Oh good. That was the impression I was getting.
I get the idea that you want to hear a lot of old songs at a show. You want to hear your favorites. And as a musician gets older, they're less likely to be producing material that stacks up to their old stuff.
I don't think U2 are at that point yet, so I'd definitely not want to see NO new songs. I also don't really think it's necessary to be inundated with them, though. But you play four or five new songs at a show that's touring that album, and that just makes sense.
Hell, the first time I saw Fleetwood Mac they were playing stuff from their new album. It's their call if they want to play it. The thing that I ask for is just a bit of variety, and that, as always, going back to being spoiled by Bruce. The Magic tour was just fantastic, for me, because Magic is fantastic and Bruce managed to play a number of great songs from it, and not at the expense of the classics, as well.
As for playing full albums all the way through (now that I've gone back and further understood what this conversation is about): I have never really wanted to go to one of those shows. There's usually a reason why a few tracks from albums are never played. And honestly, if I was going to go to a show and hear an album I like straight through, I'd find that horribly dull and predictable. I've been to one our two sets where a band played an album straight through (Peter Gabriel), and I felt like I was spending more time trying to remember what the track list was, than actually paying attention to those couple songs from So that aren't really a necessity in my life.
When Bruce was touring and played Born to Run straight through, I thought, "What a waste", because he already does that, basically every night, but it's nice having it appear throughout the show, to me.
I don't think I'd mind if U2 played a show straight through, but I really don't NEED to hear "Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World" live in order to sleep at night, even if it would be fun.
)
