Acrobat?????

[Galeongirl]

I was reading U2 by U2 today, and found these quotes.... if U2 loves the song so much, why hasn't it been played? and why does Edge say it never became a live favorite if they've never ever played it except for rehearsal?
does this mean we can blame Edge for not playing it?
Anybody still think they're gonna play it this tour? or at least ever?.

EDGE: In amongst dark romance, 'Acrobat'has a bit of venom about it. It's in the bitter, John Lennon tradition of 'working class hero', slightly snarling and cynical. It never became a live favourite, maybe because I don't think that is what people come to U2 for. But I really like it.

BONO: Acrobat is one of my favourite U2 songs although it doesn't quite get off the ground the way I'd hoped it would. It has a kind of manifesto in there somewhere. Don't believe what you hear, don't believe what you see, if you just close your eyes, you can feel the enemy. It is a song about your own spleen, your own hypocrisy, your own ability to change shape and take on the colours of whatever environment you're in, like a chameleon. I must be an acrobat, to talk like this and act like that

Has anybody heard them mention the song before? I havent... it wasn't in Bono's list of favourite U2 songs in RS interview last year either

 

[schnumi]

Well i also found out why they arent playing Please anymore.

Bono said he felt it isnt appropriat anymore after 9-11......

Come on who thinks about 9-11 when they are playing Please?

 

[J_NP]

Well i also found out why they arent playing Please anymore.

Bono said he felt it isnt appropriat anymore after 9-11......

Come on who thinks about 9-11 when they are playing Please?

This is a joke right ? He's better be ........ Coz of somethin happened in the US , the whole world has to pay ???

 

[corianderstem]

Well, if that's the case, blame Bono for the poor decision, don't take your anger out on us Americans.

 

[bsp77]

Come on who thinks about 9-11 when they are playing Please?

I notice it very easily. That whole verse is uncanny. Doesn't mean they shouldn't play it anymore though.

 

[pattip2000]

Well i also found out why they arent playing Please anymore.

Bono said he felt it isnt appropriat anymore after 9-11......

Come on who thinks about 9-11 when they are playing Please?

I thought 9-11 was why they started playing it again, Bono said something like, ‘we wrote this song about what was going on in our country, but it feels like it could have been written for you, for what’s going on in your country’ (this is all from memory, I can’t find the date I heard that right now).

 

[pattip2000]

Come on who thinks about 9-11 when they are playing Please?

I do, every time. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't play it.

 

[Galeongirl]

I haven't heard that from Please before, but has anyone heard why they've never ever played MoFo again?

 

[schnumi]

Ill try and search the exact quote from Bono.

maybe he said it during the elevation tour but ofcourse it's a fact that they stopped playing it.

If that is really the reason it's a pity, i can understand that some people can make a connection but come on you can say that about every song.

 

[pattip2000]

I thought it was because Bono can’t say “Looking for the father of my two little girls” in good faith anymore, he can’t ignore his boys

 

[Galeongirl]

I thought it was because Bono can’t say “Looking for the father of my two little girls” in good faith anymore, he can’t ignore his boys

that was a joke from the Caption thread in PLEBA

 

[pattip2000]

(are you still interested in the DVD from 8-21-01?)

 

[schnumi]

Ok here is the exact quote from Bono (not the whole piece but the important part)

Please was written with somebody in mind, who shall remain nameless. Some of U2's best songs are conversations, even if you don't know who's on the other end of the line. It's not an exact portrait, it's a certain kind of person you'd meet in middle-class Dublin suburbs, who are very sympathetic to the IRA paramilitaries and provide the intellectual support base for militant Republicanism. It's people who think ideas are more valuable then other people. Love is hardand love is tough, but love is not what you're thinking of. It is a song about terror really. Are there every any excuses for it? September, streets capsizing, spilling over, down the drains. Shards of glass just like rain... It was the Docklands bombing in London that it referred to and the breakdown of peace talks in Northern Ireland but after 9/11 it became impossible to sing.

And there you have it.... Im sorry but i myself find that a very bad reason not to play it. But ofcourse i can't see what the band feels with a song.

 

[neutral]

Ill try and search the exact quote from Bono.

maybe he said it during the elevation tour but ofcourse it's a fact that they stopped playing it.

But it has been played after 9/11. Was just listening to a boot yesterday...

 

[pattip2000]

Ok here is the exact quote from Bono (not the whole piece but the important part)



And there you have it.... Im sorry but i myself find that a very bad reason not to play it. But ofcourse i can't see what the band feels with a song.

But it has been played after 9/11.

So, I’m not the only one who is confused here?

 

[Blue Room]

Typically U2 decides not to play a song or stop playing it live for two reasons. 1. They cant work it out live to a point they think its worth playing. 2. They simply dont feel like playing it or think it doesnt fit the whatever the tour theme or setlist flow is. Most of the time its that simple.

Acrobat never really worked live when they tried it. They tried to do an acoustic version to open the show (The Outside Broadcast leg of Zoo) obviously and they dropped that because it didnt work. I think the Edge quote is explaining one of the reasons its not played live.

Please was done many times on the Elevation tour after 911. So I dont think that is really a reason. It was also under consideration to be played on the Vertigo tour and the band worked on it.

The other part of it is sometimes Bono may have a reason they shouldnt play a certain song any longer. But then he changes his mind later. IE Sunday Bloody Sunday.

 

[gareth brown]

i wish they would feel like your second reason when it comes to half the vertigo set.

 

[Galeongirl]

I think the not playing of Please involves Vertigo Tour, not Elevation, since I just read the quote today, and it's from U2 by U2... I think that clears it up somehow...

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm thinking that it (Acrobat) may have been too difficult to play for them. It has 6/8 timing, and some rough vocals. I don't know. I doubt it was for some personal reason or anything, since they love the song.

 

[gareth brown]

i doubt it's too difficult for them to play given the time signature since the studio version's pretty much live anyway.

 

[chrissybaby]

i wonder how many songs they bring to the table when they are planning a new tour. it's always fascinated me to be honest. do you think that they say most of the new album, then every member can bring 5 to the table?

 

[dietcokeofevil]

i wish they would feel like your second reason when it comes to half the vertigo set.

Damn right. Get rid if all the damn workhorse JT songs and BOy songs

 

[Pero]

Acrobat has too many effects,i think that was the reason.
Please i can play,so it's not very hard for edge to play it.
maybe they don't like it anymore and can't find out why so are selling bullshit about 9/11

 

[Chizip]

i've seen a tribute band play an awesome version of Acrobat live. if a freakin tribute band can pull it off live, i'd think U2 would be able to if they really wanted.

the Please thing was Bono just speaking out of his ass again, as they did play it often after 9/11 , and like blue room said, they were rumors that they tried to put in into the vertigo setlist

the more Bono speaks the harder it is to take him seriously

 

[U2Kitten]

Bono and Edge have said they will not play it live because they would have to meditate in a tree for a month. I heard Bono say this in 2001 during a show. They cannot produce it live in a way they would be proud of or that we would want to hear. Interesting reading these views of theirs too.

 

[tuwie]

i just wanted to say that i think it's kinda sad that pop isn't represented more. they barely play pop songs and pop isn't even on the "U218 singles" compilation =(
i really liked pop <3

 

[sue4u2]

Bono and Edge have said they will not play it live because they would have to meditate in a tree for a month.

They cannot produce it live in a way they would be proud of or that we would want to hear.

I'm still waiting for them to go into that tree.
and,
They sometimes underestimate what we would really LOVE to hear.
though -I fully understand my wish is a hard core fan wish
yet,
I still want them to climb that tree..

 

[LemonMelon]

i just wanted to say that i think it's kinda sad that pop isn't represented more. they barely play pop songs and pop isn't even on the "U218 singles" compilation =(
i really liked pop <3

 

[powerhour24]

Acrobat has too many effects? Please they play Wake Up Dead Man and plenty of other Zooropa/Pop era songs with way more effects.

The lack of love live will keep Acrobat out of the U2 classic league it deserves to be in...oh how I love that song.

 

[powerhour24]

I love how that ^^ was also the post that changed my status to Acrobat haha.