Is this the end for a while?

[mama cass]

What other bands in their 50s are on tour 3 out of 4 years?

Tons.

And most aren't flying around on private jets playing the same venue for a week.

pff have you never heard of Kate Bush?

the gold standard for touring obvs

 

[The_acrobat]

I am a guitarist. It actually is very hard on your body, somehow. At the end of a gig, or even practicing for a couple hours, I am sore as fuck! I am only 36, but I get it. Something about my posture I think. I wish I had a big stage like Edge and Adam do so that I could move around and stretch my legs while I play. Usually I’m cramped on the side of a stage with just enough room to set a mic stand and my pedals in front of me.

So I get the need for physio.

 

[Irvine511]

What other bands in their 50s are on tour 3 out of 4 years?

Tons.

And most aren't flying around on private jets playing the same venue for a week.

And U2 have essentially put on 3 different shows. Some of these bands... I know, this is hard to believe... but some put on a different show EVERY NIGHT OF THE TOUR.

I know. I was surprised, too

in their defense, these are highly staged/choreographed shows, requiring the band and especially Bono to hit specific marks for the visuals to work (i.e., UTEOTW). there's also an enormous amount of thought that's been put into the visuals and the construction of a TIGHT NARRATIVE -- and everything has to go through all four members. you could argue that pulling off the Broadway-ish style of this show is potentially more challenging than a group of highly skilled professional musicians playing generally simple songs and backing up a charismatic and very fit frontman who conducts them in whichever way he wants to go.

 

[trevgreg]

in their defense, these are highly staged/choreographed shows, requiring the band and especially Bono to hit specific marks for the visuals to work (i.e., UTEOTW). there's also an enormous amount of thought that's been put into the visuals and the construction of a TIGHT NARRATIVE -- and everything has to go through all four members. you could argue that pulling off the Broadway-ish style of this show is potentially more challenging than a group of highly skilled professional musicians playing generally simple songs and backing up a charismatic and very fit frontman who conducts them in whichever way he wants to go.

But, but, BUT... SPRINGSTEEN!!! PEARL JAM!!! RADIOHEAD!!! ETC. ETC. ON ARTISTS I HAPPEN TO OWN MULTIPLE ALBUMS FOR!!!

 

[trevgreg]

True. Maybe I have seen my last U2 show already. That would suck, but I could accept that.

My point is that barring some unforeseen illness or accident, I think that these 4 guys intend to continue as long as they can. We just have to take it one album/tour at a time. Eventually it will be the last one.

All we really know is that they have 5 shows left. After that, it’s all a giant ?

I think everyone is different, honestly. Some people are in good or decent shape, but lose the drive to perform or do whatever they do. And some people want to keep going on doing something, but aren't physically able to.

Everyone wants them to be healthy and still in the game though. And as long as there's a drive and an audience (and the latter, I'll always assume is there), I think they'll be around in some capacity. If they reach Stones status and nothing suffers for it, that'd be great. But not every act is going to be as lucky.

 

[Irvine511]

But, but, BUT... SPRINGSTEEN!!! PEARL JAM!!! RADIOHEAD!!! ETC. ETC.!!!

all of whom are awesome and i love very much and admire and i wish U2 would give us 30 songs with lots of variety and setlist changes over 3+ hours.

it just seems like they want to do something else. probably because they aren't confident enough to do the 3+ hour thing. but they've never been purely musicians. they use music to make their art.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

in their defense, these are highly staged/choreographed shows, requiring the band and especially Bono to hit specific marks for the visuals to work (i.e., UTEOTW). there's also an enormous amount of thought that's been put into the visuals and the construction of a TIGHT NARRATIVE -- and everything has to go through all four members. you could argue that pulling off the Broadway-ish style of this show is potentially more challenging than a group of highly skilled professional musicians playing generally simple songs and backing up a charismatic and very fit frontman who conducts them in whichever way he wants to go.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't be tired. I don't think anyone is saying that.

U2 are traveling by private jet, staying in 5 star hotels or private residences, have more or less played only in North America and Europe, and have been largely doing mini residencies.

The idea that doing this for 3 out of the last 4 years is some sort of unique, rigorous stress test that they need 5 years to recover from is a silly line of thinking. It's defending the band for the sake of defending the band and ignoring the obvious - that two or the four members have physical concerns beyond the regular wear and tear associated with being touring musicians.

 

[mama cass]

I'm not saying that they shouldn't be tired. I don't think anyone is saying that.

U2 are traveling by private jet, staying in 5 star hotels or private residences, have more or less played only in North America and Europe, and have been largely doing mini residencies.

The idea that doing this for 3 out of the last 4 years is some sort of unique, rigorous stress test that they need 5 years to recover from is a silly line of thinking. It's defending the band for the sake of defending the band and ignoring the obvious - that two or the four members have physical concerns beyond the regular wear and tear associated with being touring musicians.

it's still travelling and working though, living out of a suitcase, away from home comforts, and extremely intense performance-wise and socially i imagine too... must be all like tick-tock, stick to a tight schedule, be here, be there, not like being a couch potato at home

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

it's still travelling and working though, living out of a suitcase, away from home comforts, and extremely intense performance-wise and socially i imagine too... must be all like tick-tock, stick to a tight schedule, be here, be there, not like being a couch potato at home

right... and lots of acts do it.

If this band needs an extended (multi year) break after doing it just to recover, there's either something physically wrong, or they just don't want to. Which is fine... they're loaded and incredibly accomplished. They don't need to do this.

I'm not saying they don't deserve a break. But U2 breaks aren't a couple of months. They tend to be minimum 3 years.

 

[mama cass]

right... and lots of acts do it.

If this band needs an extended (multi year) break after doing it just to recover, there's either something physically wrong, or they just don't want to. Which is fine... they're loaded and incredibly accomplished. They don't need to do this.

I'm not saying they don't deserve a break. But U2 breaks aren't a couple of months. They tend to be minimum 3 years.

i'm not saying they need 3 years or 5 years off, what i'm saying is they've been pretty full on for the past few years, and deserve some quality down time

 

[rennowba]

What happened to this rumour that they had signed a brand new deal with live nation ?

 

[TinKnight]

If the crux of the question is asking if they going to go away for a few years, I think the evidence points to yes. They seem tired, they're talking about taking breaks, and they haven't said anything about a new album coming out.

If the question starts to veer into "is this the end?", it's all speculation. Based on evidence, it's a reasonable conclusion to make, but idk, I think they're all too flamboyant to not have a massive goodbye tour.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

What happened to this rumour that they had signed a brand new deal with live nation ?

Meaningless in predicting the future.

LiveNation controls all aspects of their business now - not just touring.

 

[zoopop]

If the crux of the question is asking if they going to go away for a few years, I think the evidence points to yes. They seem tired, they're talking about taking breaks, and they haven't said anything about a new album coming out.

If the question starts to veer into "is this the end?", it's all speculation. Based on evidence, it's a reasonable conclusion to make, but idk, I think they're all too flamboyant to not have a massive goodbye tour.

Pretty much same talk as every tour winds down. Larry will say 'see you next time' after Berlin and 2019 will be quiet.

There is alot of $$$ in touring. Even though U2 has more $ than needed the demand is still there.

'U2020 Tour' will sell billions on tshirts alone!

 

[The_acrobat]

My guess is that they’ll take a good portion of 2019 entirely away from U2, then after their summer vacation is over they’ll start kicking around ideas in the studio. 2020 and 2021 will be spent recording and re-recording. Next album and tour in 2022. That is my prediction. There may or may not be some AB30 or Boy40 shows in there, who knows?

 

[theu2fly]

There's a good chance they'll put out some sort of promo song or promo single for a film or a charity as they've done so in the past.

However, actual album may not happen until at least 2022. The last few tours should be an indicator of how they popular are... SOI was a dud, JT brought them back, but SOE appears to have brought them back down slightly.

The amount of touring they've been doing has definitely taken a toll on their popularity and also B man's health. I don't see them playing stadiums ever again after JT30, and a Z0030 is probably a bit too much.

At this point, they just need time for themselves.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The touring may have hurt demand in the short term, but it hasn't come a thing to hurt their overall popularity. If anything it helps it - and with a few years off they will absolutely be able to sell it stadiums again (provided it's a hits style tour)

 

[Axver]

U2: we're gonna play all THE HITZ!

Also U2: open the show with Magnificent, Every Breaking Wave, and Ordinary Love.

 

[Kieran McConville]

it's an ordin'ry day
i let it get away

 

[hatrickpatrick]

I would bet every thing that I own in this world that they will never work with, let alone speak to, Brian Eno or Daniel Lanois ever again.

Where are you getting ]that from?

 

[mo786]

As far as the UK goes I don't think their touring has hurt demand - ticket prices may have.

The reality is most people will maybe see U2 once a tour - so seeing them once a year is no biggie. What people don't want to do is pay upwards of £200 a seat for the privilege.

If you watched them in London for IE in 2015 it would be a further 2 years til Joshua Tree and a further 15 months to EI - so its not like the shows are THAT close.

That said, as far as I am aware all of the UK shows have still sold out which tells me a) people will still pay high prices and b) if they lowered price demand would probably be higher.

 

[BreakingTheWave]

In order to negate some of the wear and tear/old age I think they should do a very stripped back show in terms of set up and play far fewer dates - maybe 1 date per country (or for UK and Ireland - one show on each Island).

Late to this thread, but just a gentle reminder that Ireland is a different country to the UK!!!!

 

[PopFly]

My guess is that U2 takes 2019 completely off, and very probably all of 2020 off as well.

A 30th anniversary ZooTV tour in 2021 is possible but there are some obvious drawbacks. They did an unofficial "Achtung Baby 20" during the last 360 leg, and they're basically doing an "Achtung Baby 17" right now. I'm not sure what the appeal is in advertising hearing the whole album from start to finish when nine of the 12 songs have been widely played over the last two tours. Plus, I wonder if the band is keen on that kind of tour again both for setlist flow reasons (after all the complaints about the JT shows dragged during the "side B" portion) and for the fact that doing another greatest-hits tour might seem unattractive. JT30 only happened because of the album delay and because LiveNation was getting antsy, after all.

What I do expect from 2021 is some news about another album, with a 2022 release date. I don't think they're done yet.

 

[Kieran McConville]

To avoid excessive wear and tear, they should probably restrict themselves to a live 'from the basement' type affair, simulcast to people all over the world except Australia.

 

[mo786]

Late to this thread, but just a gentle reminder that Ireland is a different country to the UK!!!!

I know - what I meant was 1 show for england/scotland/wales and 1 show for ROI/NI.

I don't think many are bothered about an AB tour where they play every song in order but certainly one where they play most if not all the songs. somewhere in the show

I think there is demand essentially for a greatest hits show.

 

[kabigon]

I'm not sure what the appeal is in advertising hearing the whole album from start to finish when nine of the 12 songs have been widely played over the last two tours. Plus, I wonder if the band is keen on that kind of tour again both for setlist flow reasons (after all the complaints about the JT shows dragged during the "side B" portion) and for the fact that doing another greatest-hits tour might seem unattractive.

Achtung has a lot more of its singles/most played songs spread out, unlike the heavily front-loaded JT.

Sure they've been playing six Achtung songs a night for the last 17 shows, but not that excessive a number before that. Certainly not heavily enough to prevent a tour if they wanted it.

Average Achtung songs per show for recent tours:
E+I: 224 songs/56 shows so far = 4/12
JT: 113 songs/51 shows = 2.2/12
I+E: 269 songs/76 shows = 3.5/12
360: 394 songs/110 shows = 3.6/12

 

[lazarus]

Regarding the setlist flow, that's likely not the same issue in that AB's first two singles were tracks 7 and 8, and both The Fly and Mysterious Ways are familiar to audiences, the latter the song's biggest hit, as opposed to Streets, Still Haven't Found, and WOWY coming so early.

Plus Ultraviolet and Acrobat are going to have a bit more familiarity thanks to their 360 and E+I slots.

So really your only "down" moments are So Cruel, which is sandwiched between two rockers, and Tryin' To Throw, which has a Trip Through Your Wires fun lightness.

I'm not saying this tour is still likely to happen, but I don't think it has quite the same obstacles.

 

[aviastar]

U2 are going to realize that they can make more money on hologram tours...maybe the ticket prices come way down but so do the expenses. Who wants to trot out a ZooTV replica in 2021 when they are 60+ and can just have Willie Williams put together a hologram tour that gives hardcore fans some serious memberberries. I feel like it’s the next logical step technologically. Grab a ton of footage from the vault, incorporate in some real live trabants and sit back and collect.

 

[The_acrobat]

Sadly, I’d go see a hologram version of zoo tv, with the members of U2 being holograms of their 1993 selves.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Maybe when they're dead. But, yea - nah.