Next Album Rumours Thread V - Your Song Ruined My Life

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Calling any of their post OK Computer records “rock” is an incredible stretch. Saying they’re filled with hooks is also an incredible stretch.
 
Here's my $0.02:

After 32 years as a U2 fan, I feel like I have a sense of how their PR machine works. Rolling Stone magazine is their unofficial press release/puff piece dumpster. The Zoo TV revisit was mentioned in the subheader. The article was pushed to my phone today via Google News. The idea had already been pronounced dead in this forum and others, and U2 must have known that.

The only way they can top the energy level of the JT30 opening is Zoo Station with a nostalgic video intro. They will tweak it with subtle state-of-the-art touches (VR? Holograms?) to make it up-to-date and not lame. As consummate showmen they are going to try to jump over the high bar and pull this off. It will be part of the megatrend of GenX stepping into the senior role in society and U2 has always craved being a part of those key moments (Super Bowl, anyone?) Again, this is me extrapolating from the last 32 years. They have now put themselves in a position where they have to throw cold water on the idea if they can't or decide not to.

Larry is 60 and his body is the band's most precious resource at this point. I believe they have a 5- to 7-year window of Larry at full rock drumming power. After that, they will have to make accommodations somehow. They need to maximize this time. Do the acoustic stuff afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if they are looking at ways to get back into US stadiums in 2022, before a new album cycle, even if more towards the fall.

The timing of the news drop for the Thanksgiving week holiday rollout portends, to me, the beginning of a cycle of activity--if only the start of a "timer" in the audience's mind counting down to forthcoming escalation.
 
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mikemiller48 said:
Here's my $0.02:

After 32 years as a U2 fan, I feel like I have a sense of how their PR machine works. Rolling Stone magazine is their unofficial press release/puff piece dumpster. The Zoo TV revisit was mentioned in the subheader. The article was pushed to my phone today via Google News. The idea had already been pronounced dead in this forum and others, and U2 must have known that.

The only way they can top the energy level of the JT30 opening is Zoo Station with a nostalgic video intro. They will tweak it with subtle state-of-the-art touches (VR? Holograms?) to make it up-to-date and not lame. As consummate showmen they are going to try to jump over the high bar and pull this off. It will be part of the megatrend of GenX stepping into the senior role in society and U2 has always craved being a part of those key moments (Super Bowl, anyone?) Again, this is me extrapolating from the last 32 years. They have now put themselves in a position where they have to throw cold water on the idea if they can't or decide not to.

Larry is 60 and his body is the band's most precious resource at this point. I believe they have a 5- to 7-year window of Larry at full rock drumming power. After that, they will have to make accommodations somehow. They need to maximize this time. Do the acoustic stuff afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if they are looking at ways to get back into US stadiums in 2022, before a new album cycle, even if more towards the fall.

The timing of the news drop for the Thanksgiving week holiday rollout portends, to me, the beginning of a cycle of activity--if only the start of a "timer" in the audience's mind counting down to forthcoming escalation.
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I think there’s a lot in here that’s really smart.

JT Tour was wildly successful, beyond what they say they expected. While I don’t think Zoo TV has quite the pull of JT — even if, IMO it’s the stronger achievement, ans AB the better album — because it’s much more accessible to buy an album or hear songs on the radio than it was to have attended Zoo TV in ‘92-‘93, they may want to capture the commercial and, yes, critical success that JT did.

I agree that something is starting. However, I think the 2022 calendar may be full.

The upside about Larry and his body is that, of the four of them, he’s the youngest and most health conscious.
 
Stuff like "revisiting" a tour is more step towards semi-retirement and becoming the U2 Greatest Hits act like The Stones have become. The JT tour came about during some unique circumstances and also benefited from being an album which didn't have the benefits of the massive screen technology we have now. The themes of the album also really suited the screen and the scale.

An AB-themed tour? Possibly, but I don't know how they do that without it being a pale imitation of everything that made the original Zoo TV tour so special.

As Edge said, we're now living in an entirely different world where the reliance-on and influence-of tech, rolling news, the meta verse, social media etc is probably on a whole different level to what they could even have imagined when they came up with Zoo TV. So maybe there's an angle there for a new tour, but they'd have to come up with a new way of saying much of what's been done by other artists over the last 10-15 years.
 
the tourist said:
Calling any of their post OK Computer records “rock” is an incredible stretch. Saying they’re filled with hooks is also an incredible stretch.
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Their albums are all based around bass-drums-guitar, there are always multiple uptempo, riff based songs (even Kid A!) and nearly every song they've ever done adheres to the verse-chorus-verse formula. They're a rock band who make rock albums. The songs are all based on hooks, too.

They're not a meat & potatoes rock band but they're definitely a rock band. Always have been.
 
Irvine511 said:
I agree that something is starting. However, I think the 2022 calendar may be full.
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For arenas? Yes - it's tight. U2 will always be box office so if they really want to hit the road and do arenas? People will make room for them.

But stadium shows - there's only a handful of acts that full stadiums, and a U2 Zoo TV show is one of them.

By my count right now it's RHCP, the Motley Crew/Def Leppord/80s rock shitfest, Kenny Chesney and Rammstein, Coldplay, Elton John.

T-Swizzle can fill stadiums but the talk now is that she'll do arenas. Outside of that - who is left that can fill a stadium? BTS, Beyonce, Garth Brooks, Metallica, U2. That's about the list.
 
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Headache in a Suitcase said:
For arenas? Yes - it's tight. U2 will always be box office so if they really want to hit the road and do arenas? People will make room for them.

But stadium shows - there's only a handful of acts that full stadiums, and a U2 Zoo TV show is one of them.

By my count right now it's RHCP, the Motley Crew/Def Leppord/80s rock shitfest, Kenny Chesney and Rammstein, Coldplay, Elton John.

T-Swizzle can fill stadiums but the talk now is that she'll do arenas. Outside of that - who is left that can fill a stadium? BTS, Beyonce, Garth Brooks, Metallica, U2. That's about the list.
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The Crue/Lep is a package tour, so I wouldn’t even count it. I was surprised by the sales in RHCP bc the pricing is ridiculous. Good for them I guess?

Two more acts to note: Springsteen stadium tour feels inevitable. Macca probably has one more go ‘round left in him.
 
DeVaul said:
The Crue/Lep is a package tour, so I wouldn’t even count it. I was surprised by the sales in RHCP bc the pricing is ridiculous. Good for them I guess?

Two more acts to note: Springsteen stadium tour feels inevitable. Macca probably has one more go ‘round left in him.
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yea i forgot about Bruce. typically he goes arenas first and then stadiums on his tours - arenas to warmup with a more static-ish set, and then the guns come out when the stadium shows begin - alas, it's not a typical year so maybe he'll jump right into stadiums.

mccartney is on the list for sure. and the stones. i can see the stones doing a handful of shows like they did this year just to keep things rolling. i don't get a sense that macca is touring in 2022 but it's not impossible.

still a short list - 10-12 acts maybe?
 
MattD said:
A 30th anniversary Zoo TV tour just wouldn't work.

It wouldn’t be sincere or convincing. I just can’t reconcile the band who did that with the bollocks housewife music or cringe dad rock they release these days.

It’s fine not to go back to that daring style at this stage in their career anyway, but surely it’s not too much to ask for something mature, grown up and reflective from them?

They’ve gone from a band with interesting musical palette to something downright immature and pathetic. But not surprising from a band whose members hire Madonna’s manager, get pretty boy industry songwriters to help them write songs, all the while losing their sense of soul, spirit and imagination by getting sucked into the material world, whether it be Edge’s money grabbing, environmentally destructive property plans in a plastic soulless Malibu estate or Bono’s attempts to befriend every celebrity known to earth.

For a band that were so ethereal and spiritual with limitless imagination, it’s not difficult to find out the reasons why these immaterial qualities have been sucked from them.

They should be like Radiohead, still creating great artsy records. Instead they’re prancing about and making shite music like that joker Bon Jovi.
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Radiohead is going on year 6 since their last album, so I wouldn't say they're making any records at all.

But U2 has never been a Radiohead. We all long for U2 to go back to their Artsy period, which was brilliant, but when you look at their career as a whole, they are who they are and we shouldn't be surprised that they're still trying to make music for the masses.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
For arenas? Yes - it's tight. U2 will always be box office so if they really want to hit the road and do arenas? People will make room for them.

But stadium shows - there's only a handful of acts that full stadiums, and a U2 Zoo TV show is one of them.

By my count right now it's RHCP, the Motley Crew/Def Leppord/80s rock shitfest, Kenny Chesney and Rammstein, Coldplay, Elton John.

T-Swizzle can fill stadiums but the talk now is that she'll do arenas. Outside of that - who is left that can fill a stadium? BTS, Beyonce, Garth Brooks, Metallica, U2. That's about the list.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and RHCP isn't really "filling" stadiums. They have about 65% of the seats available and are touring with people like Beck and The Strokes to boot.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
yea i forgot about Bruce. typically he goes arenas first and then stadiums on his tours - arenas to warmup with a more static-ish set, and then the guns come out when the stadium shows begin - alas, it's not a typical year so maybe he'll jump right into stadiums.

mccartney is on the list for sure. and the stones. i can see the stones doing a handful of shows like they did this year just to keep things rolling. i don't get a sense that macca is touring in 2022 but it's not impossible.

still a short list - 10-12 acts maybe?
Click to expand...



I get the sense Bruce wants to play to the largest possible crowds after all the shit. Maybe some warmups at Pru/MSG/UBS to keep it simple travel-wise. The fanbase will go to the stadiums and it will be healing. Except for the livers.

Macca def not touring next year but has to be sooner rather than later. Agree on the Stones. Why not? The stage is built. The tickets sell. They don’t give a fuck about being a little sloppy. Do something simple for routing and then take a few months off.

The big question mark to me is if AC/DC will do a Brian-led (farewell?) tour.
 
As for Radiohead, I've always liked them. The Bends is in my top 10 albums ever. But never thought they were as brilliant as many do. I respect them for the path they chose I guess. It's just hasn't been my sort of thing for probably 15 years or so.

U2 have always wanted to be big. So they strive for that every time, with mixed results. I think Radiohead saw the gushing indie hipster crowd love and they just tried to out-Radiohead themselves to be adored by the Pitchfork crowd. I love U2's 90's stuff more than any other period, but glad they didn't go down the road of trying to cater to people that think Animal Collective is the greatest music ever made.
U2 does their best work when art and concept collide with their core rock center. AB, UF, lots of tracks from Zooropa, POP and No Line. At least IMO.
 
lazarus said:
Rammstein fills stadiums...in the US??
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They’re booking ‘em, they ain’t selling ‘em. They’ve got another 9 months before the start of the tour but I expect some discount offers. Too many open seats across the tour right now.
 
womanfish said:
As for Radiohead, I've always liked them. The Bends is in my top 10 albums ever. But never thought they were as brilliant as many do. I respect them for the path they chose I guess. It's just hasn't been my sort of thing for probably 15 years or so.

U2 have always wanted to be big. So they strive for that every time, with mixed results. I think Radiohead saw the gushing indie hipster crowd love and they just tried to out-Radiohead themselves to be adored by the Pitchfork crowd. I love U2's 90's stuff more than any other period, but glad they didn't go down the road of trying to cater to people that think Animal Collective is the greatest music ever made.
Click to expand...

Gushing indie hipster love? You mean when OK Computer was (laughably) voted the best album of all time by the readers of Q Magazine in 1998? They were a mainstream success from 1993 onward, and their weirdest albums were also immensely popular. I was in a crowd of 30,000 to see them on the Amnesiac tour.

Radiohead also strive to be big - you don't become and remain one of the biggest bands in the world by accident. You don't really think they gave a fuck about what a small indie website thought when the made Kid A, do you? After Amnesiac their music's been pretty accessible. And popular. They have mass appeal. I really don't know where this idea that they're some weirdo "hipster" band with niche appeal came from. They play arenas and headline festivals around the world, and everything they do is an event..
 
This kind of blew my mind — I remember watching the video for “du hast” or whatever … on VHS … in college … and even then, it seemed kind of niche (if not kitsch).

But good on them. I guess they have an audience? The stadiums they are booking are in the biggest markets — NY, LA, etc.

Seems to me that the top tier of stadium acts, or “multiple nights in a stadium” is probably just U2, Stones, Springsteen … and maybe Garth? Taylor? Beyoncé? And who could do so on both sides of the Atlantic?

Just curious if there’s a kind of power ranking of acts.
 
Hollow Island said:
Gushing indie hipster love? You mean when OK Computer was (laughably) voted the best album of all time by the readers of Q Magazine in 1998? They were a mainstream success from 1993 onward, and their weirdest albums were also immensely popular. I was in a crowd of 30,000 to see them on the Amnesiac tour.

Radiohead also strive to be big - you don't become and remain one of the biggest bands in the world by accident. You don't really think they gave a fuck about what a small indie website thought when the made Kid A, do you? After Amnesiac their music's been pretty accessible. And popular. They have mass appeal. I really don't know where this idea that they're some weirdo "hipster" band with niche appeal came from. They play arenas and headline festivals around the world, and everything they do is an event..
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While true, it's no secret that U2's version of big is different that Radiohead's version.
 
Irvine511 said:
.

Seems to me that the top tier of stadium acts, or “multiple nights in a stadium” is probably just U2, Stones, Springsteen … and maybe Garth? Taylor? Beyoncé? And who could do so on both sides of the Atlantic?

Just curious if there’s a kind of power ranking of acts.
Click to expand...


Don’t forget that ginger troll.
 
lazarus said:
Rammstein fills stadiums...in the US??
Click to expand...

DeVaul said:
They’re booking ‘em, they ain’t selling ‘em. They’ve got another 9 months before the start of the tour but I expect some discount offers. Too many open seats across the tour right now.
Click to expand...

And those shows went on sale pre-Covid originally. Been over 2 years and they have sold a theater's worth of tix in most stadiums.
Whatever boob booked that tour must surely have been canned.
 
Hollow Island said:
Their albums are all based around bass-drums-guitar, there are always multiple uptempo, riff based songs (even Kid A!) and nearly every song they've ever done adheres to the verse-chorus-verse formula. They're a rock band who make rock albums. The songs are all based on hooks, too.



They're not a meat & potatoes rock band but they're definitely a rock band. Always have been.
Click to expand...



All of these descriptions could be applied to Taylor Swift, Simon and Garfunkel, Fleet Foxes, and a million other artists who aren’t considered rock. I would never in a million years consider anything Radiohead has done post OK Computer to be “rock”.
 
Hollow Island said:
Gushing indie hipster love? You mean when OK Computer was (laughably) voted the best album of all time by the readers of Q Magazine in 1998? They were a mainstream success from 1993 onward, and their weirdest albums were also immensely popular. I was in a crowd of 30,000 to see them on the Amnesiac tour.
Click to expand...

I was in a crowd of 90,000 on an album that featured a heaping turd about footwear as the lead single. What's your point?
 
the tourist said:
All of these descriptions could be applied to Taylor Swift, Simon and Garfunkel, Fleet Foxes, and a million other artists who aren’t considered rock. I would never in a million years consider anything Radiohead has done post OK Computer to be “rock”.
Click to expand...



Is it “classic rock”? Perhaps not.
Modern/alternative rock? Sure.
If we’re going to classify anything U2 did in the 90s as rock, absolutely.

https://youtu.be/wozwbfY2p1Q

https://youtu.be/Fe6X9fLLp0Y
 
Whatever, genre only matters in the broadest sense these days, if at all. And once a band starts playing arenas they’re a pop act no matter what. Radiohead is Arena Pop with a fan base that has deluded themselves into thinking they’re some hidden, sophisticated art rock gem.

I fucking love Radiohead.
 
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