Is everything so pre-programmed....

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metrodon

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Nov 26, 2004
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that U2 are incapable of doing anything off the cuff these days?

The impression I get is that Larry is struggling as he gets older (wrists?) and so more and more is being sequenced and there is less room for anything fresh to be introduced.

The BBC shows on Friday were a god example. On Live Lounge they couldn't play a cover because as Bono said 'we don't have one ready'. Now hold on, a band that has been together forever can't play a cover version?

Then in the evening they played on the roof - Chris Evans asked them to do one more and again Bono made another interesting comment - he had to ask Edge if they 'had another one ready'.

It's a shame, the album has grown on me a little, I still don't think it's a masterpiece by any stretch though. I can't imagine wanting to see them in a stadium this summer though, especially knowing it will be the same show night after night.
 
Im glad your not going, more chance of the rest of us getting tickets.
 
vaz02 said:
Im glad your not going, more chance of the rest of us getting tickets.
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Great response thanks - if it helps I normally get free tickets anyway, friend of a friend etc.

They used to play plenty of covers - just seems to me that playing live is now is playing by numbers and worse because of it.

Can anyone honestly say they thought the last tour was anywhere near as good as any of the previous tours?
 
I like their albums, but the notion that U2 is a great live band is a myth built by U2 Inc. Just look at their setlists from every tour. They play the same songs, are heavily sequenced and spend way to much time and money on the silly over-the-top production.
 
Yeah, they were never that good at ad-libbing. This is a band that needs rehearsal. But they've been using sequencers to some extent since UF. There are very few songs that don't have some additional element in there.

I don't think it's an "all-of-a-sudden" kind of thing.
 
icculus said:
I like their albums, but the notion that U2 is a great live band is a myth built by U2 Inc. Just look at their setlists from every tour. They play the same songs, are heavily sequenced and spend way to much time and money on the silly over-the-top production.
Click to expand...

This is a ridiculous statement. Pink Floyd never altered setlists up much and they are one of the best live bands of all time. Why does it matter how often you swop a setlist around with regard to how good a band you are live?

And that 'silly over-the-top production' as you call it, is one of the reasons how I got into the band in the first place and is why I love them as a live band. Would you rather the band were like Oasis and just stood still routed to the spot for 2 hours?? Oasis play their songs very well live and swop setlists around quite a bit.
 
yeah it sucks, not all rockstars are musicians, you just have to accept it with u2, and try not to get a glimpse of any setlist withim 4 years of the show u plan to attend
 
U2 have said before they are a band that needs practice, none of them are great natural musicians, so they can't just take the chords and play it how some do.

But so what? that which is practised is still amazing isn't it?
 
cry me a river. They would make my day if they played the u2 standards night after night year after year, i would still go :wave:
 
How can you say that U2 are not a good live band. Watch the slane castle DVD's and think not about the setlist but about the emotional connection with the crowd.

Watch where the streets have no name from that DVD and tell me that all the emotions, feelings, etc... are pre programmed.
 
metrodon said:
Can anyone honestly say they thought the last tour was anywhere near as good as any of the previous tours?
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erm, yep . . . thought the Vertigo show that I saw in Sydney (3rd concert) was pretty damn special actually :yes:

I like the fact that these fellas know their limitations and just try and do the best they can with what they have . . . they are not 27 anymore so course things will be a little different :shrug: - I'd still go see em every tour for the next ' . . . ' years even if nothing changed :yes:
 
Um yeah, Vertigo was an amazing tour. And you haven't seen and heard much of it if you say they always play the same song. Excuse me, they played a lot of different songs on Vertigo. PopMart was the static tour.

U2 are and will always be a great live band. They are better as a band than the sum of its part. They may not be perfect musicians but they create an atmosphere that can turn a stadium into an intimate place.

Live is where U2 live. And I agree that if you don't want to go see them live, someone here will sure be happy to get your ticket.
 
metrodon said:
They used to play plenty of covers - just seems to me that playing live is now is playing by numbers and worse because of it.

Can anyone honestly say they thought the last tour was anywhere near as good as any of the previous tours?
Click to expand...


Personally speaking, I go to a U2 show to see them play U2 songs.

Sure, when they do play the occasional cover, they can be fun (or just plain funny), but I disagree that the live experience is any worse if they don't play any.
 
Miricale_Drug said:
U2 have said before they are a band that needs practice, none of them are great natural musicians, so they can't just take the chords and play it how some do.

But so what? that which is practised is still amazing isn't it?
Click to expand...

Sorry I dont believe that for a second.


Really, if they wanted to, Edge could grab an accoustic, play a song and Bono can sing it. It wouldnt take much to just rehearse that. They could have done Everlasting Love that way.

But for whatever reason they did their own songs. They probably wanted a chance to mix the new and have an old favourite for the more casual fans there. Personally? Id have loved for them to have done a cover. But meh. Though the way Jo Whiley said it, it sounded as though they had planned to do one but didnt.

Wonder why it fell though?
 
U2 are too pre-programmed since PopMart. That was a scare they will never forget -- being unprepared for a high-profile opener that was panned and largely ignored. Since 2000, everything has been planned, calculated, hyped and executed with conservative care.

That's the price they pay for ( a ) not being traditionally trained rock musicians (the thought of improv or jamming terrifies them, and ( b ) staying at the top of the commercial heap almost into their 50s. To stay at the safe place they're at, they want to take maximum control over everything. And that's fine, but I can understand why some of their fellow musicians don't really respect their musicality.

Still, someone's saying that they aren't good live is absurd. They are brilliant live, mainly because of Bono, as it's always been.
 
I think it comes down to the fact they are perfectionists - never wanna take a chance it will come off amateurish.

It is a strength and a weakness.
 
MooMoo! said:
Sorry I dont believe that for a second.


Really, if they wanted to, Edge could grab an accoustic, play a song and Bono can sing it. It wouldnt take much to just rehearse that. They could have done Everlasting Love that way.
Click to expand...

I agree that Edge could probably grab an acoustic and play a song, but Bono wouldn't be able to sing it. Or at least, he wouldn't know the words to it. This is Bono we're talking about, the guy who regularly forgets the lyrics of his own songs. :)
There are plenty of examples where they did try, but where they had plenty of troubles to get it right (at their final Hawaii show, when they first had to find out the key/chords to WGRYWH when they got the request to play it, She's A Mystery To Me from the Brooklyn Bridge concert where they couldn't finish it correctly, the Elevation concert in Cologne where a fan had to show Bono the lyrics to Hawkmoon 269 and Running To Stand Still, so he could give it a try singing it during the acoustic set).

So I understand why they didn't. They never played many covers anyway. And I agree with the sentiment that I want U2 to play U2 songs. :D
 
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