One way to add Acrobat

[U2FanPeter]

I was wondering the other day if they could do Acrobat---->Zoo Station - like they did it at the Hershey dress rehearsal in 1992. it would be an immediate yardstick to find all of the hard-core u2 fans in the audience.

Not sure how it would fit in with the lighting/screen.

u2fp

 

[Blue Room]

I think a version like that is the only way the song would ever be played. But the band didnt even use it for Zoo for a reason. They didnt feel it worked and I have to say I agree.

 

[U2FanPeter]

Did Zoorape(the song) ever "work" onstage?

u2fp

 

[Blue Room]

Did Zoorape(the song) ever "work" onstage?

u2fp

"Zooropa", no it didnt really work and the band realized it very quickly and dropped it. If the band had been able to do the Zooropa songs in a rehearsal situation versus just soundchecks I dont think the song Zooropa would have ever been played as they would have figured out that it didnt work live. So I guess its sort of good and bad that they didnt get to rehearse them. At least we got a live version of the song, but its kind of weak and doesnt do the recorded version justice.

 

[Miricale_Drug]

Zooropa (And most of that album, except stay) is poor live because of the heavy use of effects. This can be hard 2 recreate live and maintain intamacy.

Also Zooropa has a very long, ambient (but uninteresting in the heat of a concert) intro. It was cut down to about 2:30 but it loses the effects.

I've probably now angered all the lovers of dirty day. But i think Stay is the only Zooropa song that will ever see the light of day again. And i think this is right, none of th e others can be done justice live without taking away from '4 men on a stage'

 

[quadcaster]

dirty day is great!

zooropa would have worked better if they had kept the first bit and just cut all the shit at the begining

acrobat is never comming

 

[mobvok]

Along with Stay, I think Lemon and Dirty Day worked great. Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive about Lemon but seeing it at Zoo TV Sydney proved in my opinion that it belongs among the pantheon of U2 songs that get better when performed live.

Daddy's Gonna Pay worked....ok...

And Numb was a waste. Like Zooropa, a total studio track.

But back on Acrobat. Honestly, I think it was more of an issue of how many songs they could practice well then any sort of inate crappiness of the live version. Look at the first two legs of Zoo TV from U2tours.com, they played ten songs from Achtung Baby, that's pretty much the limit of how many songs U2 will play from an album, so in that sense they were constricted. It wasn't until the 3rd leg that they started dropping Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Ultraviolet, and I assume at that point that they knew Zoo TV was working and saw no need to look back.

 

[ThomasH]

Yes, I think that both Dirty Day and Lemon worked very well on the Zoo TV recording from Sydney. I can understand if none of them will be played live again, though.

 

[scottyT]

acrobat would work better than zoostation, the single worst song on the album. it's great for about 15 seconds, and then it's super repetitive and boring. acrobat is heavy. HEAVY. but it doesn't fit with this tour which seems to be all medical or political. the love songs have no place here, which is why it's strange With or Without you has popped in..... but you can't neglect one of the greatest songs ever recorded or performed i guess.......

 

[popmart86]

ZOOROPA ACOUSTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Zoocoustic]

I swear, if they actually ever did play Acrobat live, what would we have left to dream about?!

Have they ever gone back to an album and played a track that did NOT get played when they toured that album the first time? I don't believe they have. Hence, Acrobat live never gets played.

On to the Zooropa songs...

Stay is fine. I prefer the full band, but anything is better than nothing.

Dirty Day is great live. They should bring this one back...but does it really fit the mood of this tour? And do many people like it outside of the die-hard fans?

Lemon is also great live, but, I think this is a MacPhisto-only song.

Daddy's Gonna Pay is the same...seriously, could anyone but MacPhisto sing this?

Numb wasn't anything special at all. Live it sounded almost identical to the album version which really doesn't do anything for me personally.

Babyface didn't sound bad, but certainly wasn't anything memorable. It's a bit too laid back for the live show, I think.

Zooropa simply didn't work live. Too many layers, effects, too much production. I love the album track, but it's one of those rare times U2 plays something live and it actually sounds worse.

I suppose I could also mention The First Time since it too was played as a snippet, but there's a good reason songs are chosen as snippets rather than the full thing.

The others? Some Days probably would have sounded pretty silly live, as it does on the album. But Wanderer? THAT could have been cool. But both are too rare to be played now, so it really doesn't matter.

 

[Axver]

Have they ever gone back to an album and played a track that did NOT get played when they toured that album the first time?

Well, before this tour, Tomorrow was the closest - of its 32-odd performances, only 3 were on the October Tour. With this tour seeing the introduction of Miss Sarajevo, we now have a song returned to after it was played promo once and then only once on the soonest tour after its release.

 

[jacobus]

hey Americans & Canadians put em under pressure for playing ACROBAT on 3rd Vertigo leg. the setlist in Europe became a bit stale for the last 10 concerts, so its time to write the ACROBAT wishlist. here is the link to the online petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?qv3d4382
give it a go! Thanks!!!