Aygo
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Axver said:
Sunday Bloody Sunday was played forty times on ZooTV - on the third and fourth legs, it rotated with Bad before Bullet. In fact, only one ZooTV show did not open with Zoo Station - the 7 August 1992 public rehearsal in Hershey was opened by Sunday Bloody Sunday.
I want to make it clear that I am not complaining about the setlist being static (you didn't say that but the point swirled around a bit in other posts). Arguments about static sets have been had before and while I do have that quarrel with ZooTV, I don't want to bring it up here. The quarrel I am bringing up is the songs that were chosen and the way U2 structured the order. I don't like the way they only played hits from the past - either material from JT (their biggest hit album) or hits from initially only two other albums. When I go to see any band, I'd like to think that they'll play some more obscure past material from the vault, for a bit of spice. Stuff I wouldn't hear if I flicked on the radio. If I want to hear hits and new material, I'll just listen to the radio and not bother buying a concert ticket.
Necessary? Somehow, I don't think ZooTV was remotely that pivotal. Music history would have continued just fine without ZooTV.
Mirrorball Man and MacPhisto were excellent and employed satire incredibly well. I hated the way Bono acted at the start of the shows too, the whole sleazy rockstar act. I preferred Bono of the eighties where he actually stood for something important. I realise he was acting on ZooTV but I think it was a poor act and pointless. We all know what a stereotypical rockstar is, Bono. I think he proved nothing, while Mirrorball Man and MacPhisto made very serious points.
About the SBS thing in the setlist you're right... I thought about something like that but I was not secure about it... thankx
About the rest of the post... remember that most of the people that attends to the concerts are not hardcore fans like us, so they don't know less known songs. And I repeat, it was a re-breakthrough tour, they had a main theme and something to break with. The setlist choice (AB + hits + AB/hits) is right and fits in the tour concept. I don't like bashing about playing old hits (it's frequent here): we are hardcore, but most people are not, and they go there to hear the old hits...
And yes, ZooTv was necessary... If you didn't get what I meant, read the last paragraphs of dosctowho's post, you'll get there faster...
ZOO TV was needed. Another JT-ish tour wouldn't have driven home the point of AB and I don't think U2 would have "survived" it. R&H, despite being half-live, was almost a JT-Part 2. Had U2 done another JT style album or tour, I doubt U2 would be around today. That major transformation brought U2 into the 90's. It revolutionized U2's image, concerts and touring. No, U2 were not the first to incorporate video into their concerts or make fun, yet significant rock songs, but it's this combination that worked - and more importantly, this contrast from their 80's image that really sold it. U2 still very much so had a message - often it was the same message. But now, U2 were seen smiling. Now they were "fun". And that made their message easier to accept. The weight of the world was gone - U2 proved that one can have fun while still making a difference.
The U2 we see today, IMO, is about the most "real" we are going to get. These are guys that are joking and having fun, but still preaching. But there's no condescension. Furthermore, instead of just preaching, there's action - and that's infinitely more important. Protesting a nuclear plant off the Irish Sea is great, but what does it really do? Talking about apartheid is fantastic, but did it solve anything? Getting rid of debt for African nations is far more powerful than any words in a concert or any protests. And I think it's the current U2 exists because of the transformation they made in ZOO TV.
About the characters, the objective was not turn Bono in an Hollywood actor, but take them to leave a message that would be hard to leave without them. It was very intelligent to include this element in the whole concept.