Joshua Tree Tour 2017 - Rumors & General Discussion II

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Can't a man be old and tired and not get attacked for it? Poor Bono.

I laid on my couch for six hours straight yesterday playing Pokémon and eating gummy worms and I'm only in my 30s.
:hi5:

I need to drop 20 myself... I just don't have to run around a football field in front of 50,000+ every night so I'm taking my time.
 
Can't a man be old and tired and not get attacked for it? Poor Bono.

I laid on my couch for six hours straight yesterday playing Pokémon and eating gummy worms and I'm only in my 30s.



I'm in my 20s but I'm pretty sure I can just lie down and watch bunch of YouTube vids all day.
 
I don't get how the IE Tour had longer setlists than the current tour despite having a more rigorous touring schedule (even if, as noted, neither schedule is that gruelling even by the standards of other older acts). It was only eighteen months ago. And Bono was in much more fragile a physical condition then!

The failure of this tour to crack even 24 songs, let alone the 25-26 that was the norm on IE's second leg, is unjustifiable.
 
I don't get how the IE Tour had longer setlists than the current tour despite having a more rigorous touring schedule (even if, as noted, neither schedule is that gruelling even by the standards of other older acts). It was only eighteen months ago. And Bono was in much more fragile a physical condition then!

The failure of this tour to crack even 24 songs, let alone the 25-26 that was the norm on IE's second leg, is unjustifiable.

agreed.

And we can't use any of Larry's physical ailments as an excuse. There are a bunch of songs where he is non existent in the beginning and probably purposely giving him a break.
 
Be careful, some pedant is liable to come along and accuse you of being negative!

You're supposed to make excuses for the band, not complain!

I owe you an apology. Band doing another short set with ASOH in Houston. Not cool. I was wrong about them bringing it back.
 
Still beats the 15-18 that I usually see at gigs 90% of the time...

Though most bands don't have over ten albums, over twenty massive hits, or over forty years of the same lineup!

I expect a bit longer a show from a band like U2 than I do from a buzz band touring their first album or two (11-13 songs is fair) or an established act with five or so albums confirming their claim to fame (15-18 songs). The Cure, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam get it. I don't expect U2 to play for four hours and I know they will never throw the setlist in a blender every night, but I do wish they'd at least go for 25-26 songs a night, 27-28 if they're feeling pretty good about life.
 
agreed.



And we can't use any of Larry's physical ailments as an excuse. There are a bunch of songs where he is non existent in the beginning and probably purposely giving him a break.



Uhh...which songs? He plays on every song this tour. He starts off with Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, then Pride. Then goes into Streets, Still Haven't Found, WOWY, then Bullet. All those songs have drumming in them and most have drumming all the way through the song.
 
Uhh...which songs? He plays on every song this tour. He starts off with Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, then Pride. Then goes into Streets, Still Haven't Found, WOWY, then Bullet. All those songs have drumming in them and most have drumming all the way through the song.


Running to Stand Still, not much in the first half
Mothers of the Disappeared, not much....
MS - slow, light drumming
TLTTGYA - not much in first verse, not a whole lot until the end.
 
Though most bands don't have over ten albums, over twenty massive hits, or over forty years of the same lineup!

I expect a bit longer a show from a band like U2 than I do from a buzz band touring their first album or two (11-13 songs is fair) or an established act with five or so albums confirming their claim to fame (15-18 songs). The Cure, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam get it. I don't expect U2 to play for four hours and I know they will never throw the setlist in a blender every night, but I do wish they'd at least go for 25-26 songs a night, 27-28 if they're feeling pretty good about life.
Springsteen and Pearl Jam shows seem to get longer as they get older... U2 shows seem to be getting shorter.
 
GnR plays a longer set and their openers are way better. Axl is sounding pretty good and runs around more than Bono.
 
I can't imagine that playing the same songs every other night wouldn't get old at some point. I am already looking at retirement and I have anywhere from 12-20 years left....doing the same thing for 40 years would have to be somewhat of a drag. So the band has a different energy level this time around than on tours past? Well, duh! If I were them I might have hung it up in 2011 after the 360 Tour closed out. There really is no reason to keep going at this point, other than perhaps they enjoy doing it. Of course I hope they do keep going, but I wouldn't blame them if they didn't.
 
Robert Smith is not in great shape, yet he sings and plays guitar for four hours, and his voice is stellar. Seriously, it's a fucking miracle. He's a year older than Bono too.

If we're going to talk about old guys and stamina though the winner is clearly RUSH. Over three hours of complex material played every night, though those days are probably over because Peart feels he doesn't have the physical ability to play up to his standards.

The average set for Nick Cave & TBS over the last few years is 17-19 songs.

Depeche Mode average 22 songs on their current tour, and Dave is more active than Bono (also in better voice, too). Martin takes a few songs though.

New Order average 16 songs over the last few years.

Soundgarden :( averaged 16 songs this year (but all more demanding than any U2 song)

Paul Weller has a 32 song set right now. He wins.

U2's sets are pretty normal for a band their age. Weller, Rush, the Cure, PJ are exceptions.
 
I never assumed this was a normal U2 tour to begin with. Such a small run of shows and getting a sequenced album performance included. There is no point in trying to compare this to previous tours (the whole 21 vrs 24-25 song set). It is an album's celebration and should be viewed as such. Just my 2 cents.
For all we know, this could be carefully planned to make sure that the SOE release and tour goes well and for a long time. Maybe health considerations (of which we will never know about) are important to keep in mind, if the plan is tour 2 more years (2018-19?) past this special JT30 Tour.
 
I never assumed this was a normal U2 tour to begin with. Such a small run of shows and getting a sequenced album performance included. There is no point in trying to compare this to previous tours (the whole 21 vrs 24-25 song set). It is an album's celebration and should be viewed as such. Just my 2 cents.
For all we know, this could be carefully planned to make sure that the SOE release and tour goes well and for a long time. Maybe health considerations (of which we will never know about) are important to keep in mind, if the plan is tour 2 more years (2018-19?) past this special JT30 Tour.

Pretty much my thinking there.

I can't imagine that playing the same songs every other night wouldn't get old at some point. I am already looking at retirement and I have anywhere from 12-20 years left....doing the same thing for 40 years would have to be somewhat of a drag.

I see this on most other band message boards too. My thinking... if bands got sick of playing songs 100 times every 3-4 years, then I'd wonder why 99% of them still stick to it no matter what. Obviously, it must not be a huge thing for them. Or seeing the reactions to songs never gets old for them, etc..

Even if they played 30+ songs a night, I think the argument would just shift to something else. On a GNR forum, I saw them talking about why such-and-such songs couldn't be revolved with this or that every other night. Or why they played this song and it got dropped before they saw a show. Basically, the same stuff we talk about here with 20+ songs anyway.

Robert Smith is not in great shape, yet he sings and plays guitar for four hours, and his voice is stellar. Seriously, it's a fucking miracle. He's a year older than Bono too.

If we're going to talk about old guys and stamina though the winner is clearly RUSH. Over three hours of complex material played every night, though those days are probably over because Peart feels he doesn't have the physical ability to play up to his standards.

The average set for Nick Cave & TBS over the last few years is 17-19 songs.

Depeche Mode average 22 songs on their current tour, and Dave is more active than Bono (also in better voice, too). Martin takes a few songs though.

New Order average 16 songs over the last few years.

Soundgarden :( averaged 16 songs this year (but all more demanding than any U2 song)

Paul Weller has a 32 song set right now. He wins.

U2's sets are pretty normal for a band their age. Weller, Rush, the Cure, PJ are exceptions.

Which makes it all the more interesting that bands much younger than these guys might not even get above 18 songs at all.
 
Interesting quote from Dave Gahan on set lengths from an article i just read... seems like Depeche Mode is well into the 2-hour boat too.

Steve Baltin: Do you have an even greater appreciation for your fans who have been with you for so long? And when you’re older, you also have a different appreciation for everything.

Dave Gahan: Definitely. I appreciate it a lot more now than I did when I was 25. When you’re 25, your whole mindset is just to like get somewhere, and once you realize there’s nowhere to go you’ve got to reset. This show that we’re doing now is just a little over two hours at the moment. We’re trying to just make it two, or just under, and sometimes songs go a bit longer, and you do certain things, but there’s something about the pace of it. The set that we’re working right now, I feel like it actually is working really well. I put it together because I know how it should feel. And I know from experience where a song should be, or where a song shouldn’t be, from old songs, to new songs, and the ones on the new record that might work live, and the ones that definitely won’t. There’s a lot that you have to think about. You don’t really know until you go on stage and actually play the set.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveb...-enduring-four-decades-and-more/#181dc25d5644
 
Joshua Tree Tour 2017 - Rumors & General Discussion II

This tour is about the Joshua tree album that's what it's been sold on that's what people have paid to see. Anything extra then that album is a bonus so a two hour set is fine by me
 
Here's one problem with that...

Springsteen, Jagger, McCartney... they're all in phenomenal shape. It's what has allowed them to continue performing live at a high level into their 60s and 70s.

Bono being in worse and worse shape each passing tour does not bode well for the future of the band beyond the next couple of years.

That's my concern with his condition. I'm sure the shows are phenomenal. Is like to see a lot more beyond this tour and the next.

Sure, but for every one of them (and Jagger, McCartney, and Springsteen have always been in shape. Bono has been a bubble butt with a tendency for extra pounds forever), there is a Jerry Garcia or Brian Wilson or Ann Wilson (always large) or what have you who is twice his/her original size.

So this is the reality of Bono's physique. It isn't new. He'll be fine until he isn't. Or he will work himself into gig shape on stage like many before him
 
The ever expanding set list times are a product, in some respect, of Springsteen, and a product of increasing ticket prices.

Used to be, in the heyday, an hour and 10 minutes was pretty standard. If you got 90 minutes from bands, wow.


Now, we expect 2+ hour setlists. And rightfully so with the price we are paying.
 
Sure, but for every one of them (and Jagger, McCartney, and Springsteen have always been in shape. Bono has been a bubble butt with a tendency for extra pounds forever), there is a Jerry Garcia or Brian Wilson or Ann Wilson (always large) or what have you who is twice his/her original size.

So this is the reality of Bono's physique. It isn't new. He'll be fine until he isn't. Or he will work himself into gig shape on stage like many before him
... your counter examples to why it's no big deal that Bono isn't in the best of shape are somebody who tours small clubs, somebody who stopped touring for 30 years and had a nervous breakdown, and somebody who died of a heart attack at 53?
 
My point wasn't specific to them. I guess I could have dug for the Robert Smiths or Axl Roses who have gained 15, or maybe have one too many burritos rather than going after Garcia, but the point is Jagger and Springsteen in specific have been health nuts their whole life. Jagger was wearing fkn Danceskins and doing the 20 Minute Workout with Jane Fonda backstage in the 80's while Keef laid blue next to him with a needle halfway jammed in his arm. Bruce got guns for Born in the USA and has been a workout freak since. It just isn't the normal way of the rock star..."gig shape" is a phrase for a reason, because many round their way into it after a few shows because they show up less than gig fit.

I'll give you my examples were uninspired. Half (or more) of my attention is in a ridiculous spreadsheet with too many colors for reasons I cannot figure out.
 
Bubble Bursting Time: here are the average show lengths of U2 tours going back 34 years.

1983: 18
TUF: 18
TJT: 20
Lovetown: 19
Zoo TV: 22
Popmart: 23 (incl. Daydream Believer)
Elevation: 21
Vertigo: 23
360: 23
I&E: 25
TJT: 22

The current show is, on average, longer than the original Joshua Tree tour, Lovetown, and Elevation and is the same length as Zoo TV, but that one had two covers and this one has none. Popmart had a cover. In terms of original material played, this is their fourth longest set, and they're playing longer now than they did in the 80s when they were younger and stronger.

There's really nothing to complain about.
 
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