I agree.
I think they are talking popular opinion. Lets face it, most people associate U2 with the 1980s. We all know much better here, but that does not change 99.9999% of the world. I would be fine with that if they said "you want 80s? Then you got Two Hearts...,Seconds, A Sort of Homecoming, Wire, Electric Co, Another Time Another Place, 11OClock, Twilight, Gloria, Out of Control, 40, In God's Country, etc."
I think where they run into trouble is acting like SBS and NYD are the only songs on War, Pride the only song on the Unforgettable Fire and the big 3 the only songs on JT. I think that is what has led to the 80s fatigue here. Oh, and I forgot Bullet. That song over stayed its welcome in nightly set lists by a hell of a lot, and it was criminal that songs like IGC, Trip, RTSS, MOD, Exit and One Tree Hill were all shelved for significant amounts of time or for good.
They have done a far better job representing AB in live performances than JT. The albums are equally as brilliant in my mind, but what they play from JT has changed very little over the years. It is predictable. the big 3, Bullet and sometimes something else. AB has been wonderfully unpredictable. Popmart had Even Better and Until The End...., Elevation had both of those but The Fly was back with some nice little Wild Horses snippets in Bad. Vertigo had full fledged Wild Horses, UTTEOTW, The Fly at its best, ZOO STATION and even dug up Love is Blindness As a snippet. Of course all tours had MW to varying degrees.
The band themselves are probably equally proud of the 90s material. Their love of AB is well documented. Bono's favorite U2 song is Stay and even Larry vigorously defended Pop a few times when asked. I just think they are being too timid and are worried about how playing Zooropa or Pop songs will be received.
You and I know the answer to that would in all likelihood be "damn well" in a stadium with the claw and lights. We'll stay tuned.......