Could U2 possibly be a bit more varied in how they pick songs?

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gvox

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I mean, cmon! Don't you think they could play less than 5 songs that all of us know? I'm thinking we could allow them 3 popular songs max, with MAYBE 4 if they were playing 32 songs that night.

In essence, the setlist should look something like this - note that some songs are OR songs, in other words they get swapped in and out of each other's spot:

Womanfish
Acrobat
Three Sunrises
Bass Trap
White as Snow
Walk to the Water
Scarlet (*featuring The Edge as Lead Vocalist On The Cringeworthy Headset)
Womanfish Remix
A Room At the Heartbreak Hotel
Streets OR WOWY
Don't Take Your Guns To Town OR Drunken Chicken (because these two are the musical cousins of one another!)
Summer Rain
Levitate
Always
Pride OR Sunday Bloody Sunday

- Larry reads Wild Irish Rose (with a straight face) -

Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Your Blue Room
Luminous Times
Magnificent OR Breate OR Moment of Surrender OR Crazy Tonight
Elvis Presley and America
Shadows and Tall Trees
A Man And A Woman
Cedars of Lebanon

- Adam recites 10 minute story of how he was the first manager of the band -

One
Pez: Being Boring
Is That All?

- Band does 2 rounds of Patron with the first row of the inner circle -

Bad OR Unforgettable Fire (no, you can't get two songs off the same amazing album, are you nuts?)
Miami
Womanfish (just in case noone understood it the first two times)


Discuss! :hyper:
 
Where the fuck is Drunk Chicken/America? Yes, I know Allen Ginsberg is dead but if they can get Tutu on the screen, they can bloody well do Drunk Chicken with Allen Ginsberg.
 
So what exactly should I take out? Womanfish Remix? The crowd loves it! A Man And A Woman? Bass Trap? Edge's turn at lead vocals on Scarlet?

No, there's just way too many good moments here that will have far too many people going "WTF?!". We just can't fit another popular tune like Drunk Chicken in, can't you see?

EDIT: wait - I see an opening!
 
I also agree on there should be alot more variety, the first 6 or 7 songs from the barca show seemed like a greatest hits set list, but if you were only going to play about 4 known songs, then i can see an unhappy crowd going home.
 
In complete seriousness, they absolutely could, and this thread is a lame attempt to "mock" those who have legitimate gripes about U2's static setlist habit.
 
In complete seriousness, they absolutely could, and this thread is a lame attempt to "mock" those who have legitimate gripes about U2's static setlist habit.

This, or, you know, they can do what they want given that it is their band, and they are playing what most in the crowd want to hear and they are the ones who bought the tickets, not the bootleggers...

But whatever
 
This, or, you know, they can do what they want given that it is their band, and they are playing what most in the crowd want to hear and they are the ones who bought the tickets, not the bootleggers...

But whatever

This argument again and again... Sigh.
 
i should have known as soon as i saw you were the poster, gvox, that this was going to be good :up:

In complete seriousness, they absolutely could, and this thread is a lame attempt to "mock" those who have legitimate gripes about U2's static setlist habit.

lighten up geez :lol:

write an angry letter, and put it in your top drawer.
 
we also need to realize that U2 is playing their shows for the people in attendance, not for us freaks watching the setlists from home.

i think i've been hammering this point down since 2001.
 
we also need to realize that U2 is playing their shows for the people in attendance, not for us freaks watching the setlists from home.

i think i've been hammering this point down since 2001.

And yet they still don't listen. :shrug: It's selfish if people want a show with almost only rarities, what's the point when there's thousands of other fans who don't give a crap. Be glad with what you get or just don't go.
 
^ I think U2 so far has done a good job shaking up the setlist (going by their standards)
 
So I take it you guys don't want to hear Larry read Wild Irish Rose?

;)

Nice edit. No I don't want to hear Edge on Scarlet, I wouldn't even be able to recognise that song anyway. :shrug: Don't care for WIR either.

I actually want to hear Streets, I want to hear Pride, I want to hear WOWY, I want to hear SBS. (No, I do NOT want to hear One. :angry: )

Maybe I'll be sick of those songs after a few gigs, but still. I have never heard them live and do want to hear them.
 
And yet they still don't listen. :shrug: It's selfish if people want a show with almost only rarities, what's the point when there's thousands of other fans who don't give a crap. Be glad with what you get or just don't go.

OK, I have to step in. I'm a big advocate of varied setlists, and the argument "people want a show with almost only rarities" or "casuals would be lost" is simply weak. Nobody reasonable wants a show exclusive with rarities. The point is that U2 has so many hits that they could do two completely different setlists filled with sing-alongs from their 30-year catalogue and most of the casuals would be satisfied. They could find a great balance between the hits, fan favorites and occasional rarities without losing most of their audience. And of course the ratio would be in favour of the hits. Still, I simply don't find it difficult if they vary 7-8 songs from night to night, something similar to what Radiohead and Metallica are doing these days. Metallica and their setlists this year are actually the best example at how U2 could do their setlist - they have reserved spots every night for songs like One, Enter Sandman and Nothing Else Matters, while at least 20 other fan favourites/rarities/other classics are being put into rotation. From U2's history, magnitude and the production of the shows it would be unreasonable to expect a setlist variation of Pearl Jam calibre.

Another point is that even a so-called "rarity", if performed well, can pump up the crowd - The Electric Co. on the Vertigo tour being the primary example, which I've witnessed personally. Casual fans are not idiots. In fact, they are being generalized here much more than us fanatics "who only want rarities" - not every single casual fan is only interested in songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride or With or Without You. They sometimes do want to be surprised. I would be the first one to object if every single classic was deleted from the setlist, although I'm all up for deletion of a certain classic that is simply played lifelessly - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and Pride being the primary examples of this. On the other hand, I find myself as of now upset that classics that had IMO always sounded fresh - New Year's Day and Mysterious Ways - have been deleted.

It's not all black and white, folks. The basic argument is that both the casual and especially the hardcore fans would be satisfied with varied setlists if done correctly and reasonably, with a smartly done ratio of classics, fan favorites and rarities. Everybody wins. If a band with 200+ songs plays a one-year tour with only 30 songs, it amazes me how the fuck they don't get bored.
 
OK, I have to step in. I'm a big advocate of varied setlists, and the argument "people want a show with almost only rarities" or "casuals would be lost" is simply weak. Nobody reasonable wants a show exclusive with rarities. The point is that U2 has so many hits that they could do two completely different setlists filled with sing-alongs from their 30-year catalogue and most of the casuals would be satisfied. They could find a great balance between the hits, fan favorites and occasional rarities without losing most of their audience. And of course the ratio would be in favour of the hits. Still, I simply don't find it difficult if they vary 7-8 songs from night to night, something similar to what Radiohead and Metallica are doing these days. Metallica and their setlists this year are actually the best example at how U2 could do their setlist - they have reserved spots every night for songs like One, Enter Sandman and Nothing Else Matters, while at least 20 other fan favourites/rarities/other classics are being put into rotation. From U2's history, magnitude and the production of the shows it would be unreasonable to expect a setlist variation of Pearl Jam calibre.

Another point is that even a so-called "rarity", if performed well, can pump up the crowd - The Electric Co. on the Vertigo tour being the primary example, which I've witnessed personally. Casual fans are not idiots. In fact, they are being generalized here much more than us fanatics "who only want rarities" - not every single casual fan is only interested in songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride or With or Without You. They sometimes do want to be surprised. I would be the first one to object if every single classic was deleted from the setlist, although I'm all up for deletion of a certain classic that is simply played lifelessly - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and Pride being the primary examples of this. On the other hand, I find myself as of now upset that classics that had IMO always sounded fresh - New Year's Day and Mysterious Ways - have been deleted.

It's not all black and white, folks. The basic argument is that both the casual and especially the hardcore fans would be satisfied with varied setlists if done correctly and reasonably, with a smartly done ratio of classics, fan favorites and rarities. Everybody wins. If a band with 200+ songs plays a one-year tour with only 30 songs, it amazes me how the fuck they don't get bored.

we also need to realize that U2 is playing their shows for the people in attendance, not for us freaks watching the setlists from home.

i think i've been hammering this point down since 2001.
 
we also need to realize that U2 is playing their shows for the people in attendance, not for us freaks watching the setlists from home.

i think i've been hammering this point down since 2001.

Did you bother to read my post?

I've been hammering this point as well since 2001.
 
Metallica and their setlists this year are actually the best example at how U2 could do their setlist - they have reserved spots every night for songs like One,

Yeah but did James have an outburst and call out The Hammster in front of the audience on opening night when they played it?








:wink:
 
yes. i've been reading it since 2001. :wink:

To tell you the truth, I did see some more intuitive replies in these excruciatingly long 9 years, if you know what I mean.
 
To tell you the truth, I did see some more intuitive replies in these excruciatingly long 9 years, if you know what I mean.

i don't. please explain.

edit. sorry, i'm kind of being an ass. i'm just so sick of this argument. i just don't think people look at the big picture when discussing this issue and tend to only look at it in the eyes of someone who analyzes every setlist.
 
Womanfish
Acrobat
Three Sunrises
Bass Trap
White as Snow
Walk to the Water
Scarlet (*featuring The Edge as Lead Vocalist On The Cringeworthy Headset)
Womanfish Remix
A Room At the Heartbreak Hotel
Streets OR WOWY
Don't Take Your Guns To Town OR Drunken Chicken (because these two are the musical cousins of one another!)
Summer Rain
Levitate
Always
Pride OR Sunday Bloody Sunday

- Larry reads Wild Irish Rose (with a straight face) -

Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Your Blue Room
Luminous Times
Magnificent OR Breate OR Moment of Surrender OR Crazy Tonight
Elvis Presley and America
Shadows and Tall Trees
A Man And A Woman
Cedars of Lebanon

- Adam recites 10 minute story of how he was the first manager of the band -

One
Pez: Being Boring
Is That All?

- Band does 2 rounds of Patron with the first row of the inner circle -

Bad OR Unforgettable Fire (no, you can't get two songs off the same amazing album, are you nuts?)
Miami
Womanfish (just in case noone understood it the first two times)

in all seriousness, how cool would it be if U2 actually played this set! :love:

maybe a small, exclusive performance for us freaks of interference! :lol:
 
(No, I do NOT want to hear One. :angry: )

Maybe I'll be sick of those songs after a few gigs, but still. I have never heard them live and do want to hear them.

Yeah but most of the people in the 80,000 or so in the stadium have heard those hits, GG. Don't you think you're being a bit selfish to ask U2 to play them again?

So...no One huh? Not even with Adam's speech? :sad:


Metallica and their setlists this year are actually the best example at how U2 could do their setlist - they have reserved spots every night for songs like One

Metallica covers One?!1111! Does GG know this? Does she like this version better? :hmm:





:macdevil:
 
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