What's your favorite U2 Tour?

[stagman]

Each tour gets more and more rocking lately!!

Vertigo
Elevation
Lovetown
Zootv
JTT
Popmart
UFT

 

[tawanda]

Are you friggin kidding me???

ZOOTV by a mile!!!

 

[U2girl]

Based on what I'm seen/heard, I truly think that PopMart was by far the worst tour. Yeah, Bono talked it up, but I think that's the rock-star in him. He was pissed when Americans slightly snubbed PopMart, and as the band got better and better over 97 and 98 he started boasting about how great they were playing. I think this was more smoke than fire. PopMart featured a horrible introduction, a somewhat (for me) dissatisfying setlist, and some of Bono's weakest vocals. Visually, it was atrocious, with the band's costumes and the stage set looking ridiculous. It was also a point in time when U2 were not very relevant, culturally, and this does not suit them since they strive to be bigger than God.

This, except they did have a great setlist on Popmart.


2 or 3 bootlegs ? I suggest Sarajevo and Santiago, along with either Tel Aviv or Leeds.

 

[youarenotimmune]

there's just something abt zoo tv

 

[rastacruz]

I'll list tours I saw...

1. Joshua Tree
2. Unforgettable Fire
3. Zoo TV
4. Conspiracy Of Hope
5. Vertigo
6. Elevation
7. Popmart

 

[Acrobat51829]

Lovetown for the quality of the performances, ZooTv and PopMart for the aesthetic values. All three for the electricity and energy they created.

 

[Addicted To Bad]

Lovetown - TUF and ZOO TV = the best of U2 !

 

[bizkitgto]

Lovetown kills everything else on every conceivable level. Setlist, song selection, actual performance, stage presentation - there's barely even any point mentioning any other tours.

My overall ranking:

Very Fine U2 Touring
1. Lovetwn

Fine U2 Touring
2. JT Tour
3. War Tour
4. UF Tour
5. Vertigo
6. October Tour
7. Boy Tour

Mediocre U2 Touring
8. Popmart
9. ZooTV
10. Elevation, 1st/2nd legs

Shithouse U2 Touring
11. Elevation, 3rd leg

Wow...just wow.

In North America, we rarely get to see stadium shows, so it might be different for those of use who crave the energy stadium shows generate (cooping us up in dark, smokey arenas gets on my nerves, I was thinking of going to Europe on the next leg to see U2). I'm just so shocked you ranked ZOOTV/Popmart 8th & 9th out of 11, clearly 99% of people on here love ZOOTV;

POP-m-Art is pretty much love or hate....only the Dark Jedi Sith's talk in such absolutes....

 

[nadie]

My life will never be complete because I missed the glory that was ZooTV.

 

[LyricalDrug]

They've never had a bad tour, or anything close, but Zoo TV is still tops

 

[jphelmet]

Popmart 1st leg was by far their worst, while Popmart on the later legs (the 3rd for me personally) was incredible. they had all the visuals, and really seemed to play with a chip on their shoulder after the awful start to the tour.

For me (and i am only ranking the ones i attended- don't see how you can really rank shows you never attended). All the tours I have seen were great, with one exception. Ranking them is hard, because they were all incredible at the time.

1. ZooTV Indoor shows
2. Popmart 3rd leg
3. Elevation 1st leg- more of a personal thing- since i was the first 6 shows of the tour.
4. Vertigo 1st leg
5. ZooTV Outdoor shows- Still good, but not near as great as the indoor.
6. Elevation 3rd leg.
7. Vertigo 3rd leg (ditching the boy stuff, made it not as good as 1st leg).









8. Popmart 1st leg, only time i was ever disappointed by a U2 show. they were just flat out bad for large portions of the shows i saw.

 

[rastacruz]

ya, I saw an early Popmart show and felt like I was ripped off. they weren't ready to play and it showed.

 

[Slapnutz]

Despite U2 claiming their music is better suited to stadiums, they have always been at their best playing indoors. They do earn more money outdoors, though.

1. Zoo TV (first two indoor legs)
2. Lovetown
3. Elevation (2nd leg)

 

[The OOTS]

Ranking the tours I've seen:

1. ZOO TV
2. Elevation
3. JT
4. UF
5. Vertigo
6. Popmart

 

[The Sad Punk]

Wow...just wow.

In North America, we rarely get to see stadium shows, so it might be different for those of use who crave the energy stadium shows generate (cooping us up in dark, smokey arenas gets on my nerves, I was thinking of going to Europe on the next leg to see U2). I'm just so shocked you ranked ZOOTV/Popmart 8th & 9th out of 11, clearly 99% of people on here love ZOOTV;

POP-m-Art is pretty much love or hate....only the Dark Jedi Sith's talk in such absolutes....

WELCOME TO lNTERFERENCE

 

[An Cat Gav]

My life will never be complete because I missed the glory that was ZooTV.

Sorry but I have no words of comfort for you as you are correct

The real shame is that the DVD they chose to make-Sydney- doesn't convey much of the wonder of ZOO TV at all. Hopefully they will release an earlier arena gig from the tour and that might capture it a bit better. That said, lots of the documentaries are incredibly cool, they always take me back to those glorious days

 

[digitize]

Sorry but I have no words of comfort for you as you are correct

The real shame is that the DVD they chose to make-Sydney- doesn't convey much of the wonder of ZOO TV at all. Hopefully they will release an earlier arena gig from the tour and that might capture it a bit better. That said, lots of the documentaries are incredibly cool, they always take me back to those glorious days

I personally love Sydney - specifically because of Lemon. But a proper Stockholm DVD would be incredible (Achtung Baby remaster?) in it's own right - I really love that show, too.

ZooTV wasn't just a tour - it was a theatrical production, and an intellectual wonder (specifically on Bono's part). It deserves to be treated as such, and, because of that, the only U2 tour that can really compete in my eyes is PopMart. Lovetown might have been great for alternating setlists and Bono's occasionally awesome voice (even though singing like he did destroyed his voice one the somewhat frequent nights when he wasn't "on"), and it's my favorite U2 tour of the 80s because of it, but nothing can match the genius of ZooTV and, to a lesser extent, PopMart.

Also, the band kind of hated Lovetown.

 

[bizkitgto]

I personally love Sydney - specifically because of Lemon. But a proper Stockholm DVD would be incredible (Achtung Baby remaster?) in it's own right - I really love that show, too.

ZooTV wasn't just a tour - it was a theatrical production, and an intellectual wonder (specifically on Bono's part). It deserves to be treated as such, and, because of that, the only U2 tour that can really compete in my eyes is PopMart. Lovetown might have been great for alternating setlists and Bono's occasionally awesome voice (even though singing like he did destroyed his voice one the somewhat frequent nights when he wasn't "on"), and it's my favorite U2 tour of the 80s because of it, but nothing can match the genius of ZooTV and, to a lesser extent, PopMart.

Also, the band kind of hated Lovetown.

Well said, ZOOTV and PopMart (Pop Art! by Andy Warhol) were real spectacles, and had underlying meaning that most people didn't grasp at the time (myself included, but I still loved it, documentaries tell a lot more). The 360 Tour will most likely fall into this category, as it's more than a concert, it's a concept, the presentation/performace/show/whatever are equally important to the band just as much as the music, and U2 does 'spectacles' very well.

 

[mikal]

Hard decision... I look at it in three parts:

Set List/Performance - Zoo TV
Design/Visuals - PopMart
Personal Experience - Elevation

If I had to choose overall it would probably be Zoo TV but PopMart is very close...

this.

each tour has had its great moments. i can honestly say that the best shows that i attended were the Elevation shows because of its intimacy. but overall, i believe that Zoo and Popmart were pure genius.

 

[eviltwin]

I can only judge them on the shows I´ve seen...

1 ZooTV (Zooropa, Bono's birthday show)
2 LoveTown Rotterdam (The Unforgettable Fire, LAST TIME EVER! acoustics not brilliant, BB King opening and joining them later)
3 Elevation (great show, akward seating, great setlist Gone/New York/Out Of Control, Wake Up.../Walk On closing)

sorry to have missed
- War (festival performances, but I was only 11 at the time...)
- PopMart

Best tour DVD
-Vertigo (ElCo)

As a side note, both Elevation and ZooTV featured worthless opening acts, probably not U2's fault, but the promoter's.

 

[financeguy]

As a side note, both Elevation and ZooTV featured worthless opening acts, probably not U2's fault, but the promoter's.

Well, I'd disagree with you right there. I always thought ZooTV was the only U2 tour to have decent opening acts.

 

[jphelmet]

Well, I'd disagree with you right there. I always thought ZooTV was the only U2 tour to have decent opening acts.

yeah, i saw two of my favorite bands open for u2 on zootv. pixies were great, and primus was awesome in a stadium.

pixies were the best opening act i have ever seen for u2, they were perfect for zootv in arenas.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Well, I'd disagree with you right there. I always thought ZooTV was the only U2 tour to have decent opening acts.

Yeah, I think all of U2's best opening acts were in the nineties, particularly Zoo TV.

Also, the band kind of hated Lovetown.

I think this just proves how good Lovetown was?

 

[eviltwin]

I didn't want this to go off into a tangent opening acts, from this list they've had a fair share of decent bands http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f288/history-of-u2s-supporting-acts-98944.html

But I knew that for example Pearl Jam openened for them on Zooropa. I also know that opening acts are a matter of politics and marketing. So Dutch band the Urban Dance Squad would open in France (?) while in the Netherlands we got German band Einsturzende Neubauten (who got duly pissbottled) The actual opening would be a surprise to most, and some cases very unpleasant surprises.

A crappy opener does diminish the show experience for me. I would prefer "an evening with" U2 over filler.

I guess I was unlucky and it did interfere with me enjoying those tours.

For comparison I got to see Soundgarden and Faith No More opening for G'n R (both surprises) Incubus and Kings of Leon for Pearl Jam. I would haved loved to see RATM, Garbage or FLC opening for U2.

Also, the band kind of hated Lovetown.

I've read that before and it makes no sense, everything I've seen about LoveTown shows them enjoying themselves, rocking out, great setlists, BB supporting/joining them for a few songs.

Like I said, they played TUF at my LoveTown show, what more can you ask for?

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

Best tour in general: Zoo TV
Best vocal: JT / Lovetown
Best setlists variety: Lovetown / Vertigo / Elevation
Best stage: Zoo TV
Best musical performance: Zoo TV
Best energy: Boy - War tours
Worst tour: Elevation 3rd leg by far (even though I love the 1st and 2nd)

 

[Bruce]

The last couple of U2 tours while good will never ever come close to the power, emotion, energy and passion of the Joshua Tree and Zoo TV evrything since has not been as good

 

[HCL]

Zoo TV, Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo all had their highlights, unique features and moments and performances, but I guess I would say Zoo TV and Vertigo... I can't choose any further.

 

[Ellay]

Zoo TV, cos it made me the U2 fan I am today

 

[digitize]

I've read that before and it makes no sense, everything I've seen about LoveTown shows them enjoying themselves, rocking out, great setlists, BB supporting/joining them for a few songs.

Larry described it best... they felt like human jukeboxes.

 

[Bones58]

I've noticed a few people have singled out Elevation 3rd leg as a poor part of the tour. Coming from someone who generally doesn't take interest in bootlegs of that era, may I ask why it isn't highly regarded ?