The Spiritually Elevated vs. The Setlist Police

[tackleberry]

I have a little point to make here. I saw the MSG New York 2 show last night and all I have to say is: MY OH MY! What a wonderful experience. The energy in that building was intense and I also had Golden Circle seats which made the view spectacular, especially during "One" with those names being displayed. It was Cathartic and for a moment there I felt safe and warm in the heart of New York City. Overall, a theatrical heartfelt experience.

Then this morning I read a few people's reactions to the show and some of them complained about the setlist again. Who are these people?? They nit pick and wine like little pansies because they didn't get a mixed up song list like Bruce Springsteen or something. Why be so critical of the songs being played? I saw the June 17th show at MSG and I will admitt that the setlist was almost identical to the one I saw last night, but the attitude and atmosphere was completely different. Thats what I focused on. Songs like One and Streets and Bad and Bullet had a unique effect even though I have heard them so many times before.

And yes, with or without you was not there nor Unforgettable Fire nor Mysterious Ways nor I threw a Brick through a window nor blah blah blah. And yes maybe it was not the complete 2 hours that most of their concerts are or most of Pearl Jam's concerts or whatever. But I saw U2 at Madison Square Frickin Garden in New York City for God's sake!! How many people can say that?? It was a beautiful night.

Thank You.



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"You gotta put the women and children first, but you've got an unquenchable thirst for New York..."

 

[Hitman]

I agree with ya but......

It would be nice to mix up the setlist a little.....

And bring back WOWY......

And MW.......

And.........

Oh forget it

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You Just Can't Get Enough Of That Lovey Dovey Stuff...

 

[Gina Marie]

I swear-I just don't get the whole 'setlist' thing.

Sure, I have my favorites, but I think they could just get up there and read the phone book or sing 'Kumbaya' and I wouldn't care!

And you summed it up perfectly-'spiritually elevated'-that's what it's all about for me.

 

[MysteryGirl]

Originally posted by Gina Marie:
I swear-I just don't get the whole 'setlist' thing.

Sure, I have my favorites, but I think they could just get up there and read the phone book or sing 'Kumbaya' and I wouldn't care!

And you summed it up perfectly-'spiritually elevated'-that's what it's all about for me.

SAME HERE!!!! I just saw U2 for the first (two) times in Chicago!! It was AWESOME and those 2 shows rank among the best I've ever seen! (And I've been to a LOT of concerts in the past 23 years!!!) Trust me, those were the first 2 U2 shows I've seen, but they WON'T be my LAST!!


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"You're dangerous...'cause you're honest"

 

[scatteroflight]

I've only seen U2 once so far, in April in Vancouver. Sure, it would have been amazing if they'd done 11 O'Clock or Homecoming or Gloria or Unforgettable Fire or So Cruel. But honestly, the only way I could have been disappointed with the set was if they'd dropped Streets...and that wasn't going to happen. And it was an AMAZING set. It was one of the longest shows on the tour, 23 full songs plus snippets! They basically did all my top favourites, and even if they'd left out Pride or In a Little While or something, how could I complain? I think some people just see too many shows (though I think it's pathetic to see 10 shows and then whine and moan about how you're getting bored) but I don't understand how anyone could see them just once and still complain about the set.


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Love is the heartbeat of the universe

 

[tackleberry]

Oh, and to the people who went last night, I wanted to know what evryone thought of the "USA" chants from the crowd. It seemed like Bono was kind of like, "Oh well" I know I could get shot for this, but it did seem a little out of place at that concert. Maybe if it was Lynard Skynard or maybe another pure-bread American Band that would have made it more comfortable for me. But thats just me.

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"You gotta put the women and children first, but you've got an unquenchable thirst for New York..."

 

[Saracene]

I don't get the entire setlist thing either. I checked out the PopMart concerts and they were just as heavy on the "Greatest Hits" material as the current one, while ZooTV setlists were pretty much identical from night to night and, again, had almost as many "regular" U2 songs as Elevation does! I mean, you'd think that people would get a clue about the way U2 choose the songs they play and stop waiting for their favourite obscurity to come up, and if they're not happy about static setlists, why go to multiple shows?

 

[The Wanderer]

i think the point that those of us who bring up the setlist want to make, is that we would really like hearing as many different U2 songs as possible, and in different sequences, now we don't expect them to play every single song and obscure b-side, but 1 or 2 more songs thrown in the mix from each album would be sweet as hell -- and that DOESN'T mean we don't get "spiritually elevated" either, stop being so condescending about that

 

[The Wanderer]

and yes, i think this "bitching and whining" as you like to call it is coming from die-hard fans who have heard most of the bootlegs and/or seen them live multiple times

obvioulsy the average fans sees 1 show per tour at the most, and so the "one-and-done" thing excludes them from caring about what setlist U2 plays on any night other than the night they see them

personally, if I were in a band like that with well over 100 songs to choose from, I would get bored with playing basically the same setlist with minor changes, I've always wondered if U2 just doesn't feel like playing certain hits anymore (thus the exclusion of WOWY and Mysterious Ways on this leg, and ISHFWILF on the first 2 legs)

oh well, nevermind, I don't know why i bother writing this because people will still say, "I can't understand it, I would be happy if U2 played soccer on stage for 2 hrs"

 

[DebbieSG]

I like the "spiritually elevated" side of it all myself. I think the band has been out there this long, they have an intuition what songs to put together to reach the audience the way they feel they want to. I want to hear what they have to say, and I trust they know their audience well enough to put out the right songs. Come to think of it, the fact that they always do deliver (an awesome experience) lets me just lean back, relax and enjoy whatever comes next. So you can stop thinking and let the music lift you and release you!

 

[achtung__baby]

I was lucky enough to see U2 live 4 times this year and to be honest I wouldn't have cared if they'd played the same setlist every night.

I was happy to be so close to the band and to actually see them play live especially considering there are always so many people who want to go to the shows but can't get tickets.

Hearing people whinge about setlists this leg is pissing me off so much because I can't make it over to the US and these people are just taking the fact they have tickets for granted.

If you don't want to see the same show 10 times just go once so there are more tickets for people who will actually appreciate the concert.