Which U2 songs have worked well when done acoustic?

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hpantazo

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To honor the forthcoming SOI acoustic sessions we are getting in less than two weeks, I thought it would be great to make a list of which U2 songs have actually worked well acoustically, as this has not been U2's forte by any stretch, and I am very curious to hear the acoustic sessions from SOI. Bono's recent comments about the SOI tracks that their main focus was songwriting and that the songs should all work just as well acoustically got me thinking, which past songs have had that quality?

For this list, I go by the criteria that an electric/full band version would not blow away the acoustic version and may in some cases be inferior to the acoustic version.

Stay
Desire
Angel of Harlem
Summer Rain
Starring at the Sun
Stuck in a Moment
Yaweh (mainly because the full band electric version sucked)

I don't include AIWIY because the full band version blows it away. Any others? What do you guys think?
 
LOL...really? You don't think songs like Stay and Desire worked very well as acoustic versions? And Yaweh acoustic was much, much better than the album version.
 
Stay is definitely acoustic song; i think recording version uses a lot of acoustic. Desire...i don't know, i miss those high-gain rock sound.
 
The closest I found was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_CdiJhNcYI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_2TTXb966k

Not their song but really good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzYSJ3-Cjw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yQ5V5Fb18k

It's hard to find something that beats the original electric version in most all U2 songs.

Desire is much better electric:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkTEKmkKQOU

Just watch the Stay video and that is hands down the best version

Angel of Harlem is better in electric:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLVq4Zso1JE
 
I honestly think that each U2 acoustic live version is utter shite compared to the original, and most of them are shite on their own as well. Say Stuck, Stay, Desire and AOH last tour were pretty damn horrible. Bathroom breaks all over.


If you seriously think Stay and Desire sound better acousticly than electric, you must've missed the ZooTv/Zooropa performances of these songs entirely.
 
How awesome would it be to hear full band TGBHF? ONLY LOOOOOOOOVE!!!! The acoustic version is boring by comparison.


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Stay and Staring at the Sun are great acoustic. Desire was solid as well.

Oh, and Ordinary Love.
 
The_acrobat said:
How awesome would it be to hear full band TGBHF? ONLY LOOOOOOOOVE!!!! The acoustic version is boring by comparison.


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Yeah. They cut out the best part of the song live! When edge starts tearing it up with the "my oh my" at the end takes the song to awholenother level. Could work well with Song For Someone.


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I always long for a full electric version whenever I hear U2 do an acoustic song, it just doesn't sound as 'full' as the real deal. So yeah, none.
 
A Man And A Woman. But maybe I was just happy to hear it played live.


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Maybe we should define "acoustic" before we continue this discussion, because that Desire and North and South performance would not qualify.


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BVS said:
Maybe we should define "acoustic" before we continue this discussion, because that Desire and North and South performance would not qualify.


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I agree, although I'm guessing what U2 calls acoustic on the upcoming acoustic sessions disc will not qualify either....
 
I liked Desire , Stay and SATS .. But when you get to think about it... Its all far from amazing.They just sound better full band/full power.
 
Vertigo was pointless to play acoustically. Bono wasted his breath even singing it, and we know he already has enough trouble losing his breath. So basically, the acoustic are pointless and a waste of breath and slowly killing Bono. #definetlynotastretch
However, I am really excited for the acoustic SOI albums, I really like their studio acoustics, their live acoustics are the problem.


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There is not one single U2 song that sounds better acoustic than it's full band counterpart. Not one. Period. Some sound good, special, even...but none are better acoustic only.


Sent from my ass crack
 
gvox said:
There is not one single U2 song that sounds better acoustic than it's full band counterpart. Not one. Period. Some sound good, special, even...but none are better acoustic only.


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Hmmmmmmm sorry I wouldn't make such a blanket statement. Yahweh acoustic is miles above the album version. Stay acoustic live is just as good maybe even better than the original.

But again, it's all opinon based and we all got 'em lol.



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I want to see how they are going to do these new songs acoustically. I like how they are at least trying to do something different for them.
 
gvox said:
I think Stay would be my prime example of a song that sounds "great, even special" acoustically, but still falls far, far short of the full band version.




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So true, nothing will ever beat the studio version in my opinion.


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