financeguy
ONE love, blood, life
I went to a Neil Young concert recently and I am a very casual Neil Young fan (own one album, and only familar with another 3 or 4 songs). As luck would have it, he was in crowd pleasing mood and played all the 'big' songs and nothing obscure.
However, I would have been mildly pissed off if he had decided to play just new stuff, or mainly obscure stuff, or an acoustic only acoustic set (as apparently he sometimes does). On the other hand, the diehard fan is probably delighted when he does this.
This is even more valid in respect of U2, as they play to bigger audiences, there are people at U2 gigs that have only one or two U2 albums, like me at Neil Young, there are probably people that own no U2 albums but still go to the occasional concert because they like the Beautiful Day single, or SBS, or because their friends are going, or because they want to abuse Bono.
This was borne out at Croker, the big anthemic songs got the best receptions, the likes of Ultra Violet and even MoS for that matter got more muted receptions. And UV isn't even all that obscure, it wasn't a single but it was on one of their top selling albums and was played live regularly in the early 1990s.
Until U2 decide to specifically play shows for a select audience, us hardcore fans will have to settle for 'crowd pleasing' shows with the occasional obscure song, like it or loathe it.
And if U2 did actually decide to play for select audiences, then how are they going to select them? The current hassles or arguments that sometimes occur in 'the Pit' over placings would seem a fond memory in comparison.
However, I would have been mildly pissed off if he had decided to play just new stuff, or mainly obscure stuff, or an acoustic only acoustic set (as apparently he sometimes does). On the other hand, the diehard fan is probably delighted when he does this.
This is even more valid in respect of U2, as they play to bigger audiences, there are people at U2 gigs that have only one or two U2 albums, like me at Neil Young, there are probably people that own no U2 albums but still go to the occasional concert because they like the Beautiful Day single, or SBS, or because their friends are going, or because they want to abuse Bono.
This was borne out at Croker, the big anthemic songs got the best receptions, the likes of Ultra Violet and even MoS for that matter got more muted receptions. And UV isn't even all that obscure, it wasn't a single but it was on one of their top selling albums and was played live regularly in the early 1990s.
Until U2 decide to specifically play shows for a select audience, us hardcore fans will have to settle for 'crowd pleasing' shows with the occasional obscure song, like it or loathe it.
And if U2 did actually decide to play for select audiences, then how are they going to select them? The current hassles or arguments that sometimes occur in 'the Pit' over placings would seem a fond memory in comparison.
very true. I'm bringing 3 friends. One is somewhat of a diehard - owns all the albums and did GA with me last tour, but isn't crazy obsessed like me, and isn't going to be upset if they don't play lesser-known songs. The other two are very casual fans who are very much looking forward to BD and Vertigo. I figure my group is probably a pretty good representation of the audience as a whole - 25% diehard, 25% own many of the albums but aren't obsessed, and 50% are casual, owning only a couple albums or just knowing the hits. of course i don't KNOW this for a fact; the only way to know this would be to take a poll of all concert-goers or something. but i'm willing to bet with as many albums as U2 has, the majority of the audience do NOT own EVERY album.
