...Resulting a per-album average of 3.75 and 3.33, respectively. Minute difference, especially because, after removing the non-U2 album, 93-97 ends up with an average of 4. U2 relies on I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day to represent 80-84, but over the past decade, U2 has been more likely to play a Pop song than anything else from October or War (which troubles me; I wish they would realize how awesome Rejoice and Like A Song could be live).
U2 has nothing to hide, and they haven't done so. The difference in representation is so small between the two decades as to be statistically insignificant. U2 has a larger number of 80s hits that inflate the frequency scores; they have to play these songs every night. The 90s netted fewer concert staples. However, they have actually rotated in a greater variety of 90s material. And Achtung Baby does most assuredly count, unless you're willing to claim that it isn't informed by the same "artsiness" as its fellow 90s U2 records.
We could discuss *why* 90s material doesn't stick, but to claim that U2 glosses over the decade entirely is a bit absurd. To bring this full circle, clearly U2 has no desire to apologize for their "artsy" years. If anything, they tend to surprise their fans with tracks from those albums (as opposed to 80-84) because they know they're worth playing. There just isn't a large enough audience to keep them on permanent rotation.
The difference, which you say is minute, is greater than the difference in your original post, a difference which is supposed to prove a point.
You're mad if you think that, over the last decade, U2 are more likely to play something off Pop than a song than anything from October.
On the last two tours they played Discotheque twice, Scarlet 45 times and Gloria 19 times. But the key to your statement is "anything
else," which acknowledges that they do play songs from War, whereas they do not from Pop. Over the last two tours they played one song from Pop (twice), and three from War and October that aren't SBS or NYD ... and they played them 127 times. So that's 126-2 for October + War vs Pop. 64-2 for October, 63-2 War. It boggles my mind that this shit isn't evident to you, or many others in this thread.
I'm not saying they gloss over the 90s, just that they play more songs from the 80s, and with greater frequency. To argue otherwise is insane. There are surely reasons for that - more material, more hits, the songs fit thematically, etc - but all of those points prove that U2 give their first decade more representation in concert than they do their second.
Your average of songs per record is worthless unless you're comparing albums individually because it doesn't say anything about how they may or may not favour some eras. You can stretch it and say that it shows that some albums have an advantage, or that they released more records. But mostly is says nothing. It's a meaningless statistic.
On 360 they played two songs from Zooropa, the same as from Boy, one less than War, two less than Unforgettable Fire, and one more than October. Since 40 wan only played once, you can subtract that and will see that 2 War tracks were played over twice as frequently as 2 Zooropa tracks.
They played OST 1 songs 74 times (and since they were both on the best of 90-00, and blue room was a bside, Passengers must be considered a U2 album), 25 more than Boy but half as many as War, and each record got two songs.
Also, they played no songs from Pop on 360, and they played 22 different songs from the 80s and 13 from the 90s.
On Vertigo, Discotheque was played twice. The First Time 29 times. Miss Sarajevo 86. From Achtung they played seven songs, LIB only once. That's one reason why looking at what songs they played is meaningless for this debate. They played 10 songs from the 90s, compared to ten from 80-83.
On Elevation they played 11 songs from the 90s, compared to 18 from the 80s, and Dead Man is more of a snippet than full airing of the song (2.75 vs 3 per album,oooh, wait that means nothing).
You can use meaningless averages to force numbers to fit your idea, or you can accept reality. I don't see what you have to lose by doing the latter.
ps
I don't see how you can say that they surprise fans with selections from 93-97 more than the early 80s. Here's what they've played from the early 80s: I Will Follow, Out of Control, An Cat Dubh, Into The Heart, the Ocean, Electric Co, Scarlet, Gloria, 40, Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day. Aside from IWF, SBS, and NYD, they were all retired for over a decade, were not hits or on the best of.
From 93-97: Zooropa, the First Time, Stay, Blue Room, Ms Sarajevo, Discotheque, Gone, Dead Man, Please, Staring at the Sun. At least five of the 80s songs were real shocks. All but two of those were hits or on the best-of, and the Pop songs were all played and retired (save for two appearances of Discotheque) on the tour that followed Popmart.