How Come Love Is Blindness works as a closer, but MOS doesn't?

[DevilsShoes]

I realise that it's all subjective of course, but there seems to be a consensus this time around that MOS doesn't work as the final song of the night.

I've always felt that U2 were trying to replicate the Love Is Blindness-effect by going for something a little more challenging at the end of a gig, rather than the warm, euphoric sing-alongs of yesteryear.

I think most people would agree that LIB worked brilliantly as a closer during ZOO TV. It served as a genuinely powerful and chilling counterpoint to all the fireworks that kicked the show off. After all the surface and style of the previous 2 hours, here was something far more substantial and heartfelt to send you on your way.

MOS works in a similar fashion for my money. It's dark, visceral and desperate. It wants to leave the audience spellbound, something it's ZOO TV counterpart did to perfection.

So why doesn't MOS achieve this effect? The overriding view appears to be that it takes the wind out of the gigs sails, that instead of sending shivers down the spine of the audience, it just sends them out to the car park instead.

Did LIB work so well because it was set against the context of ZOO TV and all that that entailed, or is it simply a case of LIB being a much better song that MOS?

 

[cobl04]

Interesting question! I never saw a ZooTV show so I can't say for sure but I think it has more to do with the whole theme of the show, LIB looks like it worked really well in that context, MacPhisto's makeup all faded, and it was followed by a huge Elvis hit don't forget. I think it's a better song than MOS, but not by a great deal. It just doesn't translate as well live and I think the crowds going to U2 gigs these days are not interested in being challenged. They just want the obvious.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

There was a lot of drama built into the ZooTV setlists, and obviously a lot of theatre to the ZooTV show, so running a sort of mood rollercoaster like that I think helped ZooTV end in that way. Love is Blindness 'works'. 360 has none of that, it means MoS could come off as a whimper. And regardless of that, Love is Blindness just nails it better. I love MoS, but live, Edge's part on Love is Blindness alone was always going to make it a singular highlight, while MoS has nothing that really stands out. Love is Blindness was also a highlight of a really huge album, and it only elevated live into a stunning heartbreaker, while MoS is a highlight of a far, far smaller album, and it doesn't really go further live.

But I mean, really, I could have saved you the time of reading that by just linking to the ZooTV Sydney video. Watch that, then watch MoS Rose Bowl or something. What was the question again?

 

[TheEdge25]

Moment of Surrender is a fantastic song. In my opinion, the best song they've made in the 2000's decade. I understand why they have been closing all the 360 gigs with it, as they are obviously very, very proud of it. I just wish they had either made it a little more dirty and gritty, without that backing track that Brian Eno made for the song.

But I also wish - especially now that they're doing the whole "Achtung" explosion in the opening of the shows - that they would bump Moment of Surrender up to closing the main set. I think it would work as the main set closer, what with the "don't leave us now" part that Bono sings occasionally.

Then they could close the whole show with Love Is Blindness, followed by "40" or something to bring that whole "ZooTV vibe" to a close.

I know that the band is proud of Moment of Surrender, but I cannot believe they thought it was a good idea to play that song at Glastonbury.

 

[U2387]

Well, it's not LIB, but what out there is?

You're not going to get an emotionally significant/challenging closer better than LIB.

Does it do the job?

Absolutely.

Is it a great song that is done well live?

Again, absolutely.

Bono's vocal has been nothing short of spectacular on MOS save for a few off nights, and the added rap and other improvisation(jungleland, Rain, etc) have only served to make it better.

I've seen it close Boston 1 and 2 and Montreal 1 and the crowd participation is fine. People appreciate it. Clapping along, holding out their cell phones, etc.

You couldn't beat that ending in Montreal the other night, with the rain getting heavier until the end of the song when it really let loose, leading into the Rain snippet.

 

[david]

I always thought "Can't Help Falling In Love" was the true closer for the ZooTV tour

 

[Chrisedge]

MOS works just as well (if not better) than LIB. This is from someone that actually saw ZOO TV shows (both inside and outdoors)...

LIB was a downer for most in the audience.

 

[Numb1075]

MOS works just as well (if not better) than LIB. This is from someone that actually saw ZOO TV shows (both inside and outdoors)...

LIB was a downer for most in the audience.

I agree, I don't think I would use the words "downer" though...that seems a bit drastic.

That being said, LIB was very emotional and theatric, but I agree, it left many folks bored (and I saw zootv indoor and outdoor as well)

I haven't been to my 360 show yet, but I would imagine MOS is fantastic as a closer.

But what was mentioned earlier, perhaps having MOS close the main set and then end the encore with Bad/40...NOW YOU'RE TALKING

 

[corianderstem]

From a crowd reaction perspective, MOS has people leaving early to beat traffic, and it feels like a total letdown after the roar of approval that WOWY just got one song earlier.

I barely remember the ZooTV gig I actually attended (as opposed to watching bootlegs), so I have no idea how the crowd reacted to LIB as the closer.

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

Per the band, "Love Is Blindness" didn't work (necessarily) as a closer. They felt it was a heavy note to leave on. That is why they added Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love", starting at the Outside Broadcast dates.

As for if "Moment of Surrender" 'works' or not... I guess that it up to the individual. I like it, myself.

I realise that it's all subjective of course, but there seems to be a consensus this time around that MOS doesn't work as the final song of the night.

I've always felt that U2 were trying to replicate the Love Is Blindness-effect by going for something a little more challenging at the end of a gig, rather than the warm, euphoric sing-alongs of yesteryear.

I think most people would agree that LIB worked brilliantly as a closer during ZOO TV. It served as a genuinely powerful and chilling counterpoint to all the fireworks that kicked the show off. After all the surface and style of the previous 2 hours, here was something far more substantial and heartfelt to send you on your way.

MOS works in a similar fashion for my money. It's dark, visceral and desperate. It wants to leave the audience spellbound, something it's ZOO TV counterpart did to perfection.

So why doesn't MOS achieve this effect? The overriding view appears to be that it takes the wind out of the gigs sails, that instead of sending shivers down the spine of the audience, it just sends them out to the car park instead.

Did LIB work so well because it was set against the context of ZOO TV and all that that entailed, or is it simply a case of LIB being a much better song that MOS?

 

[corianderstem]

Oh, I love it as well, and really came around to it as being a good closer.

I just wish it got a more appropriate crowd reaction as a show-ender. I know, you're not going to find something other than WOWY that 90,000 people are going to scream for because there are so many people who don't know the song or just want to leave early, but it always feels so disappointing to me.

I want the band to leave hearing the screams, not some half-hearted reaction from whomever is left.

 

[U2FanPeter]

WOWY/MOS has probably hit the 15 minute mark some nights.

 

[Utoo]

I agree with Earnie. LIB had theatrics. LIB fit thematically with the album and tour. LIB builds to an almost-but-not-quite release, as many of the greatest U2 songs do. MOS has no theatrics, no special performance art (save for a few singular shows). MOS has nothing to do with the rest of the show. MOS drags...and drags....and drags.

I honestly think so many people here like MOS because of the story behind its creation & because the band live it so much (which is due to its incredible creation). I've always felt the comparisons to One were forced. It's a good song, but not great.

WOWY/MOS has probably hit the 15 minute mark some nights.

This is a big issue, as well. Kind of hard to be excited about a song when the air's been let out of the tires for the last 10 minutes and there are 4-5 to go.

 

[No spoken words]

I've been to 10 360 shows, and was at about 10 Zoo TV shows....and, yeah, neither really worked better than the other. I think a lot of people are ascribing attributes to Love is Blindness that aren't entirely accurate, maybe because they love AB so much or just have good memories associated with the album/song. And that's fine, I'm sure I'm guilty of that as well with certain tunes. It's a nice song, I definitely like it, but it's so very much eclipsed by everything that comes before it.....

The best U2 closer is, was and always will be 40.

 

[corianderstem]

I might be the one die-hard U2 fan who didn't love hearing 40 as the closer on the Vertigo tour.

 

[popacrobat]

I might be the one die-hard U2 fan who didn't love hearing 40 as the closer on the Vertigo tour.

you're not. I saw every closer in North America on that tour (except All I want is You, but that's Hawaii, barely counts as NA ) and 40 wasn't my favorite. Bad obviously was, I enjoyed Vertigox2 more. Also saw With or Without You, Instant Karma and Fast Cars close out shows. Of those, I think 40 was only better than Instant Karma, which was just odd the way that show ended.

I mean, 40 was nice. But the other ones were just way, way better for me.

As for the topic, I didn't see any Zoo TV, I was like, five at the time so that wasn't going to happen. I think Moment of Surrender works well as the closer. People are going to leave stadiums early to beat traffic regardless.

I drove up to Montreal to see both shows there (up to seven 360 shows now), and people were leaving after Walk On, people were leaving during One and during Hold me thrill me, with or without you etc. At stadium shows, people are just going to leave early.

I think in Montreal's case, though, it had to do with 80,000 people being forced to use the metro system - so they probably wanted a head start out towards the subways and not standing an hour in the street trying to just get into the subway station.

 

[Utoo]

I might be the one die-hard U2 fan who didn't love hearing 40 as the closer on the Vertigo tour.

The crowd in DC chanted "how long.." out of the arena & down into the metro (subway). It was awesome.

And now I'll stop repeating myself....I feel like the same discussions have cropped up a few times in the last two weeks.

 

[corianderstem]

I prefer to end a show on a pepped-up, fast tempo closer. Vertigo x2 fit the bill, although Bad was definitely right up there (while not a fast tempo, who the hell cares when it's frickin' Bad?).

Also, had the audiences I'd been a part of been more into the sing-along to carry the song after the band had left the stage, I think it would have had a different effect on me. It hardly happened at the shows I went to where 40 was the closer, and if you're not going to have the crowd carry the song after the fact, what's the point of playing 40?

Stupid U2 audiences.

 

[Utoo]

I drove up to Montreal to see both shows there (up to seven 360 shows now), and people were leaving after Walk On, people were leaving during One and during Hold me thrill me, with or without you etc. At stadium shows, people are just going to leave early.

I understand it when casual fans who got tickets from their brother-in-law's coworker's nephew leave early, but it always amazes me when more die-hard fans leave early. At the Baltimore show, there were two or three guys in front of us on the outer rail, which meant they'd camped out all day. They also had their own homemade 360 Tour tshirts listing all the shows they'd been to---probably a dozen or more spanning a few continents. And they left after Streets! To each his own, I guess.

 

[corianderstem]

They probably had to go get in line for the next show, which was a week away.

 

[cobl04]

I've been to 10 360 shows, and was at about 10 Zoo TV shows....and, yeah, neither really worked better than the other. I think a lot of people are ascribing attributes to Love is Blindness that aren't entirely accurate, maybe because they love AB so much or just have good memories associated with the album/song. And that's fine, I'm sure I'm guilty of that as well with certain tunes. It's a nice song, I definitely like it, but it's so very much eclipsed by everything that comes before it.....

The best U2 closer is, was and always will be 40.

Stop spoiling my delusion!!!!!!!!

 

[Utoo]

They probably had to go get in line for the next show, which was a week away.

True, true

 

[BlueSilkenSky]

Probably because Love Is Blindness was more part of a group encore- I mean, the succession of songs (Desire/Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car, Ultraviolet/LEMON!, With or Without You, Love Is Blindness, Can't Help Falling In Love) works a lot better and gets more caught up in emotion than the sucession of songs in 360 encores (Ultraviolet/HMTMKMKM, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender). Maybe it's because MOS is an average song that follow two great ones (say what you want about WOWY). OR, maybe it's true, Love Is Blindness is just a better song than Moment of Surrender.

 

[catlhere]

I think MOS > LIB, by quite a bit.

Spoiler

and a better closer

 

[silkensky]

MOS would work better I think if NLOTH (the album) had actually been incorporated into the production of the tour sort of the way AB was to Zoo TV. It might translate better in an arena rather than a stadium too, IMHO.

 

[cobl04]

I don't agree with that. Achtung is a (loose) concept album. NLOTH is not.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Also perhaps for some in the audience, MOS could be a let down with the set up? As said above, LIB was part of a flowing run of songs, but Bono does the whole get your phones out/milky way thing for MOS, so people might be thinking oh, here's a Big Moment, which surely will include a Big U2 Anthem, and then what the hell is this? Maybe. But I can't really comment. I haven't seen a 360 show, only Glastonbury, and MOS was like a ten tonne lead balloon there. Half the pit was on the move out once it kicked in.

 

[cobl04]

Kite was a phenomenal closer.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Yep. And it worked with the wider punters too. I mean, again, not a very well known song, and one that is already not a hookfestanthemsong, and on top of that they played it in an even more meandering way, and it was absolutely a highlight, and seemingly not just for fans, going by my own anecdotal whatever (at one of those Sydney gigs, my work had a huge block of seats, and about 90% of the office were there, so we were all talking about it the next day - Kite was a clear highlight/talking point.)

 

[mellow moog]

I think MOS > LIB, by quite a bit.

Spoiler

and a better closer

Love is Blindness to me was the most incredible closing song, along with the falsetto Can't help falling in Love ending!!! I can close my eyes and be back at all those ZOOTV shows when I hear it.

Moment of Surrender is great live but Love Is Blindness took it to a level I don't think we'll ever see matched!!!! Edge's solo in LIB !!! "Let me in THAT sound" again please guys for one more time before I shuffle off!!! Go an ya wil.. ya will"