gman
New Yorker
Anyone know why on the lovetown tour australia got 23 dates? Seems a lot for a country of the population. Also, am curious as to why it was only select countries they played?
Lovetown Dates
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Well, the Joshua Tree Tour was originally meant to start in New Zealand and Australia (in Greg Carroll's memory), but recording the album ran overtime and the tour began in Arizona instead. Then, of course, the band got caught up in Rattle And Hum, so the Aussie/Kiwi leg didn't happen until 1989. Then they added a few other countries to make it a more fully fledged tour and celebrate the end of the eighties.
The reason for the amount of gigs is simple: in Australia, the band played small venues. In every single city they played on Vertigo in Australia, they played to more people than they did on Lovetown. For example, although Sydney got eight Lovetown gigs, I understand the Entertainment Centre's capacity is 20,000. In those eight nights, U2 played to roughly the same amount they played to in just two nights at Telstra Stadium on Vertigo (and as we know, they did three Sydney gigs on Vertigo).
And in New Zealand, attendance was ridiculously high. 1 in 10 Cantabrians saw the Lovetown Christchurch gig.
The reason for the amount of gigs is simple: in Australia, the band played small venues. In every single city they played on Vertigo in Australia, they played to more people than they did on Lovetown. For example, although Sydney got eight Lovetown gigs, I understand the Entertainment Centre's capacity is 20,000. In those eight nights, U2 played to roughly the same amount they played to in just two nights at Telstra Stadium on Vertigo (and as we know, they did three Sydney gigs on Vertigo).
And in New Zealand, attendance was ridiculously high. 1 in 10 Cantabrians saw the Lovetown Christchurch gig.
coolian2
Blue Crack Supplier
JT didn't go to Australia/NZ etc.
It was a less good make up for that.
I'm in for it now......
It was a less good make up for that.
I'm in for it now......
coolian2 said:
OK, time to burn you at the stake.
I fail to see how a tour with better songs, better performances, better vocals, and more setlist variation could possibly be worse.
In any case, Lovetown One Tree Hill > JT Tour One Tree Hill, and I think that's all that matters in the end.
Vincent Vega
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Lovetown Tour 
God Part II, Hawkmoon 269, Desire, Angel Of Harlem, When Love Comes To Town
One Tree Hill, 1989-12-26 Dublin
All I Want Is You/Bad, 1989-10-20
God Part II, Hawkmoon 269, Desire, Angel Of Harlem, When Love Comes To Town
One Tree Hill, 1989-12-26 Dublin
All I Want Is You/Bad, 1989-10-20
coolian2
Blue Crack Supplier
Axver said:
In God's Country vs Love Rescue Me
Exit vs When Love Comes To Town
Its really late so those are the only two i can remember offhand.
Better performances: Ehhhhhhhh, i have three Lovetown gigs - Boxing Day, the Dream it all up again show and New Year's Eve. They're good, really good, but personally i find that the random JT shows i have stack up better.
I'm not getting involved in vocals - i can tell the difference between the 80s, Zoo TV, Popmart, Elevation and the 5th Vertigo leg.
The setlist variation i find to be a bit of a myth. The show was compartmentalised and the theme sections ie RTSS, Bullet, Pride or however the order went could interchange with God Part II, Desire, All Along The Watchtower.
I wouldn't call it worse, just...less good.
Point taken with the One Tree Hill versions - personally i'm currently hooked on the Saitama I version. Vertigo vocals + One Tree Hill =
coolian2 said:
Better comparisons:
Help vs Love Rescue Me (I'll take an original song over a cover any day)
Trip Through Your Wires vs When Love Comes To Town
In any case, In God's Country was played a few times on Lovetown and Exit once.
Performances and vocals points are, I suppose, subjective.
Myth? I can statistically debunk that!
1. Lovetown had the most original U2 songs of any eighties tour - and not just because it came last, but because they had to be thrown into rotation. If I remember correctly, the total amount of original songs played over the length of the tour was almost double the amount of songs played each night. Incidentally, the JT Tour actually had more songs overall, but it gets there by virtue of a shitload of covers.
2. Lovetown had the most unique opening songs of any tour. No others even come close.
3. The variation between nights in each city was quite substantial. Look, for example, at Perth. Each night of the three had a unique opener and closer and a good variety of songs.
4. It is the last tour where Streets was not played at every gig (18 November 1989, Sydney got Gloria in the position where you would have expected Streets).
And I think the segments that could be shuffled at will was an absolute stroke of genius. The band could come up with all kinds of unique structures and keep things fresh, and to link the segments, other songs could be randomly thrown in.
Now, it's not exactly setlist variation on the level of, say, Phish or even Dream Theater, but by U2 standards (especially by the ZooTV/Popmart standards!), the nightly variation was astronomical. When writing articles about setlist stats, I often find myself saying "this hasn't happened since Lovetown" or "Tour A did this well, but comes second overall to Lovetown".
Blue Room
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Axver said:
I have never heard Joshua Tree was suppose to start in Australia? Is that in U2 by U2 or something? Recording for JT did run overtime but from what I had read previously the tour was always suppose to begin in Spring 87 in the U.S. Interesting.
Now JT was suppose to hit Australia in January/February of 1988 with the tour concluding in Buenos Aires Argentina in late February. That is where they were going to do the color footage for Rattle And Hum (Buenos Aires). But they opted to end the tour in Dec. 87 obviously and shot the Tempe shows instead so they could focus on recording the new material for Rattle And Hum in 88.
I have said this before, I like the Lovetown bootlegs. One of my favorite tours. But I think it does gets blown out into mythical levels of how great it was for a couple of reasons.
1. It was a short tour, unusual for U2.
2. Not many people got to see it. So it gets romanticised alot as a result.
I think it was a good tour, dont get me wrong. But was it really that much better or even better than alot of their other tours? Its really impossible to say unless you attended a show. That is the only way you truly get a gauge on what it was like and how great it was to me.
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pepokiss
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
It was a great tour, but some people... 
... over-rate it too much, I think...
it was kinda the "cult U2 tour"... and in it's obscurity and "romanticism", it's misleading
... over-rate it too much, I think...it was kinda the "cult U2 tour"... and in it's obscurity and "romanticism", it's misleading
blueeyedgirl
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
gman said:
Because we rule
And I still rank the 2 Lovetown shows I saw as the best U2 shows I've seen of them (since 1984
) including the magical Melbourne II last year. Lovetown Bono was something else
pepokiss
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
did he had wings or something?
Blue Room said:
Shit, I had a source on that one, but I can't find it now, sorry. Keeping in mind how close it was to Greg Carroll's death and funeral, it strikes me as plausible that the band would want to start in New Zealand and Australia.
Blue Room
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Axver said:
Hmm, not sure about that one then. Plausible but unlikely IMO. Joshua Tree was suppose to be completed by November 1986. I cant see them planning to hit the road 2 months later. I know in the book "Touch The Flame" they discuss not having a enough rehearsal time and that the U.S. dates were already planned. I have never seen that Joshua Tree was planned to start in Australia or New Zealand. Just that the planned 4th leg was cancelled that was suppose to go there.
Could be true I guess, but this is the first I have ever heard that mentioned ever. If you find your source let me know as I'm curious about it now.
Lovetown tour was one of the best things U2 did
I mean just look at Desire , One Tree Hill , Watchtower , the way they were playing it , the way Edge was playing , just the way Edge was playing makes this tour big for me , with all those solos with hammers and bendings
Everytime I hear a lovetown song , I feel the band's really on fire
It's a tour I could definitely kill for a dvd
I mean just look at Desire , One Tree Hill , Watchtower , the way they were playing it , the way Edge was playing , just the way Edge was playing makes this tour big for me , with all those solos with hammers and bendings
Everytime I hear a lovetown song , I feel the band's really on fire
It's a tour I could definitely kill for a dvd
ZOOTVTOURist
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...though I do actually love a lot of the LoveTown versions, I really do think, the tour is much, much over-hyped now – especially here in this forum.
1989/90 is a kind of mythical thing now: especially with the idea and possibility to see U2 in "smaller" arenas, to let them play not one night, two nights, but even up to eight times in a row in the same town, in the same venue.
This is now (apart from the U2 capitals New York, Chicago, Boston with the max. of 5 shows in a row) something, we can only dream about. But as U2 themselves often have said, they didn't like the idea at all. It was too much, maybe for them as performers even too boring – so they played one gig in Osaka as a near complete setlist turnaround.
This having said, I still think LoveTown is muically one of their best tours ever, but also to be honest: It was also statistically extraordinary (smile @Axver), but you can't compare it really with the '87 tour. Then there was a real, full album to tour – two years later "Trip Through Your Wires", "Mothers Of The Disapperared" and the brilliant "Spanish Eyes" didn't make it any more at all, and that U2 have played "In God's Country" a few times and "Exit" once is nothing but an exception. You "only" got the A-side of the album (as it was in '92 AND in '05) plus "One Tree Hill" of course.
And: If you were interested in early stuff – remember it was at least still an 80ies tour – you were not very lucky, too. From the first album you got "I Will Follow" and a less than a handful outings of "Out Of Control" plus the rare 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (again not many people could dance along with it in concert!). From the second album there was more regular "Gloria" plus much less regular outings of "October". And with "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "New Year's Day" and '40' you only got, what could be called the minimum from WAR. That there is one outing for "Two Hearts..." is nice, but who was there? Also the fourth album was cut down on the obvious ones, "Bad" was played shorter than ever, though with the sets often including the beautiful U2-single "The Unforgettable Fire" still.
Instead of rare earlier songs – they were absent then, on the contrary to '05/'06 – there is a core of the new tunes plus a few outings for "She's A Mystery To Me" or "Slow Dancing". And there is a core of classics played nearly every night.
Plus: The shows were short, often very short – also because of Bono having a hard vocal time in some places. Don't forget this, when you praise this musically fine, but in a lot of ways also very restricted tour phase.
1989/90 is a kind of mythical thing now: especially with the idea and possibility to see U2 in "smaller" arenas, to let them play not one night, two nights, but even up to eight times in a row in the same town, in the same venue.
This is now (apart from the U2 capitals New York, Chicago, Boston with the max. of 5 shows in a row) something, we can only dream about. But as U2 themselves often have said, they didn't like the idea at all. It was too much, maybe for them as performers even too boring – so they played one gig in Osaka as a near complete setlist turnaround.
This having said, I still think LoveTown is muically one of their best tours ever, but also to be honest: It was also statistically extraordinary (smile @Axver), but you can't compare it really with the '87 tour. Then there was a real, full album to tour – two years later "Trip Through Your Wires", "Mothers Of The Disapperared" and the brilliant "Spanish Eyes" didn't make it any more at all, and that U2 have played "In God's Country" a few times and "Exit" once is nothing but an exception. You "only" got the A-side of the album (as it was in '92 AND in '05) plus "One Tree Hill" of course.
And: If you were interested in early stuff – remember it was at least still an 80ies tour – you were not very lucky, too. From the first album you got "I Will Follow" and a less than a handful outings of "Out Of Control" plus the rare 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (again not many people could dance along with it in concert!). From the second album there was more regular "Gloria" plus much less regular outings of "October". And with "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "New Year's Day" and '40' you only got, what could be called the minimum from WAR. That there is one outing for "Two Hearts..." is nice, but who was there? Also the fourth album was cut down on the obvious ones, "Bad" was played shorter than ever, though with the sets often including the beautiful U2-single "The Unforgettable Fire" still.
Instead of rare earlier songs – they were absent then, on the contrary to '05/'06 – there is a core of the new tunes plus a few outings for "She's A Mystery To Me" or "Slow Dancing". And there is a core of classics played nearly every night.
Plus: The shows were short, often very short – also because of Bono having a hard vocal time in some places. Don't forget this, when you praise this musically fine, but in a lot of ways also very restricted tour phase.
