It was more a general point regarding recent output being the shadow of the eighties material, to be honest. The actual setlist is fairly favourably selected for me to say it's NOT a glaring step down; weak eighties picks (be they weak studio songs like THBAO or ISHFWILF, or songs rubbish live these days, like Pride or WOWY) vs two of NLOTH's better songs. Almost any other conceivable selection, and the step down really is glaring to me. For the record, I think NLOTH is a scorching live track, but Magnificent is not half what the eighties anthems are, and much like its ancestor Pride, it isn't as good live as studio.
As a cynical reviewer, I would suggest the first encore represents the true bottom of a nosediving career, with the second encore a well-meaning attempt to climb back to previous heights.
Well, your dislike for most of the output post 80s is well known.
As for THBAO and Still Haven't... being weak studio tracks, I can't agree there at all.
I am not asking you to explain yourself, we just have a difference of taste.
I just don't see how a reviewer who is supposed to put his/her personal tastes aside and judge on how well the songs work, did they resonate, were they successful, are they musically interesting, could conclude that U2 is in decline.
Of course, as U2387 and Axver only, we both agree that we'd take One Tree Hill and The Unforgettable Fire over Beautiful Day and City of Blinding Lights any day.
I would suspect from reading other posts of yours that we disagree strongly on the particular merits of COBL and BD, but we'd both given our choice, have One Tree Hill and UF first.
However, in terms of the general public/mainstream reviewers, U2's 2000s work being put at the end of a career track progression will not be a big deal at all like some suggest. That was the original point I was making, and I don't want to veer too far off it to get into an endless debate over what amounts to personal taste.
U2 in the 2000s is as critically acclaimed as U2 in any decade, and maybe even more so than the 90s. I don't agree as I put Bomb near the bottom of my list, but I can pull up in 5 seconds many, many reviews who hailed it as a return to U2's glory days. One reviewer even suggested it was better than JT and AB!!!!
Finally, you say Magnificent is a weak live track and unless we are talking about the Promo tour, I am with you 110%! Way too slow and often flat live.
Overall, we're pretty kindred spirits, being as vocally sick as I am of U2 playing 5 ATYCLB songs every night and forgetting they existed pre 1984!
Hope I cleared some things up, Ax!