Drop which songs???

[gman]

What songs (that consistantly dominate U2 setlists) would you like to see dropped on any future tour?

I think pride should be bumped off and bring back in gods country. I will follow has had a decent run. Replace it wi 11 o clock tick tock.
I may well get pelters for this but i think the best performances of SBS are behind us. Some recent performances i heard from vertigo of it were pretty half hearted.

Thats for yas to be getting on with.

 

[U2Man]

Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky

 

[xaviMF22]

ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE
ONE

 

[corianderstem]

Billie Jean

 

[2861U2]

Bullet The Blue Sky and Sunday Bloody Sunday

I hope they never drop One.

 

[Axver]

In order of how urgently they need to be dumped:

=1. One
=1. Pride
3. With Or Without You
4. Bullet The Blue Sky
5. Sunday Bloody Sunday

 

[phillyfan26]

I think Streets should be the only regular at all, the only song played every night. Everything else should rotate.

 

[u2thewho]

One
Full band version of SBS (Bring on the Edge!)
With or Without You
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
One
Bullet
Pride
Beautiful Day
the turgid One

 

[love2bmama]

I think Streets should be the only regular at all, the only song played every night. Everything else should rotate.

I'd like to see Bullet and One dropped, at the least, but really Streets is the only one that *needs* to be played every time.

 

[ozeeko]

Let's face it - One and With Or Without You are never going to be dropped. Why? Because there are a lot of casual fans who go to these things, and those two songs are the ones they prob know best. U2 wants to make sure they please everyone.

But I don't think they'd be hurting anyone eliminating Bullet and Sunday. Put some Please in there, please. And start playing Acrobat. And I'd love to hear Zooropa.

Streets will always be played. Just because it never fails. Hey, as much as I'm close to bored with it...if I'm at a concert...i WANT to hear it.

 

[love2bmama]

Put some Please in there, please. And start playing Acrobat. And I'd love to hear Zooropa.

ray:

 

[Axver]

Let's face it - One and With Or Without You are never going to be dropped.

I don't buy that. WOWY was dropped for most of the third leg of Elevation - it missed the last 27 shows of that tour. Then it only appeared at 4 out of the 28 first leg Vertigo shows.

Streets will always be played. Just because it never fails. Hey, as much as I'm close to bored with it...if I'm at a concert...i WANT to hear it.

The band were originally planning to drop it for Vertigo, so I don't think it's safe to say it will always be played.

I'd actually like to see it go into rotation. Sure, it's godly, but U2 have other live material that's just as good, if not better.

 

[J_NP]

The band were originally planning to drop it for Vertigo, so I don't think it's safe to say it will always be played.

So did they for ZooTV , PopMart ........ Since the 90's I've heard at least one word , bout they plannin to drop it , and in the end nothin ...........

I doubt they will ever do it , I mean is there anyone who can really picture a u2 show without Streets ?

 

[AtomicBono]

Streets should never be dropped. It's THE live song.

Pride definitely. I enjoy it at a concert, sure, but there so many other U2 songs I'd rather hear. It's been played enough.

I love Bullet, but I think they need to do something drastically different with it or take it back to ZooTV fury...otherwise, drop it. I liked the Vertigo version fine, but they've done better.

I never thought I'd say this, but I think they should drop One, or at least play it less. I think if they played One even just half as much, it would be more powerful. it's getting a little worn out. also, if they're going to play WOWY, they should bring it back to its JT era glory...

Still Haven't Found bores me. Skip it.

I actually love New Year's Day, so I don't think it needs to be dropped. I know they dropped it for third leg of Vertigo at least, but I think it's one of the few classic songs that U2 does just as well now (if not better) than when they first played it.

SBS...do something new with it. Don't think it needs to be dropped though.

I think pretty much if U2 rotated classics it'd be best for everyone...they don't have to completely drop songs like Pride and WOWY, but they can just alternate nights when they play them.

As for what they should put in instead? more Pop, of course

 

[Alisaura]

Now that I've actually seen a couple of shows, I can't bring myself to say they should dump anything permanently... A few of us in the queue at Melb II were playing around with alternate setlists, which was fun, but still. The only song where I actually stood there and thought "aw crap, they're playing this one" was Stuck in a Moment. The rest of the time I was too high on the whole experience to not enjoy Pride and One and the rest of it.

I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy other songs more, I would have loved to hear anything off Pop, or RTSS, or any of a dozen other songs. But being a U2-concert-newbie, so to speak, it felt very cool to hear Pride and Streets and One, and Bullet and SBS. I would hate for other U2-concert-newbies to never have the chance to hear Edge playing Pride or Streets, or to shout out "No More!". It's moments like that that you KNOW that U2 is right in front of you.

But yeah. I wish they liked Pop more.

 

[LemonMelon]

A few U2 songs are sacred and should never be removed from the rotation for the sake of those new U2 concert goers that may only get to see the band one time and "need" to hear "their" song:

Streets
One
Bad

Other than that, everything else should be rotated. All the hits. I like what the band did with I Will Follow during the Vertigo tour...that's how pretty much all the hits should be handled.

 

[xaviMF22]

except One has always kind of sucked live

the only performance of the song I've liked was on Popmart Mexico

 

[Axver]

So did they for ZooTV , PopMart ........ Since the 90's I've heard at least one word , bout they plannin to drop it , and in the end nothin ...........

I doubt they will ever do it , I mean is there anyone who can really picture a u2 show without Streets ?

What? Until Vertigo, they hadn't had plans to drop Streets since Lovetown (when they did drop it, 1989-11-18, Sydney). Pride was the song Bono wanted ditched for Popmart. Streets was not featured in the original Vertigo rehearsals - they brought it in late in the game.

I think you and many here put Streets up on a pedestal. It's good, but it isn't God.

 

[Zoots]

Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky

 

[LMP]

except One has always kind of sucked live

the only performance of the song I've liked was on Popmart Mexico

Not even the Pavarotti and Friends version?

 

[xaviMF22]

Not even the Pavarotti and Friends version?

Nope, sorry buddy

 

[coolian2]

Like this is even a question.

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.


Replace it with In Gods Country.

 

[Neenie]

I don't care if they don't drop the songs, as long as they change the structure of them. We need a popmart stlye reconstruction of old songs.

 

[J_NP]

What? Until Vertigo, they hadn't had plans to drop Streets since Lovetown (when they did drop it, 1989-11-18, Sydney). Pride was the song Bono wanted ditched for Popmart. Streets was not featured in the original Vertigo rehearsals - they brought it in late in the game.

I think you and many here put Streets up on a pedestal. It's good, but it isn't God.

Later I will find the whole Wille Commentary , but the beginnin goes on like this :

"We talked about not doing 'Streets on PopMart, but I can't seriously imagine trying a show without it. In an odd way it has become the most indispensable ...


EDIT.: In Full Glory :

We talked about not doing 'Streets on PopMart, but I can't seriously imagine trying a show without it. In an odd way it has become the most indispensable song of all."

-- Willie Williams, 2002

 

[phillyfan26]

Like this is even a question.

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.


Replace it with In Gods Country.

In God's Country? Why of all songs they've stopped playing that? Why not One Tree Hill? Why not Please? Why not Zooropa? Why not Stay? ... etc. They could do a lot better than ISHFWILF or IGC.

 

[coolian2]

In God's Country? Why of all songs they've stopped playing that? Why not One Tree Hill? Why not Please? Why not Zooropa? Why not Stay? ... etc. They could do a lot better than ISHFWILF or IGC.

I got lazy and meant replace it with a JT song. Laziness again, i was going to suggest One Tree Hill.

Doesn't worry me what they play in its place. Just drop it!

 

[Allanah]

I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy other songs more, I would have loved to hear anything off Pop, or RTSS, or any of a dozen other songs. But being a U2-concert-newbie, so to speak, it felt very cool to hear Pride and Streets and One, and Bullet and SBS. I would hate for other U2-concert-newbies to never have the chance to hear Edge playing Pride or Streets, or to shout out "No More!". It's moments like that that you KNOW that U2 is right in front of you.

You hit the nail on the head with this. This is a very small segment of U2's fandom that we're sitting in -- the ones who have all the DVDs, who've seen several live shows, or own a lot of bootlegs. The reality is that most of the people who go to U2 shows aren't familiar enough with the U2 Live Experience to get sick of hearing certain songs.

I have several bootlegs, but when I saw my first and only show in 2005, I didn't own all the albums (I had only JT, ATYCLB and HTDAAB) and U2 was not my favorite band at that point. They were my favorite by the time I left the arena, but that's another story. I can't imagine that show without Streets, Pride, WOWY, SBS, Bullet, and Still Haven't Found. I didn't realize that Bullet was a staple of their live shows; it blew me away. Sure, now I can listen to all these bootlegs and realize that certain songs were much stronger on previous tours, but for me, that night was absolutely magical. If the setlist had contained a lot of more obscure material and a lot of the more popular songs had been dropped, I don't think it would have been the same.

So I've got to think of the type of fan I was a few years ago -- the audience is filled with other people like this. U2 wants to put on a great show, and a huge part of that is putting together a setlist that will appeal to the greatest number of people in the crowd. It can be frustrating for the uberfans, but I understand where the band is coming from here.

That said, the only song that I think should absolutely never, ever be dropped is Streets. That was a song that I never truly "got" until I heard it live. Wow. And I don't think it ever will be dropped. The band has talked about how, when a show isn't going well or feels a little flat, their one ace-in-the-hole is Streets. And they're absolutely right. I'd love for them to dust off Discotheque or A Sort of Homecoming or Gloria more often, and I still pine for the day that they play Acrobat, but I can see why they don't.

 

[coolian2]

I got lazy and meant replace it with a JT song. Laziness again, i was going to suggest One Tree Hill.

Doesn't worry me what they play in its place. Just drop it!

That said, in accordance with the above post i did sing along and love it.

But i'd prefer something else.

 

[LemonMelon]

Now that I've actually seen a couple of shows, I can't bring myself to say they should dump anything permanently... A few of us in the queue at Melb II were playing around with alternate setlists, which was fun, but still. The only song where I actually stood there and thought "aw crap, they're playing this one" was Stuck in a Moment. The rest of the time I was too high on the whole experience to not enjoy Pride and One and the rest of it.

I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy other songs more, I would have loved to hear anything off Pop, or RTSS, or any of a dozen other songs. But being a U2-concert-newbie, so to speak, it felt very cool to hear Pride and Streets and One, and Bullet and SBS. I would hate for other U2-concert-newbies to never have the chance to hear Edge playing Pride or Streets, or to shout out "No More!". It's moments like that that you KNOW that U2 is right in front of you.

But yeah. I wish they liked Pop more.

Perfect post. I would definitely consider some of the "Let's drop (insert popular song that casual fans still adore) and the set will be improved" posts to be a bit selfish. As a bootleg collector, I would love rotated sets every night, but the majority of folks that see U2 will only see them once, and many of them will want to hear the songs that have grown old for so many of us.

I say grin and bear it. Or wince and bear it. Whatever turns you on. But certain songs are never going to leave the rotation. And, BTW, there is no such thing as a perfect setlist because people's tastes in music vary so greatly.

Also, I think Beautiful Day is being unnoticed as a permanent fixture in the set by many folks here. Since 2000, has U2 played a formal arena/stadium gig without playing Beautiful Day? It really is U2's newest Bad/Pride/I Will Follow, and I'm happy about that...it truly is amazing and, yes, elevating to hear live. It remains to be seen whether Vertigo will receive similar recognition from the band, but I'm predicting it ends of becoming more of a Discotheque than a Beautiful Day.

 

[Alisaura]

Beautiful Day came off a lot better than I'd expected... Not a huge fan of the song before, but I loved it live, and it's growing on me now.

I think that we can probably thank the fact that U2 gets bored too, as much as them wanting to throw something in there for the more hard-core fans, for the band playing as much non-greatest-hits material as they do (not that I'm a setlist expert - I'm just going by those two Melbourne shows and what boots I have). I am content.