Heed the fans call? U22 and the Warhorses

[Blue Room]

I think the choices by "fans" on U22 will have very little or no effect on what the band picks for the setlists on their next tour. They build their setlists based on the feel of the new material. IE for Vertigo they thought the songs from HTDAAB had a vibe like their earlier releases. So we received some treats like The Ocean, Electric Co, An Cat Dubh and Gloria. They did not play those because the diehards would love them, they did it because they felt like playing them and thought it worked in the context of the new material. 360 started that way then worked into the venues they were playing and stage design.

U2 are well aware of the "diehard" contingent and what they would like them to play. They actually do try to throw a song or two out there for this contingent on just about every tour. But they will never base a setlist on the diehard wants.

Regarding the Elevation tour, very good tour, but I liked Vertigo better. But that is my personal opinion based on my experiences. They played Electric Co, they had me right there! I thought Vertigo was Elevation with better setlists. Like someone else said though, every tour has equally great shows. You can't really compare the intangibles as there were shows on Vertigo that blew away shows from Elevation. Just as there were shows from Elevation that blew away some Vertigo shows. Band mood, crowd, city, setlist, etc.. all play into making a fantastic show. I have seen every tour except Lovetown since the Joshua Tree tour. I have seen shows on every single tour I have been to that were outstanding. I have seen some duds in comparison as well on most of them.

 

[Zooropa man]

I like the quality of U22 but... can they stop giving us different versions of the saaammmee songs! (WTSHNN, One, WOWOY, BD, Elevation, ISHFWILF etc.) I would've loved to have Electrical Storm or even Your Blue Room.

 

[Nick66]

I like the quality of U22 but... can they stop giving us different versions of the saaammmee songs! (WTSHNN, One, WOWOY, BD, Elevation, ISHFWILF etc.) I would've loved to have Electrical Storm or even Your Blue Room.

But...but...the box is SO big and pretty! And Bono's voice sounds SO good and SO much better than the Rose Bowl DVD that it's worth it having all the same songs again!

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I like the quality of U22 but... can they stop giving us different versions of the saaammmee songs! (WTSHNN, One, WOWOY, BD, Elevation, ISHFWILF etc.) I would've loved to have Electrical Storm or even Your Blue Room.

Could of voted to be fair.

 

[Nick66]

The performance and the audience contribute a lot more to a U2 show than ticking the boxes so that the militant wing of the fandom is satisfied.

You are wise.

 

[digitize]

I know that is true, but goddammit, I can't help but selfishly want Lemon and YBR.

 

[doctorwho]

I like the quality of U22 but... can they stop giving us different versions of the saaammmee songs! (WTSHNN, One, WOWOY, BD, Elevation, ISHFWILF etc.) I would've loved to have Electrical Storm or even Your Blue Room.

Don't blame U2 or U2.com for this.

The fans had a choice of songs to pick - including some the ones that you mentioned. The fans picked the songs on U22, so blame all of us.

That said, I am surprised that U2 or U2.com hasn't made the tracks that didn't make the cut available yet. Maybe they will be a future release (or slowly come out over time on U2.com).

 

[Nick66]

The fans picked the songs on U22, so blame all of us.

I do.

 

[namkcuR]

Regarding the Elevation Tour and there being no surprises on it...they did bring back 11 O'Clock Tick Tock for that tour, which was a big deal at the time. To put it in context, it was played very frequently on every tour through the UF tour. It was played only once on the JT tour and only twice on Lovetown, before not being played at all on ZooTV or Popmart. Before the Pre-Elevation ATYCLB promo tour in late 2000, the song had been played three times in the fifteen years prior. It was then played twice on the promo tour(including Irving Plaza), and then just seven times on the Elevation Tour proper and it hasn't been played since.

In total, it's been played twelve times since the end of the UF tour in 1985, eleven times since the end the JT Tour performance, and only nine times since the two Lovetown performances. I feel fortunate to have been present for one of them - 6/19/01 at MSG(tangentially, I also feel fortunate to have been present for one of the only seven ever performances of Your Blue Room - 9/23/09 at Giants Stadium).

As for setlists - somebody mentioned heavily rotating the warhorses, and I heavily agree with this. I'd extent the setlists to being 30 songs, and do something like this:

8 New Songs
8 Warhorses(from a pool of 24)
8 Semi-Warhorses(from a pool of 24)
6 Rarities(from the entire U2 catalog)

Rotate Warhorses like:

Running To Stand Still/All I Want Is You/With Or Without You
Streets/Bad/One
Vertigo/Desire/Mysterious Ways
Angel Of Harlem/Stuck In A Moment/I Still Haven't Found
Bullet The Blue Sky/Until The End Of The World/The Fly
Beautiful Day/City Of Blinding Lights/Walk On
I Will Follow/Out Of Control/Elevation
New Year's Day/Sunday Bloody Sunday/Pride

Rotate Semi-Warhorses like:

An Cat Dubh-Into The Heart/Electric Co/Gloria
"40"/MLK/One Tree Hill
Zoo Station/Discotheque/HMTMKMKM
The Unforgettable Fire/Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses/Kite
No Line On The Horizon/Breathe/Get On Your Boots
In A Little While/Staring At The Sun/Stay(Faraway, So Close)
Even Better Than The Real Thing/Gone/Magnificent
Please/Ultraviolet(Light My Way)/Miss Sarajevo

And then add rarities. So you could have a setlist like this(no ordering here, obviously) on one night:

8 New Songs+
All I Want Is You
Where The Streets Have No Name
Angel Of Harlem
The Fly
Beautiful Day
I Will Follow
Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Electric Co.
"40"
Discotheque
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
No Line On The Horizon
Staring At The Sun
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Ultraviolet(Light My Way)
Party Girl
In God's Country
Love Is Blindness
The Ground Beneath her Feet
Electrical Storm
Spanish Eyes

like this on another night:

8 New Songs+
Running To Stand Still
Bad
Mysterious Ways
I Still Haven't' Found What I'm Looking For
Until The End Of The World
City Of Blinding Lights
Out Of Control
New Year's Day
Gloria
One Tree Hill
Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me
The Unforgettable Fire
Breathe
Stay(Faraway, So Close)
Gone
Please
11 O'Clock Tick Tock
Exit
Dirty Day
Mofo
Luminous Times(Hold Onto Love)
Sweetest Thing

and like this on a third night:

8 New Songs+
With Or Without You
One
Vertigo
Stuck In A Moment
Bullet The Blue Sky
Walk On
Elevation
Pride(In The Name Of Love)
An Cat Dubh-Into The Heart
MLK
Zoo Station
Kite
Get On Your Boots
In A Little While
Magnificent
Miss Sarajevo
Two Hearts Beat As One
A Sort Of Homecoming
Love Comes Tumbling
Zooropa
Lemon
Last Night On Earth

Every setlist has it's share of warhorses and other live favorites that the crowd will be into, but there is more variety, and the band might even be more into some songs if they're only playing them every third night instead of every night. If 30 songs per set is too much, just get rid of the rarities and you're at 24, a typical number for a U2 set. Maybe just play two rarities a night instead of 6, and do a 26-song set.

Those are just my ideas.