Is The 360 Tour The New "Pop" Tour?

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This tour is similar to the Popmart Tour in the aspect that they hold a very similar stage set-up in terms of pushing technology. Bono's look is very reminiscent of his Pop days, and you could argue the structure of the setlist is somewhat similar to the Popmart Tour. Other than that, I don't know what the topic poster is talking about.
 
i think i'm going to create an internet happy box:

291545.full.gif


-dan
 
I think what is most striking about NLOTH and a potential connection with POP is a lack of singles. Neither album has or will produce lasting songs which is odd because every album by U2 has produced a lasting track or two... or four... or five... These albums also share zero imagination when it comes to video promotions. The POP videos were forgotten by the mass public and the current videos for NLOTH have not cracked into popular culture at all (if it's even possible anymore). The two most successful (i.e. lasting in memory) tours have been ZOO TV and Elevation. What they shared was a literal energy. Those tours started small and grew: it built on the energy it created. It also allowed time for it to evolve into perfection. From 1991 to 1993 U2 crafted the greatest concert experience in history, but it started small in Lakeland. Pop and NLOTH both started big... that's never a good idea. The show cannot evolve. Add to it that the static sets are mid-tempo...then you have a Claw that seems to move at a Crawl... ah w/ the exception of the "remixes", of course. By booking a small number of shows, U2can save a year of their lives from the road and that's fine. However, to expect a tour that will mutate and be shaped into an experience equally brillant as ZOO TV is laughable. U2 has stopped taking chances with their politics and their tours. They brandish logos and say very little politically that is provocative... these are not the traits that have made U2 legends. I, personally, long for the days when they would go after George H.W. Bush (ZOO TV), rather than hang out with his son. It's not rock n roll. What do Bono and the boys say? "Stand up to Rock Stars?" Go back to being rock stars... then we'll talk. Make the Claw explode rather than waltz.
 
cmaly said:
I think what is most striking about NLOTH and a potential connection with POP is a lack of singles. Neither album has or will produce lasting songs which is odd because every album by U2 has produced a lasting track or two... or four... or five... These albums also share zero imagination when it comes to video promotions. The POP videos were forgotten by the mass public and the current videos for NLOTH have not cracked into popular culture at all (if it's even possible anymore). The two most successful (i.e. lasting in memory) tours have been ZOO TV and Elevation. What they shared was a literal energy. Those tours started small and grew: it built on the energy it created. It also allowed time for it to evolve into perfection. From 1991 to 1993 U2 crafted the greatest concert experience in history, but it started small in Lakeland. Pop and NLOTH both started big... that's never a good idea. The show cannot evolve. Add to it that the static sets are mid-tempo...then you have a Claw that seems to move at a Crawl... ah w/ the exception of the "remixes", of course. By booking a small number of shows, U2can save a year of their lives from the road and that's fine. However, to expect a tour that will mutate and be shaped into an experience equally brillant as ZOO TV is laughable. U2 has stopped taking chances with their politics and their tours. They brandish logos and say very little politically that is provocative... these are not the traits that have made U2 legends. I, personally, long for the days when they would go after George H.W. Bush (ZOO TV), rather than hang out with his son. It's not rock n roll. What do Bono and the boys say? "Stand up to Rock Stars?" Go back to being rock stars... then we'll talk. Make the Claw explode rather than waltz.
Click to expand...

Here's some *crazy* lack of imagination for you:

YouTube - U2 - Discothèque (HD) YouTube - U2 - Get On Your Boots

I concede the point on the SATS and Magnificent videos, though.
 
cmaly said:
I think what is most striking about NLOTH and a potential connection with POP is a lack of singles. Neither album has or will produce lasting songs which is odd because every album by U2 has produced a lasting track or two... or four... or five... These albums also share zero imagination when it comes to video promotions. The POP videos were forgotten by the mass public and the current videos for NLOTH have not cracked into popular culture at all (if it's even possible anymore). The two most successful (i.e. lasting in memory) tours have been ZOO TV and Elevation. What they shared was a literal energy. Those tours started small and grew: it built on the energy it created. It also allowed time for it to evolve into perfection. From 1991 to 1993 U2 crafted the greatest concert experience in history, but it started small in Lakeland. Pop and NLOTH both started big... that's never a good idea. The show cannot evolve. Add to it that the static sets are mid-tempo...then you have a Claw that seems to move at a Crawl... ah w/ the exception of the "remixes", of course. By booking a small number of shows, U2can save a year of their lives from the road and that's fine. However, to expect a tour that will mutate and be shaped into an experience equally brillant as ZOO TV is laughable. U2 has stopped taking chances with their politics and their tours. They brandish logos and say very little politically that is provocative... these are not the traits that have made U2 legends. I, personally, long for the days when they would go after George H.W. Bush (ZOO TV), rather than hang out with his son. It's not rock n roll. What do Bono and the boys say? "Stand up to Rock Stars?" Go back to being rock stars... then we'll talk. Make the Claw explode rather than waltz.
Click to expand...

Thanks for speaking on my behalf, oh no wait, you never its your opinon
 
cmaly said:
I, personally, long for the days when they would go after George H.W. Bush (ZOO TV), rather than hang out with his son. It's not rock n roll. What do Bono and the boys say? "Stand up to Rock Stars?" Go back to being rock stars... then we'll talk. Make the Claw explode rather than waltz.
Click to expand...
what a load of crock
if you think phoning some white thouse employee = "go after George H.W. Bush" then you're incredibly easy to please

360 tour has a lot of mid tempo songs because U2 mostly write mid tempo songs
so unless you want them to add a lot of covers mid tempo is what you're going to get

there's always room for improvement
but it won't be found in the past
 
cmaly said:
I, personally, long for the days when they would go after George H.W. Bush (ZOO TV), rather than hang out with his son. It's not rock n roll.
Click to expand...

All that "hanging out" may get a lot more done and actually save lives, but it sure looks fucking cooler when you just talk about it... especially in leather and a cigar.

:rockon:
 
daygloeyes2 said:
My coworker's boyfriend didn't like the album either. I think this thread is valid.
Click to expand...

I asked the cleaning crew in my office building and they confirmed that they didn't know U2 had released a new album.

(Once I explained to them that U2 was the band that had Bono in it, the guy that always wears the sunglasses they were able to confirm that they thought they knew who U2 was.)

So I think that seals the deal regarding the suckiness of the new album.
 
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Mrs. Garrison said:
okay fair enough, Austin is a great town. I had a great time there back in 2001 for the Elevation Tour. Other than that dreaded university, it's nearly a perfect town. :sexywink:
Click to expand...

I'm not a big fan of UT either (even though I'll probably end up going there), so no worries.
 
ramblin rose said:
I asked the cleaning crew in my office building and they confirmed that they didn't know U2 had released a new album.

(Once I explained to them that U2 was the band that had Bono in it, the guy that always wears the sunglasses they were able to confirm that they thought they knew who U2 was.)

So I think that seals the deal regarding the suckiness of the new album.
Click to expand...

Oh man. That must mean U2 sucks then. I think we should all quit posting here then.
 
Mrs. Garrison said:
do they still have Fado's Irish bar there in Austin? We sort of got asked to leave there back then. I dont remember why, maybe that was the problem?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure they do. I know my parents have been there before, but not recently.
 
I think the album is good, but there is no buzz about it - no one really cares. Also, it hasn't been very well received. it's the worst reviewed album of the decade for U2. From metacritic:

1. Music: How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb by U2 (2004) 79
Interscope
2. Music: All That You Can't Leave Behind by U2 (2000) 80
Polygram
3. Music: No Line On The Horizon by U2 (2009) 72
Interscope

The first two records, while they sold well, are unloved these days. They're regarded as U2s worst records. Also from metacritic:

100
Rolling Stone
He is still singing about singing, all over No Line on the Horizon, U2's first album in nearly five years and their best, in its textural exploration and tenacious melodic grip, since 1991's "Achtung Baby."
Read Full Review >

100
Blender
No Line on the Horizon is U2’s third killer in a row--by now, it’s bizarre to remember that just 10 years ago, everybody thought they were headed toward the dinosaur band tar pits.
Read Full Review >

100
Q Magazine
Simply, what this amounts to is the best U2 album since "Achtung Baby. [Apr 2009, p.94]


91
Entertainment Weekly
No Line on the Horizon offers idealism spliced with new attitude and the same old grace, and is all the better for it.
Read Full Review >

88
The Phoenix
These 11 tunes deliver both the thematic and the sonic hugeness we expect from U2; you only have to proceed about 80 seconds into the opening title track before the Edge is spraying his trademark guitar sparks everywhere and Bono is observing that infinity is a great place to start.
Read Full Review >

80
Hot Press
No Line On The Horizon is a mature, tender, reflective record of great musical variety, depth and beauty that could only have been made by four people who’ve experienced just about everything that life can throw at you.
Read Full Review >

80
Mojo
The result is a collage of several kinds of classic U2 album, one that has the beauty of their panoramic '80s Eno/Lanois recordings plus the synthetic experimentation andd dalliances with pop merriment which revolutionized the band's modus operandi from "Achtung Baby" onwards. [Apr 2009, p.96]


80
Observer Music Monthly
It starts out blustery and familiar, before gradually revealing an unexpected and almost lovable sense of vulnerability.
Read Full Review >

80
Billboard
Digesting the blend takes some time, but the best moments offer that immediacy, as on the opening punch of the groovy title track and the chiming "Magnificent."
Read Full Review >

80
musicOMH.com
As far as exploration goes, U2 seem to have finally found what they were looking for.
Read Full Review >

80
Hartford Courant
No Line on the Horizon is a considered and nuanced work with significant depth beneath the dense, sometimes thorny exterior. Getting there, though, requires some work.
Read Full Review >

80
Uncut
It’s U2’s least immediate album--but there’s something about it that suggests it may be one of their most enduring.
Read Full Review >

75
Los Angeles Times
No Line on the Horizon partakes of that romance by trying to expose its inner workings. It's risky to expose those delineations; as the band said long ago, it's like trying to throw your arms around the world. But the effort has its payoffs.
Read Full Review >

75
cokemachineglow
Though I’d hardly go as far to call it their best album, which I guess makes U2 irrelevant by Bono’s logic, its best songs can credibly stand alongside their classics, and how many bands can maintain this level of vitality 30 years into their career? I give.
Read Full Review >

70
Prefix Magazine
By this point, it's within their rights to utilize pieces of their past in building a new present for themselves, as long as they don't half-ass it and start turning out inferior remakes of their old tunes. That's not what's going on here, and if anything, No Line is ultimately a more visceral and memorable effort than either of the band's other two 21st century offerings.
Read Full Review >

70
Boston Globe
By unshackling its adventurous side, the band helps Line soar gracefully, at least in part.
Read Full Review >

70
No Ripcord
All in all, a departure from recent forays into overt commercialism that doesn’t always work but provides a little U2 juice to keep the true believers happy for a little bit longer.
Read Full Review >

70
Spin
With coproducers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois explicitly included in the songwriting, it’s an effort to tinker and rough up and refine anew their music’s essence--with nobly sketchy results.
Read Full Review >

70
New Musical Express
It has the pomp and arrogance of their best work, enough new sounds and interesting new avenues to satisfy the musos and, at its core, is a very good collection of very good songs played very well. A little more silliness would go a long way, though.
Read Full Review >

62
Paste Magazine
On balance, No Line on the Horizon represents what "October" did all those years ago: a decent step forward that nevertheless recalls the past more clearly than it spells out the future.
Read Full Review >

60
Slant Magazine
Such is the album as a whole: a compromise between the experimental and the pedestrian that makes for an excursion almost as tricky as walking a tightrope stretched between two distant towers.
Read Full Review >

60
PopMatters
At the end of the day, No Line on the Horizon is an easy album to dismiss and an even harder disc to love, and some people will be ready to call it a masterpiece just as others are ready to deem it an outright failure.
Read Full Review >

60
The Guardian
A person of a certain disposition might feel the will to live seeping from them at the very thought of a U2 song called Cedars of Lebanon, but it turns out to be one of the album's biggest successes: a beautiful, downbeat coda to a confused and confusing album, one that can't decide whether it's ironic or sincere, experimental or straight-forward, and instead attempts to be all things to all people, with inevitably mixed results.
Read Full Review >

60
All Music Guide
Upon first listen, No Line on the Horizon seems as if it would be a classic grower, an album that makes sense with repeated spins, but that repetition only makes the album more elusive, revealing not that U2 went into the studio with a dense, complicated blueprint, but rather, they had no plan at all.
Read Full Review >

50
Dot Music
For the lovers, this patchy album offering moderate advance on its immediate predecessors will probably suffice. But in truth it's an unmitigated failure to reconcile the sound of their past with a cohesive vision of their future.
Read Full Review >

50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
U2 might try to pass Horizon off as atmospheric, but it’s really just a grab bag of underdeveloped ideas that never seemed to command the band’s full attention.
Read Full Review >

50
Drowned In Sound
Unfortunately, too much of NLOTH sounds staid and uninspired, again maybe due to the changing musical landscape that was going on all around them during the making of the record.
Read Full Review >

42
Pitchfork
The album's ballyhooed experimentation is either terribly misguided or hidden underneath a wash of shameless U2-isms.
Read Full Review >

30
Austin Chronicle
No Line on the Horizon reaches for "The Unforgettable Fire's" post-"War" reinvention but misfires this side of "Pop" without the songs.
Read Full Review >

20
NOW Magazine
The problems that litter No Line fall into two categories: mind-numbing blandness on the part of the band or embarrassing, face-palm-inducing vocal choices by Bono.



The reviews are mixed, to be polite about it. There are some really good ones, but since they rely on bands of U2s stature to go on the cover and have a feature interview, their opinions are suspect. it`s the nature of the media. The last review, in NOW, is also worthless because their music critics are the worst in the world. However, the record is unloved, it has no buzz - compare to when TV on the Radio, Radiohead, Mastodon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wilco (not the new one though), Deerhunter release a record. Those records get talked about, are played in record stores, and so on. The U2 record...not so much. And I don't think anyone is going to gig hungering to hear the new songs, and U2 know this. They get them out of the way, and then settle into a hitsfest.

So this poster has a point. I don't agree that this is POP part two though, because people still talk about Pop and this tour has been forgotten already.
 
Batfink27 said:
There something not right about this tour.I dont think the set list is that good and venues dont seem to be selling out.The reaction to NLOTH isnt very positive generally either.I get the feeling this is heading to a POP kind of failure?
Click to expand...

have you seen a show? I've seen 6 so far and all in the golden circle. Why a failure? I realllyyyyyyyy love the new songs and so does the crowd. Croke Park twice completely crazy. Amsterdam went nuts ....

Probably you ... maybe a fan who wants just to hear the hits? The tour kicks ass : I even adora crazy tonight now ...
 
Oh no, U2 suck and it's all over :sad:

Apparently I have only dreamt about the concerts I went to and the GREAT reception the tour was getting with audience and media everywhere. Nice dream, though.
 
thelaj said:
The reviews for HTDAAB just show how fucked up reviewers are, nothing else. ATYCLB is more arguable.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree it shows how bad some of these reviewers are but it also says that for whatever reason, NLOTH isn't garnering the same response. It's a shame and yes, I agree with you that it's utterly wrong-headed but that's how it is.
 
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