bono_man said:
U2 have had breaks of this size in the past. Joshua Tree to Lovetown was about 8 months I think. The end of the War tour in Japan and start of the Under Australian Skies tour of 1984 was even longer I think.
Nope. The War Tour dates in Japan were late November 1983. The first UF Tour date, as part of Under Australian Skies, was on 29 August 1984, less than a year later.
The final JT Tour date was 20 December 1987. The first Lovetown Tour date was 21 September 1989, almost two years later.
U2 have never had a mid-tour break this long before. The previous gaps of this length were between tours. The longest previous mid-tour gap was on ZooTV; the third leg's final date was 25 November 1992, the fourth leg's first was 9 May 1993. U2 weren't too rusty then.
U2's opening nights are notoriously bad going back to the JT Tour. The first show of JT, Bono had lost his voice due to over-use in the dry desert air during rehearsals. The first Lovetown concert was rough, but good. Same can be said for ZooTV. The first Popmart show was infamous for its flaws. The first Elevation show, Bono fell off the stage. The first Vertigo show, Bono struggled to remember the lyrics (Zoo Station and The Fly being particularly bad).
However, I don't really think the curse of the opening night will strike this time around. It may be a nine month break, but the band will hopefully find it pretty easy to pick up where they left off in March. All of the songs have been adapted to the live settings; it's not like this is their first run-on.