As for your comment about U2 not even pretending to cater to long time, loyal, passionate fans, I agree with a caveat: only if we are talking about fans who have been around since 1980-83. This is a big caveat, however, as I and alot of other fans think U2's early work is far from deserving of its overlooked status this tour. I am only 22, really got into U2 with Bomb, but I rate War as the 3rd masterpiece. I understand U2 has had 3 very successful albums this decade and gained alot of new fans as a result. That is still not an excuse to play more than 2 songs from ATYCLB every night while Boy October and War sit on the bench entirely, and UF and JT only get the hits played. They need to give the younger fans more credit- if they like the band, they will get into the older material if it is played well live, even if they have not heard it 60000000000 times. I know from seeing half of Boy performed at my first show on Vertigo- I immediately wanted to know where Electric Co, Ocean, An Cat Dubh, Into The Heart all came from.
I especially like what you said about 40. The album version comes in under 3 minutes- just play that at 25% of the shows after MOS, and let Larry and the crowd send us home. I still think Love is Blindness/Can't Help Falling was their best closer, but 40 was epic and always had the crowd singing through the exits and into the night.
Agreed. My comments about U2 not even pretending to cater to hardcore fans anymore at concerts need a little of the context i had provided in the other thread. On this forum, those fans who express disappintment with the lack of variety with the setlists, especially regarding the encore on the 360 shows, are frequently summarily dismissed with an explanation to the effect of: "95-98% of the people in the crowd don't know and don't care what the set list was during other shows of the tour. U2 does not care that some folks out there enjoy following the tour and the setlists on the internet. U2 plays songs in the order that works for them and that they feel comfortable with. If you actually attend the shows, you will realize how magical the concert is and you will quit complaining about setlists that appear in text form on a web page." Some folks on here adhere very strongly to this school of thought and express it quite frequently.
(For what it's worth, I attended NY 1 & 2 on the 360 tour).
That is fine. I accept that. I have been following U2 long enough to understand their approach to touring and their relationship with their fans. I have no expectations of changing setlists, etc. I enjoyed the shows I attended this year and while I have my own opinions as to what songs I would have preferred to hear, like most of us I loved the fact that they brought back TUF and UV and that I got to hear YBR.
With that said, I believe that there are various minor things (tiny, even) which the band could do during shows which would be the equivalent of winning the lottery to fanatics such as myself who go way back with the band. For example:
1. Bono and Edge could play one verse acoustically of 40 following MOS one time out of every 5 shows.
2. Bono could do a city-specific shine like stars at the end of WOWY during one show in a city if that city has multiple shows.
3. U2 could acknowledge the fact that out of the entire U2 catalog, the generally agreed upon most popular live song amongst the hardcore old school types is Bad, and play it, say, one time out of every say 5 shows.
4. Edge could sing Van Dieman's Land one time out of every ten shows.
In other words, I am trying to come up with things they could do which would not change the show in any substantive manner or interrupt the flow or mood which is so obviously important to the theme they are creating. Because I know that radical changes in setlists, etc. simply will not happen. However, LITTLE things like those i mentioned above would be sooooo gratifying to someone such as myself. They would be absolutely treasured moments and would make the show intriguing to a fan such as myself who enjoys following the tour via U2.gigs and Youtube. Yet, they seemingly never happen anymore. That is where my frustration as a longtime fan arises. Remember how excited the Interference community got during the early european leg of the 360 tour trying to guess which songs U2 would rotate into the coveted 5-8 slots? Why couldn't that at least have continued?
How great would it have been at the end of the Rose Bowl show if they played 40 COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE? Full band 40? Larry the last one left, drumming the crowd into the night? Wasn't that night the special occasion DVD nite? And yet...nothing like that ever seems to occur anymore. Those are the kinds of small things that would cater to hardcore, repeat-show fans which U2 is apparently unwilling or incapable of doing anymore.