** SPOILERS** The soundcheck thread

[zwervers2]

Dude, 500 Million people know Iris thanks to Apple.
They sing it in the streets of Shanghai.

you could have fooled me during the three nights in amsterdam...500 million people, sorry that I had to laugh

 

[nitebusnitebus]

Acrobat is definitely a touch overrated. it's not even close to their best song even if fans make it out to be. it's still good, but I'd rather see the return of Love is Blindness

Iris, Song for Someone, Every Breaking Wave, etc all went over terribly with the crowd in the US but they still play those every night. the crowds on both sides of the Atlantic go nuts to Gloria and Electric Co. as stated many times, and it's so important I'm stating it again: crowd reaction doesn't matter to this band. if it was, we wouldn't be getting One and Elevation every other night, we'd get them every night, and let's not imagine a world where that would happen again.

the main reason for the band not playing a song is Bono remembering the lyrics (all eras), his vocal range (the 80s stuff), or the complexity of the music (the 90s stuff, because as much as I would love to see songs from Pop, they would take a decent bit of rehearsing I think. Playboy Mansion wouldn't, I'd still love to see that)

trust me, if they fired up Rejoice, With a Shout, or Gone, a lot of the crowd wouldn't know them at first, but by the end they'd be clapping/jumping along.

 

[The_acrobat]

Here the thing; a couple years ago, my wife drug me to see KISS. She's a big fan, whereas I only know the big hits. I was a casual fan among members of the KISS ARMY. Did I get bored, angry, sad, or stand up to go get a beer and take a leak every time they played a song I didn't know? NO! I just watched and listened. It didn't ruin my experience at all that they played a few songs I didn't know.

Who are these casual fans U2 are afraid of offending by playing the occasional deep cut?


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[BVS]

Iris, Song for Someone, Every Breaking Wave, etc all went over terribly with the crowd in the US but they still play those every night.

Why do you always do this? You project your own feelings about a song onto a whole audience, and you're often too disconnected to realize you're wrong.



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[LemonMelon]

I can't even judge crowd reaction on the SOI songs because people were staring up at the screen the whole time. I know I was at the first show I went to.

Acoustic EBW was a total momentum killer at both shows I saw, but it's not exactly a barnburner, you know? I wish they would give the album arrangement a shot.

 

[The_acrobat]

When I saw them in Chicago (only the 5th show) I thought the new songs went over pretty well. The only songs I can say fell FLAT were Invisible and Ordinary Love. I feel that songs that aren't part of an actual U2 album often end up under the radar, with HMTMKMKM and Sweetest thing being the exceptions.

I was surprised that the audience seemed to have a bigger reaction to BD and COBL then they did to Pride and even Streets.


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[domo-kun]

If nitebus based his opinion on crowd reaction in the US. Pretty much nothing went over well there.

Dead audience most of the time.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I was surprised that the audience seemed to have a bigger reaction to BD and COBL then they did to Pride and even Streets.

that is disgusting

 

[Hollow Island]

I think we found the first candidates to be turned into soylent green.

Acrobat: easy song to play, probably hard to get into the mindset to play convincingly, and it's probably not a place that Bono wants to go.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I can't even judge crowd reaction on the SOI songs because people were staring up at the screen the whole time. I know I was at the first show I went to.

Acoustic EBW was a total momentum killer at both shows I saw, but it's not exactly a barnburner, you know? I wish they would give the album arrangement a shot.

They're trying to capture the magic of the acoustic Every Breaking Wave from the promo tour, but Bono just can't hit those notes night in and night out, especially that deep into the show.

Plus they're missing Adam and Larry's big entrance from the promo tour on the last chorus. And while we're at it, what happened to all those rumors of a string quartet joining the band on tour?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

And while we're at it, what happened to all those rumors of a string quartet joining the band on tour?

1000 x this

Can you imagine half of the "tired warhorses" were freshened up with some strings? I can.

 

[RoKKeR]

They're trying to capture the magic of the acoustic Every Breaking Wave from the promo tour, but Bono just can't hit those notes night in and night out, especially that deep into the show.

Plus they're missing Adam and Larry's big entrance from the promo tour on the last chorus. And while we're at it, what happened to all those rumors of a string quartet joining the band on tour?

Yeah, for these reasons and more EBW just doesn't work in the way they're doing it right now.

 

[xtrmx]

Why do you always do this? You project your own feelings about a song onto a whole audience, and you're often too disconnected to realize you're wrong.

Errrr I was also in the seats on half of my nights I went to in Amsterdam and whenever a song from the new album started ppl sat down almost immediately (Seriously 90% of ppl in seats), even the uptempo songs from the album noone seemed to care a rats ass about. (including me, what a borefest those 4 new songs + SBS are during the show).

 

[BVS]

Errrr I was also in the seats on half of my nights I went to in Amsterdam and whenever a song from the new album started ppl sat down almost immediately (Seriously 90% of ppl in seats), even the uptempo songs from the album noone seemed to care a rats ass about. (including me, what a borefest those 4 new songs + SBS are during the show).

We also had reports that no one reacted to Electric Co or BD at Amsterdam, so apparently they didn't like the shows at all, that or maybe it's the hash

But there's multiple reviews and accounts in here that say Iris was an emotional highlight and that the reaction was huge. And several have accounted as to how surprised they are on the reaction to SFS.


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[Gonna Run 2 U]

Acrobat is definitely a touch overrated. it's not even close to their best song even if fans make it out to be. it's still good, but I'd rather see the return of Love is Blindness

Iris, Song for Someone, Every Breaking Wave, etc all went over terribly with the crowd in the US but they still play those every night. the crowds on both sides of the Atlantic go nuts to Gloria and Electric Co. as stated many times, and it's so important I'm stating it again: crowd reaction doesn't matter to this band. if it was, we wouldn't be getting One and Elevation every other night, we'd get them every night, and let's not imagine a world where that would happen again.

the main reason for the band not playing a song is Bono remembering the lyrics (all eras), his vocal range (the 80s stuff), or the complexity of the music (the 90s stuff, because as much as I would love to see songs from Pop, they would take a decent bit of rehearsing I think. Playboy Mansion wouldn't, I'd still love to see that)

trust me, if they fired up Rejoice, With a Shout, or Gone, a lot of the crowd wouldn't know them at first, but by the end they'd be clapping/jumping along.

Bono would never be able to pull off with a shout. Sorry to say.


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[dudeman]

Literally all the threads are turning into the same discussion/argument.

Literally.


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[dan_smee]

Yes I see I'm having difficulty to explain what I meant in the first place. I'm trying to, but my native language is Dutch, not English. Sorry but I'm not sorry if that bothers you. I'm still learning everyday. Discussions are not my strongest point. But I'm trying to get back to you the best I can Dan:

I agree with you on that most people who bought AB would KNOW the song exists and some of them know it by heart. .

Yet I still don't see Acrobat as a song the majority of crowd at the I+E tour would know.
Why? New fans joining in on the bandwagon since the 00's like myself might be more known, and might like the new stuff more than the -so called (I hate this term) - obcure songs of AB and earlier albums.

Also I think becuase of Spotify , Itunes etc. not a lot of people are playing Achtung Baby front to back anymore.

Hence the "WTH is this..."




Couldn't help but think the same.

Fair enough. I respect your right to your opinion, and disagree whole-heartedly.

Didn't mean to cause offence, I just didn't get where you were coming from.

 

[dan_smee]

Either way - I'm going to put my newly arrived copy of Achtung Baby on vinyl on loud, and rock out to Acrobat. Peace

 

[Salome]

You're right - it only sold 18 million copies and reached the top 5 in the charts in most countries it was released in. No one at a U2 show would know the song at all...

It might have sold 18 millions copies, but how many people do you reckon have heard the song in the last 10 years?
It would be closer to 18 thousand than 18 millions, that's for sure.

Surely half if not all of the new songs are going down the same way. This is an infuriating argument for not playing a song.

Also, fuck them. Concerts shouldn't have to pander so much.

Playing Acrobat could also be considered pandering.
If the band really had an intense desire to play the song they would have done so at some point in the last 20 years.
Clearly they don't.

 

[djerdap]

It might have sold 18 millions copies, but how many people do you reckon have heard the song in the last 10 years?
It would be closer to 18 thousand than 18 millions, that's for sure.

And you base this on what?

The point is that this so-called "casual fan" only knows the biggest hits by heart. It's completely futile to try and assess how many people know this or that song. Besides, there are songs on this setlist which are - based on sales alone - less known than Acrobat.

 

[Salome]

And you base this on what?

common sense?

 

[dan_smee]

How is Acrobat any more obscure than Ultraviolet was on 360?


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[Axver]

Because Salome's trolling.

 

[domo-kun]

Fair enough. I respect your right to your opinion, and disagree whole-heartedly.

Didn't mean to cause offence, I just didn't get where you were coming from.

No offence taken after all of this. I understand it was confusing for you! Because the two posts together-made no sense.
And of course, we can always agree to disagree. Please continue rocking out.

 

[Salome]

How is Acrobat any more obscure than Ultraviolet was on 360?

It barely is.
But at least they played Ultraviolet during ZOO TV.

There is no law stating U2 can't play Heartland, Acrobat and Luminous Times for the remainder of the tour if they choose to.
If your point is that there is no obscure U2 song, then you are of course correct.
The majority of the crowd will however be more familiar with Elevation and City of Blinding Lights.
No sales figures from 30 years ago will change that.

 

[Salome]

Because Salome's trolling.

I like to think that suggesting that U2 including Acrobat on a setlist would not be a left field decision because Achtung Baby was purchased by a lot of people decades ago is closer to trolling than my contribution.

 

[Hewson]

And while we're at it, what happened to all those rumors of a string quartet joining the band on tour?

All the quartets were too busy rehearsing "Lukin".

 

[cobl04]

fuck it.

 

[kabigon]

52 unique songs played so far, only 9 less than 360 despite less than half the number of shows. Still 21 static songs this leg.

SOI song selection is nearly the opposite of what I'd use but that's personal taste for you.

Great show, could be greater. Already repeating myself / others.

Blergh.

 

[Chrisedge]

It might have sold 18 millions copies, but how many people do you reckon have heard the song in the last 10 years?
It would be closer to 18 thousand than 18 millions, that's for sure.

Considering almost all their albums went way up the charts for catalog sales when they released SOI, I bet a lot of people heard some of their old songs recently.