Challenge accepted. Surely a whole bunch of third leg Elevation shows are worse, especially those that didn't even crack 20 songs, e.g.
U2 Los Angeles, 2001-11-13, Staples Center, Elevation Tour - U2 on tour
(Though no tour can rival this one for a poor encore.)
It is disappointing how they've moved away from having interesting nights 3+. On Elevation and Vertigo you could be sure that a night 3 or 4 setlist would be interesting and unusual - even on the stadium legs. On 360 they began to move away from that (like when they wussed out of the more interesting stuff they soundchecked at Dublin 3), and ever since there's been very little to make a night 4 - or even a night 8! - stand out from nights 1 and 2.
This!
May I also nominate any number of Leg 1 shows on 360?
Very static, 4 unknown, not so great live NLOTH songs to open losing the crowd, early 80s rockers completely absent. No EBTTRT or Zooropa or October.
I get that this tour has been more static across multiple nights and I, like others, think they can change that.
But does it detract from the overall quality of the show like set list choices have in the past?
Absolutely not!
I saw this tour 5 times and have listened to multiple streams/watched many videos.
Consistently, night in and night out:
-The opening is blowing the roof of the place. Joey Ramone into Electric Co (OOC, Gloria) into Vertigo into I Will Follow is just unbelievable. So much energy. Perfect contrast to 360. Grabs everyone's attention right out of the gate. Exactly what they needed. The biggest complaints I heard about 360 were from the old time avid fans who felt that they were thrown NO bones at all in the set list. Now, they get 2 songs right up front. You've hooked them versus sending them to the beer line.
-The SOI songs and their stories are being revealed in a breathtaking "Innocence" set. The passion for and belief in these songs that the band has is evident. The stories are helped along brilliantly by their relation to 2 of U2's best live songs- SBS and Until The End of The World.
-The screen is being used to introduce one of their best new songs in ages, Invisible and showcase a (relatively) underplayed EBTTRT.
-The E stage is fun every night. Yes, they're playing Elevation and Desire all the time, but look how they're playing them!! Desire sounds like it did in the R&H studio performance, with Larry and Adam actually playing. Who thought we'd get full band Party Girl or 2 Hearts or Crystal Ballroom out there?
-October/Bullet/Zooropa/Streets/Pride/WOWY is spectacular. Tell the needed war/political story and roll through the hits as you do it. The energy builds and builds and builds and the message is beautiful.
-The encore could be better, of course, but come on!
It's there because the 2 main sets are so good, so coherent, so good at telling their story and building energy, that this is the only place for BD and COBL.
Are they as good as say, Bad and Pride? Or New Year's Day and Gloria? No.
Are they great songs that deserve a spot? Absolutely.
Then you have the closing numbers. Still Haven't Found and Bad/40 have been awesome. One has been lacking this tour.
All 4 are some of the best songs ever written.
So we really need to chill the F out as fans.
U2 are performing so passionately and energetically this tour, and they believe in what they're doing.
I'd take that over a little more variation and lackluster performances.... not to mention any tours by name, like Vertigo!
Just look up any performance of Gloria on Vertigo and compare it to the performances this tour.
I'd take that over variety for variety's sake.