HAPPY WITH THE LIVE VERSIONS ON THIS TOUR ?

[Tony]

Are you really happy with the VERSIONS of the songs on this tour? It seems that from the exception of "out of control", "The fly", "Mysterious ways" and "Sweetest thing", U2 didn't seem to improve the studio versions as they use to. Remember Zoo tv or even Popmart, how they manage to play almost every song with something special, something that changed radically the studio versions (Last night on earth, please, If you wear that velvet dress, mofo and on and on). I'm not talking here about Bono's voice or the show itself (setlist etc). Don't get me wrong, I saw it 3 times and really loved it! The emotion is there for sure, the setlist is good and heart is just fantastic. But, like I said, it seems that all the songs are weaker than the studio or live version from older tours. Sometimes, U2 will play some stuff they didn't play for a long time, like "A sort of homecoming", "Spanish eyes" or "Party girl". I must say that it's a great effort doing this but lyrics are missing and the versions are obviously weaker than it was on the older tours. I even think the that they are better studio and I don't say that really often. If you listen to these three songs, you'll find it a bit disapointing to hear such good stuff being ruined (missing lyrics, not TRYING to reach the high notes specially in "A sort of homecoming"). Some people would say that it's better than not playing them at all, I say that if you can't play it successfully, play other stuff you can.

Here's an example of setlist:

Elevation - Good kick off song but the TR mix is way better
Beautiful Day - Better on ATYCLB IMO
Until The End Of The World - Great effort!
Mysterious Ways - Great effort!
Kite - Like it live but still better vocal on ATYCLB
Gone - Way better on the Popmart tout
New York - Great effort!
I Will Follow - Find it pretty boring to hear live...don't know why
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Get Up Stand Up - Better when it was played on the Lovetown tour
Stuck In A Moment - Way better on the studio album
In A Little While - Better on the studio album
Desire (full band) - Finally played with full band!!!
Staring At The Sun (acoustic) - Not an acoustic fan, but still a great effort
Bad / 40 - WAY BETTER ON WIDE AWAKE IN AMERICA UF tour!!!
Where The Streets Have No Name - Better on any other tour, except that the energy is higher now!
Pride (In The Name Of Love)- Better on Lovetown tour
Bullet The Blue Sky - This song is the same since it was played the first time
With Or Without You - Not even close to what it was live in 1987. This song is such a disapointement IMO
One - Good but better on the Zoo tv tour
Walk On / Hallelujah - Studio version is better


Folks, I need your opinion on this. Thanks!

 

[SkeeK]

Bullet the blue sky the same??

What's my name?

Mark Chapman!
98 millimeters like the police, john and yoko singing love and peace. love and peace sounds like an old tune, a rerelease
War is over we don't need your help! America is making war on itself!

I think Bullet this tour is definately different!

ANd WALK ON in my opinion is incredibly awesome live!! so much longer the end is so much more euphoric.. and the alleluia just takes you out of this world at the end of the show.

Elevation is much better live as well, Kite and Stuck I think much better live as well.. you can hear the guitars better on them.

 

[Tony]

I agree with you with Kite and you are right with Bullet. But, I'm still positive for the rest. Thanks for telling your opinion!

 

[SkeeK]

there's a cool new guitar solo on the end of gone sometimes this tour as well.. discotheque has a harder edge, which i like.

and i insist that stuck in a moment is better live.

In A Little While and Beautiful Day I agree aren't much better live, but In A Little While definately brings something new when performed live.

 

[Tony]

Stuck was GREAT at the MTV tough.

 

[pub crawler]

After I saw the band perform at Anaheim last Spring, I posted that I thought the performances of "I Will Follow," "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Pride" were uninspired, and I felt that U2 should drop those songs from the set list.

However, I later posted a thread asking 1st time U2 concertgoers if they liked the performances of the songs I've listed above. Most if not all answered in the affirmative, so that's good enough for me.

You may not care for the Elevation tour live performances of certain U2 classics, but there are probably a lot of people who love to hear these songs, no matter what they sound like.

 

[pub crawler]

After re-reading your post, it seems as though you're talking about song arrangements, but I think the emotion with which they are performed is more important, and my feeling was that the emotion just wasn't there for some of the old classics.

 

[melon]

Elevation - like it better on album

Beautiful Day - sounds too much like album

Until The End Of The World - love it better on UTEOTW soundtrack

Mysterious Ways - best at PopMart

Kite - love it best live

Gone - best at PopMart

New York - sounds nearly identical to the album

I Will Follow - loved it best at height of PopMart, like during the Mexico City concert

Sunday Bloody Sunday - love various versions for different reasons, and I do like the Elevation tour version too

Stuck In A Moment - sounds a lot like the album

In A Little While - love it better live

Desire - album version better

Staring At The Sun - better on album

Bad - love on "Wide Awake..."

40 - better on album

Where The Streets Have No Name - loved it on PopMart best

Pride (In The Name Of Love)- album version

Bullet The Blue Sky - like SBS, like it on various tours

With Or Without You - Not even close to what it was live in 1987. It's true.

One - liked it on all three tours

Walk On - I like both the album and the live version.

Melon

------------------
?Confused by thoughts, we experience duality in life. Unencumbered by ideas, the enlightened see the one reality.? - Hui-neng (638-713)

 

[Salome]

yes, I am happy

------------------
Salome
Shake it, shake it, shake it

 

[pub crawler]

Haha, Salome, you're not one to waste words, are ya? heheh...

 

[Henne]

I disagree! Bullet is definetely not the same since it was played the first time. In fact U2 were even playing TWO different versions of that song during the Cologne shows:
1st night: NRA video - Bullet with Mark Chapman ending
2nd night: Security Counsil video - Bullet with "Outside it's (all members of security counsil)"-ending.

I really like most live versions this tour, especially Kite, Stuck, In A Little While, All I Want Is You and WOWY.

By the way: SBS was not played on the Lovetown Tour!

 

[DrTeeth]

These must be the best versions of Bullet The Blue Sky, The Fly and Until The End Of The World ever!

Elevation and Beautiful Day are better than on the album.

They shouldn't have messed with Kite though...

 

[bullet the blue sky]

Personally, I think all their live performances are shit and they should stick to recording studio albums and never tour again. They are appalling live.

 

[Tony]

Henne

SBS was played for sure on the Lovetown tour! Listen to the Rattle and Hum video and you'll see that it's one of the highlights. Also listen to the version of WOW on the video too and you'll see that this song was better performed.


pub crawler

You are totaly right! The energy and emotion is higher than it was.

 

[Henne]

Tony, you're wrong. The version of SBS on Rattle & Hum was recorded during the Joshua Tree-Tour (in Denver). SBS was not performed during the entire Lovetown-Tour. The Lovetown-Tour was the tour in support of R&H. All live versions in the movie are from the JT-Tour.

 

[Tony]

Sorry, you're right Henne!

 

[Zoocoustic]

...happy with the way everything has translated live EXCEPT:

Kite
Stuck
The Ground Beneath Her Feet (WHY do they have to leave the awesome ending off when they do it live!?!?)

 

[what a bomb!]

again,U2 can't please everyone! I saw the Elevation shows 3 times and can't fault them! By the way EVERY studio track will always sound better then live, it just depends on your anticipation on how they are gonna sound live! Was you wearing earplugs?

 

[Tony]

I was not wearing earplugs at all. What I'm saying is that the live versions were better on the other tours (zoo tv popmart and joshua tree). They were mixing thing up and were changing the studio versions radically.

It's NOT true that the studio versions are always better! For example, listen to please and you'll notice how good it was comparing to the studio version during popmart.

 

[SkeeK]

Maybe it's just not possible to mess too much with perfection