Hear me out here. This isn't a shock thread, and I honestly feel this way. I know I'm going to get a bunch of people coming into this thread calling me an idiot, but try to understand where I'm coming from:
I hope U2 never play Acrobat live. Not even in snippets, not even with the stellar performances they're giving every night on the 360 tour.
I'm not a "JT-Era and Before" guy. Quite the contrary: Acrobat is my favorite U2 song, located on my favorite album of all time.
It's considered the holy grail of live U2 material: the gem that will not be performed. It's like the U2 diehard test: "what's your favorite U2 song? Streets? Oh, so you're a casual fan. Acrobat? Wow, this guy knows his stuff."
And I don't want them to ever play it live, for a couple of reasons:
1. So much of Acrobat's magic is based on the fact that it is a flawless performance on record: Bono's vocals are perfectly boozy during the verses and perfectly passionate and almost desperate during the chorus. Shit, the final verse just as the song closes sounds like one side of a lover's quarrel. The Edge's solo is so perfect and full of rage. It would be so hard to accurately recreate that pure sonic assault on stage.
2. Specifically, don't play it on this tour. How strange would it be to hear this angry little number, this failure of a marriage, played out after I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For? Or before With Or Without You? "There's no new ideas in the house, every book has been read....but I can't live with or without you?" Doesn't really work. Acrobat is, along with Love is Blindness and Exit, among U2's darkest work. And Love is Blindness closed the show because it HAD to. And, if you ask me, a lot of the JT shows never recovered from Exit, so Acrobat would have a hard time meshing with the setlist or even the general vibe of the show.
3. Does the subject matter work well for a stadium? Or even an arena? I feel like Acrobat, if performed live, would have to be at a club show: something intimate. But even a club, surrounded by people, would be too much. I prefer Acrobat to be played where I think it's suited best: on track 11 of the best album ever, driving through town, late, late at night.
4. Remember what you thought Chinese Democracy would sound like before you'd heard any songs off of it? Now, remember what it actually sounded like?
Remember when Brian Wilson finally released Smile a few years ago? I mean, it was good, but it wasn't that legendary album you thought was abandoned.
I think some songs are better left to the imagination. Acrobat live is too good to be risked.
Just trying to change the topic of conversation around here. And I noticed that normally, people are begging for Acrobat to get played. i figured I'd offer my side of the debate. What do you think?