*Spoilers* - Rehearsals in Vancouver

[Blue Room]

The absence of any deep cuts from TUF or JT is profoundly dissapointing. But given that most of those songs apparently really aren't songs because they can't played on acoustic guitar, I guess there's no reason to try.

FOUR potential songs from Bomb? Plus Electric Co. and I Will Follow again? Ugh. Well I guess those songs are easier to play than attempting to recreate any of the beautiful, multi-layered music they've created in the past and is the only reason anyone gives a damn about the band in the first place.

I'm excited about the tour, I'm sure they will kick ass in these shows. But right now I'd give this setlist about a C+. The set list doesn't have to be the best to play great memorable shows (the Elevation tour proved that), but at the moment I'm more excited to just be at the show and see what they do with these songs than I am about the songs themselves.

I will never be disappointed if they play Electric Co. Otherwise I agree that it is about a C+ as far as song content. I would add that at least the pacing seems to be on and they clearly have thought that out thoroughly for this tour. The pacing on 360 was very poor for most of the tour in contrast to me. The Sunday Bloody Sunday to Raised By Wolves segue way sounds very promising.

Looking forward to it, seeing U2 is never a bad thing.

 

[Catman]

Well, keep in mind too that a lot of songs that might sound good to us in studio-form might not come across as well in a live environment. I can count plenty of times where I heard a song I especially liked live and thought to myself, "Meh." Then there have been just as many times where I heard a song I wasn't too big on and thought, "Hey, that's pretty good!" So it can go both ways there.

While true, I believe that just sorta reinforces my frustration lol California and SFS are fairly simple tunes that don't really ignite a desire in me to see them performed live (of course, U2 could bust out a performance that's been remixed the fuck out of like they did w/ Crazy Tonight); Reach and CB, on the other hand, sound like showstoppers... and as for SLABT, the song has somewhat of a cinematic quality to it (at least to me, anway), and I can see the tune being performed in a fashion similar to that of 360's Unforgettable Fire (which I looooveovoeoveloeved... but to be fair, that performance was greatly enhanced by a Brobdingnagian spacecraft-claw structure).

But yeah, U2's a pretty good band.

 

[cobl04]

"Why don't wait until the tour starts"

Unless they pull a swifty on us (pretty confident they won't, they're a band that's become quite conservative), Ground Beneath Her Feet is the only song that truly excites me (Running to Stand Still notwithstanding). Tryin to Throw and Playboy Mansion are pretty cool. But I think those of us having a bit of a whinge can be forgiven. If this setlist ends up being new stuff (which I'm not fond of), plus some warhorses, plus some deep cuts that no one wants instead of the deep cuts scores of fans having been crying out for for 10 years, plus acoustic, ball-less renditions of some great songs, and at the moment it seems like that's exactly how it will end up, then yeah, you can shove your "wait until the tour starts" stuff firmly UYMFA

 

[prbiker15]

Ramone(starts with 15-20 seconds of vocal only "oh-ohs" then the guitar riff)
Out of Control(Bono knows the words and added a bit in the bridge)
Vertigo
Follow
Iris
Cedar
Song For Someone
Sunday Bloody(last part of song has some political speeches and then a very loud sound of a bomb going off and glass breaking. IRA bombings 30+ years ago?)
Wolves
Until...World(final solo was extended a bit)
--------End of Set 1------
ZooTV-esque random edit 5 minute video.(also heard Clash snippet and what might be Thatcher talking)
Album version of Wanderer played over PA with generic yellow screensaver type video. Siren from end of Zooropa CD signals is at the end of the song.
-------Start of Set 2------
Invisible
E-Better(After conferring with another serious fan today it's the 2011 version)
Mysterious (with Bongo intro and Talking Heads Burning Down House snippet.)
Sweetest
Every Breaking Wave(acoustic with long final note sung by Bono)
Bullet (with rant including couple lines from Helter Skelter)
WOWY
Troubles (guitar solo is a bit longer)
Blinding Lights
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug(pre-recorded spoken word intro)
Streets(with Bono sung "Fields of Gold" that is 45-60 seconds long)
H-Found

First set is under an hour and including tonight's intermission it's currently around 2 hours 15 minutes while at the same time obviously missing several songs spots.

Thanks Peter. Any idea if they're still doing the dress rehearsal on the 12th?

-Every Breaking Wave (full band) must have only been heard week #1 and abandoned for the "acoustic" version.

Fuckers.

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

They are loading out Neil Diamond as I write this and U2 are ready to move in to Rogers Arena as soon as they are ready.

Full set similar to the one last night. I still think there is a missing batch of songs to fill the rarity gap, the final part of the show(One/Ordinary?) and the other 20+ songs heard in rehearsal. I think the show is longer than this because they have a busy week with lots of travel & singing plus there are city/union/noise rules when the venue staff have to stop working at a certain time for non-public events. They seems to be working on the core part of the set, and hopefully the few wildcard slots can be figured out closer to the individual show dates.

Ramone(starts with 15-20 seconds of vocal only "oh-ohs" then the guitar riff)
Out of Control(Bono knows the words and added a bit in the bridge)
Vertigo
Follow
Iris
Cedar
Song For Someone
Sunday Bloody(last part of song has some political speeches and then a very loud sound of a bomb going off and glass breaking. IRA bombings 30+ years ago?)
Wolves
Until...World(final solo was extended a bit)
--------End of Set 1------
ZooTV-esque random edit 5 minute video.(also heard Clash snippet and what might be Thatcher talking)
Album version of Wanderer played over PA with generic yellow screensaver type video. Siren from end of Zooropa CD signals is at the end of the song.
-------Start of Set 2------
Invisible
E-Better(After conferring with another serious fan today it's the 2011 version)
Mysterious (with Bongo intro and Talking Heads Burning Down House snippet.)
Sweetest
Every Breaking Wave(acoustic with long final note sung by Bono)
Bullet (with rant including couple lines from Helter Skelter)
WOWY
Troubles (guitar solo is a bit longer)
Blinding Lights
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug(pre-recorded spoken word intro)
Streets(with Bono sung "Fields of Gold" that is 45-60 seconds long)
H-Found

First set is under an hour and including tonight's intermission it's currently around 2 hours 15 minutes while at the same time obviously missing several songs spots.

I suspect WOWY and Troubles have the string section.

Tonight I hung out with a U2 hardcore Australian in town early. Last week it was hard core fan from Victoria Canada. Also at the PNE was Montreal fan in town for shows that has seen 30-40 lifetime shows.

Thanks Peter for the update!!!!

I quite like the setlist, however, some stuff are not going to happen hopefully..... Cedar and SFS side by side....
ISHFWILF will not end the set, hopefully they won't play it either too often.
No Volcano, nor California there, strange....
Glad Iris is there, I love the song.
Sunday -> Raised by Wolves
Electric Co instead of IWF!
EBTTRT 2011 version
Troubles extended solo
Add BAD instead of Cedar and The Fly eclectric full gear and the setlist is great!

I'm quite excited despite some comments stating that the persons with negative points of views should sell their tickets..... I'm very excited about the tour.

Because this is a band whose bad decisions far outweigh their good ones in the last few years.

 

[Numb1075]

No mention of "Pride"...giving the war-horse a break?

I would miss it personally.

 

[hibricc]

Thanks Peter. Any idea if they're still doing the dress rehearsal on the 12th?

Seeing as there was a radio contest that promised winners tickets to the rehearsal on the 12th, I'd say yes.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'm pretty excited about that set list and see some obvious places for growth in it as well

 

[ktrivedi]

Thanks Peter,,,,I for one am pretty excited about that setlist. I think this show is gonna be amazing. And we still don't know anything about the social media/tech/app thing they have planned. Ten bucks says the handful of tickets that are left for some of the US shows sell out once word starts getting out.

 

[catlhere]

I think the most recent set sounds pretty enjoyable. It's hard to really know for sure, because you can't factor in the lighting and imagery and all the extra fluff that goes into a U2 show. But I would have fun at a concert with those songs listed.

The only thing really depressing for me is that October will seemingly go unloved forever by the band. Outside of Gloria, I have given up on ever hearing something interesting from that album live again. Scarlet was a nice surprise last tour, but it ended up just being background music to Bono talking about Aung San Suu Kyi. Oh well

 

[popacrobat]

I'm pretty excited about that set list and see some obvious places for growth in it as well

Click clack. Agreed.

I'm a bit surprised Volcano isn't in there. California has been rehearsed a lot apparently, so I'm sure it will be there.

They'll hopefully rotate that acoustic spot often... there's no reason they can't.

 

[Hewson]

I'm pretty excited about that set list and see some obvious places for growth in it as well

I suspect by the time they hit the east coast it will evolve into something even better.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'm guessing there are a few songs that were left out of the first set during this run through, as it's significantly shorter than the second set.

 

[bobsaget77]

I can't understand for the life of me why they don't do a pairing of ASOH-Cedarwood-Bad. That would thematically fit and be absolutely epic.


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[prbiker15]

I can't understand for the life of me why they don't do a pairing of ASOH-Cedarwood-Bad. That would thematically fit and be absolutely epic.

Because U2. That would be a great pairing.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Some of these acoustic songs really won't work...Moment of Surrender in particular is long and boring without its atmospherics. The entire crowd would go stir crazy trying to sit through that one.

We're definitely looking at something close to what the main setlist will look like...there's going to be some give-and-take as about 30 songs looked like they could be regulars and I'd only expect about 20, tops, to actually earn that distinction. It would be great to see Pride/One at least given a rest every other night. I'd love it if they alternated the orchestral sections along with the acoustic ones and the encore...

These are looking to be the older songs that are in the set every single night:

Out of Control
I Will Follow
SBS
UTEOTW
EBTTRT
Mysterious Ways
Bullet The Blue Sky
With Or Without You
City of Blinding Lights?
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug
Streets

That's a dozen songs. Toss in about seven or eight new ones a night and that leaves room only for about four switches each evening if they're doing 24 songs. I also can't believe that "One" won't be a regular either.

Obviously, the 28 song rumor with an extended intermission could lead to a lot more wiggle room in terms of rotating in-and-out some more tunes.

I'd give up hope on "Electric Co." at this point (although it could appear later in the tour). There's no real full band run through that has supposedly happened just yet and "Out of Control" and "I Will Follow" fit nicely into the setlist. If anything, "Out of Control" is the one that would be subbed out as "Electric Co." has a similar lyrical sentiment whereas the I Will Follow-Iris duo is meant to consistently be part of the set for fairly obvious reasons.

If we ignore the 8 songs that basically got a simple acoustic run-through only along with the Edge-solo run-through of "Electric Co." then there's 35 songs actually in the running for the main set.

Acoustic Rotation Candidates (8): Angel Of Harlem, Moment Of Surrender, No Line On The Horizon, One Step Closer, The Fly, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, The Hands That Built America, Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World

Full Band Rotation Candidates? (9): Bad, Desire, Elevation, Magnificent, One, Playboy Mansion, Pride, Running To Stand Still, Volcano

Take away that second group of 9 that haven't been performed in a set recently and you're now down to 26 main setlist candidates. The 23 that were played last night + California and Ordinary Love plus some other one I'm missing? That's it.

I think a few songs from last night like "City of Blinding Lights" or "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" aren't part of the main set either. We already have a pretty good idea of about twenty songs that are in the main set...let's hope nothing else is static or we're in for a lot of very predictable nights in the near future.

 

[digitize]

Fields of Gold into Streets? Sounds beautiful.


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[BVS]

Fields of Gold into Streets? Sounds beautiful.


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To me it sounds odd and I'm hoping Peter is hearing it wrong. I can't think of any context where that would make sense.


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[BigMacPhisto]

Complete Rehearsal List:

Boy - I Will Follow, Out of Control, Electric Co.
October -
War - Sunday Bloody Sunday
UF - Pride, Bad
JT - Streets, Still Haven't Found, With or Without You, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still
R&H - Desire, Angel of Harlem (acoustic)
AB - Even Better Than The Real Thing, One, Until The End of the World, Mysterious Ways, The Fly (acoustic), Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World (acoustic)
Zooropa -
Original Soundtracks I -
Pop - The Playboy Mansion
ATYCLB - Beautiful Day, Elevation
HTDAAB - Vertigo, Miracle Drug, City of Blinding Lights, One Step Closer (Acoustic)
NLOTH - Magnificent, No Line On The Horizon (acoustic), Moment of Surrender (acoustic)
SOI - Every Breaking Wave (acoustic recently) The Miracle, California, Song for Someone, Iris, Volcano, Raised by Wolves, Cedarwood Road, The Troubles

Non-Album - Sweetest Thing, Ordinary Love, Invisible, The Ground Beneath Her Feet (acoustic), The Hands That Built America (acoustic)

- 43 tracks

Italics = Not Played on 360 Tour
Bold = Never Played At A Regular Gig
Pink = Ball-less acoustic version


Songs Being Rehearsed That Have Never Been Performed Live: 5 ("The Playboy Mansion" and "One Step Closer" and "Iris" and "Raised By Wolves" and "The Troubles" )

Additional Old Songs Being Rehearsed That Weren't Played On The Last Tour: 7 ("The Electric Co." and "Bullet The Blue Sky" and "Running To Stand Still" and "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World" and "Sweetest Thing" and "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" and "The Hands That Built America")

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Pink = Ball-less acoustic version

Really? Is this necessary? Can we not be adults here and just say "acoustic" and leave the juvenile comments to ourselves?

 

[BigMacPhisto]

I was referring to ball-bearings included in a lot of amplifiers, obviously. Acoustic instruments aren't hindered by them.

 

[SBU2]

Alike to Breathe on the previous tour, Ramone isn't an opener.

It worryingly took them a fair while on the previous tour to eventually figure out an effective successful opening, after both Breathe & Stingray/Beautiful Day fell below the previous standard in Elevation & Vertigo. I remember the first show on 360 in which they opened with Even Better, & it was only until then it felt, at least for me personally, that the claw had officially arrived and was being maximised of it's capabilities. That opening/arrangement clicked instantly, creating an excitement both Breathe & Stingray/Beautiful Day failed to come anywhere close too.

It's naive to judge Ramone as an opener before the tour has even begun of course, but I'm more than certain it won't produce the level of excitement amongst the crowd that a U2 opener should do. The fact the band fail to notice this before-hand, assuming Ramone opens, is the most annoying element.

It was clear from the opening night in Barcelona Breathe wasn't as an opener, yet they persisted with it, without any improvement. Fingers crossed Ramone doesn't receive the same treatment, if indeed if falls flat as the opener.

 

[kps88]

Really bummed to see no Ultra Violet mentioned anywhere.

 

[LemonMelon]

Really bummed to see no Ultra Violet mentioned anywhere.

I never went to a 360 show where it was played.

Got HMTMKMKM instead though and, for a largely rocking show where the band was happy/drunk enough to attempt One Tree Hill off-the-cuff, that made a great deal more sense.

 

[kps88]

I never went to a 360 show where it was played.

Got HMTMKMKM instead though and, for a largely rocking show where the band was happy/drunk enough to attempt One Tree Hill off-the-cuff, that made a great deal more sense.

Was hopeful having two nights would mean not many songs miss the cut but judging by the rehearsal list out there the pool of songs isn't as big as I had hoped.

 

[trevgreg]

Some of these acoustic songs really won't work...Moment of Surrender in particular is long and boring without its atmospherics. The entire crowd would go stir crazy trying to sit through that one.

I thought people on here wanted them to play whatever without pandering to the majority?

 

[prbiker15]

Really bummed to see no Ultra Violet mentioned anywhere.

UV is my second-favorite U2 song. It wasn't played at my 360 show, but I don't regret hearing Hold Me, Thrill Me. What a monster of a song.

 

[BVS]

Really? Is this necessary? Can we not be adults here and just say "acoustic" and leave the juvenile comments to ourselves?

Good luck with that...


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[Harbinger]

Complete Rehearsal List:

HTDAAB - Vertigo, Miracle Drug, City of Blinding Lights, One Step Closer (Acoustic)

The audio of OSC made it pretty clear it wasn't acoustic.

 

[kps88]

UV is my second-favorite U2 song. It wasn't played at my 360 show, but I don't regret hearing Hold Me, Thrill Me. What a monster of a song.

I agree that's a great alternate. Would be a real shame if they can't find room for either of those over two nights though.