New U2.com subscriber gift known... sort of.

[Popmartijn]

Come on, why is the Crazy remix making it?? They released it on the remix CD through U2.com just 2 years ago. Do we need ANOTHER copy of that? Why? I can almost "get" if you didn't vote for Electrical Storm because you do not like the song. But voting for Crazy Tonight when they just released it 2 years ago, through the same subscription makes no sense.

Because it is a great song. And because it's also possible to vote for Crazy Tonight AND Electrical Storm (and still have 20 votes for other rare tracks). That's what I did. As many of the rarities as possible (though in the end In A Little While was not included in my votes), plus some other great songs (Streets).

the version of moment of surrender on wide awake in europe is phenomenal... why do we need another one in place of something we don't have? baffling.

Well, as a big collector of U2 stuff, mainly on CD, I want to have Moment Of Surrender included. There isn't an official live version yet on CD.

I'm do not feel I'm wasting my time because I'm venting about something that is very frustrating to me as an avid U2 audio collector. I realize there is nothing I can do about it other than my single votes. It was just an incredible oppurtunity to get some unreleased stuff and it is being squandered IMO. So I'm conveying my frustration about it. Obviously a lot of people on here feel very similiar and from some of the comments on the voting on U2.com there are a lot of people that feel the same there.

I agree with this sentiment (though I'm probably not venting as much as you are ). We have this great opportunity and then it seems to be squandered. This is not a case of Interference vs. U2.com BTW (or vs. some other fan forums like @U2.com) as the two groups can be found on all fansites.

 

[hibricc]

Remember that lots of u2.com subscribers are casual fans who joined before/during the 360 tour for ticket access. They likely didn't buy the Rose Bowl DVD ("I already saw that show"), and now they're being offered a free live CD. Their votes will almost certainly skew heavily toward the hits, since that's probably what they wanted to hear at the concert anyway.

Like it or not, there are probably more of them than us - and looking at this thread, even we can't all agree how to vote!

 

[morgan1098]

Someone needs to hack U2.com and find the names and addresses of everyone who's voting for Beautiful Day and Pride so that the Rarities Police can visit their homes and rough them up a bit!

Seriously, though, I do want the rarities on there. This poll is baffling.

 

[Nick66]

I think this poll is kind of instructive, and tells me that U2 knows a bit more about their fans that we sometimes give them credit for.

One of the favourite things hard core U2 fans like to gripe about is the set lists...and typically it goes something like "Do we really need to hear X again....why don't they ever play X!" And we all bemoan the fact that they don't play Daddy's Goona Pay For Your Crashed Car or Zooropa or Your Blue Room or whatever. Yet U2 continues to stubbornly play the "hits", and we all just tell ourselves it's to please the "casual" fans.

Yet when presumably "real" fans are the majority of people voting for this poll, and have a chance to actually pick what the want to hear in a "virtual concert" and they still chose pretty much same stuff, tells me that it's actually a very, very small slice of U2 fandom that really wants to hear some of the rarer stuff...including on this site. And that U2 knows this, hence their hit heavy set lists.

It also explains why they can put out regurgitated stuff like Duals and CD's of the concert DVD's and people continue to lap it up like they're getting something special. As it stands, it looks like we're pretty much going to get a CD version of essentially the same songs from the Rose Bowl DVD, with a few exceptions.

I count myself among those who are baffled as to why we need another version of Crazy Tonight or even MOS (which is my favorite song by U2 in the past 10 years BTW), when there are so many other officially released high quality recordings of those songs (and the other "hits) available, on this tour and others. But to each his/her own. It's definitely a revelation. And from my POV, disappointing.

 

[digitize]

^I definitely agree, Nick... this is really interesting to me. And extremely surprising.

 

[senrab]

just don't vote for IWF or Boots, people!!

 

[Blue Room]

I think this poll is kind of instructive, and tells me that U2 knows a bit more about their fans that we sometimes give them credit for.

One of the favourite things hard core U2 fans like to gripe about is the set lists...and typically it goes something like "Do we really need to hear X again....why don't they ever play X!" And we all bemoan the fact that they don't play Daddy's Goona Pay For Your Crashed Car or Zooropa or Your Blue Room or whatever. Yet U2 continues to stubbornly play the "hits", and we all just tell ourselves it's to please the "casual" fans.

Yet when presumably "real" fans are the majority of people voting for this poll, and have a chance to actually pick what the want to hear in a "virtual concert" and they still chose pretty much same stuff, tells me that it's actually a very, very small slice of U2 fandom that really wants to hear some of the rarer stuff...including on this site. And that U2 knows this, hence their hit heavy set lists.

It also explains why they can put out regurgitated stuff like Duals and CD's of the concert DVD's and people continue to lap it up like they're getting something special.

I count myself among those who are baffled as to why we need another version of Crazy Tonight or even MOS (which is my favorite song by U2 in the past 10 years BTW), when there are so many other officially released high quality recordings of those songs (and the other "hits) available, on this tour and others. But to each his/her own. It's definitely a revelation. And from my POV, disappointing.

Agreed. That sums it up for me. It is extremely disappointing from my point of view.

McGuinness knows what he is doing, this proves it. Much like the Sydney DVD in the Achtung set. There is clearly a high percentage that like that being in it. I would have never thought that before. But this vote is very telling as to who U2's general core fans are. It clearly is not a lot of us that post here.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

I voted for MOS myself. Even though I own WAIE, I don't own a player for it. I have a 320k digital copy, but I'm not sure I recall where or who helped me out with that. I would consider MOS on WAIE as a promo due to its limited release.

I own the Rose Bowl dvd too and I have the audio from it.

The sample of MOS for U22 is identified as being from Perth.

In making my list, I spent some time researching the No Line songs that I felt needed to be a part of this. Excluding burning the dvd to audio, this is what I found:
Breathe - 1 cd release (from Somerville)
Get On Your Boots - 0
I'll Go Crazy... - 3. 1 digital download release (Somerville), 2 cd releases (Rose Bowl promo, Artificial H. {Croke Park}), 1 vinyl with same Croke Park.
Magnificent - 3 cd releases (from Somnerville, Rose Bowl promo, and Rock n' Roll 25th Ann. New York)
Moment of Surrender - 1 vinyl (Paris)
No Line... - 0
Unknown Caller - 0

All the "0"s and "1"s were voted for. Yes, even Boots.

 

[theedgeu2]

Guys, go back and vote again and again and again. That's what I'm doing. And ONLY vote for the rarities.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Guys, go back and vote again and again and again. That's what I'm doing. And ONLY vote for the rarities.

In case you didn't notice, the top part of the voting section has a "Thank you very much, but your vote has already been processed" kind of comment when you do that.

I know this.

 

[theedgeu2]

Ah I didn't see that. Well fuck, there is no chance of winning is there?

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Ah I didn't see that. Well fuck, there is no chance of winning is there?

Yeah, I'm already up to stage 4, depression. One more (acceptance), and I can move on with my life.

The reality is that I wish this could end today. If I see One Tree Hill falling off anymore and any of Vertigo, Elevation, or M. ways sneaking up, I'll have to restart the grief game. Some gems are just too close to the cutline.

 

[morgan1098]

Yeah, I'm already up to stage 4, depression. One more (acceptance), and I can move on with my life.

The reality is that I wish this could end today. If I see One Tree Hill falling off anymore and any of Vertigo, Elevation, or M. ways sneaking up, I'll have to restart the grief game. Some gems are just too close to the cutline.

Ideally, they would have cut off the voting after only ONE DAY. That way, the only people who would have known about it would be the die-hards who peruse Interference and other forums. The longer the poll is active, the longer the riff raff has to infiltrate it and vote for Beautiful Day and Mysterious Ways.

 

[theedgeu2]

Not a chance many of the rare songs that are above the cut line will make it, seeing as voting closes in just a little over a month. I think they should have definitely gone with one day to vote.

 

[morgan1098]

Not a chance many of the rare songs that are above the cut line will make it, seeing as voting closes in just a little over a month. I think they should have definitely gone with one day to vote.

Then again, that would have just pissed off a much larger percentage of U2.com's membership, because they wouldn't have had a chance to vote. Sadly, I agree with Nick66 and others who say that this poll is sort of validating the idea that U2.com does have a good understanding of the U2 fan base, after all.

 

[mikal]

it's going to be fun reading "the fans have spoken" message from U2.com and the Interference thread when the final tracklisting is released when Elevation, Stuck, and IALW are all on the double album.

 

[Blue Room]

it's going to be fun reading "the fans have spoken" message from U2.com and the Interference thread when the final tracklisting is released when Elevation, Stuck, and IALW are all on the double album.

I guess it is one of the drawbacks of having mass appeal. There is no room to complain about the redundancy of anything they release in the future. It is clearly what a majority of the general fans want. It was a good way to show that the diehards are clearly the vocal minority with the U2 fans. I guess it makes sense. Just like the setlists for stadium shows. Most of the people there want and/or expect the hits. I did not know a large portion of the U2.com crowd were just casual fans. I would have guessed more diehards. It is just very surprising in a lot of ways.

Makes you wonder if they had allowed a vote on which DVD concert to be included in the Achtung Box set and included some unreleased shows up against Sydney what the outcome would have been. Before this I would have said no way Sydney gets the vote. But I'm not so sure now.

 

[morgan1098]

I guess it is one of the drawbacks of having mass appeal. There is no room to complain about the redundancy of anything they release in the future. It is clearly what a majority of the general fans want. It was a good way to show that the diehards are clearly the vocal minority with the U2 fans. I guess it makes sense. Just like the setlists for stadium shows. Most of the people there want and/or expect the hits. I did not know a large portion of the U2.com crowd were just casual fans. I would have guessed more diehards. It is just very surprising in a lot of ways.

I have never been surprised at the setlists for the shows. My guess is that every U2 show, for the past couple of decades, at least, has been comprised of maybe 1/4 "die hards" and the rest people who generally just like U2 from the radio. A U2 concert is an "event," and many people will show up just because it's the cool thing to do. At the 360 show in Denver, there were definite looks of "WTF?" when songs like Miss Sarajevo were played. And the response to Zooropa was tepid at best, aside from the obvious uber fans in the audience who were loving it.

But that's the thing... I never would have guessed that the U2.com membership would mirror that of the concert audience. I would have thought you'd have a much higher percentage of "super fans" for U2.com, what with the $50 membership fee and all. It's very surprising.

 

[Niceman]

This is the MP3 age. We're not talking about them releasing a whole show which has to be listened to in order. U22 will be a collection of live songs from different shows which you will upload to your computer and listen to on your iphone or whatever. You already have how many live versions of One on your computer? How many release-quality versions of Your Blue Room or Electrical Storm do you have? Or The Return of the Stingray Guitar?

It's like making a mix tape and putting 15 almost identical versions of One on it just because it's your "favorite."

Hey, we all have different taste. I get it. There are a lot of people who WOULD rather listen to the Pride-WTSHNN-One section of the Vertigo set than the rare stuff, but is that the only part of the set you were able to enjoy?

 

[ramblin rose]

it's going to be fun reading "the fans have spoken" message from U2.com and the Interference thread when the final tracklisting is released when Elevation, Stuck, and IALW are all on the double album.

Believe me, this is my biggest nightmare. I can just imagine u2.com saying "wow, amazing recovery of IALW during the results blackout period sorry One Tree Hill you were edged out by Stuck in a Moment.."

I want to be optimistic, but I still get this pit in my stomach when I think about it. It's u2.com after all.

 

[morgan1098]

They could just put ALL the songs on 3CDs. That would be epic. But then that takes the "fan input" element out of it.

 

[Blue Room]

They could just put ALL the songs on 3CDs. That would be epic. But then that takes the "fan input" element out of it.

I think if asked, even the general fan would vote for all of the songs on 3 CD's. But given some of the logic by some of the general fans, who knows for sure!! " I don't like 3 CD sets, I'm voting for only 2!"

 

[hibricc]

They could just put ALL the songs on 3CDs. That would be epic. But then that takes the "fan input" element out of it.

If I were prone to completely unjustified optimism regarding fanclub releases, I might hope that the secret plan is to 'surprise' members with a complete release of all 46 tracks and a fawning post about how "we never could have anticipated the overwhelming response to our poll and the unbridled passion that fans have for even the rarest tracks - so we couldn't bring ourselves to omit even one from the new fanclub CD."

Yeah, that'll happen.

 

[Blue Room]

If I were prone to completely unjustified optimism regarding fanclub releases, I might hope that the secret plan is to 'surprise' members with a complete release of all 46 tracks and a fawning post about how "we never could have anticipated the overwhelming response to our poll and the unbridled passion that fans have for even the rarest tracks - so we couldn't bring ourselves to omit even one from the new fanclub CD."

Yeah, that'll happen.

Or they could just have a separate download you could pay extra for (they would never make it free) the songs that did not make it that were listed. That would be very simple for them to do. Will not happen unfortunately, because clearly the general fans don't want those songs anyway. That would be the reason they would give if they gave one for not doing it.

 

[mikal]

Believe me, this is my biggest nightmare. I can just imagine u2.com saying "wow, amazing recovery of IALW during the results blackout period sorry One Tree Hill you were edged out by Stuck in a Moment.."

I want to be optimistic, but I still get this pit in my stomach when I think about it. It's u2.com after all.

yep. this was my exact thought when i first saw this voting thing and then cringed at the initial excitement here.

i dunno, maybe u2.com will come through and we'll all be happy, but this also has "disaster" written all over it.

 

[Niceman]

If I were prone to completely unjustified optimism regarding fanclub releases, I might hope that the secret plan is to 'surprise' members with a complete release of all 46 tracks and a fawning post about how "we never could have anticipated the overwhelming response to our poll and the unbridled passion that fans have for even the rarest tracks - so we couldn't bring ourselves to omit even one from the new fanclub CD."

Yeah, that'll happen.

I'm hoping that they'll make the other 24 songs available as a download with the CD. That's the best I could see them doing.

 

[Blue Room]

I'm hoping that they'll make the other 24 songs available as a download with the CD. That's the best I could see them doing.

Dream on, would love it, will never happen.

I would love downloads available of all of their concerts. They have them, but it will never happen. It is amazing that U2 has such a large archive, but uses about .0001 % of it.

 

[Niceman]

Dream on, would love it, will never happen.

I would love downloads available of all of their concerts. They have them, but it will never happen. It is amazing that U2 has such a large archive, but uses about .0001 % of it.

I'll dream out loud!

Not saying I EXPECT it, but it's the best I'll hope for.

 

[hibricc]

Dream on, would love it, will never happen.

I would love downloads available of all of their concerts. They have them, but it will never happen. It is amazing that U2 has such a large archive, but uses about .0001 % of it.

Allow me one more note of optimism: The reason they release so little live material is because they are admitted perfectionists, and most of their concerts - despite being amazing in-person experiences - are anything but perfect musically. BUT one would presume that all 46 of these tracks have been pre-approved, so "imperfect performance" would not be a legitimate reason to not release them.

 

[morgan1098]

Allow me one more note of optimism: The reason they release so little live material is because they are admitted perfectionists, and most of their concerts - despite being amazing in-person experiences - are anything but perfect musically. BUT one would presume that all 46 of these tracks have been pre-approved, so "imperfect performance" would not be a legitimate reason to not release them.

It wouldn't really be hard to do this at all, and it would be a huge hit with casual and serious fans alike. The music is already produced and "tweaked," as you noted, and it's just a matter of putting it on CD.

True, U2.com has never put out a 3CD set before, but the past two years were single-disc affairs after a couple years of 2CD sets, so this would just make up for that. It would all balance out in the end.

Wishful thinking, I know.