U2: Band in Crisis?

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I sort of know what he's getting at, but realistically U2 haven't been particularly wrapped up in Irish culture since the late 1980s. For many years now - and personally I loved Pop and NLOTH (not too keen on the albums in between them, however) - there hasn't been the, for want of a better expression, Celtic mystical influence on their music that you can discern in albums such as The Unforgettable Fire and the Joshua Tree. For a while there in the JT/R&H period, it looked as though they might go down the Mike Scott/Waterboys route and focus on more traditional influences, but ultimately they chose instead to embrace electronica. I think it's inevitable for a band of this size. Rolling Stones started out sounding quite English but by the 1980s, if not before, they looked and sounded more like an American band.
 
ehh, I understand where the author is coming from but I think its a bit alarmist. I mean, we will all have to wait for the next release (whenever that is) to see how much of this will come to fruition. In my opinion, U2 should release more of their slower, melancholy, deeper, music a la the supposed Songs of Ascent. I think U2 needs to get back to music that is more significant and deep rather than the 'club' music which will just come off as preposterous (maybe). At the end of the day, this article isnt really saying anything at all, at least not until their next release.
 
I don't know that it's fair to judge this extended tour as something that's leading them toward their impending doom ( :rolleyes: ) as being labelled a greatest hits/nostalgia act.

I think Bono's surgery really changed things for them. Had they not had to have that forced break, and not been forced to stop and think about their next steps, would the set have changed this much?

Would they have kept plugging away at promoting NLOTH? Would they have added extra legs on between the already-planned European shows and the rescheduled dates this summer? Or would the tour have ended in 2010? I really think that had Bono not been attacked by his elliptical or whatever, this tour would have ended up looking much different than it does now .... but likely still similar to how it did in 2009.

I think the next album/tour will be a Big Deal for them to cement what their future looks like. This isn't a surprise - I think they know that as well, as they keep trying to figure out how to be "relevant," or even if they can figure out what that means to them in the current music industry landscape.
 
Worrying cracks are on the horizon as the world's biggest band resort to playing songs decades old

Sound the fucking alarm: Every band over 15 years old is on the road to destruction.
 
I knew cracks were starting to show in Radiohead's brilliance with King of Limbs, but then they had to go and confirm it by playing Street Spirit at Glastonbury.

Now, Katy Perry, her songs are only a few years old. Fucking gold.
 
I guess I should pre-emptively post this picture here too, in anticipation of the inevitable "Greatest Hits Band = ONOEZ ZOMG" discussion.

whocares.jpg
 
As it rightly should. I think U2 put that graphic in there just for us. ;)

Or maybe they were directing it at us. In which case, I'm torn between being full of righteous indignation, and applauding, laughing and saying "well played, sirs!"
 
MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE U2 THEMSELVES DON'T CARE ABOUT THEIR ART ANYMORE.

Cracks are showing. Paul McGuinness' is, at least.
 
Wait...a band with no "current album" to speak of is deciding to not waste time promoting an album that's fallen out of the public eye, but instead to celebrate the 20th anniversary and impending remaster of one of their most beloved LPs?

PANIC MODE ACTIVATED.
 
Umm opening with 4 straight NLOTH tracks and playing 7 total in a stadium tour doesn't scream of nostalgia act. I would say that the tour lingering into 2011 and thus extending into the 20 year anniversary period for AB has a lot more to do with the delay because of Bono's back and their lack of decision on a new direction. If they were being a nostalgia act songs like Bullet the Blue Sky wouldn't have been absent and NYD, Pride, AIWIY, Bad, etc. would have been played every night.
 
Umm opening with 4 straight NLOTH tracks and playing 7 total in a stadium tour doesn't scream of nostalgia act. I would say that the tour lingering into 2011 and thus extending into the 20 year anniversary period for AB has a lot more to do with the delay because of Bono's back and their lack of decision on a new direction. If they were being a nostalgia act songs like Bullet the Blue Sky wouldn't have been absent and NYD, Pride, AIWIY, Bad, etc. would have been played every night.

Correct.

They're still missing the quality associated with every nostalgia act out there(Police, AC/DC, etc).

Who else has played 7 songs from their latest album in a stadium that we can think of?

Yes, U2 has a great back catalog and I'd much rather see them admit that and play it instead of say, Unknown Caller or a crappy remix of Magnificent, but they still try to make every release relevant and succeed at it.

Of course, NLOTH is a relative failure for U2, but relative is the key word there.

What nostalgia act can say their latest album was #1 in 30 countries?

What notalgia act innovates with their stage sets the way U2 does?

U2 has had no line up changes, no additional musicians added and no desire to put out an album merely as an excuse to tour.

Even Better Than The Real Thing/I Will Follow(The Fly lately) aren't there for lack of new stuff or for nostalgia's sake, their there, I would think and hope, because they're a kick ass 1-2 punch and work slighly better than Breathe and No Line!
 
While I don't think U2 are going through a difficult phase like they were in Lovetown-Hansa Studios 1990 era, I do think that they're having a bit of an identity crisis. Their current predicament lies in how to continue in a way that both honors their legacy as well as keeps them relevant and moving forward. In order to do both, they need to have an album that is perceived to be either successful or just really good. NLOTH was not that. But they're U2... they'll always sell out stadiums/arenas, their legacy is established... but they'll be the Rolling Stones.
 
Ireland loves to hate U2 but still want them despite all the "Bono's a wanker" talk you'd hear from someone on the street.

They are the national equivalent of the slighted little brother whose big bro has gone off and made something of himself, especially after the whole economy tanked.
 
:lol:

How dare a 30-year-old band play songs from their 30-year catalog!

This annoyed me the most.

Personally I couldn't give a fuck if they're a nostalgia act. I'd certainly rather hear EBTTRT, The Fly, UTEOTW and Mysterious Ways straight up than the Breathe/Boots/Magnificent/NLOTH/however they were opening the show in 2009. But maybe that's just me :shrug:
 
If you don't like the band. If they aren't doing what YOU want or THINK they should do... you should consider finding a new band.

Sure we all have what we might like for them to play or do or whatnot... but there is a difference in "I wish they would play..." And a difference in some of the stuff I see posted here. Seems some post here just to complain or stir up trouble.

Oh well... Like the posted pic says:


WHO CARES
 
I bet if U2 was playing 9 songs from NLOTH, the paper would have written an article about how they don't care about the fans who have gone along with them during their 30 year journey, and they should be playing more old classics.

And if not some article saying that, I'm sure people here would be saying it, too.
 
I haven't taken the time to read that article yet, but it seems like someone tries to predict the end of U2 on a regular basis. All I can say when I read something like that is, You wish!
 
What a lightweight article. At the end of every decade U2 gets overexposed and they have to make a change in direction. :shrug: If anything it's cyclical with them.
 
OK, I just read it. This person is expressing concern that U2 are in trouble because NLOTH wasn't a massive hit and they aren't even bothering to play NLOTH songs live much anymore.

I couldn't help but think of Pop and the PopMart Tour. On that tour, the album wasn't doing so well, either, but U2 kept playing Pop songs live, didn't they? (I'm not up to speed on the PopMart setlists, so I could be wrong on this.) And the stadiums didn't sell out (at least in the US).

The difference now is that they have accepted the fact that the album isn't massively popular and they are adapting to the situation, which is something that they have always been good at. Someone on Interference once said that U2 make a lot of mistakes, but they never make the same mistake twice. Instead of continuing to try promoting the newest album, they've made it into the U2 Variety Show, which I think is working out pretty well.

They've had albums that didn't sell well before and came back with a new direction (look at R&H and Pop and what came after those albums). Instead of being pessimistic, one could say that this next era of U2 could be very, very exciting, because we don't really know what they're going to do.

The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum actually represented, as BB King kind of pointed out at the time, young men making music that sounded like it was made by much older men. The country-rock/blues/gospel seam that the band mined so successfully back then, could be the way forward for them now 25 years later. Better that than trying to make dance music records when you're 50.

So the old guys should just play it safe and make another Joshua Tree? I can tell you right now that that's not going to happen. This guy who wrote this should know that.
 
I think any bad who has the ability to stay around for 30 years is going to end up being a 'nostalgia' trip. Hello! #1 song + nostalgia > #1 song.

Think about it. They still continued to carry IWF through all these years. Come War Tour, people wanted to hear IWF despite also wanting to hear SBS. Come TUF Tour people still wanted to hear IWF and SBS, despite wanting to hear Pride. After 30 years, and after your material continues to get better and better as the years go on, there's a demand for the old stuff.

They can't run away from being the band that they used to be, and they can't run away from becoming a 'best of' concert playing band. They can make a record just as good as friggin Achtung Baby and people will still want to hear Achtung Baby over it. And they'll want to hear IWF. And SBS. And Pride. And Streets. And WOWY. Blah. Blah. Blah.
 
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