WOWY - what happened ?

[The John Tree]

popshopper is absolutely right - if they were indeed tired of it, they wouldn't play it any longer, period.

Radiohead did it with "Creep".

They Might Be Giants have made "Particle Man" a semi-rarity now simply to piss off the casual "fans" that only listen to Flood. Likewise for "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Birdhouse In Your Soul", though the latter 2 are performed more often.

I could go on, but I'll stop there.

That's an interesting point, beau99, because I see a lot of fans in other setlist threads making this some point about other bands who don't play their hits on purpose. Maybe it's just me, but I disagree with this whole mentality.

Why would you want to piss off your "casual" fans? Why is there such hatred towards "casual" fans? Sure, I'm as diehard a U2 fan as there is, but I've gone to see bands before where I don't know their entire discography. When I went to go see the Chili Peppers, I didn't hear anyone cursing me for not knowing a few songs off of Freaky Styley. I'm a casual fan, I like the songs post-Californication. Sue me.

Songs like With or Without You and Elevation aren't just played because they were singles or well known, they're played because they fit a purpose within a concert. U2 just doesn't have that many songs in their canon that have the pure energy that Elevation does, especially live. I know we'd all like to think that In God's Country or Fez or something would get a crowd going like Elevation, but it wouldn't. And it doesn't have to do with popularity, it has to do with the fact that Elevation makes you want to jump and feel joy.

And just like Elevation makes you want to jump and feel joy, With or Without You slows things down to an introspective mood.

They're just better songs. Bono sang Your Blue Room fantastically on this tour, but you can't honestly tell me that it did good things for the mood of the show: it brought the tempo way down, way too soon.

 

[jphelmet]

Ask anybody what U2's biggest songs are... you're likely to hear WOWY and/or Streets. They're in a league of their own.

it really depends on the age of the fan. i know lots and lots of casual fans that would say one, beautiful day, vertigo, nyd, pride, or sunday bloody sunday. u2 has too many big hits to single out those two as a class by themselves. for those who were introduced to u2 with joshua tree that is probably exactly right. someone whose introduction to u2 was vertigo, or beautiful day- definitely not.

i do think streets should never be dropped because it is the highlight of every show i have seen.

 

[Aygo]

Ask anybody what U2's biggest songs are... you're likely to hear WOWY and/or Streets. They're in a league of their own.

"The path of least resistance"... that's what I said, but I said it to suggest that if that's the effort they're going to give it, they should just drop it. Others here will suggest that the pseudo-bored approach is both deliberate and quality.

In NA, maybe. In Europe, songs like SBS, Pride, One, BD, Elevation, Vertigo are as big as WOWY.

 

[ZooMacPhisto800]

In NA, maybe. In Europe, songs like SBS, Pride, One, BD, Elevation, Vertigo are as big as WOWY.

This isn't a NA/Europe issue. As pointed out by the previous poster, a younger fan might treat them all as equivalent... regardless of continent.

 

[ZOOTVTOURist]

""Anyway, it is WOWY..." Serious: Throw this played to death tune out of the setlist! Now! The 360 live versions are a shame ...

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

WOWY sounded fine in Dallas the other night...

i think youtube videos just dont do it justice

 

[edgeplaytheblue]

larry doesn't drum the intro. If you get bored with te song then don't play it. Same as they did with BTBS.

 

[beau99]

WOWY sounded fine in Dallas the other night...

And in Phoenix, now that I've seen it in person.

Bono sang it the way he did on purpose... and no, he didn't look bored to me.

 

[beau99]

Why would you want to piss off your "casual" fans? Why is there such hatred towards "casual" fans? Sure, I'm as diehard a U2 fan as there is, but I've gone to see bands before where I don't know their entire discography. When I went to go see the Chili Peppers, I didn't hear anyone cursing me for not knowing a few songs off of Freaky Styley. I'm a casual fan, I like the songs post-Californication. Sue me.

Perhaps I worded it wrong.

In TMBG's case, all they ever hear from the audience at shows is "Play (insert song here)!", usually Particle Man, Birdhouse In Your Soul or Istanbul. They're just tired of it. They play what they want to play, not what they audience wants them to play. I very much agree with this approach. If you don't want to play a certain song, why should you?

 

[Galeongirl]

larry doesn't drum the intro. If you get bored with te song then don't play it. Same as they did with BTBS.

What do you mean? Larry hasn't drummed the intro since, well, ever? It's always been a drum loop. He starts drumming at "though the storm we reach the shore".

I'm glad that he finally plays the proper drum part for the song! He hasn't done that since ZOOTV! Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo were really bad drumwise for this song. It was such a lazy and boring part, at least he plays it properly this tour.

Now if we could only get Bono to sing it with passion again, I can see this song live up like never before!

 

[djerdap]

I'm glad that he finally plays the proper drum part for the song! He hasn't done that since ZOOTV! Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo were really bad drumwise for this song. It was such a lazy and boring part, at least he plays it properly this tour.

He was playing the proper drum part on the Vertigo Tour as well.

 

[Galeongirl]

He was playing the proper drum part on the Vertigo Tour as well.

Woops, you're completely correct, my bad.

 

[U2387]

He was playing the proper drum part on the Vertigo Tour as well.

He was, but it is not as fast as it was in the 1987-1993 time period.

They definitely need an extended outro back, and shine like stars.

Also, speaking of the Vertigo tour, I have been watching alot of U2ube videos recently of WOWY performances from this tour. IMHO, only a hand full of these performances were great(Tokyo 11/30 being the best), but it really is striking how good they were compared to 360 versions. Bono at least sang the song instead of talked it, and Edge's outro was a little longer and more dramatic. The crowd also seemed more into it.

I guess while Pop, Elevation and Vertigo were not great WOWY tours, Vertigo stood out in that 99% of the performances at least did this song justice.