The Joshua Tree Tour 2019 - Show & Setlist Discussion

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Yeah totally. And I think the staging helps too, it's a pretty immersive, impressive experience, and not one she's likely to see anywhere else. And I think she will appreciate seeing how much I love it.

I brought my ex to the JT30 tour and while she was (and probably still is) pretty ambivalent towards the band, she had an amazing experience and even cried a few times. I hope you and everyone going with you have a lovely time.
 
I’m on my way to JT Melbourne and cannot wait to kick Headache’s arse in our long awaited fight.
 
They added I Will Follow :up:

Felt like the floor thinned out a bit after a few drops of rain (they closed the patented Interference retractable roof around In God's Country) despite it being Melbourne which is renowned for that sort of thing. No surprise that Brisbane had the better crowd.
 
It was.

Beautiful Day just continues feeling a bit redundant (and gets no snippet love either, as its outro is used for Bono to introduce Herstory Ultraviolet). Replace it with something like Out of Control or Gloria and I swear the casuals won't start heading for the exits.
 
They added I Will Follow :up:

Felt like the floor thinned out a bit after a few drops of rain (they closed the patented Interference retractable roof around In God's Country) despite it being Melbourne which is renowned for that sort of thing. No surprise that Brisbane had the better crowd.

Wholeheartedly disagree, I thought tonight was better. Bono in much better voice, band seemed a bit looser, show seemed to flow better, and the crowd seemed a lot more willing as well.

Plus I Will Follow. What a great surprise that was, though it wasn't as good as the searing versions they played at the first Rose Bowl show.

Into My Arms snippet for Bad was fucking sick. Loved that shit.

Em loved the show, too. Really, really enjoyed herself. Her least favourite part it turns out was not TTYW ("I got lost watching the painting") but the Australian flag at the end of the show, with which I wholeheartedly agree. Our flag sucks shit and is racist.

I really wish they hadn't closed the roof. The rain was adding such an amazing vibe. Was really special, particularly when it started raining hardest during Running to Stand Still :heart:

Didn't cry as much tonight, maybe I put too much pressure on myself to do so with my partner and friends around, but then I got my moment during Ultraviolet tonight. I fucking love that song, totally take back what I said about replacing it, Edge's fucking guitar line always kills me and I just love Bono's lyrics and delivery. Tonight it was really special hearing it. When I first heard Achtung Baby, I was 15, and Ultraviolet was the main song that convinced me to keep giving the album another chance... it was the song above all that kept me interested when at first I found most of the album off-putting (cue my EYKIW post and later on a mysterious C0BL post by a certain someone...) and of course at the time I was quite lonely as well. And continued to be lonely for many years, but U2 were always there for me. And I always felt so much good feels when Bono would sing the bridge, "your love was a light bulb / hanging over my bed..."

And to be standing there, 29, my life amazing, and with my partner Emily there, only present because she wanted to share in something that was so special to me, and to then hear Ultraviolet, its lyrics, that line in particular, with Bono really going for it as well, cuddling Em, fuck me, that was really special. To in that moment reflect back on my life, to that 15yo boy, and where he is now. Wow. Super special :heart:
 
I dunno, I felt like at the start I was around a lot of people who were there for something to do on a Friday night, not because they really wanted to be there. Leaving to get drinks as soon as they don't recognise a particular song. I know I'm being a bit nitpicky and probably overthinking it but it takes me out of the show a bit. All this probably helps shape how I feel about how the band are going.

Bono said 'fucked up' instead of 'messed up' in Ultraviolet Zoo TV style, wonder when that last happened.
 
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Wholeheartedly disagree, I thought tonight was better. Bono in much better voice, band seemed a bit looser, show seemed to flow better, and the crowd seemed a lot more willing as well.

Plus I Will Follow. What a great surprise that was, though it wasn't as good as the searing versions they played at the first Rose Bowl show.

Into My Arms snippet for Bad was fucking sick. Loved that shit.

Em loved the show, too. Really, really enjoyed herself. Her least favourite part it turns out was not TTYW ("I got lost watching the painting") but the Australian flag at the end of the show, with which I wholeheartedly agree. Our flag sucks shit and is racist.

I really wish they hadn't closed the roof. The rain was adding such an amazing vibe. Was really special, particularly when it started raining hardest during Running to Stand Still :heart:

Didn't cry as much tonight, maybe I put too much pressure on myself to do so with my partner and friends around, but then I got my moment during Ultraviolet tonight. I fucking love that song, totally take back what I said about replacing it, Edge's fucking guitar line always kills me and I just love Bono's lyrics and delivery. Tonight it was really special hearing it. When I first heard Achtung Baby, I was 15, and Ultraviolet was the main song that convinced me to keep giving the album another chance... it was the song above all that kept me interested when at first I found most of the album off-putting (cue my EYKIW post and later on a mysterious C0BL post by a certain someone...) and of course at the time I was quite lonely as well. And continued to be lonely for many years, but U2 were always there for me. And I always felt so much good feels when Bono would sing the bridge, "your love was a light bulb / hanging over my bed..."

And to be standing there, 29, my life amazing, and with my partner Emily there, only present because she wanted to share in something that was so special to me, and to then hear Ultraviolet, its lyrics, that line in particular, with Bono really going for it as well, cuddling Em, fuck me, that was really special. To in that moment reflect back on my life, to that 15yo boy, and where he is now. Wow. Super special :heart:

So happy for you Cobbs. I saw that IWF was added and I just remembered our reactions when we got that surprise encore at Rose Bowl 1 and how pumped we were. It’s my least fav of the four “early staples” but I was so damned excited to hear it and they killed it.

Also glad the missus liked it; any other specific comments she made? I’ve made a habit of always giving my other tickets to friends who haven’t seen them before (you are the exception), because I love to hear the positive feedback on their first experience.

I’m getting less confident they’re going to mix it up more in a real way; one would imagine they would do something different for places they’ve never been before, but they’ll probably just focus on giving the best standard seitlist performance they can. Those hoping for The Ground Beneath Her Feet in Mumbai, for example, may be overly optimistic (but damn wouldn’t that be cool).
 
And to be standing there, 29, my life amazing, and with my partner Emily there, only present because she wanted to share in something that was so special to me, and to then hear Ultraviolet, its lyrics, that line in particular, with Bono really going for it as well, cuddling Em, fuck me, that was really special. To in that moment reflect back on my life, to that 15yo boy, and where he is now. Wow. Super special :heart:



:heart:

this is what a U2 show should be about.
 
It was.

Beautiful Day just continues feeling a bit redundant (and gets no snippet love either, as its outro is used for Bono to introduce Herstory Ultraviolet). Replace it with something like Out of Control or Gloria and I swear the casuals won't start heading for the exits.

Ehh, I don’t buy that. Personally, BD is probably my least favorite single of that decade after Crazy Tonight, but the “casuals” love that song; it’s probably their most popular track since JT.

OOC and Gloria have a lot of energy, but most of the casuals you’re talking about probably have never even heard them before.
 
I dunno, I felt like at the start I was around a lot of people who were there for something to do on a Friday night, not because they really wanted to be there. Leaving to get drinks as soon as they don't recognise a particular song. I know I'm being a bit nitpicky and probably overthinking it but it takes me out of the show a bit. All this probably helps shape how I feel about how the band are going.


This has been standard at pretty much many of the shows I’ve been to. Even in Mexico, I had seats and the bay pretty much half empty from Red Hill to Exit while they got drinks.

One of the reasons I like going close because you’re near people who are legit there for the show and the songs and not just a Friday night outing.

As I was walking out, there were just so many pissed bogans who I am certain, barely knew many of the songs after the first half of the show. The Triple M U2 fan, but to each their own. This would probably me at some concerts where I’m super casual in my interest
 
.

I really wish they hadn't closed the roof. The rain was adding such an amazing vibe. Was really special, particularly when it started raining hardest during Running to Stand Still :heart:


I know right. Running to Stand Still turned out the be a highlight of mine from last night, and there was that moment during the song where I just thought to myself “this is actually perfect” when the rain fell and I wanted it to keep going for the rest of the JT set.

Cause I felt like this next part of the show (Side B) was for me, as a big fan of the band. In any weather.

It was just a beautiful scene. I captured a little harmonica snippet on video that I’ll treasure.

That bloody Etihad roof always lets me down.
 
Ehh, I don’t buy that. Personally, BD is probably my least favorite single of that decade after Crazy Tonight, but the “casuals” love that song; it’s probably their most popular track since JT.

OOC and Gloria have a lot of energy, but most of the casuals you’re talking about probably have never even heard them before.

I'll admit Elevation and Vertigo are rock solid opening the encore. Followed by an energetic Even Better with band intros, and EBW gets an appreciative applause at the end. Beautiful Day at this point just feels like they're returning to the Elevation/Vertigo section again, except they don't need to, there's no second encore break here. I Will Follow killed it earlier in the set, and it's probably not much more familiar to casuals than OOC or Gloria.
 
I just read this thread now. I’ve been in Hawaii all week so haven’t done much video watching. So please correct me anyone who has seen it, it’s probably just me or I can’t make an educated judgment yet....

But it seems to me that they are tearing it up this tour??

That “Into my arms” snippet was followed by some 360 like “wide awakes” and they’ve seemed thoroughly energetic and well rehearsed yet loose and fun at the same time.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Or tell me I’m wrong?
 
It's just about as much as I could realistically hope for, and they're playing 24/25 songs a night too. Like Bono gorging himself at an all you can eat buffet, I leave feeling full and satisfied.
 
That “Into my arms” snippet was followed by some 360 like “wide awakes” and they’ve seemed thoroughly energetic and well rehearsed yet loose and fun at the same time.


Bad / Into My Arms was so good.
 
It's just about as much as I could realistically hope for, and they're playing 24/25 songs a night too. Like Bono gorging himself at an all you can eat buffet, I leave feeling full and satisfied.

Is Bono ever truly satisfied after a buffet? I’m reminded of the old Bob Marley track:

 
So happy for you Cobbs. I saw that IWF was added and I just remembered our reactions when we got that surprise encore at Rose Bowl 1 and how pumped we were. It’s my least fav of the four “early staples” but I was so damned excited to hear it and they killed it.

Also glad the missus liked it; any other specific comments she made? I’ve made a habit of always giving my other tickets to friends who haven’t seen them before (you are the exception), because I love to hear the positive feedback on their first experience.

I’m getting less confident they’re going to mix it up more in a real way; one would imagine they would do something different for places they’ve never been before, but they’ll probably just focus on giving the best standard seitlist performance they can. Those hoping for The Ground Beneath Her Feet in Mumbai, for example, may be overly optimistic (but damn wouldn’t that be cool).

One of the few early tracks that Edge still really slays on guitar.

She really enjoyed it. I would say 99.9% because of being there with me, but she said she came away with more of a connection to the band, a bigger appreciation for them. Blown away by a lot of the visuals (she didn't hate Trip because she wasn't listening, she was fixated on the painting), cried during Mothers of the Disappeared. Thought the encore was good. She won't become a fan, don't think she'll go out of her way to listen to them ever again, which is all fine.

And you just stood there and let him?

It's a bit hard to stop the man with all his fat.
 
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