360 Tour is Most Vital Since ZooTV

[Dr. Lemonseed]

Just a thought... I believe the 360 tour is U2's most vital (alive/fresh) since ZooTV

Setlist strength (no weak songs!)
Performance strength (The band was the tightest I've seen yet)
Concept freshness
Relevance

On certain of the factors I could say previous tours maybe we superior (e.g. Elevation for relevance), but taken all together, I think this is the strongest tour since ZooTV.

(PS my first tour was Popmart)

 

[coolian2]

playing more songs from a nine year old album than new songs? check. barf.

 

[cleazer]

playing more songs from a nine year old album than new songs? check. barf.

What are you talking about?
According to this site, they've played 7 songs from NLOTH and 5 songs from ATYCLB.

I think you've got your numbers backwards.

If you prefer, I totaled up the number of times each was played, and NLOTH wins 297 to 155. That's a pretty significant margin, pretty much double.

You're welcome.

 

[coolian2]

What are you talking about?
According to this site, they've played 7 songs from NLOTH and 5 songs from ATYCLB.

I think you've got your numbers backwards.

If you prefer, I totaled up the number of times each was played, and NLOTH wins 297 to 155. That's a pretty significant margin, pretty much double.

You're welcome.

i take it you stopped following the tour after they played say....new york?

 

[U2387]

i take it you stopped following the tour after they played say....new york?

Yep.

I understand the overall tour count of songs from albums, but take a look on U2 gigs at Vegas.

U2 Las Vegas, 2009-10-23, Sam Boyd Stadium, 360? Tour - U2 on tour

or Raleigh, when they decided to play 6 NLOTH and 5 ATYCLB:

U2 Raleigh, 2009-10-03, Carter-Finley Stadium, 360? Tour - U2 on tour

This was not at all uncommon in the time period when they dropped Unknown Caller.

And even if coolian engaged in a bit of exaggeration, the overall point stands.

They are playing way too much ATYCLB and it does not fit the concept of the tour at all. No, Stuck and IALW and Walk On and Elevation are not weak songs, but there are better, more tour concept appropriate songs and 3 of 4 of them just don't need to be there every night. Period. End of Story.

Beautiful Day, Walk On for Su Kyi and the occasional Kite or In A Little While is all that is called for.

Dr Lemonseed, I wish I could go along ,more with your points, but I have to call it a mixed bag.

Setlist Strength: Not there.

ATYCLB overload is most of the reason why.

They could also stand to change a couple more songs per night like they did on Vertigo.

And for God's sake, while they are at it, remember the following:

1.) JT is a masterpiece as much or more so than AB, so lets go get some album tracks and put them in the set every now and then. AB gets a whole new group of regulars every tour. Keep AB, don't get me wrong, but 3 ATYCLB's can't go to the sidelines for some JT?

2.)Certain songs fit the claw to a T: Alot from the Pop era like Gone, Please, Hold Me..Kill Me, Last Night on Earth, MOFO,etc. Play them, Pop was not a bad album, has only improved in ratings over time and the songs came off much better live than in the studio.(once they got them down, which took almost the whole 1st leg).

3.)U2 didn't start in 1984. No, they had 3(4 counting UABRS) damn good albums in general and especially for young kids like they were, by 1983. Playing Sunday Bloody Sunday and the occasional New Year's Day does not constitute recognizing this era.

I am no country fan, but Taylor Swift is the only one since U2 who has even come close to touching that kind of brilliance in their earliest work!

That being said, it is U2 and there are certainly things to applaud. Even with the set list lacking overall, I would never, ever stay home nor even try and claim that any band can put on a show anywhere near as good as U2.(ok, maybe Bruce)

These are undeniably positive:

-6 or 7 songs routinely got played from NLOTH, even though the general public and a lot of casual fans had no idea they even released an album.

-Unforgettable Fire, Ultraviolet, MLK.


Performance Strength: I don't completely disagree. They were pretty damn good, but I think the tours in general are so close together on this. U2 rehearses so much and they try and get every note in live performances damn near perfect. Bono and Adam don't miss much either, don't get me wrong, but Larry and Edge are just unbelievable. They are nearly perfect. Edge misses very few notes, to the point where any little deviation is noticeable, and Larry is like a goddamn drum machine!!

The band seemed tighter to me at the beginning of the tour in Europe(i thought they sounded the tightest since Lovetown then), and the whole thing seemed livelier, but by the time they got into the tour, it seemed to lose some of its energy and vitality. Zoo TV didn't do that.

Concept Freshness: Agree 100%!!

From a practical standpoint, brilliant way to get as many people as possible into the stadium and make the show as intimate as possible.

From a visual standpoint, its just mindblowing. Having a 360 design requires a big supporting structure, so might as well make that as visually awesome as possible, and wow, did U2 deliver and deliver big on this!!

You are closer to the band than at any other stadium show, and if your seats are further away, it still seems closer because of the size of the stage and how the work the catwalks.

Your point here is proven very easily. It took less than 1/2 second for Bon Jovi and the Foo Fighters to copy this concept.

Relevance:

Would be nice if NLOTH got the general public recognition it deserved, but in terms of tour attendance, no argument there! In case there was any doubt that U2 are still the biggest draw in the world, they have proven it once and for all by setting attendance records in some of the biggest stadiums in the world.

 

[coolian2]

Yep.

i did exaggerate a bit, but i'm glad you caught what i meant. i totally agree with your post as well. everything except for setlist strength is top shelf. i'd also argue in one or two places performance has gone backwards - such as the solo in mysterious ways - but it's a minor quibble given how rarely it was played.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

yeah, i'd like to just quote the last two posts and be all qft. so yeah, imagine i did that.

 

[MikeyJB]

Your point here is proven very easily. It took less than 1/2 second for Bon Jovi and the Foo Fighters to copy this concept.

I don't know (or care) about Bon Jovi but I'm quite sure Foo Fighters and Metallica both utilised the 360 idea in recent years, albiet not on the same scale as U2.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

to expand a bit more on my thoughts...

They are playing way too much ATYCLB and it does not fit the concept of the tour at all. No, Stuck and IALW and Walk On and Elevation are not weak songs, but there are better, more tour concept appropriate songs and 3 of 4 of them just don't need to be there every night. Period. End of Story.

agreed. these are not stadium songs, plain and simple. acoustic encores or whatever don't belong here when they've got the stage set-up they do. the problem is, they're relying on these handful of atyclb songs as a crutch. they know it'll get the casual fans in a frenzy because they know them. bfd, let them learn a new bunch of songs. i'm not saying don't play anything a casual fan would know, but how about, you know, playing some new material? it's not going to convince anyone to buy nloth who hasn't bought it yet by playing hardly anything from the album.

i mean, take your blue room. they spend so much time rehearsing it and getting the satellite thing going, only to drop it a few shows later. and replacing it with ialw is stupid. it's another slow acousticy type song that has no place on a stage like that, not when it's zootv + popmart + fucking awesomeness. i'm so glad i managed to catch ybr when i did (and the premiere of it no less) since it went as fast as it came. i just hope they take this time off to realise people don't need to see the exact same sets they did on the elevation tour, and to play some different music. no acoustic songs, less slow songs. this isn't elevation tour part three, so stop relying on these half dozen songs to carry a show when they're ten years old. god.

 

[U2FanPeter]

I don't know (or care) about Bon Jovi but I'm quite sure Foo Fighters and Metallica both utilised the 360 idea in recent years, albiet not on the same scale as U2.

Elvis and Beatles did 360 stadiums shows with primitive setups decades ago. Springsteen sold some rear-stage stadium seats in the mid 80's in a handful of venues.

Foo Fighters did in UK before 360. Don't think Metallica have ever done 360 in any venue bigger than arenas.

Celine and Rod toured some Euro stadiums with a 360 setup in the mid/late 90's.

U2 are the first worldwide stadium tour. With 100x the production budget for better and for worse.

 

[mikal]

i think Bono said "WOW" and pulled up his sleeves a lot better during the ZooTV Tour.

 

[U2FanPeter]

Concept freshness
Relevance

Selling rear stage tickets in a stadium is a "problem" for a tiny few other acts beyond U2.

The album didn't have a big single that connected. Flat reaction to GOYB with bad video, Magnificent was great but it got blackmailed at radio(they are pushing for radio performer royalties) and Crazy was the wrong version.

 

[digitize]

I think that 360 is an amazing tour. I'm not sure if I like it as much as PopMart... but why do I need to compare them?

 

[Dr. Lemonseed]

I agree with some of the comments about ATYCLB songs. I was bummed to hear IALW in Raleigh. It's rarity at the time was nice, but otherwise its a yawner.

However, I think I have never heard the band tighter, especially in the rhythm section. Larry is pushing the drumming and beats better than I have heard since ZooTV first leg. Just compare his drumming in Sydney ZooTV vs DC ZooTV, and DC is just stunning. In Raleigh for 360, he was right on top of the beat, really getting it pushed the whole way through.

Stage design clearly is killer. Setlist over all is better, but that's because I could take or leave most of HTDAAB, and IMHO, NLOTH is much better than ATYCLB. I basically think Walk On and BD were the carryovers from that album, although the rendition of Stuck totally won me over and was a high point of the show.

Relevance, its definitely the freshest tour and most relevant since Elevation 3rd leg... which will probably never be topped per the whole 9/11 thing.

So there can be some debate over setlist, but compared to Vertigo and Elevation tours, I definitely think this wins.

 

[U2girl]

Setlist is fine, minus I still haven't found.../Stuck (either make a full acoustic set or stop it with the one token acoustic song) slowing down the show too much, and Elevation not being replaced by something else. The UF-COBL right till the end - great. The opening half or so too much random new stuff/hits mix.

U2387, did you look at the Vertigo setlists ? Plenty of pre-1984 U2 loving there.

The ATYLCB complaints are somewhat non-credible - people would be drooling if a certain 1997 album got played.

Performances ? Better than Elevation/Popmart, about the same as Vertigo. Meaning better than pre-JT U2, but not better than the U2 of 1987-1993.

Concept ? Great, would be right up there with Zoo TV if they hadn't reused the circle-shaped catwalk. A spiral shaped, longer catwalk would be better, and more interesting.

Relevance ? Fading after Elevation, due to age.

 

[jphelmet]

1. ZOOTV
2. Vertigo 1st leg (the boy segment + Bad closer blows away 360).
3. Popmart
4. Elevation
5. 360 (NLOTH is a studio album, none of the songs are better live except boots but that isn't really saying anything)
6. Vertigo last legs.

Didn't like the set for 360 (first time for me personally where there were just big sections that were not great- nothing terrible just not like other u2 shows) . Cool set up looks great, but stadiums still suck big time.

 

[nirniva]

i take it you stopped following the tour after they played say....new york?

I wish they had played New York. Would have been better than IALW by a long shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvBsYYE3n3w

 

[pepokiss]

this tour needs a freaking CONCEPT
if they're going with the space ship/milky way/outer space thing, then go all the way

because when you have that + Walk On w/Aang Sang Suky + the Iran stuff + the Africa/ONE stuff ... you have nothing at all


that's why I love Zoo TV, it had all the media frenzy stuff, and the Iraq war thing all mixed up, but they WERE mixed up, from the very beggining, U2 just made it work.


THAT's what this tour needs, A CONCEPT

and frankly, the space ship/universe one is not very important, actually it's nothing.

 

[corianderstem]

Yeah, it's like they had the stage and said "Hey, it's like a spaceship. Guess that's our theme, boys!"

 

[HBK-79]

U2 are the first worldwide stadium tour.

Didn't the Stones do a worldwide stadium tour in the 90s with Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon?

U2 are the first worldwide IN-THE-ROUND stadium tour ----> Yes

Not even Madonna has had the guts to pull off something like that.

 

[Tommy WM]

They really need to drop the whole political side for these next legs. Zoo TV was risky for the band, but so far this tour started out thinking it was going to be risky, only to then become typical U2. They only need to drop say 2 songs: Sunday Bloody Sunday and Walk On and replace them. Imagine if they were replaced with Dirty Day and Running to Stand Still. It would change the entire show.

 

[Zoo360]

this tour needs a freaking CONCEPT
if they're going with the space ship/milky way/outer space thing, then go all the way

because when you have that + Walk On w/Aang Sang Suky + the Iran stuff + the Africa/ONE stuff ... you have nothing at all


that's why I love Zoo TV, it had all the media frenzy stuff, and the Iraq war thing all mixed up, but they WERE mixed up, from the very beggining, U2 just made it work.


THAT's what this tour needs, A CONCEPT

and frankly, the space ship/universe one is not very important, actually it's nothing.

Like it or not space/the future is the concept for this tour. But I agree it should be fleshed out more during the next tour legs. And yeah they should drop the Walk On tribute and replace it with something more relevant. At least U2 us trying to do something similar to their 90s tours. Unlike Vertigo and Elevation which had no real concepts at all.

As for the setlist if they just replaced the ATCLB songs with 5 90s songs it would be perfect and would rival PopMart and ZooTv's setlists.

Imagine instead of those 5 ATCLB songs we got: Zooropa, Even Better Than the Real Thing, God Part II, MOFO, Gone, etc.

 

[U2387]

They really need to drop the whole political side for these next legs. Zoo TV was risky for the band, but so far this tour started out thinking it was going to be risky, only to then become typical U2. They only need to drop say 2 songs: Sunday Bloody Sunday and Walk On and replace them. Imagine if they were replaced with Dirty Day and Running to Stand Still. It would change the entire show.

Why?

U2 has always been a political band.

There was plenty of politics on Zoo TV.

I think they need to integrate it into the concept better, but I would still be fine with SBS and Walk On in the set. Walk On is relevant to current events and SBS is being performed brilliantly this tour.

Pride is taking a much needed rest, and a video is taking the place of Bono's preaching, so I don't see much political overload. Those who don't care for the political statements could have it worse.

I'd love to see Dirty Day and Running To Standstill as well, but replace acoustic Stuck, Elevation or IALW with them.

 

[U2387]

Like it or not space/the future is the concept for this tour. But I agree it should be fleshed out more during the next tour legs.

Nail on the head!

Take it all the way then, just like Zoo TV.

No Elevation/lift off/big anticipation with a bunch of loud liftoff noises coming through the speakers segued into In A Little While. I almost fell asleep!

I don't know how exactly you could flesh it out, but U2 are a lot more creative than me!

Cori's argument holds a lot of weight at this point. "hey, a spaceship, so our theme is space."

It couldn't have been too well thought out, because I can't think of more than a handfull of songs to tie well into a space theme.

I was hoping before the start of the tour that maybe the concept would be the future, and expand on things like media overload and consumerism that they explored in the 90s. MacPhisto and Mirrorball satirized some trends back then, come up with a new character to satirize the internet or robots that we'll all have in 20 years.

I don't know, something!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least U2 us trying to do something similar to their 90s tours. Unlike Vertigo and Elevation which had no real concepts at all.

I don't know if I agree.

Elevation was back to basics, connect with the audience, lets just play the music 4 guys on a stage like JT. The heart was a commonly used symbol on the ATYCLB album, so the pit is a heart. I thought the Elevation tour, though Bono's low point, was actually pretty strong on a concept.

Vertigo to a lesser extent, but still was pretty solid. Lets keep the back to basics feel but add some punch to it- political and sentimental. Bomb recalled the early U2 sound, so Boy came for a mini set. Bomb was loud, so was Zoo TV, so we had a Zoo themed encore. 2004/2006 was a contentious time period, so the earnestness of 80s Bono and the pleas for understanding and unity were stronger in the political set.

This tour is really no better than those 2. If anything, its weaker. The space theme was kind of developed on the fly and is still far from finished as you pointed out. 360 suffers from confusion- its trying to be all things. Its looking for Elevation's intimacy(5 ATYCLB), Vertigo's politics(long political set, videos, Bono preaching a bit), and Zoo Tv's boldness(stage set, a bunch of new songs right up front.

In trying to be all things, it winds up being next to nothing theme wise.

As for the setlist if they just replaced the ATCLB songs with 5 90s songs it would be perfect and would rival PopMart and ZooTv's setlists.

Imagine instead of those 5 ATCLB songs we got: Zooropa, Even Better Than the Real Thing, God Part II, MOFO, Gone, etc.

 

[U2girl]

this tour needs a freaking CONCEPT
if they're going with the space ship/milky way/outer space thing, then go all the way

because when you have that + Walk On w/Aang Sang Suky + the Iran stuff + the Africa/ONE stuff ... you have nothing at all


that's why I love Zoo TV, it had all the media frenzy stuff, and the Iraq war thing all mixed up, but they WERE mixed up, from the very beggining, U2 just made it work.


THAT's what this tour needs, A CONCEPT

and frankly, the space ship/universe one is not very important, actually it's nothing.

It already has a concept, just like every tour since Zoo TV.

 

[Zoo360]

Maybe the band should strut out on stage in orange space jumpsuits.

But seriously if they just included songs like Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, MOFO, Discotheque, The Fly, and Lemon, this tour would soar to new heights.

 

[cobl04]

part of the reason in my opinion a lot of atty club songs are played is that they fell in love with them again on the fifth leg of the Vertigo tour. they skipped us on Elevation, and felt they had to "make up for it" on Vertigo, and so they played Elevation, they played Stuck, they played a host of others that didn't pop up a lot throughout the rest of Vertigo. they probably fell in love with those songs again, hence why they've popped up a lot this tour.

i refuse to complain about setlists, as i think that's ludicrous, but i feel the same way as many people that there are other songs i'd prefer to see them play over IALW, Elevation, etc.

also can't understand why people get all up in their shit over songs that would "suit the claw".

 

[jphelmet]

I don't mind the politics at all, but they seemed so forced this tour. The walk-on/ mask thing brings the show to a stop, and the version of walk on is really weak (loved it on elevation).

My biggest problem is not so much song choices (although for me it could be so much better by changing 3-4 songs), but transitions on this tour are by far the worst they have ever done.

Vertigo-> Crazy Tonight is awful. Vertigo gets the crowd to a frenzy, and then all momentum comes to a complete stop when crazy starts- no matter how much some diehards love it 95% of the stadium doesn't have a clue what it is. They get the crowd back at the end of the song, but then it goes into the extremely forced / worst transition they have ever done with the outro into SBS. The outro of Crazy doesn't fit in anyway with vertigo-crazy tonight party feel. You come from a club feel, jumping around to images of persecuted muslim women, which i have no problem with as a theme, but its just a terrible transition. I know some on here like it, but compared to what they done in the past it is way below standards.

The Amazing Grace intro to Streets was great to me, but its hard to screw up the intro to streets and it still isn't as good as the Bad-40-Streets, AIWIY-Streets, Running-Streets.

Beyond those two the whole show is just songs that don't seem to flow at all together. U2 shows have always been really great at these transitions. They make their shows so much better. I would love to see some type of UF mini-set, with the UF as the centerpiece, or a popmart type encore. Something like Mofo-I Will Follow-Gone-UV. 360 is in no way a bad tour, but this was bound to happen sometime. U2 have set the bar so high, its tough to keep coming up with new ways to really make it all fit. I would rather see them rehash really great stuff that works (like a popmart min-set, much like the zootv on vertigo) than force stuff that just never comes together.

All their other tours had multiple really good or great sections that made the show much better. 360, not at all.
Zootv: bad-streets-running-bullet, and the desire-uv-wowy-lib which both were incredible.
Popmart: Mofo-I Will Follow, Until-NYD (got over done after a while, but still great), SBS-Bullet-Streets-Please (way better than anything on 360), and disco-velvet dress-wowoy.
Elevation: bad-40-Streets (best they have ever done), AIWIY-Streets, UTTEOTW-NYD, Peace on earth-Walk on towards end of tour was especially poignant.
Vertigo: lAPOE-SBS-bullet-running (not my favorite, still better than any on 360), Boy sets, ZooTV set.

360 still is a very good tour, U2 is still so great that I will always go see them, but I am baffled this thread topic. 360 isn't any better than anything from zootv on.

 

[djerdap]

From the experience at my concerts, and from the bootlegs I've heard, it's anything but vital. Every single tour from ZooTV to Vertigo was much, much better to my ears and eyes. To each his own I guess.

But I really hope the next European leg will change my opinion on the matter.

 

[stratocaster]

Maybe the band should strut out on stage in orange space jumpsuits.

But seriously if they just included songs like Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, MOFO, Discotheque, The Fly, and Lemon, this tour would soar to new heights.

No we're talking!
Gone included.