2009 Setlist: Sure bets or surprises?

[Roland of Gilead]

I never got to see Kite on the last two tours. I'm hoping it gets a big presense on the N.A. 1st leg. I really think it is their best work from this decade to date.

 

[popacrobat]

I think the songs that will be played nightly for sure are now Streets, One, Vertigo, Beautiful Day and whatever the first four singles are off the new album. That's eight and that will leave about 12-14 other songs to rotate/ pick from.

Ideally I'd love to see songs like Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, Last Night on Earth, Gone, but I doubt that happens. With or Without you will get played from time to time, so will Mysterious Ways and I still Haven't Found what I'm looking for.

New Years Day i hope is kept instead of Pride. Pride needs to be retired for a bit, I agree, but the crowd goes nuts whenever they play it so I wouldn't count on it.

As for the rarities they bust out, it really just depends on the theme of the tour and the album. It's really too early to tell at this point and we can all just speculate our favorite songs to get played.

 

[Chill Mike D]

If they keep playing Pride, Sunday Bloody Sunday, One, etc, they really need to try to retool those songs in some perverse way like they did with Running to Stand Still.

 

[digitize]

I'll be happy if the just play One the way they did during PopMart, and WOWY in the style of Zoo TV, pre-Zooropa (see Washington), with Shine Like Stars and the little guitar solo.

 

[Irvine511]

Go REM.

so i saw REM last wednesday, and it was a great show, and i enjoyed it and all, and it was great to hear weird stuff -- an acoustic "let me in" from Monster was weird and wonderful -- but so few people get it. REM is also a show where they play arenas with lawns, and a lawn seat is a much different experience. it's more casual, more of a party, more room to dance, to walk, to talk, to make out, to smoke up, to drink, to sit, to talk, to lose interest, and then to get interested again. it's loose and fun and surprising, but a U2 show in a basketball or football/soccer stadium is quite a different thing. it grabs you from the beginning and it's goal is to spellbind you for a good 2 hours to the point where, if you get up to pee or get another beer, then they aren't doing their job. there's a clear beginning, middle, and end, a narrative that's at play, and that's why the set lists have much less room to mess around.

they are two different shows from two different bands. whichever style you prefer is totally up to you.

but, for me, as much as i adore REM and have every one of their albums and no matter how much my life is better for the existence of "find the river," "electrolyte" and all of Automatic for the People, when it comes to concerts,

there's U2 and Springsteen,

and then there's everyone else.

 

[The John Tree]

I think some songs are just better left on a record.

"Your Blue Room" is one of my favorite songs. But would I want to hear it live? Absolutely not, because I don't think it would work. For the same reason "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" is better on Pop than live, in my opinion. These songs are small, intimate songs. Not songs to get an arena pumping. It's a strange feeling to see a great artist play a great song that just doesn't get the crowd going (like U2 when they played Miracle Drug and Springsteen when he played Long Walk Home).

Also, I really wish they'd play Discotheque. They played a "rockier" version in Chicago last year that is available on YouTube, and I thought it was very cool, but apparantly the band didn't like it. Shame.

Edited to throw additional support behind "In A Little While", which steals a bit of my heart each time I hear it.

 

[U2387]

so i saw REM last wednesday, and it was a great show, and i enjoyed it and all, and it was great to hear weird stuff -- an acoustic "let me in" from Monster was weird and wonderful -- but so few people get it. REM is also a show where they play arenas with lawns, and a lawn seat is a much different experience. it's more casual, more of a party, more room to dance, to walk, to talk, to make out, to smoke up, to drink, to sit, to talk, to lose interest, and then to get interested again. it's loose and fun and surprising, but a U2 show in a basketball or football/soccer stadium is quite a different thing. it grabs you from the beginning and it's goal is to spellbind you for a good 2 hours to the point where, if you get up to pee or get another beer, then they aren't doing their job. there's a clear beginning, middle, and end, a narrative that's at play, and that's why the set lists have much less room to mess around.

they are two different shows from two different bands. whichever style you prefer is totally up to you.

but, for me, as much as i adore REM and have every one of their albums and no matter how much my life is better for the existence of "find the river," "electrolyte" and all of Automatic for the People, when it comes to concerts,

there's U2 and Springsteen,

and then there's everyone else.

This is one of the best posts I have ever read and certainly the best in this thread! REM just did Comcast Center Boston (I work all over Boston doing concert security) and while I was at the Garden that night for Tom Petty, many of my colleagues at Comcast for REM responded with much the same thing you just posted when people came out telling them how spontaneous they were compared to U2. Comcast, as you point out, is a pavillion/lawn arrangement and lends itself to the kind of experience that allows for widely varied set lists. Another good example was Petty- he did the basketball arena Boston garden friday night, then the next day, went down to Comcast. I worked both and the setlist was predictable at the Garden and had alot of curveballs at Comcast. Both of course contained the hits, but the rarities were out in full force saturday.

Back to the general topic of the thread, I understand what everyone is saying but honestly dont think U2's setlists are that static. They never do the same set, in the same order night after night, there are always at least a handfull that are changed. Even NYD and WOWY, ISHFWILF, Walk On, Stuck, all pretty big hits- are not played every night. Gloria sometimes was in and Electric co out, MW and UTTEOTW were rotated, sometimes there was an acoustic encore, etc. Miss Sarajevo and Running to Standstill were rotated. It was certainly different by leg, sometimes drastically on the Vertigo tour, and there were, like I said, at least a handful of variations night to night. Was it Lovetown, no, not at all. But even then, you knew alot of shows would open w/Streets (they never did that before?) and some with Hawkmoon or God Part II. The main set would end with WOWY and 40 would close it out.

2009: Lets drop Bullet- its the only live staple that just needs to be cleared to make way for something else. I still like it, but the Vertigo tour versions were only good because they came in from the outro of SBS right in. That was great, the rest of the song, could not match Zoo TV. Maybe play it on select few nights- they like the song, its McGuinnes' favorite, so keep it in some capacity, but make it a rarity, if only for this tour. I disagree with the popular opinion on Pride. It was better on the Vertigo tour than it has been in a long time- it matched and even sometimes topped Zoo TV performances. Bono's voice was great, very powerful and Edge's guitar tone was very close to studio version. Also, watch Larry on Pride during any last leg Vertigo performance- he is really picking up the pace almost back to his machine fast 1987 versions. Pride was boring in Pop/elevation eras, but is improving as of late. Lets give it another shot at greatness, I dont think we will be dissapointed.

I would love to hear: Lemon-good to very good chance; Exit and Dirty Day-moderately good chance of one of them returning; In God's Country(full band)- I have more than a good hunch that this one is coming back; EBTRRT-this is coming back, for sure, at least for rotational purposes like UTTEOTW; Another time, another place-not a good chance, but I was kind of dissapointed the Boy lovefest that was Vertigo passed over this one; Heartland and Electrical storm-hoping they become to this tour what the First Time was to Vertigo-rarely played encore songs that we hear for the first time ever live. Would love both; A Sort of homecoming and Unforgettable fire-one of the two is coming for sure; and I would most like to have Last Night on Earth brought back- imagine Bono's voice now as compared to Popmart doing this song with that incredible outro again- then start right into I will follow. That would really liven up the early setlist- I would like something along the lines of: New song, New song, Vertigo, LNOE, I will follow to start us off. Chances of LNOE- honestly have no idea.

 

[jphelmet]

I would love to hear: Lemon-good to very good chance; Exit and Dirty Day-moderately good chance of one of them returning; In God's Country(full band)- I have more than a good hunch that this one is coming back; EBTRRT-this is coming back, for sure, at least for rotational purposes like UTTEOTW; Another time, another place-not a good chance, but I was kind of dissapointed the Boy lovefest that was Vertigo passed over this one; Heartland and Electrical storm-hoping they become to this tour what the First Time was to Vertigo-rarely played encore songs that we hear for the first time ever live. Would love both; A Sort of homecoming and Unforgettable fire-one of the two is coming for sure; and I would most like to have Last Night on Earth brought back- imagine Bono's voice now as compared to Popmart doing this song with that incredible outro again- then start right into I will follow. That would really liven up the early setlist- I would like something along the lines of: New song, New song, Vertigo, LNOE, I will follow to start us off. Chances of LNOE- honestly have no idea.

no idea on lnoe, but you why would you say that lemon, ebttrt (one of my least favorite u2 songs of all time), exit/dirty day, and uf/a sort of homecoming are coming back for sure? i would not be suprised if none of these songs are ever played live again. i really like all of them (with the exception of ebttrt) and would love to see them all, but see no reason why any of them except possibly uf or a sort of homecoming (in dublin- as a one off) will be played.

i hope i'm wrong, but u2's track record doesn't back up your very confident assertions about these songs.

 

[The_acrobat]

Bono could simply not do Lemon anymore. His falsetto is nearly non-existant anymore. You've heard him try to do the WOWY bit at the end and fail miserably time after time. Imagine an entire song of him doing that.... that's what you'd get. Not gonna happen.

 

[U2387]

no idea on lnoe, but you why would you say that lemon, ebttrt (one of my least favorite u2 songs of all time), exit/dirty day, and uf/a sort of homecoming are coming back for sure? i would not be suprised if none of these songs are ever played live again. i really like all of them (with the exception of ebttrt) and would love to see them all, but see no reason why any of them except possibly uf or a sort of homecoming (in dublin- as a one off) will be played.

i hope i'm wrong, but u2's track record doesn't back up your very confident assertions about these songs.

I would not say I was very confident about any but Ebtrrt and ASOH or UF. EBTRRT because Vertigo was the only tour since its inception where it was not played nightly and ASOH/UF just because that is the consensus here. IGC will be back, mark my words. I said moderate chance that ONE of exit/dirty day come back, not too confident. Lemon they rehearsed alot and it would fit in with what people are saying about post-AB 90's material having a good shot. I merely said that I was hoping for electrical storm and heartland. I will just say that U2's track record also would not have backed up anyone who was confident in 2004 about 2005 seeing Gloria, An Cat Dubh, Stay, The first time, Zoo Station, The Ocean!, Electric co, running to standstill, party girl, one tree hill or Miss Sarajevo featured in the setlists! I am speculating like any other person and am only confident in the few songs I indicated in my post. I hope I did not sound like I was claiming expert status!

 

[U2387]

Bono could simply not do Lemon anymore. His falsetto is nearly non-existant anymore. You've heard him try to do the WOWY bit at the end and fail miserably time after time. Imagine an entire song of him doing that.... that's what you'd get. Not gonna happen.

I would have to disagree. Some of his best falsettos have been hit on the Vertigo tour- MW child, highway to hell snippet in Vertigo, go to Peterr's Bono's voice website and he has a bunch of clips on this very topic. Bono's voice has only gotten stronger since end of elevation and he has learned the technical skills and how to control them and has been perfecting them since Zoo TV. Plus, Edge sings alot of that song. WOWY is simply not a made for falsetto song, thats why he tries and it does not sound too good. When he sings that song straight, they pull out some pretty good performances of it, even today.(Argentina 3-02-06, U23D, Melbourne, Sydney 2006) Bono is a better singer now than ever. Lemon is primed for a comeback, and I say 70% chance.

 

[Joey788]

While I do think that U2 will continue with their tradition of playing a large majority of new songs and "classics," I don't think they'll be as afraid of throwing some rarities as long as they feel that they work. I mean, before the Vertigo tour started, who would have expected that U2 would play The Electric Co, Gloria, An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart, The Ocean, Zoo Station, Wild Horses, or Miss Sarajevo? I think the success of at least some of these songs live will give them the confidence to mix in a few deep cuts with the classics.

I don't expect Springsteen or Radiohead levels of setlist changes though. As they've said, if they feel the song doesn't work live, they won't play it. Don't expect to see songs like Do You Feel Loved, Indian Summer Sky, or So Cruel, since they didn't last long on the tours they were played on.

Just for fun and out of sheer boredom, I'll do my expectations, album by album.

BOY: I don't expect much from Boy showing up since the Vertigo Tour cleaned out this album. We'll most likely see I Will Follow often, Out of Control occasionally, and maybe The Electric Co as well.

OCTOBER: I think Gloria might make occasional appearances. The rerelease of the October album might lead to a couple of rare cuts such as October or I Threw A Brick Through A Window. But not much else.

WAR: Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day will be played often, if not every night. 40 will probably appear in some format. Surrender is a possibility, especially since "Moment of Surrender" might indicate a similar theme. I read a quote that the band doesn't like playing Two Hearts so I don't see that happening.

THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE: Pride might go into the rotation instead of having a permanent spot in the set. Bad could show up occasionally, as will MLK. I think the title track could make a comeback this tour as well as A Sort of Homecoming. They're both great tracks that wouldn't be boring for the casual fans. I wish Wire could appear but I doubt it.

THE JOSHUA TREE: Streets, ISHFWILF, WOWY, and that might be it. Unless the band really reinvents it, Bullet should take a break this tour. I'd love to see RHMT or Exit but out of these two, Exit is the only one with a shot.

RATTLE AND HUM: The usual, Desire, Angel, and AIWIY.

ACHTUNG BABY: I think U2 will stick to their more usual cuts from here this time around. Mysterious Ways, One, and UTEOTW will almost definitely show up. EBTTRT could return. I think Bono's voice would sound great doing the "take me higher" part. LIB could show up too since it was partially played last tour.

ZOOROPA: Probably just Stay. Although Numb or Dirty Day would be nice too.

POP: If anything makes it from this album, it'll be SATS or the rockers. Discotheque, Mofo, and Gone have the best shot here.

ATYCLB: Beautiful Day. An occasional Elevation, Stuck, and Walk On. I'd like to see New York make a comeback as well.

HTDAAB: Vertigo is a lock. COBL and Sometimes will probably show up. Maybe an occasional LAPOE or OOTS. All Because of You and Miracle Drug felt like dead weights live. I don't think we'll be seeing them again.

So yeah, that's what I think could happen. But like it's been said, it all depends on the feel and theme of the album.

 

[popacrobat]

Even Better Than The Real Thing was not played nightly on the Elevation tour.

 

[digitize]

I would have to disagree. Some of his best falsettos have been hit on the Vertigo tour- MW child, highway to hell snippet in Vertigo, go to Peterr's Bono's voice website and he has a bunch of clips on this very topic. Bono's voice has only gotten stronger since end of elevation and he has learned the technical skills and how to control them and has been perfecting them since Zoo TV. Plus, Edge sings alot of that song. WOWY is simply not a made for falsetto song, thats why he tries and it does not sound too good. When he sings that song straight, they pull out some pretty good performances of it, even today.(Argentina 3-02-06, U23D, Melbourne, Sydney 2006) Bono is a better singer now than ever. Lemon is primed for a comeback, and I say 70% chance.

His late Vertigo Tour falsetto was about where it was during PopMart, which was pretty damn good, but not up to Zoo TV or Lovetown standards. He might be able to pull it off, I think, with plenty of rehearsing, but I'm not sure. It wouldn't sound like the fat lady, though. But listen to Electrical Storm - he can still sing pretty well in falsetto.

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

Please, for the Love of God, PLEASE stop playing PRIDE..... Whew! I got that off of my chest!!!

A few I'd like to see get back in the Sets:

Seconds (would kinda be cool)
TUF - I hope they "revisit" Unforgettable Fire Disc - great material there
Wire
ASOH
PROMANADE!!! - Someone above mentioned this song but I guess that would be a huge stretch for them to play this one.
Exit
OTH
Heartland - wouldn't that one put everyone's knickers in a twist
Hawkmoon 269
UltraViolet - this probably won't see the light of day again but I'd like to see it and I know Axver would hate it
Acrobat - never will happen
Dirty day
Last Night On Earth
HMKMTMKM
Walk On

Great picks- I agree with every one, and would add "Velvet Dress", "MLK", "Babyface" (yeah right), and a definitive, refreshed, live rendition of "All I Want Is You"- I think that could be an epic set-ender they haven't crushed in a while. Best recent performance I saw was at Slane.

EDIT: and LEMON. Man I love that one. And they killed it (in a good way) during ZooTV.

 

[BVS]

You know what was quite ironic about the band after pop though? I watched a youtube vid yesterday of an interview of the band in 97 at the start of their tour and bono was talking about the next album. I can't remember his exact words but he really said that it is not in them to just go and make a soft record after pop and that he really wanted to hit it hard next time.

Funny thing is they went through 2 straight mediocre records...

I never really understood these types of threads, but to each it's own...

But what does this have to do with setlists?

In fact what does this have to do with anything?

Mediocre is an opinion, I'm fine with that. But what does "mediocre" have to do with "hard"? "Hit it hard" can mean a lot of different things to different people, it can be hard sounding, it can be hard emotionally, it can mean several different things...

 

[digitize]

Great picks- I agree with every one, and would add "Velvet Dress", "MLK", "Babyface" (yeah right), and a definitive, refreshed, live rendition of "All I Want Is You"- I think that could be an epic set-ender they haven't crushed in a while. Best recent performance I saw was at Slane.

EDIT: and LEMON. Man I love that one. And they killed it (in a good way) during ZooTV.

AIWIY was perfect in Tokyo, 2006-11-30.

 

[Visiongfx]

I never really understood these types of threads, but to each it's own...

But what does this have to do with setlists?

In fact what does this have to do with anything?

Mediocre is an opinion, I'm fine with that. But what does "mediocre" have to do with "hard"? "Hit it hard" can mean a lot of different things to different people, it can be hard sounding, it can be hard emotionally, it can mean several different things...

The only reason i put it here was because i saw it on youtube and thought it was quite weird and i didn't want to make a pointless thread which you'd probably bash even more anyway so i stuck it in this thread because i thought it fit well with other people straying off the subject anyway.

And how can we stay on topic about something we all are just guessing at anyway? Nobody knows setlists, and frankly i don't know why everybody cares so much about setlists, there fun to speculate and to wish u2 played that one song... but we will only know when they actually do play the shows.

[[Mediocre meaning good but not what they are truly capable of.]]

 

[BVS]

And how can we stay on topic about something we all are just guessing at anyway?

By continuing to guess, speculate, and wish

Nobody knows setlists, and frankly i don't know why everybody cares so much about setlists, there fun to speculate and to wish u2 played that one song... but we will only know when they actually do play the shows.

I agree, like I said, I've never understood these types of threads, especially since we haven't even heard the freaking album...

 

[DrTeeth]

They'd better play Fire

Or do the same thing the Cure did with Trilogy, and play October, UF and the new album all in full.

 

[cobl04]

I only want them to:
- Drop Elevation
- Give One back the "do you hear us coming Lord?" verse
- Make Bullet the Blue Sky the exciting and menacing song it was and should be (I loved the SBS/Bullet transition, but the two snippets kinda kill it)
- Do something to reinvigorate SBS besides dropping it
- Never play The Saints Are Coming ever again

 

[jphelmet]

- Never play The Saints Are Coming ever again

lets just all together pretend that didn't happen.

 

[Rich79]

lets just all together pretend that didn't happen.

Agreed. That idea was as bad as if they decided to one day sing one of their classic songs, like "One" for example, with an artist who really doesn't fit their style or even come close to the caliber of vocals Bono provides, say Mary J. Blige for example. Oh wait

 

[u2search]

I only want them to:
- Never play The Saints Are Coming ever again

I loved that!

As for the new tour, I hope they play the new album from start to finish - they've never done that before. Also: Wave of Sorrow.

I don't expect them to drop Pride - they love it and with the current developments in US politics Bono might even change some of the lyrics. Talking about changing lyrics: he mentioned an alternative set of lyrics for Streets somewhere - we might hear those as well. If they dare

And, last but not least: if the new album has some similarities with Achtung Baby (the last one definitely reminded me of EBTTRT) they might decide to include more AB in the setlist - just as HTDAAB invoked Boy songs.

 

[LyricalDrug]

I have a feeling that Ultra Violet will return on the next tour.

Then I will need to attend every show...

 

[Rob33]

Then I will need to attend every show...

yeah...omg this would be too good to be true....Ultaviolet 1992/8/16 - HAUNTING

 

[Zoocoustic]

We won't hear anything regularly played from HTDAAB except Vertigo.

Maybe a one-off now and then, but normally, nothing else.

And Ultraviolet? Keep dreaming.

 

[Rob33]

And Ultraviolet? Keep dreaming.

interesting...only in our dreams? why do you say that?

 

[Salome]

I don't think they consider Ultraviolet a good enough song to put back in the setlist
or, actually, that they have better songs they can play
and I wouldn't disagree

 

[Rob33]

I don't think they consider Ultraviolet a good enough song to put back in the setlist
or, actually, that they have better songs they can play
and I wouldn't disagree

maybe, but this is a perfect stadium filler IMO...i don't get it....listen to 8/16/1992 Washington D.C. or for that matter any ZooTV performance of this song- it was epic! I'd like to see this song make its way back into the setlist as much as I'd like to see TUF return