2009 Setlist: Sure bets or surprises?

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i thought please acoustic was very eerie and fitting for the times. they did play it full band once on elevation (baltimore) but I much preferred the three times i saw it acoustically. i thought that was excellent.

Wild Horses- I saw both versions on Vertigo. in Boston (5/28 - full band)- that was freaking awesome. It was alright acoustically, but it didn't really hold a candle to the 5/28 version I saw.

generally I agree that the acoustic is boring, but I thought Please was excellent and while I prefer Walk On electrically I feel like it worked acoustically too.
 
It's also that the whole "acoustic unplugged" thing is such a fashion of the past, especially for these mamoth area rock mega groups. No one really wants that anymore IMO, and it steals away the energy from the show.

However, I agree that "Stay" from Sidney 93 is great, which is not really unplugged anyway.

If they are going to do something acoustic, let's hear something like "Heartland" or "Mothers of the Disappeared" or "Drowning Man" or "The First Time" with Edge on piano and Bono on acoustic guitar, or vice versa, if that's even possible.
THAT would be a showstopper.

Ain't ever gonna happen though......
 
I have a feeling Electrical Storm will be played this tour. It should've been played last tour but just rehearsed but hopefully it'll make it's live debut. :wink:
 
I forgot about this earlier. I would kill to hear All Along the Watchtower again.
 
I guess The Cedars Of Lebannon will make the list.:drool:
 
I didn't want to start a new thread about this....so I figured this would be the most appropriate place.

I have a question regarding Streets...On the Vertigo Tour we didn't see the red/black background.....Do you guys think that U2 are done with that? Or do you see it coming back next tour? I know it's all just speculation, but I was wondering what you all think :)
 
Rob33 said:
I didn't want to start a new thread about this....so I figured this would be the most appropriate place.

I have a question regarding Streets...On the Vertigo Tour we didn't see the red/black background.....Do you guys think that U2 are done with that? Or do you see it coming back next tour? I know it's all just speculation, but I was wondering what you all think :)
Click to expand...

i hope so. much better that way than the whole africa thing on vertigo.

possiblity they retire it for a while. they said before the last tour they were thinking of not playing it until bono remembered he wrote it in africa. so it was brought back.

i really hope they don't drop it. it to me, is one of the essential u2 live songs and should be played at every show. i have never been disappointed with a perfromance of it, even after 25 times. i would like to see them change its placement in the set though, maybe as an opener to the encore, or even as a closer.
 
jphelmet said:
i hope so. much better that way than the whole africa thing on vertigo.

possiblity they retire it for a while. they said before the last tour they were thinking of not playing it until bono remembered he wrote it in africa. so it was brought back.

i really hope they don't drop it. it to me, is one of the essential u2 live songs and should be played at every show. i have never been disappointed with a perfromance of it, even after 25 times. i would like to see them change its placement in the set though, maybe as an opener to the encore, or even as a closer.
Click to expand...

yeah, although some of the transitions in the past have been absolutely incredible like RTSS --> Streets or Please --> Streets, and having it as an opener to the show or an opening to the encore wouldn't allow that to happen...but as a closer that might work...but then again it's such an energetic, uplifting song in terms of the crowd, it might be a bit awkward closing the show that way, especially cause the energy is usually carried over into the next song, and having it close the show might be weird...who knows :shrug:
 
Rob33 said:
yeah, although some of the transitions in the past have been absolutely incredible like RTSS --> Streets or Please --> Streets, and having it as an opener to the show or an opening to the encore wouldn't allow that to happen...but as a closer that might work...but then again it's such an energetic, uplifting song in terms of the crowd, it might be a bit awkward closing the show that way, especially cause the energy is usually carried over into the next song, and having it close the show might be weird...who knows :shrug:
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the opener of an encore seems to me it would still work, the opening to joshua tree and lovetown shows always seemed to work so well. i was thinking kind of like they did with the zoo station on vertigo, kind of the nod to the past.

i agree about the transitions though, the ones you mentioned are great but also love the all i want is you and bad/40-streets from elevation, the bad one is my favorite. i would love to see them close shows with that combo of bad-40 partial-streets. i see what you mean about the closing it might be a little weird but it would end the show on such a high note- i think it would work well. maybe its just me.
 
Why not an acoustic version of Pride? I think this could sound pretty awesome...just Bono and Edge out on a B-stage, with a slowed tempo, Bono maybe singing it a bit more pleadingly than boisterously. It could be a great way to breath new life into what I agree has become a bit of a tired live song.

Couldn't agree more that Bullet needs to be dropped post-haste. You talk about older tracks being momentum killers in a show --- BTBS was the universal bathroom break song all of the last tour. Die-hard fans are tired of it, casual fans don't really know it, so apparently the only one that loves it is Paul McGuinness.

If a lot of new songs aren't played, what I'd at least like to see is a bit more variety in the placement of songs. Try putting 'One' back near the start of the show, or maybe save Beautiful Day or Vertigo for the encores, or eliminate the 'heart of darkness' set that has featured so prominently in the last several tours.
 
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PopFly said:
Why not an acoustic version of Pride? I think this could sound pretty awesome...just Bono and Edge out on a B-stage, with a slowed tempo, Bono maybe singing it a bit more pleadingly than boisterously. It could be a great way to breath new life into what I agree has become a bit of a tired live song.

Couldn't agree more that Bullet needs to be dropped post-haste. You talk about older tracks being momentum killers in a show --- BTBS was the universal bathroom break song all of the last tour. Die-hard fans are tired of it, casual fans don't really know it, so apparently the only one that loves it is Paul McGuinness.

If a lot of new songs aren't played, what I'd at least like to see is a bit more variety in the placement of songs. Try putting 'One' back near the start of the show, or maybe save Beautiful Day or Vertigo for the encores, or eliminate the 'heart of darkness' set that has featured so prominently in the last several tours.
Click to expand...

:hmm:

I generally wouldn't agree to the acoustic idea for Pride, but after hearing the recent cover version on piano in celebration of the MLK holiday, I think it could work, considering how brilliant Bono's vocals are these days. But for that same reason, I think out of the staples, Pride should be the last to be dropped...Bono did a great job overall on the Vertigo Tour with it, consistently carrying out the "naaaaame" note as it is meant to be sung, something he hasn't been able to do in awhile.....I think it sounded pretty damn good overall on that tour, and could be spectacular next tour. Bullet needs to be dropped if Bono isn't gonna approach it with some serious attitude...like he did on the ZooTV tour...SBS could be dropped, or at least played more sparingly...I think that would revive it.

Here's the thing. U2 need to stop playing their more known songs every single show. Once they start doing that, the songs will be more of a treat to the audience when they do play them. A song like SBS is full of passion, and would bring out much more in an audience if the people at the show weren't so used to hearing it. Say, for example, SBS wasn't played during the first half of the tour....and half way through the tour, they bust it out, the second that drum beat kicks in, the crowd will go nuts. It's all about rotation to maintain freshness. That's the key. And if they must play certain songs every single night, switching up the order will help the situation in terms of "freshness," and they won't have to drop the song altogether.
 
1. Mercy *
2. Moment of Surrender *
3. For Your Love *
4. The Cedars of Lebanon *
5. Lead Me in The Way I Should Go *
6. Love and Peace or Else
7. Beautiful Day
8. Pride

9. No Line On The Horizon *
10. If I Could Live My Life Again *
11. North Star *
12. Window In the Sky
13. Vertigo
14. I Will Follow

16. The Fly
17. With Or Without You
18. One Bird *
19. Staring At The Sun
20. The First Time

21. Yahweh
22. One
23. Love Is All We Have Left
24. 40
 
david said:
1. Mercy *
2. Moment of Surrender *
3. For Your Love *
4. The Cedars of Lebanon *
5. Lead Me in The Way I Should Go *
6. Love and Peace or Else
7. Beautiful Day
8. Pride

9. No Line On The Horizon *
10. If I Could Live My Life Again *
11. North Star *
12. Window In the Sky
13. Vertigo
14. I Will Follow

16. The Fly
17. With Or Without You
18. One Bird *
19. Staring At The Sun
20. The First Time

21. Yahweh
22. One
23. Love Is All We Have Left
24. 40
Click to expand...

obviously no way to know which new songs will be played and when. my question is do you really think lapoe will make it on the new tour, or is this just your wishlist?

i really hope they retire lapoe, definetly not a song that needs to be brought back live.

looking at this proposed list, it just makes it clear how many great songs get left out of any given show.
 
jphelmet said:
obviously no way to know which new songs will be played and when. my question is do you really think lapoe will make it on the new tour, or is this just your wishlist?

i really hope they retire lapoe, definetly not a song that needs to be brought back live.

looking at this proposed list, it just makes it clear how many great songs get left out of any given show.
Click to expand...

haha, yeah I pray LAPOE is left out next tour completely...so many more worthy songs to be played live
 
Elevation they cracked out Out of Control, and Tick Tock
Vertigo the played Electric Co, An Cat Dubh, Into the Heart and The Ocean

Solar tour I think they may suprise us with something else from Boy (who in their right mind would have expected or picked that An Cat Dubh would make an appearance???)
Look out for Stories For Boys, A Day Without Me, or even Twilight (I think SFB is a sure thing at some point)

In terms of other rarities, I would like to see them play October again. Some great live versions, and was always great to break up the set. I would also love to hear them play Electrical Storm. It would tear the roof off live when that 3rd chorus kicks in and Bono screams. Do it boys!
 
Just an aside, City of Blinding Lights was such a perfect opener (I hear you're protests from here) the way the atmospherics built into the drum intro and then kicked on with Edge's slide.

I recently saw Millencolin in Melbourne, just after they released Machine 15, and they opened with penguins and polar bears which is 4 albums old now. It just got the crowd pumped up so much that the rest of the show carried on the same way.

I think U2 could open a live show with a few previous openers before going on to the new stuff, Again it was said how good would it be if SBS wasn't played in the first half of the tour, then imagine if it was played later, what if it opened???

Can you imagine that? I would like to see at some point in the next tour see Streets open a few shows, COBL, Zoo Station, and then much later SBS
 
Rob33 said:
:hmm:

I generally wouldn't agree to the acoustic idea for Pride, but after hearing the recent cover version on piano in celebration of the MLK holiday, I think it could work, considering how brilliant Bono's vocals are these days. But for that same reason, I think out of the staples, Pride should be the last to be dropped...Bono did a great job overall on the Vertigo Tour with it, consistently carrying out the "naaaaame" note as it is meant to be sung, something he hasn't been able to do in awhile.....I think it sounded pretty damn good overall on that tour, and could be spectacular next tour. Bullet needs to be dropped if Bono isn't gonna approach it with some serious attitude...like he did on the ZooTV tour...SBS could be dropped, or at least played more sparingly...I think that would revive it.

Here's the thing. U2 need to stop playing their more known songs every single show. Once they start doing that, the songs will be more of a treat to the audience when they do play them. A song like SBS is full of passion, and would bring out much more in an audience if the people at the show weren't so used to hearing it. Say, for example, SBS wasn't played during the first half of the tour....and half way through the tour, they bust it out, the second that drum beat kicks in, the crowd will go nuts. It's all about rotation to maintain freshness. That's the key. And if they must play certain songs every single night, switching up the order will help the situation in terms of "freshness," and they won't have to drop the song altogether.
Click to expand...

Good point, Rob.

But I don't share the same feelings on the matter of Pride. I feel it's missing something very important that makes it shoot off. And I think its the bridge section that has never been played live (I think) and Bono's power. I don't care how high he can sing, unless he can sing it from deep down in his abdomen, it will never share the passion the studio version is famous for.
 
Moser said:
Good point, Rob.

But I don't share the same feelings on the matter of Pride. I feel it's missing something very important that makes it shoot off. And I think its the bridge section that has never been played live (I think) and Bono's power. I don't care how high he can sing, unless he can sing it from deep down in his abdomen, it will never share the passion the studio version is famous for.
Click to expand...

Although I absolutely love the studio version, I listen to live performances of Pride, both past and present, far more than the studio version. I can't recall any performance of Pride though, that comes close to the polished perfection of the studio version. But that's the thing, I'd rather listen to a less perfect, more passionate performance of Pride than the polished version TUF. I don't feel the same sense of passion on the album as I do in a live setting. I thought the 5th leg versions of Pride were really great, but I think next tour, with Bono's continual vocal improvements, if Pride is played at all it will sound very good, so good it will sound much fresher. I think what you're talking about has almost everything to do with Bono and not Larry/Edge/Adam, so expect greatness next tour!
 
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