U2girl said:
The problem is after AB U2 went from essentially a live band that struggled in the studio to becoming better in the studio and having more problems live.
I think last four albums (and AB on a song or two) had their share of good and bad live songs (Zooropa being a prime example of a studio album not working live).
Well, you shouldn't claim that. Zooropa is an album thinking about studio, production and studio effects. The songs were not thought to be live anthems, and remember that 4 years ago the band had been touring songs with a country and folk-rock style... There's a difference with go on the studio and make spetacular songs and bringing them in the stage in front of thousands of people.
And well, all U2 albums have good and not-so-good live songs. "So Cruel" and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" are examples of songs that are better in studio than live.
The same situation goes for the other albums...
Pop has the live hightlights such as "Mofo", "Gone" (that are great too in studio), "Please" (don't even compare studio to live), but "Staring at the sun" and "If god will send His angels" never made it good.
ATYCLB has "Walk On" and "Kite" that sound even better live than on the record for example...
HTDAAB has LAPOE, COBL and Vertigo that throw the studio versions in the trash can but you have ABOY that never got the same emotion on the record and why to play Yahweh in a stripped version...
I don't think the band struggled in studio and got worse live. That makes part of the process, sometimes better, sometimes not.
Popmart was huge in Europe, it probably had some of the biggest shows played in some cities.
In Elevation Bono's voice seems degradated, but the it looked like the first time (as in Vertigo) that the band looks comfortable playing the songs. That didn't happen a few times in Popmart or ZooTv.