U2 to Perform First Concerts at MSG Sphere in Las Vegas

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I’m glad I have friends living in Vegas now, this is very tempting.
 
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If you thought people were complaining about static setlists before…
 
If you thought people were complaining about static setlists before…

Completely disagree. They would save so much extra time and physical toil being in the same place that it would give them a lot of extra ability to mix it up every night. Literally all they would have to do once they’re settled in is show up every night which means plenty of time during the day to workshop other songs. I think they would likely hone 40 or so classics (each with visuals and lighting) plus new material before they open and then be able to do whatever they wanted night to night.

Casual audience isn’t going to complain as long as half the songs are ones they really want to hear. SOI tour was totally stretching it though and I’ve come across a fair amount of people that were disappointed they spent big money for tickets and got…THAT. That tour starting with mostly SOI/SOE songs was frankly a slap in the face to practically everyone who isn’t a sycophant.

Oh, and peeps should probably be warned that it’s become pretty customary for arenas to have a much smaller “pit” (if any) and put everyone else on the floor in seats that are then priced accordingly (and, of course, still got to stand the entire time). Probably gonna be a lot of annoyed fans if they go through with that (which basically everyone is because $$$) as floor capacity for the proper “pit” will be far far less than it used to be.

Also gonna be major issues when we’re talking about a million hardcore fans around the planet used to getting good seats or floor tickets all competing for the same residency of however many dates. Could be a big crunch in particular for the early shows. Millions of fans competing for 20,000 tickets, and, well you catch my drift. On the plus side, audience more full of hardcore fans rather than people showing up thirty minutes late dropping hot dogs on my feet (for real). I’m not sure anyone who was still a top tier touring act has ever done a Vegas Residency - there’s a slight has-been factor in the past. So demand has never been as high as it would be for U2.

Really is the future for touring for huge names. If a band like U2 can get the sound and visuals they want with no real cost of their own to plunk down AND no massive touring costs and time sucks and physical grueling of travel, then why ever tour again? It’s a better deal for all provided the fans are willing to get out to Vegas.
 
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That’s not how Vegas shows are, and with this one so tightly (completely?) tied to the tech presentation, expect zero flexibility. The best you might get is an A show/B show configuration with the same handful of swaps.
 
Imagine thinking the band would seize an opportunity to vary their setlists. If they didn't do it on previous, more stripped-down tours, they certainly aren't going to do it on one with such a specific audio-visual presentation.

My god, the delusion.
 
They can just play the fucking songs and then have a light show behind them. It doesn’t need to be goddamn choreography. 360 was a good example of basically just songs being played with an added light/visual spectacle. Yes, they’ve been stubborn in the past but that’s in part BECAUSE so much time is wasted going from one city to the next and setting up and getting to your hotel room yada yada. This is an opportunity to utilize a lot of extra time. Maybe they’ll do the right thing for a change but I certainly agree they’ve had nothing but awful ideas and music for quite some time now.
 
Imagine thinking the band would seize an opportunity to vary their setlists. If they didn't do it on previous, more stripped-down tours, they certainly aren't going to do it on one with such a specific audio-visual presentation.

My god, the delusion.

Ha, my thoughts exactly. This is U2 we're talking about.
 
I mean the setlists for 360 we're fairly static so not sure whee you're going there.

Referring to the general stage setup. Not reliant on video screens or choreography like I&E, etc. Will point out that the setlists near the end of that tour were undoubtedly the most career encompassing, Greatest Hits-y ever and probably what both the casuals and diehards most want.
 
Completely disagree. They would save so much extra time and physical toil being in the same place that it would give them a lot of extra ability to mix it up every night. Literally all they would have to do once they’re settled in is show up every night which means plenty of time during the day to workshop other songs. I think they would likely hone 40 or so classics (each with visuals and lighting) plus new material before they open and then be able to do whatever they wanted night to night.

Casual audience isn’t going to complain as long as half the songs are ones they really want to hear. SOI tour was totally stretching it though and I’ve come across a fair amount of people that were disappointed they spent big money for tickets and got…THAT. That tour starting with mostly SOI/SOE songs was frankly a slap in the face to practically everyone who isn’t a sycophant.

Oh, and peeps should probably be warned that it’s become pretty customary for arenas to have a much smaller “pit” (if any) and put everyone else on the floor in seats that are then priced accordingly (and, of course, still got to stand the entire time). Probably gonna be a lot of annoyed fans if they go through with that (which basically everyone is because $$$) as floor capacity for the proper “pit” will be far far less than it used to be.

Also gonna be major issues when we’re talking about a million hardcore fans around the planet used to getting good seats or floor tickets all competing for the same residency of however many dates. Could be a big crunch in particular for the early shows. Millions of fans competing for 20,000 tickets, and, well you catch my drift. On the plus side, audience more full of hardcore fans rather than people showing up thirty minutes late dropping hot dogs on my feet (for real). I’m not sure anyone who was still a top tier touring act has ever done a Vegas Residency - there’s a slight has-been factor in the past. So demand has never been as high as it would be for U2.

Really is the future for touring for huge names. If a band like U2 can get the sound and visuals they want with no real cost of their own to plunk down AND no massive touring costs and time sucks and physical grueling of travel, then why ever tour again? It’s a better deal for all provided the fans are willing to get out to Vegas.



I+E your had some of the most varied set lists of their career, at least in terms of songs played across a tour with the rotating slots, and if you think any band touring a new album aren’t going to, you know, play it, then your disappointment is on you, not the band. You’ve come in hot today, haven’t you big boi?
 
I+E was static sets with the aforementioned rotational segments allowing them to hit a lot of songs. But otherwise it was the same 19 songs you had sit through every night which was anything but ideal if going to multiple shows.

I agree they’ll want to play the new record and it will be as lacking in hooks or interesting guitar work as everything else they’ve been doing for years. But cool 3D vids in the background! :love:
 
Well don’t go?

Setlist will certainly impact my decision, that’s for sure. Pointless to go in blind and have to sit through all that mediocrity.

Kind of bizarre that No Line was full of bangers and the new songs got cut down to almost nothing by the end of the tour yet these guys insisted on playing so many songs from the albums nobody asked for, night in and night out. Perhaps stadiums vs arenas was the issue (yet, Miss Sarajevo…)
 
Setlist will certainly impact my decision, that’s for sure. Pointless to go in blind and have to sit through all that mediocrity.



Kind of bizarre that No Line was full of bangers and the new songs got cut down to almost nothing by the end of the tour yet these guys insisted on playing so many songs from the albums nobody asked for, night in and night out. Perhaps stadiums vs arenas was the issue (yet, Miss Sarajevo…)



No line full of bangers but innocence and experience tours were bad? I think you’ve unfortunately revealed yourself to be a troll, sir. No Line was impotent dross.
 
I mean the setlists for 360 we're fairly static so not sure whee you're going there.

I'd probably end up divorced if U2 ever went to a rotating setlist skin to Springsteen or Pearl Jam because I'd spend all my time and money following them around.

Alas, I think I'm safe on that one.

The PJ forum during their current tour has been a funny perspective - yes, the shows are shorter and slightly less varied than they had been, but e.g. the two nights in London had only 2 repeated songs for a total of 42 distinct tracks played. People don’t know how good they have/had it.
 
I found the fairly complex stagecraft (Bono was doing a lot) between the band and the cage on I/e quite thrilling and, if anything, underappreciated — look at BTBS and UTEOTW on the Paris video. It was the most cohesive, thought-through tour since ZooTV, which was their artistic peak. They sold the new songs in a way that they didn’t in 360, what with forced sing-alongs. RBW and Cedarwood Road were absolutely highlights that demanded your attention, and if you were bored, then that’s on you, casual.

The I/e show in Boston remains the absolute best concert I’ve ever seen. It was exactly what U2 should have been doing at the time — using the “visuals” to push the new stuff (exactly what they did in Zoo TV) and then ride the wave of classics into a glorious finish.
 
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Kind of bizarre that No Line was full of bangers and the new songs got cut down to almost nothing by the end of the tour yet these guys insisted on playing so many songs from the albums nobody asked for, night in and night out.

No line full of bangers but innocence and experience tours were bad? I think you’ve unfortunately revealed yourself to be a troll, sir. No Line was impotent dross.

Plot twist: both albums have more than a few great tracks and glaring weaknesses; No Line had better production and more aesthetic ambition while SOI had more thematic integrity and cohesiveness.
 
RBW and Cedarwood Road were absolutely highlights that demanded your attention, and if you were bored, then that’s on you, casual.

Calling someone a casual for disliking some new material is…something. I loathed those plodding numbers when I first heard them and nothing changed that for me. Frankly, I just don’t care about the visuals. Joshua Tree with its gorgeous Anton Corbijn footage projected onto a massive Drive-In theater was probably the most effective at enhancing the experience but I’m there for the music and pay attention to the performance/performers.

Iris and Every Breaking Wave revealed themselves to be great songs marred by overproduction. Perhaps the gimmicks helped me get through the rest of the new songs a bit? Certainly didn’t improve them though.
 
Calling someone a casual for disliking some new material is…something. I loathed those plodding numbers when I first heard them and nothing changed that for me. Frankly, I just don’t care about the visuals. Joshua Tree with its gorgeous Anton Corbijn footage projected onto a massive Drive-In theater was probably the most effective at enhancing the experience but I’m there for the music and pay attention to the performance/performers.



Iris and Every Breaking Wave revealed themselves to be great songs marred by overproduction. Perhaps the gimmicks helped me get through the rest of the new songs a bit? Certainly didn’t improve them though.



Many folks said the same in 1992 when they opened with 8-9 AB songs. Or in 1997.

It’s your opinion and that’s fine, but there’s also a point that you get to as a fan where you can appreciate that the band is working hard and believes in the material and is not taking the easy road. It was like theater, appropriate for an autobiographical album, and evidence that U2 does push themselves.

You don’t have to like it, but most fans who’ve been around for decades *appreciate* what they were doing up there. I can’t think of any arena act that does what I/e and e/i attempted to do.

I enjoyed JT Tour immensely, the visuals, while often stunning, felt rushed and not totally thought through, if not a little homemade … kind of like the tour itself.
 
Many folks said the same in 1992 when they opened with 8-9 AB songs. Or in 1997.

AB was a mega popular, critically acclaimed album with an endless string of hits that people actually wanted to buy unlike what was lassoed to their phones. Pop has a ton of highs regardless of your overall opinion of the album.

It’s kind of a weird generalization to just say someone isn’t “open” to hearing the new material when I certainly craved it for the first three albums of this century and practically every act I go pay money for to see live is touring their latest, usually excellent new record. To me, those last two records and these other recent one-offs are just plain terrible. It’s just an opinion. But holding such an opinion here around the time SOI came out led to so much needless backlash and scorn from other users, perhaps a lot of them doubling down on “protecting” the band as all the negative reviews and complaints about the album’s delivery method came pouring in.

You like whatever U2 you like and I’ll like what I like. My preference would be to see them play places like Berkeley Greek, just them on a stage with no major lighting or visual gimmicks. Some fans really want the spectacle and that’s fine and I’m
glad they get that technological innovation and new experience from this band fairly often.

And it’s not like other legacy acts don’t have fans just shrugging over new material. When I saw Pearl Jam a couple months ago, they performed exactly three songs post-1998 (all from the new album) and there was a mass exodus in droves every single time. Cedarwood Road ain’t ever going to stand up with the classics for most people in that arena, but if does for you, enjoy!
 
Yes, all that is fine.

Let’s not pretend that U2 were doing something in 2015 by playing lots of new material that they have done for literally every single tour other than Joshua Tree. And let’s not pretend that the masses were panting for Pop in the spring of 1997.

If they aren’t doing what you personally want, more power to you. Respecting an artist sometimes means meeting them where they are, while retaining a critical eye. We all like some eras more than others.

I just don’t see what U2 was doing in 2015 that was any different than what they’ve always done and I hope they continue to do: stand behind new material and push the boundaries of what’s possible in a live setting.

Also, I never said “open” in my post, so not sure who you’re quoting? And they literally played the Apollo in 2018, which is more or less The Greek. So … ?
 
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Referring to the general stage setup. Not reliant on video screens or choreography like I&E, etc. Will point out that the setlists near the end of that tour were undoubtedly the most career encompassing, Greatest Hits-y ever and probably what both the casuals and diehards most want.

Uh...360 was solid for a stadium show. New stuff 2009, brand new songs in 2010, Scarlet/Zooropa/Your Blue Room nuggets. Its only a pity they chopped new songs for zoo2.0 in 2011.

People still comparing U2 to Springsteen or Pearl Jam...well, keep dreaming. All awesome live, just a diferent approach to setlists.
 
Sooooooooooooooo happeeeeeeeeee!

Question for those that are a subscriber of U2.com - does this presale ticket access code actually work with success? I have such terrible luck getting tickets now - I so much preferred lining up for them and having real fans getting them.........

Q - If I renew my U2.com subscription, will I receive a ticket access code for presale tickets?

A -In a touring period, paid-up subscribers receive an opportunity to enter a special ticket presale.
 
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