I am so glad I didn't drop the cash to go to the Sydney shows as well as Melbourne and Adelaide. Minority opinion, sure, but UV/Stuck/One is basically my nightmare ending of a U2 gig and they did it at both shows. Melbourne and Adelaide were both good fun. The main set is amazing music, and I wonder why I have drifted away from this band - and then the encore reminds me why. It's both expendable and boring.
Everyone here seems to hone in on Elevation as the biggest waste of space, but I'd actually say it's Beautiful Day. I simply no longer find that song exciting live. Have I seen it too much? I don't know, it just doesn't inspire anything in me any more. I like something such as ISHFWILF much less than Beautiful Day in studio, but live it conveys more meaning than BD does, it still justifies its inclusion. Every Breaking Wave is boring as piss too; I was surprised a bunch of people around me in Melbourne sung along, but in Adelaide it was received politely and without enthusiasm. As far as new tracks go, Love Is Bigger works better.
Also, will U2 ever use a different animation for Vertigo. It's starting to look really dated, and it hasn't become iconic like the red opening to Streets. Having it go for the whole song is tiring - if you can't see the band members well, by halfway through you're wishing for something new to look at.
Anyway, this is my whinge moment because I've shared the positive stuff enough elsewhere and kept the negatives a bit quieter. Maybe you folks will get some of them. Here are some positives:
- I Will Follow is a genuine thrill.
- Edge is on form in Bullet at the moment.
- Three words: One Tree Hill.
- Exit in Adelaide tore the place apart, so fucking good. I mean, it owned in Melbourne too, but that Adelaide performance was something else again.
- I really love Mothers of the Disappeared live, and can only hope this will not be my last time hearing it, even though I know it will be.
- Cool to finally hear EBTTRT live.
- The chat Bono has started doing with the other band members after In God's Country is genuinely endearing and amusing.
- The whole Adelaide show was really fun and loose as far as a stadium gig goes. The band didn't seem to be under pressure and were just enjoying themselves. The best of the five JT shows I've seen across 2017 and 2019, even if Bad didn't appear in the set.
Might write some thoughts on the U2 Conference later, this post is long enough. Those of you who follow the U2gigs Twitter will know it produced the biggest highlight of my JT 2019 experience.