After reading the others threads in the forum , I believe this is a different topic than what's being treated elsewhere:
Listening to the album I started my own prediction game for this tour, I yet don't have my own answer to all my questions:
- Song not to be played: Unknow Caller
(they couldn't go with the 'machine' vocals without feeling embarassed, nor start with the "sunshine, sunshine")
- Party Song (girls on stage, champagne on Bono's hand -ala TTTYAATW-): Crazy Tonight
- Songs for the accoustic set: No line on the Horizon
(strange to go low-key on such a strong song, but it has great accoustic sing-a-long potential)
- "Come on Larry, get out your a** here" song (a la Love and Peace): Stand up comedy.
- Old songs coming back on the setlist: I've got a Zooropa and Unforgettable Fire (the albums) feeling, after being rejected lately, instead of the Boy/War songs of the last tours.
- Depressing song to end the show: Cedars of Lebanon...but is too obvious.
- Opening Song: it's difficult to get out of the 1st single or the opening song of the album. In an effort, Magnificient.
- Song to be played the first shows, only to be dropped from the setlist (the Do you feel loved? way): Being Born.
Feel free to add more categories , your own predictions and explanations.
Nice post. Here's my thoughts, mostly with reference to the new album. Obviously they're just my opinions and therefore have no value than anybody else's! (It's also partly a mini-review of the album, so apologies for that. As a general point, this is a true album in every sense as, GOYB excepted, there's not much in the way of 'obvious' singles like Vertigo or Elevation.)
Tour Name: Can't wait to find out what this will be. Based on recent history, I'm guessing it'll be something to do with 'Boots', sadly, as this is the first single. The 'Get On Your Boots' tour sounds awful, but (please God no)the 'Sexy Boots' tour sounds worse! Is the 'NLOTH Tour' too unwieldy as a title? If it's not something like this then I'm stumped.
Opening Song - I hope it's NLOTH (either version). A good long intro and a song that cranks up the intensity, especially when the drums arrive properly. It could be lengthened into an epic opener, and I can imagine this scene: the intro music ends, the stadium goes dark, and then the guitar chords kick in thunderously. Crowd erupts and the most amazing lightshow ever seen comes alive... I can't describe why, but I think it'd just be good to open the set.
New songs bound to be played live:
- Magnificent (fine song, great chorus. Great little slide solo as well. Would work well as an opener itself.)
- GOYB (it's the single, and will be played early in the set, if not the opener. Hope they don't use it like Vertigo on the last tour - the opener AND closer!)
- Unknown Caller (musically OK, weird lyrics but Edge may well want to use this as his Guitar Hero moment)
- Moment of Surrender (if Bono sings this live as well as he does on the album, this could be spine-tingling. Love the harmonies, but could sound a bit thin live if only Edge is on backup, unless Larry weighs in and Adam gets a microphone back on stage again?)
- I'll Go Crazy (etc) - a competent but generic U2 song that'll maybe start out in the setlist and then disappear as the tour progresses. I like the little mini solo near the end but that's the only memorable bit of this song. It seems to come from another song entirely, and since this is U2, that's possibly the truth.
New songs that could be played but may not work too well:
- Fez / Being Born. (A superb song on album, once it starts. But, if it's attempted live, drop the intro or it could be disastrous. Who wants to hear random Eno-esque noodling and some sort of alternative version of the 'Let me in the sound' section from GOYB?)
- Breathe (if U2 like it as much as Eno does, then they'll play it live. I don't see the attraction personally, but what do I know?! The chorus is good but the rest uninspiring.)
- Stand Up Comedy (I think it'll be on the setlist, but it does nothing for me, I'm afraid. At their best, U2 sound like nobody else, they're infinitely greater than 'ordinary'. But I could imagine this song being sung by all sorts of other guitar acts.)
Possible closers:
- White as Snow (this would be brilliant as an acoustic song anywhere in the set, but it could be an unexpected final song - if U2 wanted to finish on a quiet note like with Zoo TV.)
- Cedars of Lebanon (a wonderful lyric, rightly highlighted by the nondescript music and low-key, almost spoken-word, delivery. But would this be interesting live? I don't think so. Comparisons have been made with Love Is Blindness, but that song was musically and vocally awesome, powerful and terrifying. COL is a thoughtful piece far removed from that sort of intensity.)
Old songs coming back - based on the eccentricities of the last tour, I think anything's possible here, but it clearly won't be any of the songs fans hope for (eg Acrobat, Hawkmoon 269 etc). U2's notion of a rarity seems to differ from that of their fanbase, but maybe that's not a bad thing if they bring out some real surprises. What about Van Diemen's Land? If Bono's in good voice, The Unforgettable Fire?
