All The Songs That They've Left Behind

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gabriele1971

The Fly
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Messages
60
Location
turin, italy
U2 have a penchant for writing awesome songs and putting them on the albums (or b-sides), then trasforming them into incredible live numbers on that album's tour, and then...forgetting about them on the subsequent tours.
here is a quick overview, from WAR onwards.

WAR TOUR
surrender (only played a couple of times on Unfire tour, not played ever since)
2 hearts (played seldom on Unfire tour, twice on Lovetown, never since)
seconds (survided on the Unfire tour, not played ever since)
like a song (played a couple of times on the tour, never since)

UNFIRE TOUR
homecoming (played a couple of times on JT tour, twice on elevation, never in between)
indian summer sky (played seldom on Unfire tour, never since)
wire (never played after unfire tour)
mlk/unfire (both played until 1990, never since, except for mlk snippeted here and there - like Superbowl '02)

JT tour
exit (played once on Lovetown, never since)
gods country (played a couple of times on Lovetown, returned acoustically on Elevation, never played in between)
running (a regular until 1993, it returned only twice on elevation, not complete)
one tree (played a couple of times on JT, became a regular on Lovetown, played only twice ever since, in NZ 93)
mothers (seldom played on JT tour, returned 4 times on Popmart, in South Am)
silver and gold/spanish eyes (sometimes played on Jt tour, never since, except for 2 shots at Spanish eyes, in barcelona 92 and 01)
helter skelter (never played since)

Lovetown
all along the watchtower (reappeared only once on elevation)
hawkmoon/god 2/love rescue (never played since, except hawkmoon snippeted once on elevation)
lovetown (never played after 93)

ZOO TV/ZOOROPA/ZOOMERANG
ultrav/blindness/throw your arms/wild horses/zoo station/so cruel/zooropa/babyface/numb/lemon/daddy's/dirty day (never since, except a couple of snippets of wild horses on elevation)

Popmart
do you feel loved/mofo/if god/last night/miami/velvet dress (never since)

that's it; I think that's incredible.
that's a motherload of really good songs forgotten by the band. and that's without mentioning the songs never-ever played by the band (red hill, drowning man, heartland, acrobat...), or the long-lost classics (gloria, electric co, october...): these listed were just the "regulars" of every single tour, with a couple of exceptions (like a song, indian summer...) which were rare even on "their" tour.

what do you guys think? why do you think this happens? what do you think will happen to the ATYCLB songs? I think that only beautiful day and walk on will survive on the next tour.
bye
 
I think Kite will make it. There could be a mini-set dedicated to Bono's father which would include Kite, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own and One Step Closer.
 
Thats what happens with set setlists. I think all the songs played on ATYCLB will come back on this tour: Beautiful Day and Stuck will be played regularly, Kite and Walk On once in awhile, and I dont think New York will be played really but in NY its pretty much 100% it will make a cameo. Ones left off: Wild Honey, In a Little, WILATW, although these three were cameos on the last tour!
 
ATYCLB - BD, Kite, Walk On will remain & perhaps In a Little While.

But, I can honestly see Walk On actually not making the new tour because it closed the Elevation shows and I would guess that there would be a new closer this time around. If so, Walk On might not fit in the middle of the set as well as it closed.
 
I find it very sad to see such a list, because most of those songs are so fantastic that they SHOULD be played much more often. U2, however, seem to love routine, and if a song doesn't fit into one setlist, it's pretty much gone. This talk of two setlists seems very promising because it may mean more songs will hang around and some older ones will return.

I'm not optimistic that many ATYCLB songs will survive. At this stage, I think only Beautiful Day will be played every night. If they have rotating sets, more will survive - Kite one night, IALW another. Stuck for the acoustic set. Elevation and Walk On ... my perspective on these keeps on changing. I'm going to wait and see.

By the way, I'm pedantical, so if you don't mind, I'd like to offer a couple of corrections.

Two Hearts Beat As One - it was played fairly regularly for most of the UF Tour, but only once on Lovetown.
Like A Song ... - played only once, despite fake bootlegs claiming to be another performance.

Sorry, I can't help myself somedays. :wink:
 
yeah, axver, you're right, 2 hearts was only played once on lovetown (2nd dublin show); sorry 4 the mistake.
i forgot van diemens, which was a regular on lovetown, played a couple of times on zoo, and then forgotten.
 
What about God Part II? never played after the Love Town Tours, that's a sore one for me as it's such a stunning song.

I think U2 feel that the songs are so heavily tied to their concept for the tour they don't fit the next one as well. Songs like Love Is Blindness might not have worked on PopMart or Elevation due to it's tone.

But I'm really hoping they shake the whole thing up this time and not just the greatest hits with 7 new songs. Bring back fan favourites, one's that are lesser known.
 
gabriele1971 said:
yeah, axver, you're right, 2 hearts was only played once on lovetown (2nd dublin show); sorry 4 the mistake.

No need to apologise! It was such a minor error I doubt many people noticed (or cared, hehe). As I said, I'm pedantical.

You raise another two good songs with TTYW and VDL. I've recently come to enjoy TTYW and it's a shame it was cut - it wouldn't have fit on ZooTV or later, but it would have been PERFECT on Lovetown! Why wasn't it in the set with BB King? I do not understand that.

VDL ... I am hoping they bring that back when they visit Australia next. (For those who don't know, Tasmania used to be called Van Diemen's Land) I did hear rumours it was performed at a Popmart soundcheck, I think somewhere in Europe. I've also heard stories that 11 O'clock Tick Tock was played at a German Popmart soundcheck.
 
Lo-Fi said:
I think U2 feel that the songs are so heavily tied to their concept for the tour they don't fit the next one as well. Songs like Love Is Blindness might not have worked on PopMart or Elevation due to it's tone.

But I'm really hoping they shake the whole thing up this time and not just the greatest hits with 7 new songs. Bring back fan favourites, one's that are lesser known. [/B]

this is absolutely right, I couldnt have said it better.
U2 tours are always strongly conceptual, so some songs, according to the band, simply don't work on the next tour.
but the real problem is that U2 shows are relatively short (2 hours), their live songs relatively long, and they always play a motherload of new songs (between 6 and 10).
so, of course, if in your setlist you have room for 21 songs, and 7 are new, and you play a stadium full with 70.000 people (of which maybe 50.000 have never seen you live and will never see you again), and you have not played in that country for 4-5 yrs, what do you do?
you play greatest hits. that's it.
the only solution woul be that U2 played longer: 2 and a half hours, 25 songs, with "heavy rotation". like sprinsgteen or pearl jam.
that's what they did in my hometown in 2001 (21 july '01), and it was simply amazing. setlist:

Elevation, Beautiful Day, Until the End of the World, New Year's Day, Kite, Gone, New York, I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday, In My Life/Stuck In A Moment, In A Little While, Desire/Gloria, Stay, Bad/40, Where the Streets Have No Name, Mysterious Ways, The Fly
encore: Bullet the Blue Sky, With or Without You, One, Wake Up Dead Man, Walk On/Hallelujah, Pride, Out of Control

that's about the perfect mix of new songs (7), hits, snippets, and fan faves (gone, end of the world, bad, the fly,wake up dead, out of control). show ran for 2hrs 35 minutes.
 
gabriele1971 said:


this is absolutely right, I couldnt have said it better.
U2 tours are always strongly conceptual, so some songs, according to the band, simply don't work on the next tour.
but the real problem is that U2 shows are relatively short (2 hours), their live songs relatively long, and they always play a motherload of new songs (between 6 and 10).
so, of course, if in your setlist you have room for 21 songs, and 7 are new, and you play a stadium full with 70.000 people (of which maybe 50.000 have never seen you live and will never see you again), and you have not played in that country for 4-5 yrs, what do you do?
you play greatest hits. that's it.
the only solution woul be that U2 played longer: 2 and a half hours, 25 songs, with "heavy rotation". like sprinsgteen or pearl jam.
that's what they did in my hometown in 2001 (21 july '01), and it was simply amazing. setlist:

Elevation, Beautiful Day, Until the End of the World, New Year's Day, Kite, Gone, New York, I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday, In My Life/Stuck In A Moment, In A Little While, Desire/Gloria, Stay, Bad/40, Where the Streets Have No Name, Mysterious Ways, The Fly
encore: Bullet the Blue Sky, With or Without You, One, Wake Up Dead Man, Walk On/Hallelujah, Pride, Out of Control

that's about the perfect mix of new songs (7), hits, snippets, and fan faves (gone, end of the world, bad, the fly,wake up dead, out of control). show ran for 2hrs 35 minutes.

If U2 played 2 hrs 35 minutes, and looking at the live documentary book and noting that show had 3 opening acts, when did the concert start and end??? Sheesh. What a long show!
 
U2 played between 9.25 and 00.00 PM. I think that's their longest show ever.
it was the only stadium show of the 2001 tour; just to say, SBS ran for almost 9 minutes, bad for 7 minutes, desire for 5 and a half minutes, I will follow for 5 minutes, the fly for 8 minutes, bullet for 8 minutes...their were on top form that night (I have the bootleg).
yes, the show had 3 opening acts, but I missed the first two (I was working). I think Fun loving Criminals played between 7 and 8 PM...if I remember well.
 
Hola amigos :wave:

From the list appeared first on this topic, here´re the songs that I really love to listen live again, considering band´s possible performance of these songs now:yes: :

A Sort Of Homecoming
Exit
In God´s Country
Running To Stand Still
One Tree Hill
All Along The Watchover
Zooropa
Mofo


:wave:
 
gabriele1971 said:
it was the only stadium show of the 2001 tour

Actually, there were multiple stadium shows - the two at Slane, three in Arnhem, and the Berlin show was in an amphitheatre.
 
slane is an amphitheatre, so is waldbhune in berlin.
gerledome in arnhem is an indoor stadium ("dome").
turin was the only outdoor stadium.
anyway, we're just splitting hair here.
 
I would be really interested in Mofo played live during the tour. I wasn't around for the Popmart tour, so I never got to see it...

I would also like to see: Electric Co., Running To Stand Still, In God's Country, 4th of July, Gloria, October, 40, and EXIT!
 
U2 has pretty much always followed one common trend. If they cut a new song on their current tour. It will not be played again. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a song that was cut during it's first tour and actually returned in subsuquent tours. WGRYWH appeared on elevation as a snippet, not an actual performance. THis pretty much means In a little While is done. I cant imagine New York being played, especially the really weak versions played on the third leg. You may not agree with me, but the best version of new york was in the paris pre-tour set they played and it never touched that moment again. The third leg new lyrics were weak and did not flow with the music. Just my opinion from seeing 8 shows on the third leg.
 
Are Medleys of older songs a bad idea?

U2 has flirted with the idea over the years, mostly with cover songs that are incomplete and tagged onto another u2 song.

U2FP
 
Vervefloyd said:
U2 has pretty much always followed one common trend. If they cut a new song on their current tour. It will not be played again. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a song that was cut during it's first tour and actually returned in subsuquent tours. WGRYWH appeared on elevation as a snippet, not an actual performance. THis pretty much means In a little While is done. I cant imagine New York being played, especially the really weak versions played on the third leg. You may not agree with me, but the best version of new york was in the paris pre-tour set they played and it never touched that moment again. The third leg new lyrics were weak and did not flow with the music. Just my opinion from seeing 8 shows on the third leg.

It's a shame too, because I'd love to hear Horses live.

My dream, however, is to hear Red Hill Mining Town - never played on tour though originally intended as a single. Bono was concerned about hitting the highs. It would be amazing for the boys to pull this one out, if only for the first night of the tour (I happen to live in Florida). I'd just collapse if I finally got to hear a live version of my favorite JT song.

I really wish that the band would consider extending their setlists because there is just so much fantastic material they've made during the years. They've never been in the mold of Springsteen, though, who goes for three hours with no problems (and varies his sets like crazy).

Here's my lists of potentials for a tour off each album.

Boy: I Will Follow, Out of Control, Electric Co. (pretty please!)

October: Gloria (if we're lucky, it fits in better than it would have in the 1990s).

War: SBS, New Year's Day (likely a lock). May end a select few shows with "40", though that hasn't been done since PopMart.

UF: Pride, Bad, Sort of Homecoming (was played a couple times on Elevation, would be nice to see it a few times).

JT: Streets, Still Haven't Found, Bullet, With or Without You, Red Hill Mining Town (not gonna happen), I'd love to see Running to Standstill back a few times

R&H: Desire, Angel, All I want is You - they may all make appearances as they have on previous tours

AB: Real Thing, One, UTEOTW, The Fly, Mysterious Ways will probably all pop up with UTEOTW, One, and Mysterious Ways as regulars (though I'd love to see the Fly in a hard rocking set at the top of the show with Vertigo, ABOY, and Electric Co.

Zooropa: Stay is the only one likely to come about. Shame. I'd love for Lemon to pop up, but it really doesn't fit. I could see the live version of Dirty Day springing up - I'd love that. It rocked on the Sydney tape.

POP: U2's ignored masterpiece. I'd love to see Please crop up. Wake Up Dead Man may get woven in here and there. Staring at the Sun may show up. Gone might also show up in a hard rocking set. I doubt we'll ever see MoFo, IGWSHA, LNOE, Miami, or Velvet Dress ever played live again.

ATYCLB: I see Original of the Species as the new closer for some reason, though Walk On may still serve that purpose (though unlikely since, as has been said, the band has changed closers every tour since Love Town). I think we'll see variable closers, to be honest. Beautiful Day, Walk On, and Elevation may feature regularly. I'd love to see Kite in every set. Stuck in a Moment may rotate into an acoustic set. Not sure if anything else will make it.

Bomb: We'll likely hear every song at some point, though part of me is not sure Yahweh will see the live show. I think Original of the Species and City of Blinding Lights may be set for the encore ala Ultraviolet and Love is Blindness during the ZooTV show.

So many songs, so little time. If the band rotates songs more then multiple shows would be awesome to take in. They've got so much in their catalog. With many of the sounds on the new album, we may see more songs from early albums. Most fans would die if they played I Will Follow, Out of Control, and Electric Co. all in the same set. I'd also love to hear A Day Without Me off Boy, but I know that won't happen. Edge doesn't care for the song.
 
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