NOT be u2's defining moment. there seems to be a lot of people creaming themselves over the technology/stage on this tour. A gig is supposed to be about the music? Maybe, thats why 2 of my 3 fave tours, were basic shows (JT and Elevation)

As a footnote, YES, i do think u2s quality went down after JT album, but only because they pulled the once in a generation album out of the bag with the Joshua Tree.

I agree with just about everything you've been saying in here, except I don't think they declined after JT because I deem AB to be incredible.
 
I think its safe enuff for me to make an educated guess, having been at UF, JT, Zoo Tv, Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo tours, that this will NOT be u2's defining moment. there seems to be a lot of people creaming themselves over the technology/stage on this tour. A gig is supposed to be about the music? Maybe, thats why 2 of my 3 fave tours, were basic shows (JT and Elevation)

As a footnote, YES, i do think u2s quality went down after JT album, but only because they pulled the once in a generation album out of the bag with the Joshua Tree.

I remember when In 1987 listening to the Joshua Tree being amazed but at the same time thinking oh my God how can they top this? I dont know if anybody could ever write music like that again. Your right G-man the Joshua Tree was the once in a generation album for me. The Tour as well. Zoo Tv was one of the most amazing shows I ever saw in my life. But nothing has ever matched the power of the Joshua Tree.
 
I agree with just about everything you've been saying in here, except I don't think they declined after JT because I deem AB to be incredible.

I agree with AB being an incredible album (as with every other IMHO). But am just playing Devils Advocate here and pointing out that generally speaking, JT is widely considered u2s most acclaimed and popular album.

But, as the saying goes..."One mans meat is another mans poison"
 
JT is widely considered u2s most acclaimed and popular album.

Without a doubt, but Achtung Baby is recognized as their most popular album within their fanbase. And the band considers it their best (regardless of the new album hype, there is more than one Bono statement that confirms this out there).
 
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