jarvis

U2 said that they tour on the strenth of their new album. The proudly boasted how they are not like the Stones who are a tribute band of sorts. Now U2 have taken that path. Before they had the balls to play all those obscure Boy songs, and mix it up with all their new songs. The current leg of the tour has totally done away with the Boy songs and Miracle Drug. The last installment only featured 3 HTDAAB songs, all of which were commercially released singles. The rest of their setlist are mostly commercially released singles, or songs that have appeared on either of the Best Ofs or U218. Have U2 really turned out into a band that just blurts out greatest hits to sound like some jukebox? The current setlists seem to indicate so. I hope this is not going to be the trend for the years to come.

corianderstem

U2 has only themselves to blame. What are they thinking, writing so many songs that become hits?

Yeah, they could mix it up more, yeah they could throw a bone to the die-hards once in a while, but really, they've disadvantaged themselves by having so many huge songs over such a long period of time.

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"I'm so mad right now, all I can do is dance!"

ultravioletluvv

I agree with this. And as much as I love it when they mix it up, If I only get to see them for 2 hours every few years or so, I'd much rather see the great songs performed, than the lesser songs like MD or LAPOE (only my opinion).

namkcuR

They just played One Tree Hill two nights in a row. This fact renders all other complaints about the setlists on this leg null and void.

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dazzlingamy

Do you not think that say.... 30,000 out of the 50,000 are not REALLY fans of u2, they may just have the best ofs and not even know half of u2's albums, and that the reason u2 plays all their 'hits' is because for most of the audience thats all they know.

What 'average fan' wants to sit and hear a setlist fill with obscure b-sides and album tracks they don't know, then hear the greats like Streets, one SBS, Beautiful Day etc...

Why you have enough money to demand a one on one show, THEN you can get all the weirdy songs you want

AtomicBono

YAH U2 SUX I HAIT DEM

silvrlvr

It's an interesting argument.

I want to hear whatever sounds freshest and what the band enjoys playing most. If that's Streets and Elevation, great. If it's Saints, great. If Bono wants to bring Tony Bennett on stage some night and sing, "I Wanna Be Around," that's just fine with me.

What I don't want them to do is phone it in. Not ever.

Headache in a Suitcase

yea... kite, party girl and one tree hill were all huuuuuge commercial smashes.

look... they haven't been to australia and new zealand since ZooTV... let's give 'em a break, ha? down under didn't get popmart or elevation, remember.

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Pero

that's true about the setlists.
one tree hill was only played for that occasion i believe and will be for any next show there.
but it's also true that they weren't there for so long so give 'em a break.
question:
Would you like U2 to play on vertigo tour 22 songs from boy and october on one show?(i'm going a little extreme on this)

powerhour24

They mix it up enough, after so many shows and legs of the Vertigo Tour, you're obviously not going to see the same amount of Bomb songs now that it's 2 years old.

BonoVoxSupastar

They are playing parts of the country that don't get U2 every tour, plus they got Saints, Windows, One Tree Hill...

What else do you want? I think this forum has become a parody of itself.

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my music

Why is it that the one's with the most closed minds have the most opened mouths?

Clawgrabber

Hmm, let's see here...

The Saints Are Coming
Kite
Window In The Skies
One Tree Hill
Until The End Of The World
Bad
Zoo Station
Party Girl
The First Time

Not to mention playing a song from PASSENGERS
Miss Sarajevo

As well as the triumphant return of
Walk On (I don't care if it was a single or not, complaining that they are bringing back songs not really played full band for 5 years is looking a gifthorse in the mouth. I saw Vertigo 6 times in the states and would have killed to see ANY of these songs, especially Walk On.)

The fact that they have played Window, One Tree Hill, and Bad in the same show now makes any complaining pointless and idiotic.

Yeah, surprise, they're gonna play SBS and ONE also, but I guarantee that if you only saw U2 once in your life and they didn't play those songs you'd be upset. Just like I was upset when Nine Inch Nails didn't play The Perfect Drug and We're In This Together, and Weezer didn't play Only In Dreams.

This is the most they have mixed up their setlists since 1990. I really don't understand the complaining. Yeah, Miracle Drug would be nice, but they've played it a lot already. A LOT.

I really don't get it. I would have stolen gold from fort knox to see BAD, WINDOW and ONE TREE (EFFING) HILL performed at the same show.

Seriously.

KUEFC09U2

and pero what was you saying about one tree hill only being played for NZ? well japan got it aswell,

plus isnt it strange, that even on the 1st leg we got some of the worst reviews of the tour? and also people still bitched about setlists?

Popmartijn

Just a wee tiny bit of a correction here, U2 did tour there for Popmart. But indeed, not for Elevation. Hence the increase of ATYCLB songs.

BTW, just for everyone's information, here's the breakdown of the first Tokyo show:
New songs: 2
HTDAAB: 3
ATYCLB: 3
Passengers: 1
Achtung Baby: 3
R&H: 1
The Joshua Tree: 5
The Unforgettable Fire: 2
War: 1
Boy: 1

Indeed, it could have a higher emphasis on HTDAAB (and less on The Joshua Tree), but it seems like a reasonable representation.

Niceman

It is disapointing to see U2 touring the "greatest hits." At least it's the end of a long tour. Hopefully when the next one starts up they'll be re-energized about the new material.