I'm not saying Angel of Harlem can go into Bullet, but your original statement was "just play the damn songs!" while making reference to the fact that REM can just pull out any song one right after the other and make it work. I don't think that works for U2, just like in the example you noted above.
I never said "just play the damn songs", nor did I reference REM. Maybe you should go back and see who made which posts. I never once advocated setlists without cohesion. In fact, I have been one of this forum's biggest advocates of cohesive setlists and have routinely critiqued both the band's setlists and fan custom setlists. Setlists are a passion of mine (or else I wouldn't run U2gigs.com!).
What I have advocated is at least a partial abandonment of grand themes. All four of the last tours have had over-arching themes beyond simply performing U2's music. What I have suggested is a return to Lovetown - celebrating and showcasing U2's music without necessarily striving for a grand theme beyond that. That in no way even implies the song order should lack cohesion, nor that certain segments of the show can't have thematic links.
It's just weird to me to imagine a show where I start out with something like City of Blinding Lights, run through something like Beautiful Day, then into Streets, and then Acrobat and...where to go from there? Nowhere but goodnight, in my opinion. It's hard to come back from those darker songs.
Frankly, it seems to me as if you have very narrow perceptions of what can be done with setlists, and box in what can or can't be done. In any case, I see Acrobat as not being any darker than UTEOTW or The Fly, and those two tracks have worked perfectly well on the last two tours.
And, if I may, I'd like to take up your challenge. It's been months since I've made a gratuitous setlist on here. So the main set is taking your COBL --> BD --> Streets --> Acrobat -->where? challenge, and feel free to discount the encores as they're just off the top of my head to complete the set.
1. City Of Blinding Lights
2. Beautiful Day
3. Angel Of Harlem
4. Desire
5. Vertigo
6. The Electric Co.
7. 11 O'clock Tick Tock
8. Wire
9. The Unforgettable Fire
10. A Sort Of Homecoming
11. Where The Streets Have No Name
12. One Tree Hill
13. Exit
14. Acrobat
15. Until The End Of The World
16. New Year's Day
17. Pride
18. Bullet The Blue Sky
19. Running To Stand Still
20. With Or Without You
21. Gloria
22. Yahweh
23. Bad/40
So there you have it. From a celebratory opening of COBL/BD, the concert logically proceeds to Streets and then Acrobat, almost entirely using songs played on the last two tours (Wire and UF are the only two exceptions), so you can't tell me the song selections don't fit with U2's recent mood. UTEOTW sounds quite sensible after Acrobat, with the wailing guitar coming in over the top as Acrobat grinds to a close, then I just exploit the traditional UTEOTW --> NYD segue used on all of the last four tours, and return to the eighties to exploit the traditional coupling of NYD/Pride as main set closer that ended almost every main set from 1984 to 1990. The show "comes back" from Acrobat very quickly and effortlessly.
An alternative option I had was Acrobat --> UTEOTW --> The Fly --> Mysterious Ways, drawing on how U2 have used the duo of The Fly and MW to both open encores and close main sets on the last two tours. But I think NYD/Pride brings an even more anthemic mood. So there you have it, dark rockers and the hallmarks of U2's recent tours can easily coexist.