U2 to Perform First Concerts at MSG Sphere in Las Vegas

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There were so many respectable ways U2 could have chosen to age gracefully.

Instead, they chose "The Claw", a Joshua Tree retro-tour, Ryan Tedder productions, and now a "fat-Elvis-in-Vegas" residency.

Damn them. Damn all 4 of them to hell.

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I wasn't exactly happy when they announced JT30, especially when we consider the true business decision behind it, but I wouldn't say that it made them look foolish. For many artists, aging gracefully and respectfully includes embracing a nostalgic past. What I thought made U2 different was their insistence on pushing the envelope and risking looking tacky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
 
I wasn't exactly happy when they announced JT30, especially when we consider the true business decision behind it, but I wouldn't say that it made them look foolish. For many artists, aging gracefully and respectfully includes embracing a nostalgic past.


People turned out in droves for that shit. It was handled as tastefully as a thing like that could be.

At least until the limp encore.
 
People turned out in droves for that shit. It was handled as tastefully as a thing like that could be.

At least until the limp encore.

Yeah that encore was rough. Miss Sarajevo took the life out of the stadium and as much as I like Ultraviolet, it did not bring the life back.
 
What was the “true business decision”?

I thought it was common knowledge here that when they decided to rewrite part of SOE after the 2016 election, hence delaying the album, they were "persuaded" by Live Nation to go on tour in the meantime as a result of their longterm contract.
 
I think the idea was largely a way of making good to all parties, but I doubt there’d be any persuading possible if u2 didn’t want to do it.
 
I thought JT30 was outstanding, and exactly what I want from the band, given they seem to prefer to create music that tries to recapture popularity from a generation that doesn't give a shit about them to creating music that is actually true to where they're at and not concerned with relevancy.

And interestingly, JT30 was the first time in years that they actually got some positive press from mainstream outlets.

They didn't tour I+E or E+I here, but I find it hard to believe I'd prefer those shows to the JT30 shows, with both tours regularly containing 7-8 songs each night I have zero interest in seeing performed live.

If you give me the choice between this upcoming tour, if it comes to fruition and they don't just sit on their arses in Vegas, being ABZooTV30 or new songs and the crap from I+E and E+I plus I Will Follow, Out of Control, Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, Pride, Streets, WOWY, Still Haven't Found, Bullet, Desire, One, Vertigo, Elevation, Beautiful Day, City of Blinding Lights, and maybe a couple of cool AB/Zooropa tracks, I'm taking the former nine days a week.
 
I thought JT30 was outstanding, and exactly what I want from the band, given they seem to prefer to create music that tries to recapture popularity from a generation that doesn't give a shit about them to creating music that is actually true to where they're at and not concerned with relevancy.

And interestingly, JT30 was the first time in years that they actually got some positive press from mainstream outlets.

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This right here is the correct take.
 
I do think that SOE had portions of the album that were going in the right direction for a band in their 60s... mature, adult, non pandering. Songs about life and kids and what not. You know, experience. They just chose to promote the three most pandering songs first, because they have become dumb marketers.

I also think the whole "they held the album up because Trump" story was bullshit cover for whatever Bono's health issues were, because there's nothing overtly anti Trump or political on the album outside of American Soul.

People point to Get Out, but Bono has constantly stated that was for his daughters (and jokes that it should be about him for not being able to get out of his own way).

Blackout? I'll fight anyone who thinks that's actually about democracy and not about the band (specifically post apple debacle... dinosaur wonders why it still walks the earth? come on.)
 
Even more than I&E, the best seats to take in the production will not be right up front, so I could potentially see a limited GA situation.

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Vegas bring Vegas, however, they may be charging a premium for the privilege of proximity.

It looks impressive! But I'm wondering if anyone will look at the band with such a screen?
I think they might as well record a concert in advance. ..
 
Garth Brooks - interference member

What are your thoughts about the use of dynamic pricing on tickets? [Dynamic pricing, where the price of tickets for a show fluctuates depending on the demand for tickets, is being used by Ticketmaster ostensibly to prevent scalping, but has basically just made itself the scalper.]

That’s a tough one. [Bruce] Springsteen is going through it right now. We’re all watching it. Here’s the bottom line for me, and I know this is silly, but I have screamed and screamed as long as you’ve known me: just knock out scalping. That’s it. Just make it illegal. That way, the price of the ticket is the price of the ticket. The same money is going to be exchanged when scalping tickets, it’s just now who gets the money, that’s the difference. The thing I hate about it, the hardest it’s on is the fan, the one who allows you to live your dream.

But if you go play Vegas, you do a residency, you’re going to do dynamic pricing. It’s going to be tough, so residencies are hard, but they always are because of the limited amount of seating anyway.
 
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There were so many respectable ways U2 could have chosen to age gracefully.

Instead, they chose "The Claw", a Joshua Tree retro-tour, Ryan Tedder productions, and now a "fat-Elvis-in-Vegas" residency.

Damn them. Damn all 4 of them to hell.

This is a pretty simplistic take that doesn't give context. I'll agree with the Tedder part. But a band with at least somewhat legendary rock status doing an anniversary tour of their best known/selling album seems in line with aging gracefully. They are a band that has pushed limits and changed sounds drastically over the years. Celebrating a slice of that with a landmark album tour that people flocked to doesn't change that.

The "claw" was them again pushing the boundaries of live music in a stadium setting. They were in their mid 40's during this tour, promoting an album of new music, not exactly a dinosaur act playing hits from 60's and 70's like a whole host of artists that went into dino mode decades ago.

The Vegas thing is 1. Not a typical residency. They are not playing there for six months or a year exclusively. 2. Looks to be occasional stop-ins mixed with traditional tour dates, again promoting an album of new material. 3. Them being chosen, or given the honor, to be the first band to play this venue, and possibly UK, shows that part of their legacy is their groundbreaking live productions over the last 30+ years.

Them not aging gracefully is Ryan Tedder, American Soul, The Miracle (somewhat), etc...

If they actually put out a respectable new album that shows maturity throughout the entire album, fuck any hit seeking bullshit, they may glide into a path of winding down their career with dignity in tact. U2 hate has been on overdrive for quite a while, Sometimes there's a backlash to the backlash and if the new material is worth a damn, there's a chance the critics may change their tune on the band. But it all depends on them.
 
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I thought it was common knowledge here that when they decided to rewrite part of SOE after the 2016 election, hence delaying the album, they were "persuaded" by Live Nation to go on tour in the meantime as a result of their longterm contract.



Oh. Yes. That’s common knowledge.

You had framed it earlier as something nefarious with all the “ “, so I thought I missed something.
 
Wait, people hated the claw? It was just a stage.



Nah, if anything it was made a big to-do. From news articles to tour shirts. I might’ve preferred it in the actual center of the stadium, but that’s another story. [Even Garth’s super scaled down version is sitting at the back of the building. It’s just easier to concentrate on 85% of the audience at once.]
 
360 was great. I felt they actually underused the claw. It really only came to life in the City of Blinding Lights / Crazy Tonight part of the show. Sadly, we got the shittest sets of the tour, the middle, when they'd ditched No Line, weren't yet doing AB/Zooropa/Passengers but were playing crap unreleased songs. North Star is the lowest point in any U2 show I've seen.

I do think that SOE had portions of the album that were going in the right direction for a band in their 60s... mature, adult, non pandering. Songs about life and kids and what not. You know, experience. They just chose to promote the three most pandering songs first, because they have become dumb marketers.

You're right, but it's just so frustrating that they make those pandering songs at all. It effectively renders the deeper cuts immediately irrelevant because you just know they're going to get like three live plays at most and then forgotten about. I mean before Experience came out Little Things was pretty big, at least amongst U2 fans, but the second Experience came out it was relegated to an afterthought, because all the focus was on those three fucking horrendous songs which they played live at every show. A track like Landlady, I think is quite solid, perhaps the best on the album, but it's irrelevant the second the album is released because all their focus is on the truly atrocious singles. It'd be different in a previous era, where they are more comfortable promoting songs beyond the obvious singles, but they don't do that anymore.

I'd be so open to their new show featuring like Landlady, Little Things, Love is Bigger, The Troubles, Red Flag Day, Sleep Like a Baby, but Love is Bigger is the only one they'll play and instead we're pretty much guaranteed to have to sit through 20+ minutes of shit like Song Saved My Life, Ordinary Love, Get Out, Best Thing, etc.
 
360 was great. I felt they actually underused the claw. It really only came to life in the City of Blinding Lights / Crazy Tonight part of the show. Sadly, we got the shittest sets of the tour, the middle, when they'd ditched No Line, weren't yet doing AB/Zooropa/Passengers but were playing crap unreleased songs. North Star is the lowest point in any U2 show I've seen.



You're right, but it's just so frustrating that they make those pandering songs at all. It effectively renders the deeper cuts immediately irrelevant because you just know they're going to get like three live plays at most and then forgotten about. I mean before Experience came out Little Things was pretty big, at least amongst U2 fans, but the second Experience came out it was relegated to an afterthought, because all the focus was on those three fucking horrendous songs which they played live at every show. A track like Landlady, I think is quite solid, perhaps the best on the album, but it's irrelevant the second the album is released because all their focus is on the truly atrocious singles. It'd be different in a previous era, where they are more comfortable promoting songs beyond the obvious singles, but they don't do that anymore.

I'd be so open to their new show featuring like Landlady, Little Things, Love is Bigger, The Troubles, Red Flag Day, Sleep Like a Baby, but Love is Bigger is the only one they'll play and instead we're pretty much guaranteed to have to sit through 20+ minutes of shit like Song Saved My Life, Ordinary Love, Get Out, Best Thing, etc.

Bless you sir. Yes Landlady is a standout on SOE. I think Love is All, Little Things, 13, Red Flag, Summer of Love. The Troubles and Sleep are my two favorite songs from SOI. I would also add Volcano and RBW.

You are so right about SOE. It has about the same problem that No Line had. Great songs kneecapped by about 3 shitty songs that they highlight. ATYCLB has a few shitty songs too, but they weren't showcased, and they fit the feel of the rest of the album so it wasn't as detrimental to the album as they were to SOE and No Line.
 
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I’m quite a fan of SOE - I like it more than most albums since Pop, but those three songs are just painful.

I think if that album had been as it is with no GOOYOW or AS, and Best Thing was just a fun album ditty that was never thought of as a single like The Showman, we’d be talking about it being amazing how well they did this late in their careers. I think as a song it’s inoffensive, but the fact it is the lynchpin of the promotion is beyond a joke. The track list I use makes me angry at the missed opportunity:

Love is all we have left
Lights of Home (strings)
Best Thing
Landlady
The Blackout
Summer of Love
Red Flag Day
Book of Your Heart
Love is Bigger
Ordinary Love
Little Things
13

Like most albums, not everyone will love every song, but it has a flow, a story and the stinkers are gone.
 
I’m quite a fan of SOE - I like it more than most albums since Pop, but those three songs are just painful.

I think if that album had been as it is with no GOOYOW or AS, and Best Thing was just a fun album ditty that was never thought of as a single like The Showman, we’d be talking about it being amazing how well they did this late in their careers. I think as a song it’s inoffensive, but the fact it is the lynchpin of the promotion is beyond a joke. The track list I use makes me angry at the missed opportunity:

Love is all we have left
Lights of Home (strings)
Best Thing
Landlady
The Blackout
Summer of Love
Red Flag Day
Book of Your Heart
Love is Bigger
Ordinary Love
Little Things
13

Like most albums, not everyone will love every song, but it has a flow, a story and the stinkers are gone.

This is really close to mine. I actually think Best Thing is quite good, and a decent single choice. I don't include Ordinary Love, It's ok, but just not my thing.

One thing that I really do like about the album is sort of this dark atmosphere that surrounds it. It's this mix of sort of inspirational uplifting messages to the family he is leaving behind, along with this sorrow, loss and acceptance of growing older and mortality.

I didn't realize it so much until I tried to make a mix of ATYCLB songs and SOE songs. When I hear the contrast of tone from song to song, you really hear this sort of "dark" tone that surrounds the SOE songs, which I like.
 
360 was great. I felt they actually underused the claw. It really only came to life in the City of Blinding Lights / Crazy Tonight part of the show. Sadly, we got the shittest sets of the tour, the middle, when they'd ditched No Line, weren't yet doing AB/Zooropa/Passengers but were playing crap unreleased songs. North Star is the lowest point in any U2 show I've seen.

I thought the same thing. They had this massive stage with so much possibility but only really used it at its full potential for a few songs.

I only saw the 1st Leg Chicago on that tour and I came away pretty underwhelmed actually, but in fairness, the setlist for the 2011 leg with all the ZooTV stuff would have probably gotten a much different reaction from me.
 
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