*Spoilers* Rehearsals Part 2

[Hewson]

Not if you dig all the way back to the rumors back around SoI's release, many of which were in the EYKIW threads. The rumored plan was a so-called "residency" tour with only a handful of cities getting 4 or more dates each, giving the band days off inbetween and having everyone camping out in the cities rather than band flying back and forth between shows to NYC/LA like previous tours. Many of those cities in the rumored "residency" tour are now tour dates. Draw your own conclusion.

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LA was slated for 8 shows, Chicago for 6. They each got 5...and demand is the reason. Plain and simple they didn't sell as many tickets as they expected to in those cities.

 

[KEVIN051269]

So would this be With or Without You's first ever non-encore appearance?

AT a guess I'd say the last time it wasn't played in an encore was St Paul November 3rd 1987.

But I'm not that familiar with some of the wacky setlists from the Japanese Lovetown shows

But I'm sure some setlist guru will come along and confirm or deny this

 

[bonorton]

With or Without You was played early in the set, 7th song, at the 2nd San Diego show on Vertigo tour 3/30/05.

 

[BobGeorge]

With or Without You was played early in the set, 7th song, at the 2nd San Diego show on Vertigo tour 3/30/05.

Oh yeah I remember that. What is even more shocking, didn't they also omit the song from some of those early Vertigo shows? And then Paul McGuinness said you can't have a U2 concert without WOWY.

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

static set list or not, there are no shows like U2 shows......see you ALL there!

This. x100000

Hmm, just found the "leaked" RadioOne mix online

I needed to hear this today. This is by far my favorite version of ES. Now thanks to that link I have a shiny mp3 version on my phone.

Thank you, again.

#meow

Careful, hon. You'll make me famous.


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[LemonMelon]

It's completely in character for U2 to announce one thing as a possibility, only to get cold feet in the end because of commercial concerns. Look at NLOTH, Songs of Ascent, "punk rock from Venus," etc. Next in line of intriguing ideas destined to die: an arena tour especially for the fans with more b-sides and rarities than ever before. Two sets' worth of tracks from a massive back catalogue! But oh, wait, nevermind: the album's release cycle didn't go as planned, so the early part of the tour has to be perfect. We'll mix it up...later.

Yeah, I can't blame anyone for seeing the rehearsal setlists and assuming the band's early ambitions for the tour are dead and buried. I love this band, but they get spooked pretty easily.

 

[DeVaul]

The idea of two different shows is/was bad

Disagree. 7 new songs (5 static, 2 rotating), 9 hits (7 static, 2 rotating), 6 rotating deeper album cuts/b-sides would be FINE. That gives you almost half of the setlist to mix up.

 

[BobGeorge]

It's completely in character for U2 to announce one thing as a possibility, only to get cold feet in the end because of commercial concerns. Next in line of intriguing ideas destined to die: an arena tour especially for the fans with more b-sides and rarities than ever before. Two sets' worth of tracks from a massive back catalogue! But oh, wait, nevermind: the album's release cycle didn't go as planned, so the early part of the tour has to be perfect. We'll mix it up...later.

Yeah, I can't blame anyone for seeing the rehearsal setlists and assuming the band's early ambitions for the tour are dead and buried. I love this band, but they get spooked pretty easily.

This.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

I don't think that's a given yet.

On the Friday dress rehearsal there was an encore not sure about yesterday's show though.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Well Gloria during the Vertigo tour hardly got a rousing response to a deep cut did it?


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[ClaytonsKitten]

Yeah, I can't blame anyone for seeing the rehearsal setlists and assuming the band's early ambitions for the tour are dead and buried. I love this band, but they get spooked pretty easily.

The band rehearsed some 40-50 songs total. (Axver? Peter? Clarification please?) It is not that much of a stretch of the imagination that a 25 song set will get plenty of rotation. Given the current state of the band, we may not see anything but warhorses and SoI songs for the first few shows, to give Larry a chance to handle his family needs, as well as a chance for Bono to get back to full fighting form. Later in the game will be gold (Europe, you guys will probably get TONS of surprises. ) and who knows, they may surprise us yet. Either way, I'm just excited to be going to Chicago for two shows.

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[hibricc]

It's completely in character for U2 to announce one thing as a possibility, only to get cold feet in the end because of commercial concerns. Look at NLOTH, Songs of Ascent, "punk rock from Venus," etc. Next in line of intriguing ideas destined to die: an arena tour especially for the fans with more b-sides and rarities than ever before. Two sets' worth of tracks from a massive back catalogue! But oh, wait, nevermind: the album's release cycle didn't go as planned, so the early part of the tour has to be perfect. We'll mix it up...later.

Yeah, I can't blame anyone for seeing the rehearsal setlists and assuming the band's early ambitions for the tour are dead and buried. I love this band, but they get spooked pretty easily.

And of course, not all of these retreats were ill-advised. Exhibit A: guyliner.

 

[BobGeorge]

Well Gloria during the Vertigo tour hardly got a rousing response to a deep cut did it?

They should have chosen Tomorrow.

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

And of course, not all of these retreats were ill-advised. Exhibit A: guyliner.

Must we? I'd rather see Edge in drag again. ( )

Bono looked best with the 2011 hair (short, not too short) and the all black leather look aka Fly 2.0


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[LemonMelon]

And of course, not all of these retreats were ill-advised. Exhibit A: guyliner.

That's a low blow!

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

That's a low blow!

I feel like we need a Volcano joke here...

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[LemonMelon]

Can you imagine creepy old man guyliner Bono singing Volcano? Missed opportunities.

 

[bonorton]

The 3 main songs we are not seeing from SOI are Volcano, SLABT, TIWYCRMN. These are all songs with heavy bass lines. Maybe it's an Adam thing, and he's just not comfortable with those songs at this point?

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

Can you imagine creepy old man guyliner Bono singing Volcano? Missed opportunities.

There was a joke or meme somewhere about Adam's hair reminding everyone of the Heat Miser and Snow Miser but of course I can't find it. Guyliner + THAT HAIR and Volcano? Opportunity indeed.

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[U2FanPeter]

Apparently Guy O. and Fogel spoiled the fun for those outside the venue.

Did Fogel & Guy O. "spoil the fun" for fans, as someone posted on Twitter last night?

I saw them both on the prowl. I

f they weren't broadcasting it they would have got away with it.

 

[weinerdog]

The 3 main songs we are not seeing from SOI are Volcano, SLABT, TIWYCRMN. These are all songs with heavy bass lines. Maybe it's an Adam thing, and he's just not comfortable with those songs at this point?

I'm in the minority(?) who likes Volcano. There isn't a single bass line that Adam shouldn't be able to handle. I love the bottom end he and Larry create, but his bass playing ain't exactly Jaco Pastorius/Geddy Lee type difficulty.

 

[PhilsFan]

I swear to god that some of you believe there is a contingent of people on this forum who want a setlist full of b-sides and rarities. Nobody is saying they should do a full arena tour like this without any of the warhorses. I think it'd be really cool if they did do special shows for diehards, advertised well in advance, but obviously they're not the sort of band to do that. Everyone knows this, and knows that a majority of the set will be warhorses and new songs.

What I think is disappointing for some people, and fairly enough in my opinion, is the near-total absence of any acknowledgement of the diehards in what is known to have been rehearsed (which, yes yes, may be incomplete and I'm sure there will be surprises). 360 had a shit-tonne of warhorses, but it also brought back songs like The Unforgettable Fire and Ultra Violet - which aren't exactly rarities, but they had not been played live since the early nineties and fans had eagerly hoped for their return. Vertigo likewise had many warhorses in its stable, but fans flipped when The Electric Co., An Cat Dubh, and Zoo Station were played. We knew about these well before opening night.

Only a few rarities have been rehearsed, they do not at this stage seem central to the band's setlist ambitions (I am sure something has been kept under wraps), and they are generally not rarities for which there has been sustained clamour. Obviously U2 are going to write a set that mainly showcases warhorses and new songs, but I think that for a lot of people who are a bit less than enthusiastic than they expected to be about the rehearsals, they would have been sated fully if Exit had preceded Raised By Wolves or Love Is Blindness led into the intermission or Lady With the Spinning Head followed Mysterious Ways or Gone was anywhere in the main set or whatever. A couple of those. Not a run of ten songs drawn solely from Pop, October, and a 1978 demo session. Just a couple of well-placed treats (by and large not especially obscure ones either) as a nod to those fans - of whom there are many for a band of U2's stature - who have seen them many times over the years and love to dig into the band's back catalogue.

I do not think that's unreasonable. Now, if U2's kept some cool shit under wraps and we all get blown away by the encore opening with A Sort of Homecoming on the 14th, awesome. But before you trot out the "wah wah you complainers the tour hasn't begun why aren't you gushing with enthusiasm!" posts, you might want to consider what people are actually saying.

It should be required on this board to read this post before entering the tour forum.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

I'm in the minority(?) who likes Volcano. There isn't a single bass line that Adam shouldn't be able to handle. I love the bottom end he and Larry create, but his bass playing ain't exactly Jaco Pastorius/Geddy Lee type difficulty.

'xactly, Volcano's not terrifically hard, it might be just (and I hope not because the song's grown on me a lot since the album came out) that they "can't get it to work" as they want, like WGRYWH.

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

I'm in the minority(?) who likes Volcano. There isn't a single bass line that Adam shouldn't be able to handle.

I love Volcano. And Adam's playing isn't about difficulty, it's about technique and swag. He has a very unique way of rocking that bass. He's obviously not in the same league as Geddy Lee but rather, he's in one all his own.



Yeah. I'm biased. *meow*

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[U2FanPeter]

So, "Miracle Drug" is the only song (along with "Hands That Built America" - although that one did appear as a snippeted version in at least one rehearsal set) that has been performed from May 7th until now and not make it to one of the rehearsal sets.

That's it. Otherwise, they've been working on the 24 songs that made up the rehearsal run-through last night for the past week.

Couple of the times hands has been played have been missed fan fans as the quiet backing and monotone melody don't cut through the venue doors. the 30 second version hands was played last night.

And only because there are no encores this time.

Double encore. IIRC, they bookend COBL/B-Day.

 

[ouu2fan23]

Is there any word on a rehearsal tonight?


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[ClaytonsKitten]

Is there any word on a rehearsal tonight?


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Likely not as today was the funeral for Mullen Sr and Bono will also need to rest his voice. If anything, I'd say maybe techs doing last minute checks or run throughs for lighting? (Dallas, Sam, Stuart playing much like they do for actual show soundchecks.)

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[prbiker15]

Is there any word on a rehearsal tonight?

I doubt there will be one, maybe a short one. They have two consecutive shows coming up, and supposedly Bono's voice wasn't in the best shape at the end of last night's rehearsal, so I wouldn't be surprised if they took off. Larry's probably on his way back to Vancouver as well.

 

[U2FanPeter]

Also, the warhorses aside, we're getting 8+ new songs. Maybe my tastes are weird, but I would rather hear Invisible and California than any song on that list.

To me a real die hard U2 fan is one that is first and formost interested in the new songs, the 14 songs from Songs Of Innocence and would prefer that these be played before any old stuff is selected.

The point people are making is this -- last tour, they rehearsed Drowning Man, played songs like Your Blue Room, Ultra Violet, Zooropa, Scarlet and on Vertigo they dusted off Electric Co., An Cat Dubh, Into the Heart, the Ocean.

There's not *too* much of that being rehearsed right now, but they did do Electric Co., Playboy Mansion, One Step Closer and no, it's not a deep cut but they haven't played Sweetest Thing much at all and haven't played it in 14 years.

All this complaining is getting so annoying. No, they won't play your dream setlist! Get over it. And even if it happen to to be one person's perfect set list, it won't be the next one's perfect setlist. So shut up already, if yo hate the setlist so much, sell your ticket. It's that simple.

Nobody is complaining about the plethora of new songs.

There are valid complaints about the lack of "A/B" shows in the Vancouver rehearsals. Oseary talks to some fans last night and confirmed that the real shows won't be much longer or that they don't have any Exit/Acrobat/Homecoming/Please surprise in their back pocket.

Why does 2hrs 20min stage time show really need an intermission break of undetermined length and 2 quick encore breaks later on?

The other thing is there's nothing in this show that makes fans look at the back catalogue in any new way. Verti/360 had it, but I'm still scratching my head. I got Sweetest thing at both my Elevation shows and the new SBS is done to avoid Bono having to sing it a half octave down. I'm I supposed have my mind blown over 30 seconds of Hands, Out of Control and the new Miracle Drug or just "merely" welcome them with open arms? the screen stuff will be awesome, but it's the show itself that matters.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Nobody is complaining about the plethora of new songs.



There are valid complaints about the lack of "A/B" shows in the Vancouver rehearsals. Oseary talks to some fans last night and confirmed that the real shows won't be much longer or that they don't have any Exit/Acrobat/Homecoming/Please surprise in their back pocket.



Why does 2hrs 20min stage time show really need an intermission break of undetermined length and 2 quick encore breaks later on?



The other thing is there's nothing in this show that makes fans look at the back catalogue in any new way. Verti/360 had it, but I'm still scratching my head. I got Sweetest thing at both my Elevation shows and the new SBS is done to avoid Bono having to sing it a half octave down. I'm I supposed have my mind blown over 30 seconds of Hands, Out of Control and the new Miracle Drug or just "merely" welcome them with open arms? the screen stuff will be awesome, but it's the show itself that matters.

So what your saying is what's the point in going to see the show really


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