Why the vertigo tour is a success

[LuvandPeace1980]

Preface:
This is a response to a post that was closed just today.
I agree opinions are great things, but opinions when shared with hundreds of U2 fans should atleast entertain some core factors. Cause if they don't then that’s why people get edgy
I feel the post was really just someones self serving opinion of why the vertigo tour was poop and I feel so strongly that it wasn't as I attended 3 shows in Europe.. anyways here is my response

First: Ever since Popmart (Read U2: A Live Concert Documentary) U2 have been a little hesitant about doing outdoor shows in the US.

Second: of all I feel that with all the Wars and Politics which are raging the past 5 years that U2 wanted to make the show a more politcally recognisable show. There is frustration and anger in the show.. a sense of ugency. There is only one song (BTBS) on the Elevation tour which even had anything like this.

Third: feelings about why the indoor stage was very similar to the Elevation stage are simple, it worked.. why ruin a good thing, I like the outdoor stage more however but I am bias.U2 also did this with a similar b-stage that they had on ZOO TV for Popmart so history repeats.

Fourth: Alot of it would also lie around the fact that they were trying to keep the intimacy and heart in the show much like Elevation. Elevation to me was also about security or consilidation and a clean slate to take off on for the band.


Also if this about U2 doing another ZOO TV and being a big political controversial middle finger puller I think you could have it all wrong
I myself sit there and I watch ZOO TV and I dream of U2 doing something that bold and daring again. But we have to get back to Earth. If U2 did anything like that now people would just say ‘Yeah we know whats your point’
I think the 90’s with U2’s help brought a lot of attention back to Politics the media etc.. and most people have this stuff on their mind all the time, but I think U2 and The Vertigo Tour are about taking it from your mind or your heart and putting it into action.

Anyone who has seen a Vertigo show put your hand up if you agree with my last statement

 

[Squire]

I think the 90’s with U2’s help brought a lot of attention back to Politics the media etc.. and most people have this stuff on their mind all the time, but I think U2 and The Vertigo Tour are about taking it from your mind or your heart and putting it into action.

That's very well put.

Zoo TV brought the information while Vertigo is using that information to do something.

 

[u2wedge]

I think the 90’s with U2’s help brought a lot of attention back to Politics the media etc.. and most people have this stuff on their mind all the time, but I think U2 and The Vertigo Tour are about taking it from your mind or your heart and putting it into action.

Anyone who has seen a Vertigo show put your hand up if you agree with my last statement

I think politics is pretty much on the front page of the news, and has been, since someone coined the term 'politics'. To say that U2 was a driving force for politics to become 'mainstream' again, I think would be inaccurate. They were the first to really incorporate the media into a roadshow, for sure, and when you think about it, back in '92 there really wasn't any 'internet' as we know it today. Can you imagine Bono firing up interference.com at the Outside Broadcast to check on the setlist party? lol.

I tend to consider Vertigo to essentially be U2 finding what they are looking for in terms of a concert setup. No other band has gone out of their way as much as U2 to make sure that A. the fans can get as close as possible, as cheaply as possible, to their stage, and B. involve their fans in the performance to the degree that they do. On the surface it may have had the same paint job, but under the hood was a completely different form of energy. Vertigo? Fast Cars? Those are two songs that would never have been on the radar during the Elevation tour. Now with their collaboration with Green Day, I'm really hoping for more of these punk flavors in the next disc. To hear U2 talk hip hop is also pretty interesting and I'll be curious as to where they go with that.

I think the irony is that there was no heart shaped stage this time around as I feel that most of the songs on HTDAAB are really some of the most emotional songs from the band to date.

 

[Chrisedge]

I'd say since it grossed a ton of money and was one of 2005's top grossing concerts, it was a success. Anyone that thinks differently is just a troll.

 

[djerdap]

1. It brought back songs like The Electric Co., An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart, The Ocean, Gloria, 40, Running To Stand Still, Zoo Station, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, The First Time, Miss Sarajevo, amazing new versions of Discotheque and The Fly and a short tease of Love is Blindness.

2. Two different tours in many ways (outdoor-indoor, different setlist order...)

3. Bono's voice best since ZooTV. The band played their best. It's great to hear their musicianship being improved over the years.

4. The most varied setlists since Lovetown. It's not much by U2 standards (especially if you're a big Pearl Jam fan like me), but it does count.

Yes, it did have some controversial problems (Vertigo II is still their biggest live mistake and it has become a mockery in the music world - rightfully so, or the dull Pride-Streets-One trilogy), but I still consider it as one of U2's best tours.

Most importantly, the Vertigo Tour is a victim of the new Internet world. Imagine, just imagine, if we had setlist parties for each Popmart concert. Same setlist every time. It would be the most bashed thing U2 has ever done.

 

[Bonochick]

Wish I would have caught this sooner because...

This is a response to a post that was closed just today.

Spin-off threads are not allowed.

http://forum.interference.com/misc.php?s=&action=faq&page=5#29