Chizip said:
Is anybody else a little disturbed that U2 is letting commercial success dictate what songs are played where?
Don't you think it would be better for them to play the songs they think are their best musically no matter where they are? That way they could try to sell their best songs to the crowd even if some of them didn't sell well in that area.
To only play songs where they had commercial success seems like taking the easy way out.
I'll preface this by stating that Pop is my favorite album and Popmart will always be my favorite tour.
That said I don't agree with your statement. They're playing so that the majority of the audience enjoys the show. Unfortunately, some of the songs that were commercially successful in the U.S. might not be my favorites, but I just can't imagine them playing some more obscure song to an audience in the U.S. that will most likely see them once. They want the majority of the audience to enjoy the show.
Looking around at the audience I was sitting around (even a lot of the people I was standing around in GA), these were not hardcore fans these were people who were there to hear the songs they knew and liked and they enjoyed them, that's what made the show special for them. These are the majority of the people at the show, not the minority hardcore fan. I'm not sure what you're saying makes sense and I don't think it has anything to do with taking the easy way out, it's just realistic.
Also, what makes you think that the songs they're playing they don't like? I believe they like the songs they'd played here and like the songs they'll decide to play in Europe, they'll tailor each show to their audience. Unfortunately for us, the Europeans have always had a more open mind when it comes to U2's music. That's not U2's fault.
Then again maybe we're all kidding ourselves and they'll rotate 1 or 2 songs from the U.S. setlist and Europe will get basically what we've been hearing. I think I'll reserve judgement until we hear the setlist from the 1st European show.
How many days left.