New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album

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I dunno. Call me a bit cynical, but I don't quite trust their idea of when we should get excited at "what comes next".

Remember that time - December 2019 - when they drummed up the hype for a big upcoming announcement, live from the stage? And it turned out to be some radio station that most of the world can't even access? U2 announce U2X Radio live on stage in Tokyo | Hotpress
 
We’ve had edge say recently we’d hear something sooner than later, talk of SOA done but wanting to put something else out first. It’s been mainly Adam lowering expectations, I just can’t believe they don’t have a lot of things to sift through from the last 8 years and if they are truely energised having Larry back in the studio they should get things recorded pretty quickly.
 
It does seem like new music is coming, though.

I want leaks and working song titles and vague but compelling descriptions.

On the Pop vibe, but my favorite working title ever was Super City Mania.

Yes, I’m old.
I love Super City Mania. The “lore” behind the lead up to Pop is so exciting to me. The initial ideas always seemed to me to be reimagining ZooTVs grimy, gritty minimal scaffolding architecture with grand, imposing neon structures. Like a thriving Kowloon Walled City, or a utopian Neo-Tokyo from Akira.
 
Probably going to be like the sphere concerts being released on Apple Vision Pro (which would be awesome). Probably no tho because they haven't let Surrender come out yet.

It'll be something stupid, trust me.
 
I love Super City Mania. The “lore” behind the lead up to Pop is so exciting to me. The initial ideas always seemed to me to be reimagining ZooTVs grimy, gritty minimal scaffolding architecture with grand, imposing neon structures. Like a thriving Kowloon Walled City, or a utopian Neo-Tokyo from Akira.

It's probably a dream, but a book about the 1994-1997 period, along the lines of Flanagan's U2 at the End of the World, would be amazing.
 
I feel pretty cynical, I get the impression that (largely due to the Larry sessions only starting up in the last few months) that we’re quite a long way off from new music, i.e. autumn ‘25 at the very earliest.

I think “what comes next” is much more likely to refer to a Sphere show film/stream, or something to do with the upcoming Stories of Surrender documentary.

Having said that, even if I find it unlikely, I would genuinely love it if they started uploading ‘behind the scenes’ clips onto u2.com (or social media, because it’s 2025), of the band in the studio writing, recording and creating the new album. It was so fun when they did that for NLOTH, or even that one random clip they did for SoE (which turned out to be Blackout). I’d love to see it again.
 
It's probably a dream, but a book about the 1994-1997 period, along the lines of Flanagan's U2 at the End of the World, would be amazing.
I received the "40-foot Lemon" book by Geoff Harkness for Christmas that's supposed to be an accounting of everything around the POP album and POPmart tour, but I haven't dug in yet. Maybe someone here has read it. It clearly won't be at the level of Flanagan's book, but I'm excited to see how in-depth it gets being my favorite era of the band and not having anything like it up to this point. I'll try to remember to report back when I read it later this year.

Currently reading Eno's 1995 diary. That'll hopefully give me some insight to the Passengers album before I move on to the aforementioned book.
 
Probably going to be like the sphere concerts being released on Apple Vision Pro (which would be awesome). Probably no tho because they haven't let Surrender come out yet.

It'll be something stupid, trust me.
Dolan & Co are still trying to sell tix to the Sphere concert movie, don’t believe he’d let it get cannibalized quite yet. I do think Sphere teaming with Phish, etc to sell VR concert experiences is a natural fit for artists/concerts that don’t become an in-venue (re-)monetization option. I’ve viewed some 360 videos captured at Sphere on a Quest headset and even the relatively lo-fi audience shot experience in the YouTube app was very cool.
 
I feel pretty cynical, I get the impression that (largely due to the Larry sessions only starting up in the last few months) that we’re quite a long way off from new music, i.e. autumn ‘25 at the very earliest.

I think “what comes next” is much more likely to refer to a Sphere show film/stream, or something to do with the upcoming Stories of Surrender documentary.

Having said that, even if I find it unlikely, I would genuinely love it if they started uploading ‘behind the scenes’ clips onto u2.com (or social media, because it’s 2025), of the band in the studio writing, recording and creating the new album. It was so fun when they did that for NLOTH, or even that one random clip they did for SoE (which turned out to be Blackout). I’d love to see it again.
I loved those clips. Don’t understand why they didn’t carry it forward
 
Dolan & Co are still trying to sell tix to the Sphere concert movie, don’t believe he’d let it get cannibalized quite yet. I do think Sphere teaming with Phish, etc to sell VR concert experiences is a natural fit for artists/concerts that don’t become an in-venue (re-)monetization option. I’ve viewed some 360 videos captured at Sphere on a Quest headset and even the relatively lo-fi audience shot experience in the YouTube app was very cool.
I'm not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, Lou.

All of the V-U2 shows have been bumped to 10:15 pm.

Looks like it might be on the way out. Gotta make room for Dorothy
 
I received the "40-foot Lemon" book by Geoff Harkness for Christmas that's supposed to be an accounting of everything around the POP album and POPmart tour, but I haven't dug in yet. Maybe someone here has read it. It clearly won't be at the level of Flanagan's book, but I'm excited to see how in-depth it gets being my favorite era of the band and not having anything like it up to this point. I'll try to remember to report back when I read it later this year.

Currently reading Eno's 1995 diary. That'll hopefully give me some insight to the Passengers album before I move on to the aforementioned book.

Cool - thanks for the tip. I hadn't heard about the Harkness book. Must check it out.
 
Remember Larry was also unavailable for some of those Pop sessions so they were playing about with beats & drum machines more which makes me think there could be some interesting stuff in the vault, but I guess its whether or not they're proper songs or just jamming.

I see Springsteen is releasing 7 unreleased albums of stuff he's worked on at various stages over the years but which, for one reason or another never actually got released.
 
Surely something as pointless as V-U2 isn't seen as a marketable thing??

Is it accessible? No. Does it do anything for their legacy? No. Does it come off as an exclusive overpriced piece of content that a very select minority can afford? Yes.

I don't have an issue with them making money, but if it's seen as an overall significant outout for the band, then it's a waste of our time.

If they actually bothered to create widespread easily accessible content for all, instead of just doing some shows in a tacky shitehole like Las Vegas, while also restricting everything to an out of date model like a fanclub, perhaps they wouldn't come off as the out of touch elitists that have dragged their public opinion down in the recent decade.
 
The filmed performance of Songs of Surrender is playing out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

That was "what's next", I'm guessing.
nah - the film release was already announced.

i do think it's likely some sort of release of the Sphere show - whether that's an apple vision pro exclusive, or a proper release - i'm not sure. the "what's next" was tied specifically to a post about v-u2, so it makes sense that "what's next" is also related to that.

in no way do i think "what's next" has to do with new music.
 
It does seem like new music is coming, though.

I want leaks and working song titles and vague but compelling descriptions.

On the Pop vibe, but my favorite working title ever was Super City Mania.

Yes, I’m old.
I did wonder whether Super City Mania was the working title for either Miami or City of Blinding Lights; which was, according to Flood, being first worked on during the Pop sessions.
 
Did they say how many copies of Passengers were being produced for RSD? Usually there's no trouble getting hold of U2 releases as they print a load of them so its never ultra-limited.
 
Surely something as pointless as V-U2 isn't seen as a marketable thing??

Is it accessible? No. Does it do anything for their legacy? No. Does it come off as an exclusive overpriced piece of content that a very select minority can afford? Yes.

I don't have an issue with them making money, but if it's seen as an overall significant outout for the band, then it's a waste of our time.

If they actually bothered to create widespread easily accessible content for all, instead of just doing some shows in a tacky shitehole like Las Vegas, while also restricting everything to an out of date model like a fanclub, perhaps they wouldn't come off as the out of touch elitists that have dragged their public opinion down in the recent decade.
Exactly.

They're as good as doing nothing right now promoting that waste of space. U2 continues to have a 'build it and they will come' mentality. Yet anyone who's anyone couldn't give a shit what they're doing anymore and they end up looking like Euro Itchy and Scratchy Land.
 
Yeah it’s been a bit odd to me that they continue to operate, which is a loose term, as if there’s some anticipation for the next U2 album and event. No one cares anymore and it’s not so much U2s fault, its society and attention spans have shrunk. Hell, i read an article how US grads can’t even read and comprehend an entire book anymore

So why would they be waiting for a 11-12 song album of 50-60 mins in length haha

Start opening up the vault more. Drop some single one offs, old songs that don’t fit any album narrative

It’s been 8 years. It’s clear they don’t have any idea what they want to do next.
 
Yeah it’s been a bit odd to me that they continue to operate, which is a loose term, as if there’s some anticipation for the next U2 album and event. No one cares anymore and it’s not so much U2s fault, its society and attention spans have shrunk. Hell, i read an article how US grads can’t even read and comprehend an entire book anymore

So why would they be waiting for a 11-12 song album of 50-60 mins in length haha

Start opening up the vault more. Drop some single one offs, old songs that don’t fit any album narrative

It’s been 8 years. It’s clear they don’t have any idea what they want to do next.
Yep. The only thing I would say is if they somehow made and album that was cohesive, not overcooked, and not trying to produce a huge single. Then I'd be down for that. But most likely they'll try something over the top and they'll just look foolish doing so.
 
But I've not seen V-U2 pushed anywhere really.. I'm assuming at this point it's just a no-cost thing that exists and will generate a bit more cash for someone and provides something for people to see that's a product of the circumstances rather than a concerted effort to build buzz about a future record, single etc. It's just something that's there, take it or leave it.
 

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