City of Blinding Lights Live

[wolfwill23]

IMO, this song is the only song from Bomb that is truly epic. The other songs are good enough, but this song clearly rises above the rest and will become timeless. It's also a great live song.

 

[Sken]

I personally think this is a great song, but I dont think it has become a great live song yet. I think of all the Bomb songs this one has the most room to grow.
The two that really get the crowd going are Vertigo(well done U2 for adding the Stories for Boys verse) and LAPOE. If you watch the San Diego DVD, the crowd are really electric during those two songs compared to any other Bomb songs.
People also really tend to appreciate Sometimes, due to the emotional connection, and really seem to anticipate and cheer Bono when he hits the high note.
Yahweh is another that has become an unexpected instant classic.
COBL and Miracle Drug so far are probably the two songs that need the most work live.

Sken

 

[fredstab]

yahweh is so bad live....i hate it....why people loves this song??? I Don't understand...

 

[regularguy]

yahweh is so bad live....i hate it....why people loves this song??? I Don't understand...

There is always an issue at rock concerts -- the "fourth wall" if you will that tends to exist between the artist and the audience. The fans have paid quite a bit of money, waited in ticket lines, purchased nine dollar beverages, and sat in parking lot traffic to watch millionaires play. I think that in judging live acts, artists that can break this wall effectively earn "greatness" status. (You know, there are always counter examples -- just to take a nutty example, the Replacements were a great live band by consciously going for the exact opposite effect.)

If I had to make a list of the mainstreem acts that do this effectively, there's basically 1. U2, 2. Bruce Springsteen, and then a big gap to everyone else. U2 achieves it's seeming accessibility live in a lot of different ways, but Yahweh is simply a great audience connection song.

It's a song, at bottom, about humility, sung by the band accoustically with minimal special effects, standing out in the center of the floor surrounded by the fans. Now, it may be true that the lyrics are about a somewhat different type of humility than I'm talking about here, but played live, the song is about community and connection with the paying audience. The song took a little bit to grow on me on the record. Live, it is an absolute highlight.

 

[andyuk]

to me there are 4 classic live songs from the new album here is list in my order

1 COBL
2. SOMETIMES
3. VERTIGO
4. MIRACLE DRUG

 

[rastacruz]

my favorite song off the new album and I'm glad they are playing it in concert...that hasn't always been the case.

 

[Muad'zin]

To me COBL sounds overproduced. To much effects and sequencers to make the big sound happening. But they stand in the way of making a huma connection.

COBL and Miracle Drug so far are probably the two songs that need the most work live.

I think Miracle Drug is doing fine but they should lose the sequencer string section cueing in near the end. They do nothing for the song and sound out of place. They also draw attention to the fact that since there is no orchestra sitting in the background a tape is running along, when the focus should be on 4 guys, a drumkit, a guitar and a bass.

 

[Stingray]

There is always an issue at rock concerts -- the "fourth wall" if you will that tends to exist between the artist and the audience. The fans have paid quite a bit of money, waited in ticket lines, purchased nine dollar beverages, and sat in parking lot traffic to watch millionaires play. I think that in judging live acts, artists that can break this wall effectively earn "greatness" status. (You know, there are always counter examples -- just to take a nutty example, the Replacements were a great live band by consciously going for the exact opposite effect.)

If I had to make a list of the mainstreem acts that do this effectively, there's basically 1. U2, 2. Bruce Springsteen, and then a big gap to everyone else. U2 achieves it's seeming accessibility live in a lot of different ways, but Yahweh is simply a great audience connection song.

It's a song, at bottom, about humility, sung by the band accoustically with minimal special effects, standing out in the center of the floor surrounded by the fans. Now, it may be true that the lyrics are about a somewhat different type of humility than I'm talking about here, but played live, the song is about community and connection with the paying audience. The song took a little bit to grow on me on the record. Live, it is an absolute highlight.

Sorry to rain on your parade but I'd say Neil Young does a hell of a job connecting with the audience. It's incredible, I was up on the grass seats in a large auditorium and he just rocked, and I felt like I was watching him play in his living room. Another band that connects well with the audience is the rhcp

I agree with everthing you said, Ijust had to say it

 

[Palace_Hero]

I think COBL is awesome live, if only for the intro, which is almost as good as Streets for me. That slide.

 

[regularguy]

Sorry to rain on your parade but I'd say Neil Young does a hell of a job connecting with the audience. It's incredible, I was up on the grass seats in a large auditorium and he just rocked, and I felt like I was watching him play in his living room. Another band that connects well with the audience is the rhcp

I agree with everthing you said, Ijust had to say it

I've seen Neil a few times. There's no doubt that he can sit there and with a guitar, harmonica, and chair, make a 15,000 seat arena seem like your living room. To each his own, but he's very hit or miss with me. Sometimes he's great at making a connection, other times, he seems like he's up there playing for himself. Never seen RHCP. I have seen Dave Mathews and while he was obviously connecting with a great portion of his audience, I wanted to up and leave. Anyway, there are absolutely some other great acts who tear down that 4th wall -- and of course everyone has their personal preferences. Just by and large, U2 (and Bono in particular) and Springsteen are personally the best I've ever seen at it by a large margin.

 

[BANZAI]

Sorry to rain on your parade but I'd say Neil Young does a hell of a job connecting with the audience. It's incredible, I was up on the grass seats in a large auditorium and he just rocked, and I felt like I was watching him play in his living room. Another band that connects well with the audience is the rhcp

I've also seen Neil Young a couple of times...the only impression I got was a guy who did NOT connect with the audience at all. He's almost the prototype of a musician who won't or can't connect with his fans! (I'm a big big fan of Neil Young by the way)

 

[RobboAus]

Oasis and more particularly Noel Gallagher do a great job of connecting with their audience too.

Far too often you see these millionaires just singing for the $$$ and to keep their name out there but they don't do that at all.

As far as Bomb songs are concerned

COBL, Miracle Drug, Yahweh, Vertigo and Sometimes are all performed well IMO.

 

[matt_tx00]

City Of Blinding Lights gives me chills seeing it live. Its just tremendous. I think its probably one of the best 2 or 3 performances of the show. Vertigo and Sometimes are amazing also. Yahweh - I appreciate the message but I think I still need a little time for this song to grow on me.

 

[pookersmom]

COBL was amazing, but Miracle Drug moved me to tears.

 

[No spoken words]

COBL and Vertigo were the 2 that, to me, worked best Live. Also, they are the 2 that I feel more of a connection to when listening to the studio version. LAPOE is good, too, but not the same, again, at least to me.

Miracle Drug feels like it should be better. It's good, definitely, but somehow seems to have potential to be more than what it's been. That's likely unfair, but that's just how it strikes me.

 

[God Part III]

Live-wise, this is what I think.

1. Vertigo - the Stories For Boys bit makes it three times better, and Bono singing Oasis into the ending is

2. City Of Blinding Lights - Edge!!!

3. All Because Of You - I dislike the studio version, and I dunno how they did it, but it's great live! I miss Bono screaming though.

4. Miracle Drug - another track I find a little boring studio-wise, but just is an awful lot better live.

5. Love And Peace - don't see what the fuss is about. But it's good.

6. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - hmm. OK.

7. Yahweh - please switch it so we get to hear Original Of The Species instead. Yahweh is not a very good song, and acoustically it's much worse.