The Best Thing should be performed plugged in. The song had some fun poppy elements that can translate well live but the acoustic performance takes All a of that away and we are left with the core of a song that is just not very exciting without those extras.
I think they should end the show with Little Things personally as 13 is such a boring/downer of a song live.
I don’t mean to be so negative but as I mentioned before, U2 have made a lot of decisions around the album/tour/promotional appearances that are just so.....un-U2 and it has me very frustrated and conflicted.
IMO....It’s like they lost what made them so special and I’m hoping it’s just s blip that will go away but man have they done some stupid things.
Yeah, you're right. There was nothing wrong with Best Thing when it was plugged in and it did have electric elements that made the best of a song that doesn't exactly display Bono's quality for melody and power.
I'm a big fan of 13 as a closer and as a song. And I say so as someone who really doesn't think much of Song for Someone. It's heartfelt without being sentimental - all in all quite lovely! But I think Little Things would work perfectly after the anxiety of Acrobat - a nice dark and introverted section of the show it would be. Instead, as Axver said on the first page, an acoustic Best Thing represents a whiplash within the show. In that format it's best suited to the sofa of Jimmy Kimmell/Fallon and let's be honest, no one wants that.
But all in all I agree with you - U2 have made some really bizarre decisions no better exemplified by their single choices during this album/touring cycle and it's all the more disappointing given that I'm a massive fan of Songs of Experience. Innocence never had the lasting power or replay value (and was terribly produced by the overrated Danger Mouse) and NLOTH was a compromised mess so SOE very much represented a return to the form that first captured me back in the early 00s with the easy listening charm of All That You Can't Leave Behind and a good chunk of HTDAAB. Their tv promotions, with the exception of the excellent Live at the BBC, have been dire with uninspired tunes rolled out on insipid uninspired tv shows, but given that they chose those songs as singles/promos they kind of anchored themselves into that black hole. It's a problem they've had since NLOTH and they seem rooted to the problem.
All in all it's just really disappointing that they've hid away or even failed to recognise the strengths of the album they released which I continue to believe (more as a collection of individual songs as opposed to a holistic piece of work), to be their best in a long time.
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