marik
Refugee
Let me start by saying the point of this post is not to bash Discotheque at all. Infact, i love it. I was there at Toronto#4 marking out when it opened the encore.
However, it occurs to me that it has seemed to die a pre-mature death in the live show. Being that it was a hit 1st single (i DO relaize it wasnt anywhere near the highest charting 1st single U2's had), i expected that it was a guarentee for all future live shows, at least for the following 10 years.
Not only did this not happen, but it barely survived the 1st LEG of the following tour. Okay, so maybe it just didnt suit the format/theme of that specific tour. Well, then it was to appear a total of 2 times (toronto and chicago) in the NEXT tour (Vertigo), and nothing more but 2 lines snippeted during all of 360. Not at all what I would expect from an album's 1st single.
Most other 1st singles all are so deeply ingrained into fans hearts, that they will live on, in at least part of live show, forever. Songs like NYD, Pride, Wowy, Beautiful Day, Vertigo, will never fully be retired. (I do realize The Fly was kind of an expection- as it didnt surface on PopMart at all- but then it was resurrected for Elevation and Vertigo)
SO why did Discotheque seem to die such a quiet death in the live form? It held its place in the PopMart show for every show, so it obviously didnt lose love from the band mid-tour (like say, Breathe/Unknown Caller- being dropped mid-tour from the very tour of the album it was on). Then it appeared in a very limited set at the Astoria show in pre-Elevation. As Elevation tour opened, it was a mainstay for about the first month. To me, this showed intent on the band's behalf. It seemed that they did not have anything 'against' the song in general, and did envision it as something they wanted to continue with in the live format. After 1 month of Elevation shows, it then took about a month hiatus from Leg 1 following the Portland show. It came back for a handful of shows end of May, and then appeared for a handful in Europe for Leg 2. IMO, the fact that they kept going back to it during these concert legs shows that the problem was not that the song didnt 'fit' the theme/concept of the tour (cuz this would have been realized after the inital run of performances, why go back to trying it for 2 more different stretches?)
So this leaves me thinking that the crowd reactions are what led them to keep phasing this song out of the set. Its questionable as to which song from PoP had become the 'fan-favorite'. I dont mean which was thought of as 'best quality' song (which i think alot would vote Please), but i mean more, which song had become ingrained in the heads for sing-along type crowd reaction. IMO, that question comes down to Discotheque vs Staring at the Sun. Perhaps the band hunched that Discotheque was this song and tried adamently to make this song work at the beginning of Elevation tour, and after their final attempts (during Leg 2 in Europe), decided to give up on it all together. Interestingly at this time of dropping Disco (end of Leg 2- beginning of Leg 3), is when they switched over and started performing Staring at the Sun. Was this their 2nd attempt to give us a hit-single PoP repersentative, hoping it would catch on with Elevation crowds the way maybe Discotheque never did?
It always ends up being pointless to guess the band's intent, but i find it interesting to analyize this song's live genesis.
However, it occurs to me that it has seemed to die a pre-mature death in the live show. Being that it was a hit 1st single (i DO relaize it wasnt anywhere near the highest charting 1st single U2's had), i expected that it was a guarentee for all future live shows, at least for the following 10 years.
Not only did this not happen, but it barely survived the 1st LEG of the following tour. Okay, so maybe it just didnt suit the format/theme of that specific tour. Well, then it was to appear a total of 2 times (toronto and chicago) in the NEXT tour (Vertigo), and nothing more but 2 lines snippeted during all of 360. Not at all what I would expect from an album's 1st single.
Most other 1st singles all are so deeply ingrained into fans hearts, that they will live on, in at least part of live show, forever. Songs like NYD, Pride, Wowy, Beautiful Day, Vertigo, will never fully be retired. (I do realize The Fly was kind of an expection- as it didnt surface on PopMart at all- but then it was resurrected for Elevation and Vertigo)
SO why did Discotheque seem to die such a quiet death in the live form? It held its place in the PopMart show for every show, so it obviously didnt lose love from the band mid-tour (like say, Breathe/Unknown Caller- being dropped mid-tour from the very tour of the album it was on). Then it appeared in a very limited set at the Astoria show in pre-Elevation. As Elevation tour opened, it was a mainstay for about the first month. To me, this showed intent on the band's behalf. It seemed that they did not have anything 'against' the song in general, and did envision it as something they wanted to continue with in the live format. After 1 month of Elevation shows, it then took about a month hiatus from Leg 1 following the Portland show. It came back for a handful of shows end of May, and then appeared for a handful in Europe for Leg 2. IMO, the fact that they kept going back to it during these concert legs shows that the problem was not that the song didnt 'fit' the theme/concept of the tour (cuz this would have been realized after the inital run of performances, why go back to trying it for 2 more different stretches?)
So this leaves me thinking that the crowd reactions are what led them to keep phasing this song out of the set. Its questionable as to which song from PoP had become the 'fan-favorite'. I dont mean which was thought of as 'best quality' song (which i think alot would vote Please), but i mean more, which song had become ingrained in the heads for sing-along type crowd reaction. IMO, that question comes down to Discotheque vs Staring at the Sun. Perhaps the band hunched that Discotheque was this song and tried adamently to make this song work at the beginning of Elevation tour, and after their final attempts (during Leg 2 in Europe), decided to give up on it all together. Interestingly at this time of dropping Disco (end of Leg 2- beginning of Leg 3), is when they switched over and started performing Staring at the Sun. Was this their 2nd attempt to give us a hit-single PoP repersentative, hoping it would catch on with Elevation crowds the way maybe Discotheque never did?
It always ends up being pointless to guess the band's intent, but i find it interesting to analyize this song's live genesis.
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