U2's Next Album?/Songs of Ascent?

[rennowba]

Oh stop.

With the exception of Keith Richards, who's corpse will eventually be studied by scientists around the world to figure out who in the hell he's still alive... the major touring acts who are still out there touring in their late 60s and 70s... Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen... they are in PHENOMENAL physical shape.

Bono? Not that dude.

Edge and Adam seem to be, but Larry's body has been falling apart since Pop. And they won't continue if one of them doesn't want to, or can't, go on... they're an all or nothing act, unlike the Stones or a solo act

Plus the band has always been one to chase relevancy... they're struggling with their inability to get it now. They'd have to have full acceptance of being the rock jukebox to continue much further beyond this album, and it's hardly a given that all 4 will want to do that.

I do hope I'm wrong - but every U2 fan should treat each show and album cycle going forward as potentially the end (and probably should have been treating every tour post 360 this way).

I'd definitely agree with this. I've always thought if the public/fans turned there back on new u2 music and the demand was really low I couldn't see u2 carrying on. They seem to care to much about being relevant, about being number 1 and being on the radio.

Whether u like their new stuff or think their relevant or not is a totally different debate all together.

Me personally, soe has sold practically a million copies in 5 weeks. Pretty sure imagine dragons and Linkin park were the only bands last year to top 1 million. U2 are still up there wth anyone, apart from Coldplay. So based on the current market there's still a big demand for u2 music.

I take my hat off to them aswell, 40 years in and there still pushing themselves to release their best work. They could quite easily just tour the back catalogue but they still have that spirit to keep trying to release "that" song or " that album"

 

[Hewson]

any thoughts on harrison ford or spotify?

 

[Phalanx]

I always hope that there will be an era in U2's career when they write songs that a) please them b) go to new sonic territories and most importantly c) ignore a need to create an album with radio-friendly tunes. In sum, another collections of songs like Zooropa which forego a need for "relevancy" and just about what turn them on musically.

 

[U2girl]

You could say that about anyone.

Yes...we're talking about U2. Drummer with a persistent back/wrist issue, and Bono's issues pertaining to 360 and SOE. What makes you so sure all 4 are in shape 20 years from now to do full blown world tours ?

As for Bruce, yeah, great energy. Mind you E streeters are already minus 2 members, and not getting younger. The travelling circus that calls itself the Stones will be watched by no one once Mick stops going, and don't forget Keith's arthritis.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I always hope that there will be an era in U2's career when they write songs that a) please them b) go to new sonic territories and most importantly c) ignore a need to create an album with radio-friendly tunes. In sum, another collections of songs like Zooropa which forego a need for "relevancy" and just about what turn them on musically.

A lot of people say this... I think I've said it myself.

But more and more I think that what they're doing now IS what interests them now, and when they come to the realization that nobody cares, they'll call it a day.

 

[vibe]

Yes...we're talking about U2. Drummer with a persistent back/wrist issue, and Bono's issues pertaining to 360 and SOE. What makes you so sure all 4 are in shape 20 years from now to do full blown world tours ?

As for Bruce, yeah, great energy. Mind you E streeters are already minus 2 members, and not getting younger. The travelling circus that calls itself the Stones will be watched by no one once Mick stops going, and don't forget Keith's arthritis.

Because this is not professional football and there are plenty of other musicians that are 20 years ahead of them that continue to do this, Mick will be 75 this year along with Keith. Charlie Watts the drummer will be 77. Mick just had a baby with a 28 year old ballerina. But he has already moved on from her with a girl that's only 22. New album and tour on the way later this year for the Stones.

A lot of people say this... I think I've said it myself.

But more and more I think that what they're doing now IS what interests them now, and when they come to the realization that nobody cares, they'll call it a day.

Millions of people care about their new music. So the idea that nobody does is absurd in the extreme. There not anywhere near where INXS was in 1997, or R.E.M. in 2011 when those groups essentially passed on.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

You're one defensive SOB, aren't ya?

Nobody cares at the level they're pursuing. They want this album to be a smash. It isn't. That hurts them.

It shouldn't. They should be very happy with how well the album has done considering their age and length in the business. It's unheard of.

Yet, it's below the standard that they strive for, and this clearly bothers them (and has for a while).

 

[dan_smee]

Some people just get blinded by love. Logic, reason, reality have no bearing when they could possibly counter the deepest desires of their heart.

 

[Gonna Run 2 U]

Some people just get blinded by love. Logic, reason, reality have no bearing when they could possibly counter the deepest desires of their heart.

Bono said though that love and logic keep us clear. Also, reason is on our side, love.

 

[dan_smee]

Bono said though that love and logic keep us clear. Also, reason is on our side, love.

This guy gets it

 

[vibe]

You're one defensive SOB, aren't ya?

Nobody cares at the level they're pursuing. They want this album to be a smash. It isn't. That hurts them.

It shouldn't. They should be very happy with how well the album has done considering their age and length in the business. It's unheard of.

Yet, it's below the standard that they strive for, and this clearly bothers them (and has for a while).

I see, so what albums released in 2017 qualify as "smash hits" unlike U2's Songs Of Experience?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I see, so what albums released in 2017 qualify as "smash hits" unlike U2's Songs Of Experience?

None. Only U2. It's like 1987 all over again.

 

[Phalanx]

A lot of people say this... I think I've said it myself.

But more and more I think that what they're doing now IS what interests them now, and when they come to the realization that nobody cares, they'll call it a day.

Obviously none of us can be sure but do you think that's the philosophy of all members of the band?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Obviously none of us can be sure but do you think that's the philosophy of all members of the band?

There may be some dissension amongst the troops.. but generally speaking?

They've always made no secret that they want to be a big band

They've always said they don't want to be the U2 jukebox

They've stated they want these songs to be played in bars 20 years from now

And the #1 reason...

They don't have to do this. They can just tour and make oodles of money, as they did on JT30. They can release anything they want and it's not going to hurt their live draw if they space the tours out. That they're choosing to go this route must mean that they want to

 

[trevgreg]

A lot of people say this... I think I've said it myself.

But more and more I think that what they're doing now IS what interests them now, and when they come to the realization that nobody cares, they'll call it a day.

Agreed. Any time someone here wishes they made the music “they want to make,” it’s roughly translated to the music “I want them to make.” If you ask 50 different people what type of album they want, you’ll probably get 50 different answers. And if you go to any band forum for someone that’s released more than 4 albums, it’s almost the same discussion. Which sound is the “correct” one, what sound is “too safe,” why this era is better than the other one, etc.

If anyone thinks they can just dictate their particular sound or style by pointing or choosing this, I can probably safely say that most of them have never written songs before (or if they have, forgot about the literally thousands of decisions that go into writing more than one of them). On top of that, it’s going to sound a heck of a lot more contrived if they did it that way instead of doing it whatever way they’re choosing to go at the moment.

Ultimately, the music they’re putting out is the music they want to make. You might not like it or get sick of the I–V–vi–IV chord progressions that they’ve always used in their songs. But it’s what it is.

 

[vibe]

None. Only U2. It's like 1987 all over again.

I would not go that far, but in terms of Rock albums released in 2017, Songs Of Experience was the 3rd biggest selling rock album, even though it was released in the last month of the year. Only Imagine Dragons Evolve and Linkin Parks One More Light sold more. Imagine Dragons Evolve outsold Songs Of Experience by 168,000 copies but it was released 6 months earlier in the year.

 

[vibe]

. They can release anything they want and it's not going to hurt their live draw if they space the tours out.

That was clearly shown not to be the case on Popmart as well as the Songs Of Innocence Tour. On the Songs Of Innocence Tour, the band had planned to do 8 shows in LA, but had to stop at 5 because that is all the market would support. In Denver, the band failed to sellout their two shows there only playing to a combined 28,000 people when a sellout for two shows is at least 36,000. Four years earlier they had played a show to 79,000 people in Denver. So the new music does impact attendance at the bands concerts significantly.

 

[rennowba]

That was clearly shown not to be the case on Popmart as well as the Songs Of Innocence Tour. On the Songs Of Innocence Tour, the band had planned to do 8 shows in LA, but had to stop at 5 because that is all the market would support. In Denver, the band failed to sellout their two shows there only playing to a combined 28,000 people when a sellout for two shows is at least 36,000. Four years earlier they had played a show to 79,000 people in Denver. So the new music does impact attendance at the bands concerts significantly.

I think what the 360 tour did was tick off a lot of casual fans that wanted to see u2. Meaning these fans are only really interested in seeing the band once to tick them off their bucket list.

If that theory's right aswell that would mean nloth was a blockbusting album, bigger then anything theve ever done because the tour was the biggest thing anyone's ever done. Which it wasn't.

360 was just a rare tour that will probably never be repeated. Cheap tickets aswell

 

[vibe]

I think what the 360 tour did was tick off a lot of casual fans that wanted to see u2. Meaning these fans are only really interested in seeing the band once to tick them off their bucket list.

If that theory's right aswell that would mean nloth was a blockbusting album, bigger then anything theve ever done because the tour was the biggest thing anyone's ever done. Which it wasn't.

360 was just a rare tour that will probably never be repeated. Cheap tickets aswell

Every show, on 360, had at at least 10,000 tickets at the $275 price which adjusted for inflation is the same as the $330 ticket price being charged on the Experience And Innocence Tour for 2018. In addition, the Songs Of Innocence Tour had lots of cheaper tickets as well, but they were not selling. Tickets with good views of the stage at around $100 dollars remain un-purchased for many shows until the day of the show.

Plus, even when you compare Songs Of Innocence with say the Vertigo Tour or even the Elevation tour, you can see it was far weaker. Demand to see the band live shrunk from the highs of the 360 tour back to the lows of the Popmart tour.

The 360 tour did well, because the album it was supporting actually did decently on the charts and the previous two albums were mega and the number of shows on the previous tour did not come close to meeting demand. Those factors combined all contributed to it being their biggest tour.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

That was clearly shown not to be the case on Popmart as well as the Songs Of Innocence Tour. On the Songs Of Innocence Tour, the band had planned to do 8 shows in LA, but had to stop at 5 because that is all the market would support. In Denver, the band failed to sellout their two shows there only playing to a combined 28,000 people when a sellout for two shows is at least 36,000. Four years earlier they had played a show to 79,000 people in Denver. So the new music does impact attendance at the bands concerts significantly.

I'll ignore bringing popmart into the equation because that's just stupid.

But for i/e... the band had the third biggest tour of the year after releasing an album that was widely ridiculed.

They followed with a very successful tour for a 30 year old album.

And in 2009 they had the biggest music tour in the history of ever to support an album nobody gave a shit about.

So no, new music doesn't matter for U2 to have highly successful tours.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The 360 tour did well, because the album it was supporting actually did decently on the charts .

Ok now I know you're trolling. Is this Sting back from the dead?

Edit: new user, posts mostly about ticket sales, including crazy posts about how they should play Atlantic City? Yea, probably Sting

 

[rennowba]

Every show, on 360, had at at least 10,000 tickets at the $275 price which adjusted for inflation is the same as the $330 ticket price being charged on the Experience And Innocence Tour for 2018. In addition, the Songs Of Innocence Tour had lots of cheaper tickets as well, but they were not selling. Tickets with good views of the stage at around $100 dollars remain un-purchased for many shows until the day of the show.



Plus, even when you compare Songs Of Innocence with say the Vertigo Tour or even the Elevation tour, you can see it was far weaker. Demand to see the band live shrunk from the highs of the 360 tour back to the lows of the Popmart tour.



The 360 tour did well, because the album it was supporting actually did decently on the charts and the previous two albums were mega and the number of shows on the previous tour did not come close to meeting demand. Those factors combined all contributed to it being their biggest tour.

I don't think we went from 360 to popmart levels on the i&e tour. You really cannot compare the two. Anyway With popmart it did ridiculously well all over the world apart from America and even then it was only a handfull of dates that did poorly. It's only because the handfull of shows that did poor were really really bad that popmart gets a bad rep

I really don't think there was a large number of people going to 360 shows to listen to nloth. Plus come the last few legs a lot of the new songs had been dropped for achtung baby tracks. I do agree maybe the previous two albums had caused a huge momentum but that momentum was people going to 360 to see songs from the previous albums not nloth

 

[Hollow Island]

By the time it finished, PopMart was the fourth highest grossing tour of all time behind two by the Stones and two by Floyd.

The only tours to play to more people were two Floyd, two Stones, two Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks, and U2 themselves.

All talk of PopMart being a commercial failure can go fuck itself forever.

 

[Hewson]

The 360 tour did well, because the album it was supporting actually did decently on the charts

Yeah, especially that 2nd NA leg when they more or less ignored the new album. I mean what the Buk? That Stings!

 

[TheGeekyU2Fan]

they literally stopped playing the songs from No Line after 2010.

 

[trevgreg]

they literally stopped playing the songs from No Line after 2010.

If we're talking 2011, then Boots, Crazy Tonight, and MOS were played at all of the shows. Magnificent was played at most of them too, which made if 3-4 songs altogether. Still a pretty decent go-around for an album that was 2+ years old by that point.

 

[rennowba]

By the time it finished, PopMart was the fourth highest grossing tour of all time behind two by the Stones and two by Floyd.

The only tours to play to more people were two Floyd, two Stones, two Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks, and U2 themselves.

All talk of PopMart being a commercial failure can go fuck itself forever.

Agreed [emoji106][emoji106][emoji2]

 

[vibe]

I'll ignore bringing popmart into the equation because that's just stupid.

It was an album of new material that the public did not like as much compared to prior albums. As a result, attendance for the tour was off in many markets by as much as 50% from ZOO TV. Text book example of how a release that sales substantially less than other prior releases can impact the sales of the tour.

But for i/e... the band had the third biggest tour of the year after releasing an album that was widely ridiculed.

Doesn't change the fact that the band were suddenly back down to the more humble levels of Popmart demand, which by the way was the 2nd highest grossing tour in its year. Again, the fact that people did not like or were not interested in the new album is the reason why. Just like on Popmart.

They followed with a very successful tour for a 30 year old album.

Nostalgia tours are easier sales wise for most artist.

And in 2009 they had the biggest music tour in the history of ever to support an album nobody gave a shit about.

Although the album did not sell as much as ATYCLB and HTDAAB, its sales were substantial in the market it was released into. Unlike Pop which finished at #48 in the United States for the year, NLOTH finished at #22 for the year. Not spectacular, but hard factual proof that there were plenty of people who were interested in the album and the tour to support it. Worldwide, it did even better as the 7th highest selling album of the year.

Do you have any data that shows nobody cared about the album? Not of the facts about it sales indicate that. Plus on a personal level a the shows I went to, the excitement for the new songs was no different than what I saw on ZOO TV for the songs from Achtung Baby.

So no, new music doesn't matter for U2 to have highly successful tours

Every tour shows that for U2 to reach peak levels of attendance, they need the new album to do very well. Those are the facts.

 

[vibe]

I don't think we went from 360 to popmart levels on the i&e tour. You really cannot compare the two. Anyway With popmart it did ridiculously well all over the world apart from America and even then it was only a handfull of dates that did poorly. It's only because the handfull of shows that did poor were really really bad that popmart gets a bad rep

I really don't think there was a large number of people going to 360 shows to listen to nloth. Plus come the last few legs a lot of the new songs had been dropped for achtung baby tracks. I do agree maybe the previous two albums had caused a huge momentum but that momentum was people going to 360 to see songs from the previous albums not nloth

It was not just the United States where attendance was off. Attendance was off in Europe too. Only two shows at Wembley Stadium in London instead of the four they did on ZOO TV. None of the 5 German shows made it to 40,000 in attendance, the minimum you need to make an average stadium look full. The worst was actually Australia which had the lowest average attendance of the entire tour.

The tour did well from a gross standpoint, but attendance was way off from where it was on ZOO TV in many markets.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Cool story stinger