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I think what was meant was there is to big of a gap between the intro and Beautiful Day. They need to start it right away when the Stingray intro stops. Still wouldn't be great, but would not be as awkward as it seems to most the way it stands now. I think the other problem is that B. Day does not have a hit you between the eyes intro. I think that is what is needed at that point.

But he was at a show and he said it worked? so how can we question that?
 
But he was at a show and he said it worked? so how can we question that?

Because thats my opinion and I have seen many others say the same thing including those that attended other shows. Bono even looked awkward at the Turin show when that gap happened, almost like it was not suppose to happen. Again, its not that its awful or a person is wrong for liking it. I'm saying it could be so much better and its not.

Seriously, I bet if you took a poll of fans and said. Which would you rather U2 open with HMTMKMKM or Beautiful Day. Which do you think would win in a landslide?

I have not seen one person say that Beautiful Day is a fantastic opening song, one of their best ever.

I did witness the mediocre opening of Breathe in person, and it just did not work very well just as I thought seeing and hearing the video and bootlegs prior to seeing it in person. Does that make my opinion greater?? I don't see the current incarnation as any better.
 
I have a better idea. Open with Magnificent every night. And include the extended intro from the album track.
 
This is exactly what I thought when I read Willie's diary. They have had a great opener for just about every single tour and they can't seem to nail it for this tour. Breathe was a mediocre opening, Stingray into B Day, is less than mediocre. I think overall that is the most glaring problem with this tour, the opening is weak and it should be one of their best ever with the staging.

One could argue as well that MOS isn't a great closer either. The open and close has issues.
 
I remember hearing people complaining on here that U2 wasnt opening with a song from their new album. I dont see how being from the "new" album is a pre-requisite for opening. I think they should open with something from Achtung for all I care- it doesnt matter what album its from as long as its a good opener song. Simply picking from the new album (as U2 has made a habit of doing) doesnt necessarily make the best opening, as we see that NLOTH isnt really chocked full of good openers. It is a softer more ambient album than something like HTDAAB which had more "rockers"

How is this for an opening:

HMTMKMKM
Magnificent
Return of the stingray guitar
Beautiful Day
Mysterious Ways
 
It belongs in the main set, not in the encore and not opening.

edit: I guess it's better than opening with MOS. :no:
 
I couldn't agree more with what a few people have said about this tour having the weakest opening and closing of any tour the band has every done. Its hard to put your finger on why. If they were to continue from how they opened the Vertigo tour with Vertigo(Rock Song) then COLB(Soft Rock) then GOYB > Magnificent would of worked imo.

Breathe on the album sounds like the perfect opener with the drums building up then the guitar, but it just didn't seem to work Live. Magnificent wouldn't work as the opener neither, the song kind of drags on at a steady pace throughout. GOYB should of been the opener, im sure the band knew it should of been, but they took a gamble with Breathe. I actually don't mind them opening with Beautiful Day, its just the transition for the intro, it just doesn't work. How come it takes us fans 1 show to realise that Breathe doesn't work as the opener along with the intro to Beautiful Day, yet it takes the band a full leg.
 
I discover the Elbow record a few months ago and it's an excellent piece of art. And yes, One Day Like This is maybe my favourite song from it. So I was happily surprised when I heard is on the pre-show mix.
BTW, it's interesting to note that, though the tried 3 different intros, they eventually went with a 4th: Space Oddity --> Stingray --> Beautiful Day

I have no problem with Beautiful Day, BTW. It's instantly recognisable and quite uplifting. It gets the crowd going.
 
Because thats my opinion and I have seen many others say the same thing including those that attended other shows. Bono even looked awkward at the Turin show when that gap happened, almost like it was not suppose to happen.

I agree that Bono looked a bit awkward at the Turin show, but in Hannover it was no such thing. Maybe the time between Stingray and Beautiful Day was shorter, but Bono certainly had a better idea of what to do. Hence, the audience reacting to that and thus having a better transition from Stingray to Beautiful Day.
 
Well that is a hypothetical I don't need to worry about because as you well know, that is not the situation. Therefore, there is no need to adopt that superior tone with me, thank you. As far as I am concerned, they come out playing an incomplete instrumental song, the structure of which still sounds embryonic. They then go pretty quickly into Beautiful Day. In my view, that means they open with Beautiful Day and I would imagine that those in the stadium would say the same. Had they come on playing Glastonbury, I would of course, think differently.

Yeah, Stingray is more an extended intro than an opening song. And I'd love to see it blend into Glasto for an opener.

Opening with MOS would KILL any sort of rock mood. I pray that never ever happens. Opening with BD is almost as bad. I would've liked to see them open with NLOTH or Magnificent, personally.

I like:

1) Soon (Band playing and singing)
2) Glastonbury
3) Return of the Stringray Guitar

and then
4) No Line On The Horizon

Just dreaming out loud

Not a bad dream, E_O. Not bad at all. I like the idea of Soon, Stingray, Glasto, then NLOTH. :up:
 
Like I suggested earlier, it should be Stingray, Bono shouting "What Time Is It In The World?!", and then straight into 11'O Clock Tick Tock, followed by Boots, Magnificent, BD, etc. No useless pause after Stingray either. I realize the pre-War stuff doesn't fit into the atmosphere and theme of this tour, but if they could make just one exception, then I'd want that (in proper tempo of course, not the slow-mo version from Elevation).
 
Yeah I agree, they just can't seem to nail the opening this time around, which is quite sad since they have so many brilliant options....but honestly, they were on the right track last year with Soon.

Space Oddity with the fog was perfect...the problem is the gap between Space Oddity, Soon, and Breathe...if they eliminated those gaps, then it would be pretty good. Now if they eliminated those awkward silences and replaced Breathe with Fez/Being Born, we would have possibly the greatest opening in U2's history.

And opening with MOS...that would be horrendous.
 
Space Oddity > Stingray > Batman > NLOTH. Now THAT'S how you open a concert.
EDIT: Also, MOS HAS to be the closer. Put it anywhere else in the setlist (except as the second-to-last song; preceding Bad, of course) and you're shooting yourself in the foot.
 
"Hold me..." could be pretty cool as an opener, especially what with the "what time is it in the world, showtime" - that's lovely... trouble is, it would set an intense heavy vibe from the outset (which could be a good thing) and would need some very good strong tunes to carry on from it afterwards... would be a shame if the intensity of such a rock n roll beginning were to dissipate into fluff... hmmmm maybe on second thoughts it's better towards the end...

They have more then enough songs to keep the intensity going. Follow it with The Fly and then Elevation. Then slow the tempo then come back strong with UTEOTW, NYD, Vertigo and such. It's not that hard really. Opening with HMTMKMKM would be incredible and would be such a statement. It's like they know what would be awesome but keep it safe for the people in the stands who don't really care one way or another but are just there to see a good show from U2.
 
i think it'd work great as either. i've got myself addicted to listening to soon -> hold me etc from popmart.

I could see it working out like that. Breathe was sort of a rocker in that vein anyway, though maybe not as brash. It did work out well in the Popmart set as part of the encore though, so maybe their right in keeping it there this time around.
 
I'm not sure if Hold me... would work that well as an opener. It's a bit like Breathe: a big riff at first but then it's a bit too slow. Much better in the encore I think.
 
Beggars belief that with all the creativity and brains they can't get this right. Opening with BD is a bit desperate IMO, still I haven't been to a 3rd leg show yet (Paris is my first) so my opinion may change... Listening to the bootlegs it just doesn't have any of the EPIC appeal of a U2 opener though... It's almost a fallback, "can't get one of the new songs to work, let's just open with BD, they all know that one...".
 
That is a bit too risky. I love MOS, but that

But reading Willie's diaries.....these guys think way too much and second guess with the wrong decisions. Its like they have too much to play with, via claw. I don't understand how U2/Willie nailed ZooTV, Popmart, Elevation, and Vertigo setlist w/ each of tour having a epic/unique opening then they just drop the ball for the 360 Tour.


I enjoy the new Stingray opening but the silence to BD just kills the mood.

You have summed up the way I feel about this Band going back to the ATYCLB-era. It seems EVERY move they make they just have to over-think, over-produce everything with very under-whelming results. I'm not sure who makes the final "big decisions" but for example lead single from NLOTH with Boots may have been the absolute dumbest move of all time from them. With that said reading Willie's diary and someone on the scene (maybe himself) comes out and says wow how about we try HMTM... as opener but no let's open with Stingray --> BD, :huh:. I just don't get it.
 
That is a bit too risky. I love MOS, but that wouldn't go over too well. Breathe all over again.


1. Stingray
2. NLOTH

1. Stingray
2. SUC ( I just think this song would get people going)

But reading Willie's diaries.....these guys think way too much and second guess with the wrong decisions. Its like they have too much to play with, via claw. I don't understand how U2/Willie nailed ZooTV, Popmart, Elevation, and Vertigo setlist w/ each of tour having a epic/unique opening then they just drop the ball for the 360 Tour.


I enjoy the new Stingray opening but the silence to BD just kills the mood.
Yep i get that feeling. They always had a great opening but this time it seems lacking.

Although i believed the space oddity/soon/breathe opening was a very very strong one. The new one just doesn't cut it, it doesn't flow. It's two seperate songs.
 
I agree that Bono looked a bit awkward at the Turin show, but in Hannover it was no such thing. Maybe the time between Stingray and Beautiful Day was shorter, but Bono certainly had a better idea of what to do. Hence, the audience reacting to that and thus having a better transition from Stingray to Beautiful Day.

Fair enough, I know you have seen many tours. Do you think the Stingray/Beautiful Day opening is one of the best opening sequences U2 has done? Do you think there are other songs that would easily work better?

Its sort of how I felt about Breathe. It worked OK. Not fantastic, not awful. It needed to be replaced with something that worked better and I guess my feeling is they made it even worse with the current incarnation and they should try to fix it by trying something else. Clearly they were thinking several different options (although Moment of Surrender is a very odd option).

I think back to prior tours and I don't remember much, if any, discussion about how the opening song or sequence U2 was using was poor (I remember the Vertigo x2 complaints :lol: ). There seems to be a significant percentage of fans this time out that are conveying that. I think that shows that there is something not great or at a minimum very average about the openers for this tour.
 
Has to be NLOTH, SUC, HMTMKMKM, EBTTRT, Zoo Station, The Fly or WTSHNN.
nothing else apart from Elevation, Vertigo or COBL is worth of opening a u2 show. the 3 latter songs i mentioned have been used too recently so they are out for now really.

If they were gonig to open with something 'safe' why not IWF or UTEOTW that will get poeple going, Beautiful day just does'nt do that.

Classics like BD, NYD, Pride, wowy, ISHFWILF and even One are only there to please the general public that know nothing of U2 aside from hearing these on the radio 6 million times but should never be used as openers. WTSHNN is the exception here.
 
They should go back to rotating openers like on the Vertigo tour....

"hey what do you think they're going to open with tonight?"
 
Well, it's not much of a rotation when it was only two songs, and then they eventually stuck with one of them as the opener.
 
Well, it's not much of a rotation when it was only two songs, and then they eventually stuck with one of them as the opener.

The funny thing about that is that it wasn't the band that even made that decision. They asked Joe O'Herlihy which he liked better and he told them to go with City. I think it opened every single Vertigo show after that. Which is ok, because it was a good opening song. Unlike this tour. :|

I think someone like Willie or Joe need to use their influence and get the opener changed to something decent. Reading Willie's diary it doesn't seem like Beautiful Day was his primary pick. I could be wrong though.
 
I caught one show where Love and Peace opened; I much, much, MUCH preferred City of Blinding Lights. It was a visually and musically great way to start the show.
 
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