City Of Blinding Lights: Any Love Left?

[jick]

A few weeks ago before the album came out and a bootlegged version of City Of Blinding Lights emerged, everyone was quick to jump over it.

"A U2 epic right up there with Streets."

"Definitely among my top three U2 songs of all time."

"So beautiful I didn't think U2 still could write a song such as this."

But then I told people that it isn't a U2 epic by any stretch of the imagination. The people started saying I was extremely negative and all.

Well, now after a few listens, do you guys honestly still think City Of Blinding Lights surpasses or at least is right up there with U2 epics the likes of Where The Streets Have No Name and Bad? Is it among your top five U2 songs of all time?

As it stands now it seems like the song isn't even on the top three for best songs in the album anymore! I've checked the past three pages of posts on this forum and hardly any City Of Blinding Lights gushing threads anymore. As a matter of fact, there seem to be more Mercy gushing threads!

So what has happened? Did the song quickly wane after a few listens? Did the COBL gushers hid back in their hole? Where are you guys now? Do you still like the song as when you first heard it?

Cheers,

J

 

[jendzi]

Here I am
I love COBL... it's very good, but there's no space for it in my Top5. Still I think that it's one of their best songs in last decade (from Zooropa till now).

 

[deltau922]

Top 5 for me.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Its a good song, but I'd have liked Mercy in its place..

 

[Numb1075]

i was not a COBL gusher. I thought it was a great song but not up there w/ Streets.

My opinion is the same, i think COBL is wonderful but it does not have that certain magic that streets has.

 

[Irvine511]

let's give it 5 years and a few hundred live performances before we can properly evaluate it. for me, the album version of bad is a pale imitation of the live version, and i only really began to appreciate the album version of streets *after* i'd been reduced to tears watching it played live.

COBL is begging to be played in a stadium. let's wait until then.

 

[bw in dc]

I see COBL as a cousin of Walk On. Solid, but not in the epic catalogue.

 

[whasjoewahn]

let's give it 5 years and a few hundred live performances before we can properly evaluate it. for me, the album version of bad is a pale imitation of the live version, and i only really began to appreciate the album version of streets *after* i'd been reduced to tears watching it played live.

COBL is begging to be played in a stadium. let's wait until then.

Agree. It´s up to them if it´s going to be a classic... Let´s wait for the live-versions

 

[matt76]

It's better than streets

 

[djerdap]

Amazing and much better than I thought it's gonna be after that shitty clip... It grew on me.

 

[SeattleVertigo]

I listed it in my top 5 a few weeks ago, and I still would. Absolutely love the song.

Beautiful Day
All I Want Is You
City of Blinding Lights
Running To Stand Still
Stay

 

[FelipeVox]

The first time I heard COBL, I was almost crying.. but then after listening to it 500 times this magic is kinda gone, you know... the song is not bad, it´s still one of my favorite U2 songs ever, but it just can´t be as good as Mercy, for example.

 

[U2democrat]

I agree with what other people have said. Mercy just has more soul. Don't get me wrong I love COBL, but I like Mercy alot better.

 

[achtung y'all]

Definately up there with Streets

 

[ZeroDude]

Good but not near Streets

 

[teebee]

it was U2-lite the first time I heard it, and it's U2-lite now. It was designed to hit people quickly so that they'd buy the album. It was not designed to be a long-term classic. If it *was* it's exhibit A that U2's lost the magic.

It's a long-term classic for people who don't listen to music critically at all, I have to conclude.

 

[Diane L]

COBL is still my favorite song on the album. Granted, a lot of that has to do with being at the Brooklyn concert, and I will always associate this song with seeing the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges lit up and the lights of the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop for my favorite band. But I still love it.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

city of blinding lights continues to grow on me every single time i listen to it

 

[boosterjuice]

I was a COBL gusher. When the final version came out, I wasn't as "gushing" about the song as I once was. However, this song grows on me with each and every listen. I am now back to being a COBL gusher. It really is a special song.

 

[rjhbonovox]

Yep its a clunker of a song, mixed in mono with an 80's guitar riff. Nope opinion the same here, its very average!

 

[U2DeathBear]

i cringe when i hear COBL. this baffles me....since I don't really hate any u2 songs...but strangely...this song affects me negatively. just my two cents.

 

[Aardvark747]

No way in my top 5..

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

It's not even in my top 5 of HTDAAB..... it's maybe in my top 80..... but since I like all their songs, it's hard to enter the top 20.... very hard!

I think it's one of the weakest of the album, but I think it can be a lot better live. We'll see soon.....

 

[sue4u2]

It's in the top 5 ... for this album.
as much as I love it, it doesn't fall into my all time top 5....

 

[pepokiss]

just give it time...

let's wait for the tour... It's great but you have to hear it live to really "hear it"

 

[FullonEdge2]

still my favorite on the album, and I love or like all of the album

 

[Aardvark747]

just give it time...

let's wait for the tour... It's great but you have to hear it live to really "hear it"

Spot on. It's gonna sound amazing in a stadium!

 

[popacrobat]

city of blinding lights continues to grow on me every single time i listen to it

what the fuck man? why do i agree with you on almost everything you've said about the new album?

anyway, i like city of blinding lights 100x better than mercy, and i like it a LOT more than i did in the first place.

is it in my top 5? no.

is it in my top 20 or so? perhaps, i dont know yet. all i know is that it is a fantastic song, but in no way is it where the streets have no name which i think is one of the best songs of all time.

 

[zoopop]

COBL is my favortie off the HTDAAB and think its U2's best written song since Stay. Another thing cool about COBL is that it came from the Pop era.

COBL will take on its own life when it is played live. In stadiums it will be

 

[petethechopp]

Did COBL come from the POP era? I hadn't heard this.

Still, after a few hundred listens, one of my all time favorite U2 songs. I think its the best thing on HTDAAB, and that's saying something considering the strength of most of the other songs.

This thing is blow the roof off when its played live!!!