The Pride-WOWY-Still Havent Found-Streets-SBS Syndrome!

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alive@33

The Fly
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
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100
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I think most people are pretty much agreed at this stage that to a greater or lesser degree, U2 over the course of the last 20 years are starting to play some hits too much (like the 5 mentioned and soon possibly Beautiful Day also). There's no doubt that each and every one of those songs is a brilliant song, but that doesn't mean you can't overplay them, and it could lead to them turning into the Rolling Stones! I don't want wanna see that happen - U2 settling into a comfort zone (pretty sure they don't either!)

To me, it makes no sense when theyve got such a rich catalogue to exploit - I think it's time for the band to say "ok guys you can sit this one out this time" to the 6 songs mentioned, and delve into the following 2 pools of songs for future shows:

(split between excellent, obvious candidates in the 1st group, and then less obvious, but awesome songs ppl would love to hear live in the 2nd group - and leaving aside for the moment that I'd kill to hear Fez and Stand Up in 360!)

Obvious replacements:
Mofo
Even Better
Kite
Last Night
Lemon
Gone
Dirty Day (Edge transformed this live to amazing effect towards the end)
Wild Horses
Love is Blindness (again heroic live ending from Edge)
and I'm not yet tired of The Fly!
NY (Edge would need to refine this live to match the brilliance of the album recording)
Silver & Gold
Exit
One Tree Hill
In God's Country (R&H version but full length - the most powerful sound I've ever heard U2 make - big props to Joanou)
A Sort of Homecoming
Gloria
11 o'clock... Tick... ... ... Tock
A Day Without Me
Stories for Boys
UV itself is a great example of what I'm talking about here

Less obvious replacements:
Wire
Like a Song
Drowning Man
Two Hearts
Rejoice
October
Is That All?
Love Comes Tumbling
Trip Thru Your Wires
Red Hill Mining Town
Indian Summer Sky
Ground Beneath Her Feet
Crumbs
Acrobat
Zooropa
Heartland
God Pt 2
Hawkmoon

there's definitely 6 songs in there (way more than 6) that would make awesome substitutes for the overplayed songs - and you wouldnt have to shelve ALL 6, maybe 4 out of 6.

[btw big kudos for Your Blue Room! hope they play it in NJ (my first show!)]

Do you agree or disagree?
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while i'd love to see all of those songs replaced with my favorites, there's no denying that there is a big portion of the crowd that only goes to the show to hear the hits. U2 also realizes that there is a good portion that wants to hear more obscure songs and/or songs that haven't been played live for some time. that's why they have given us Electrical Storm, Unforgettable Fire, Your Blue Room, Ultraviolet, In A Little While, MLK, etc.
 
Let's be realistic. Next time you go to a U2 show, take a look around and get a feel of how many diehards vs casual fans there are...
 
First of all, it is a crime for anyone to suggest that U2 should drop Streets. That song is brilliant live; there is little the band could do to it to make it not brilliant live short of having 2009 Roger Daltrey sing lead vocals and Edge play the song on a Dasani water bottle with a microphone attached.

Second of all, SBS is brilliant on this tour.

Third of all, Pride was dropped for YOUR BLUE ROOM last night.

I can't vouch for SHF and WOWY, though. I never did like SHF, but I guess it sounds decent on this tour as far as SHF performances go. WOWY is, at least on Bono's part, a tremendous disaster this tour, which is unfortunate, because it is a great song. One is generally the same as WOWY on this tour, but it has had the odd good performance.
 
Last night was a step in the right direction.

I love Pride and don't want it to disappear from the set completely, but no need to play it 2 nights in the same city.

Overall, the 5 OP mentioned are sounding very good. Pride and SBS are a step up even from very good Vertigo performances, Still Haven't found is the best its been in ages(cant remember the last time Larry and Adam played from the beginning instead of joining in later) , Streets is always brilliant live.

WOWY has to improve significantly or go entirely.

Drop WOWY and rotate Pride and Still Haven't found, you have 2 more spots right there, in addition to the 2-3 spots they have been rotating.
 
I think most people are pretty much agreed at this stage that to a greater or lesser degree, U2 over the course of the last 20 years are starting to play some hits too much (like the 5 mentioned and soon possibly Beautiful Day also). There's no doubt that each and every one of those songs is a brilliant song, but that doesn't mean you can't overplay them, and it could lead to them turning into the Rolling Stones! I don't want wanna see that happen - U2 settling into a comfort zone (pretty sure they don't either!)

To me, it makes no sense when theyve got such a rich catalogue to exploit - I think it's time for the band to say "ok guys you can sit this one out this time" to the 6 songs mentioned, and delve into the following 2 pools of songs for future shows:

(split between excellent, obvious candidates in the 1st group, and then less obvious, but awesome songs ppl would love to hear live in the 2nd group - and leaving aside for the moment that I'd kill to hear Fez and Stand Up in 360!)

Obvious replacements:
Mofo
Even Better
Kite
Last Night
Lemon
Gone
Dirty Day (Edge transformed this live to amazing effect towards the end)
Wild Horses
Love is Blindness (again heroic live ending from Edge)
and I'm not yet tired of The Fly!
NY (Edge would need to refine this live to match the brilliance of the album recording)
Silver & Gold
Exit
One Tree Hill
In God's Country (R&H version but full length - the most powerful sound I've ever heard U2 make - big props to Joanou)
A Sort of Homecoming
Gloria
11 o'clock... Tick... ... ... Tock
A Day Without Me
Stories for Boys
UV itself is a great example of what I'm talking about here

Less obvious replacements:
Wire
Like a Song
Drowning Man
Two Hearts
Rejoice
October
Is That All?
Love Comes Tumbling
Trip Thru Your Wires
Red Hill Mining Town
Indian Summer Sky
Ground Beneath Her Feet
Crumbs
Acrobat
Zooropa
Heartland
God Pt 2
Hawkmoon

there's definitely 6 songs in there (way more than 6) that would make awesome substitutes for the overplayed songs - and you wouldnt have to shelve ALL 6, maybe 4 out of 6.

[btw big kudos for Your Blue Room! hope they play it in NJ (my first show!)]

Do you agree or disagree?
icon7.gif



__________________
Lookin for the baby Jesus under the trash :sad:


Give me list #2 theres some awesome songs there that unfortunatly U2 may never play live again. That first list aint too shabby either!
 
The only song I'd like to see dropped is WOWY. I think SBS sounds great this tour. But it wouldn't be bad to rotate these songs, like play three every night. But that's wishfull thinking and the band plays for more people than the diehard fans who follow each show.
 
ahh yes, but dont you like feeling like you're part of a re-shoot for a dvd you've seen 20 times?
 
Honestly, I think the fans who go to see U2 20 times are really in the minority here. Look around at any U2 show. What's the audience more into? Songs like SBS or One, or super rare songs that no one outside the die hard U2 fan community knows?
 
I saw 25 vertigo shows, and I enjoy the "warhorses" as much as the obscure songs. They define U2, and deserve to stay.

If they ever drop streets, that's my last show.
 
We have to stop looking at this "cause" in the non-diehard fans' perspective, but on the band's perspective.
I wonder too many times: is the band pleased/happy/satisfied by playing these jukebox versions of the old hits? I guess not. The best proof of what I'm saying is that the band stopped caring of how they play the songs, of how much intension and emotion they put on it (comparing with the past too, obviously)... which is nule is some cases.

Do we really need WOWY (for instance)? No. Replace it by something like SYCMIOYO, AIWIY, Kite, and no one will notice.
SBS was ignored in part of the 90's and no one protested and barricated in the stadiums' WC's because of that.
Same goes for Still Haven't Found: it was ignored too many times, and nobody noticed it. It could easily be replaced by Stay (and put something else really new or from NLOTH in Stay's place) and the non-diehard would be happy as well.
 
We have to stop looking at this "cause" in the non-diehard fans' perspective, but on the band's perspective.
I wonder too many times: is the band pleased/happy/satisfied by playing these jukebox versions of the old hits? I guess not. The best proof of what I'm saying is that the band stopped caring of how they play the songs, of how much intension and emotion they put on it (comparing with the past too, obviously)... which is nule is some cases.

Do we really need WOWY (for instance)? No. Replace it by something like SYCMIOYO, AIWIY, Kite, and no one will notice.
SBS was ignored in part of the 90's and no one protested and barricated in the stadiums' WC's because of that.
Same goes for Still Haven't Found: it was ignored too many times, and nobody noticed it. It could easily be replaced by Stay (and put something else really new or from NLOTH in Stay's place) and the non-diehard would be happy as well.

Yeah. The biggest issue is when it's painfully obvious that the band (Bono especially) do not care about or like they song they are playing.
 
Painful, is the word. For me, these late versions of WOWY, Bad, One, ISHFWILF are painful. There's no emotion or will of deliverance behind it. Some others (MW, Streets) are more emotional, but the performances aren't as bright as it was in the past, seeming that they're playing it too, because "they have to".
 
^^^I can't agree with Bad, sounded great on Saturday. U2 has to be careful with these songs on setlist placement. If U2 played SBS or Pride as the 2nd or 3rd song in the set it would sound fresh, but hearing SBS, Pride, Streets, One, & WOWY towards the end of the set it becomes predictable. IE, Stones.

For the past few tours:

Streets
SBS
Pride
WOWY
One

have all been in some form in the later part of the setlist or encore. I would even go so far that many casual fans are bored of this. I mean no one was into Pride Saturday night. U2 need to notice they have newer songs in their catalog that can create the same effect as the warhorses.

Streets (don't replace) - COBL
SBS - Please, LPOE, Stand Up, Gloria, Desire (Full Band)
Pride - Walk On, Crazy Tonight, BD, Out of Control, One Tree Hill
WOWY - Kite, OOTS, Stay, Bad
One - see above

And of course playing any of the 90 rockers would make for a hell of an encore.
 
Only WOWY sounds bad, everything else sounds fine for me. Pride isn't too bad either, still I'm glad they chose to drop/rotate it more. I would never want to miss songs like Still haven't found, that one's just magical live. One has improved, compared to last tour. SBS is ok. The rest is very good. I actually think the performances have improved for this tour. But I'd approve of more rotation for these songs. Personally, I feel Bad hasn't been played often enough.
 
WOWY is the shit....they should change their setlist to 24 back to back performances of this song!

ok well maybe not, but i'm one of the few ppl here who still love WOWY live, even in its current "whimpering" form :)
 
The only warhorse that sounds really bad is WOWY. The rest is pretty good.
 
Streets should stay- I would argue it is to U2 what Bohemian Rhapsody was to Queen. None of the others ought to be sacred. WOWY isn't working in my view, nor is One because of Bono's woeful phrasing- SHF isn't sounding too bad but it's pretty insipid. SBS is great but I'd still prefer it in rotation with Please. I do not agree with Mikal and BVS, who seem to think any song which doesn't appear on "U2 18" will be an unrecognised disaster. There are plenty of other prominent songs they could do- EBTTRT, Discotheque, Gone, HMTMKMKM etc
 
I just wanted to add too that ISF sounded really good Saturday. Perfect location in the set and having Adam/Larry play added to a great stadium moment.
 
is it me, or has this come up before on interference? i must be seeing things.

THE HORSE IS FUCKING DEAD

then sodomize it! you sound like a necrophile!
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Never. I don't think ANYONE here ever had the idea to call these songs overplayed. :tsk:

not everyone has been here for like 5 years or whatever, I only just joined in august for example (started following the band for real in 05 then got all their previous work & rare stuff)

Is this website closed off to new people? there's nothing as puke-inducing as snobby condescension
yuck.gif


I'm interested that youve heard it all before - that in itself tells me something

But if youve heard it all before, and are therefore bored by the topic, just ignore the thread :D - the world would be that infinitesimally small bit better!


@ Aygo & digitize
yeah I missed that point - playing some songs too much, the passion can take a hit and a "by the numbers" vibe can set in - I've never associated U2 with that
I would swap old reliables for Kite, Even Better, Wild Horses, Drowning Man, Gloria and God's Country, or at least do a lot of rotating
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[EDIT: oh yeah i forgot about HMTMKMKM, that would be awesome]


 
Really? People,this I get bored of hearing the same live songs on YouTube shit has to end one day.

I just heard this stuff live a couple nights ago. There is no lack of passion. Sorry, but that's true.
 
The biggest issue I see with replacing WOWY is that no other song would fit nearly as well between Ultraviolet and MOS.
 
Personally, I love ISHFWILF so I don't care about that song being in every night, hearing the audience sing the first couple of verses is awesome. I can live with WOWY and SBS. But words cannot express how happy I was when they skipped Pride on Sunday. :D
 
I have been to the Vancouver gigs from Elevation to Vertigo (3 shows) and have yet to experience ISHFWILF. I hope I do this time around. I could live without Pride and WOWY. I really wish that Bullet wasn't the the old one out.
 
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