Songs of Experience - Part IV

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They should give up on a traditional album release and drop songs onto iTunes. One song per month. Even if they have only 6 songs I'd bet that would create more interest than an album release. And the main thing being it'd free them up to focus on getting the tour underway again.

Unless of course they want to get greedy and reserve the option to shelve these songs for a many years away album release but still go out on tour again late this year / early next.
 
AndrewCowley said:
Unless of course they want to get greedy and reserve the option to shelve these songs for a many years away album release but still go out on tour again late this year / early next.
Click to expand...

It occurs to me that maybe they wouldn't do one song per month, or just an ep like I suggested, because (going along with the idea that they're yearning for relevance, and thus the perfect 'hit' song), any time they hit on the beginnings of a song with potential, they want to save it for the next big album, in case it's the stand out track. Plus, working it to death with multiple producers to make it 'perfect'.
I'd bet they feel they can't 'afford' to just release a newly written song, thinking "Oh if we'd only worked on it another few months, it would've been the next beautiful day!"
That's why I doubt they'd ever spontaneously release a stand alone track unless under some prior obligation (like Invisible and the super bowl).
 
After reading comments and the article again I think Edge (like someone commented) is just giving the typical 'vague' were recording but not finished yet. He didn't really go into any details except they have a alot of ideas. If I remember correctly Edge really doesn't say much about release dates or song details.

The good news I think is Adam stating a month ago that there in the studio finishing up SOE. We should just hang our hat on that.

I'll give it till July & hopefully we'll get a tour announcement in the next few weeks.
 
Well Edge does announce an announcement ;) So I do think we'll get something soon. I just think it'll be tour dates.
 
Hasn't this been the MO of the band for at least 20 years now? They always say the album is almost done, it's good PR, they're smart.. always say "almost done"... and I guess 5 years of a human life is not that much time, but to us fans and the modern world, we want it instantly. And that's what they did with the last album. It came out of nowhere release wise and they instantly gave it to us. Of course for irony my phone was not set up to get it via iCloud so I had to wait and download it later when the link popped up finally. (and still think if they just made it a free download instead of automatically dropping it they would have gotten much better press, but it wouldn't have been as cool)

I'm fine with them touring more w/o a new album. It just would't make much sense. So I can't see them doing that from what they set up. But any U2 fan I think feels the same way... they have enough songs to tour for the rest of their lives with no new music. We like new music, but be okay to not to have it. I mean plenty of bands tour without a new album and even when they have one they barely play it... I think Rolling Stones concert I saw played maybe 1 song from their new album and they just played the other 1000 hits. DMB tours non stop. Bruce probably plays 10% of his set list from a new album depending on how good it is, The Rising he played most of it because it was good...

What's my point? U2 could just play Holy Joe and called it the B Side Tour and we'd love it.
 
clerks said:
I mean plenty of bands tour without a new album and even when they have one they barely play it... I think Rolling Stones concert I saw played maybe 1 song from their new album and they just played the other 1000 hits. DMB tours non stop. Bruce probably plays 10% of his set list from a new album depending on how good it is, The Rising he played most of it because it was good...
Click to expand...

When I saw McCartney in 2013 and AC/DC last month, I think they each played a grand total of two songs from their most recent albums.
 
clerks said:
What's my point? U2 could just play Holy Joe and called it the B Side Tour and we'd love it.
Click to expand...

No ...

The point is, that Bono announced "Songs of Experience" in his letter on the evening of the SOI release - They promoted the i+e Tour concept ...

Continuing the tour without "Experience" ... just SOI songs mixed with Best-Of is not what I want to see coming.

Maybe they play 2-3 SOE Songs live .. without the album being available yet .. and then release it in spring 2017 .. but all that is very lame ....
 
aMansAman said:
No ...

The point is, that Bono announced "Songs of Experience" in his letter on the evening of the SOI release - They promoted the i+e Tour concept ...

Continuing the tour without "Experience" ... just SOI songs mixed with Best-Of is not what I want to see coming.

Maybe they play 2-3 SOE Songs live .. without the album being available yet .. and then release it in spring 2017 .. but all that is very lame ....
Click to expand...

I think they want to release SOE before the tour starts again, but they're not going to let its completion (or lack thereof) get in the way of touring again.

I'm sure if the tour resumes in the fall, they'll be doing South America, Australia, etc. All plaecs they didnt get to with SOI.

so in their minds, it's not a biggie because those markets have yet to see the show
 
I think they care about their music, but they care more about their image. They feel they have to be perfect with everything, something that's been in them since the beginning.....but times have changed and there isn't time for a new album or song to soak in, to build.

With the 24/7 news, social media....the song had better catch on within minutes, or it's deemed a failure and will be replaced.

It's probably why everything they've done has been over produced / polished....hoping for that instant hook.

Probably would be very tough to create a song like that, let alone 11.
 
They should release SOE as soon as possible so that Gabe can practice new songs and perform them on his tribute shows.
 
On a positive note, Edge did say that we should expect news on a tour soon. Which is positive regardless of our unhappiness about the album news.

I wonder if they're going to perform at this iHeart radio thing, or simply show up to accept the award.

Imagine they got up there on stage, Bono makes some crack about how everyone hated the original album release, but whatever... We liked the idea, and in fact, here's another one... Drops the mic and walks off stage and there's a new album in everyone's iTunes account?

That kinda trolling would make up for the crappy release the last time.
 
Well don't get your hopes up too high. According to the iheart radio website U2 will not perform. So I'm not expecting anything major to happen.
 
Here's my guess. The tour is scheduled. The songs are pretty much finished. Bono and Edge have the songs- about 20 of them- on their iPhones and are listening to them while in the car, on the beach, whatever. They're listening over and over in different contexts to see which ones hold up over these few months.

At some deadline they will choose 11 of those songs for the album and the release will be tied in somehow with whatever Apple's new thing will be. The new tour dates will also be announced, with a start in the Fall in the US. Jimmy Fallon and the rest of the promo circuit will start late August / early September.

To refresh interest in the tour, it'll be billed as the Experience portion, and will feature some new technology Apple has brewing- VR?

The setlist will be 40-60% different with a couple of SOI songs still in, plus 7 SOE songs. The usual warhorses like Bad and Streets will anchor the show, a few warhorses will be swapped, like Pride for NYD, and another rotating slot or two.

They'll use the screen to boost up the new songs- like they did with Iris, Cedarwood, etc...

I'm going to throw out a long shot prediction that we see LNOE, Gone, Please, or Staring at the Sun using the screen as the "oh shit!" moment.

Timestamped 3/30/2016
 
brooklynmike said:
Here's my guess. The tour is scheduled. The songs are pretty much finished. Bono and Edge have the songs- about 20 of them- on their iPhones and are listening to them while in the car, on the beach, whatever. They're listening over and over in different contexts to see which ones hold up over these few months.

At some deadline they will choose 11 of those songs for the album and the release will be tied in somehow with whatever Apple's new thing will be. The new tour dates will also be announced, with a start in the Fall in the US. Jimmy Fallon and the rest of the promo circuit will start late August / early September.

To refresh interest in the tour, it'll be billed as the Experience portion, and will feature some new technology Apple has brewing- VR?

The setlist will be 40-60% different with a couple of SOI songs still in, plus 7 SOE songs. The usual warhorses like Bad and Streets will anchor the show, a few warhorses will be swapped, like Pride for NYD, and another rotating slot or two.

They'll use the screen to boost up the new songs- like they did with Iris, Cedarwood, etc...

I'm going to throw out a long shot prediction that we see LNOE, Gone, Please, or Staring at the Sun using the screen as the "oh shit!" moment.

Timestamped 3/30/2016
Click to expand...

thats awfully specific
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
On a positive note, Edge did say that we should expect news on a tour soon. Which is positive regardless of our unhappiness about the album news.
.
Click to expand...

Well, news on a tour doesn't necessarily mean it's positive. :wink: He could just announce that they're not touring for a while. Which would still qualify as news!

Or just troll the fuck out of everyone tomorrow claiming the new album and tour are starting ASAP. Who knows.
 
It occurs to me that a few weeks ago, they were posting photos in the studio, everyone seemed to be together in Dublin, and Adam said they were in the studio to basically finish the album off.
I believe they also mentioned in interviews over the past year being quite far along, having made good progress etc.

Now, alongside Edge's seemingly contradictory statements that they're "still in the weeds", "hard to say when it will come out", the band have all clearly left the studio and gone on their own separate travels.

Plus, they went from Adam saying they were finishing SoE in time for the tour at the end of this year, And postponing tour legs to focus on recording, to edge being unsure about the release date, and promising a tour announcement soon. Prioritising finishing off the album went out the window.

I think this is linked. Something happened when they all got together in the studio.

Either they regrouped, effectively finished everything, and are playing coy until an announcement, or...

... They regrouped, listened to what they had after a few months break, and decided it wasn't good enough, and they're starting from scratch. They left the studio because there's no commitment to bring it out soon, so they're relaxing before restarting the tour.

Based off their track record, I'm betting it's the latter.
 
Last edited:
JamietheEdgefan said:
It occurs to me that a few weeks ago, they were posting photos in the studio, everyone seemed to be together in Dublin, and Adam said they were in the studio to basically finish the album off.
I believe they also mentioned in interviews over the past year being quite far along, having made good progress etc.

Now, alongside Edge's seemingly contradictory statements that they're "still in the weeds", "hard to say when it will come out", the band have all clearly left the studio and gone on their own separate travels.

Plus, they went from Adam saying they were finishing SoE in time for the tour at the end of this year, And postponing tour legs to focus on recording, to edge being unsure about the release date, and promising a tour announcement soon. Prioritising finishing off the album went out the window.

I think this is linked. Something happened when they all got together in the studio.

Either they regrouped, effectively finished everything, and are playing coy until an announcement, or...

... They regrouped, listened to what they had after a few months break, and decided it wasn't good enough, and they're starting from scratch. They left the studio because there's no commitment to bring it out soon, so they're relaxing before restarting the tour.

Based off their track record, I'm betting it's the latter.
Click to expand...
I think the best bet is to not analyze what they say in magazines.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
Imagine they got up there on stage, Bono makes some crack about how everyone hated the original album release, but whatever... We liked the idea, and in fact, here's another one... Drops the mic and walks off stage and there's a new album in everyone's iTunes account?
Click to expand...

:lol:
 
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