Classic or Dud: U2

I remember John Lennon laying into The Rolling Stones in his Playboy interview from 1980 for staying together for as long as they had, and that was 35 years ago now. If Lennon had lived, I wonder what he'd think about them still being together!

I'm sure it'd be a regular subject on his podcast until his teary interview with jagger.

After the Beatles' 1979 Get Back reunion album/tour debacle, Lennon didn't have a leg to stand on criticizing the Stones.

http://alexbledsoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/shipper04.jpg

Yeah, but that was the era of the band that only featured John, though Ringo did sit in on a few dates.

Big arena spectacles rule. I would always go see U2, I love the huge stage stuff so much.

"supposedly the band itself is at its most just four guys making music".

This is more or less related to one thing that I've always found the weirdest of seeing U2 live. With most stadium acts, it's usually them in those huge stages they use, filling them with a sizeable number of musicians/collaborators: you've got the E-Street band with their huge roster, Madonna with all those dancers or the Stones outnumbered by their dozen choir girls and their wind sections. U2 couldn't be more different in this aspect: it's just the four of them alone in the middle of those gargantuan stages, singlehandedly carrying these shows. It especially hits me when they play "New Years Day" and you see the Edge pulling his guitar aside to play the keyboards, because they don't even have a keyboardist with them on stage.

https://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1531542,1531569

^ They have extra musicians under the stage generally.

i think it's just an extra keyboardist on some few songs and mostly triggered loops and samples

Pretty sure I saw a documentary with an extra guitarist too, cant find it on youtube.

I listened to an in-ear-monitor intecept bootleg of one of their shows once, it was the Edge's headset and it was full of count in's and other directions, if those guys need all that just to be able to remember their boring music they must be dummies.

dunno if I'd say U2 are the dummies in that scenario

Not remembering U2 songs feels like a p good survival strategy for being in U2 for 30 odd years

This is Bono's in-ear monitor from a 2010 show:
https://youtu.be/1KWgayvG52c

I don't really understand it. He wrote the song, he sings the song frequently; is it really necessary to have someone saying "verse...1,2,3,4" to come in at the right time?

Zoo TV live broadcast showed a bunch of guitarists and a keyboardist or two under the stage.

Here's one from Edge's iem:
https://youtu.be/vYt0LKuL2Po

I'd think it would be insanely distracting to hear "EDGE 2, 3, 4" and "SOLO 2, 3, 4." Maybe everything is so tightly cued to the visuals that even the slightest deviation (or a spontaneous "Hey guys, let's drag this intro out another 4 bars so Bono can prattle on about something") could throw everything off?

The drummer plays to a tight click, what else is required? (is kinda my point, I guess)

Can't find an IEM feed of Adam's, perhaps it's just the cash register loop from Money

Ha.

I imagine all the guitar delay alone makes in-ear count-offs and the like pretty important. Factor in visual cues and running around and it could be a disaster without guidance. Playing arenas is probably the least ideal set-up for any band, let alone one defined by the sound of guitars echoing around.

Anyway, those in-ear monitors intercepts are cool. Here's one I just found with the Red Hot Shitty Peppers, from John's in-ear, which is funny, because it basically sounds like the band minus Kiedis and plus extra guitar and John vox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCKtaKmg6fs

If they are playing to a click the delays on the guitar will be simply tempo synched to the pulse, with Dallas Schoo or whoever under the stage punching between presets for each song and section of a song.

U2 touring "The Joshua Tree" in its entirety this summer. I like the album, but snooze of an idea, and also, they've picked what could be the lamest slate of opening acts (like they need one) imaginable: Mumford & Sons, Lumineers and OneRepublic.

I would be excited for this if it was "U2 tours the first side of The Joshua Tree"

Silly idea, shows a complete lack of faith in their new material, please call it a day.

in fairness, have you heard their new material?

Yes. I'd have a complete lack of faith in it, too!

Each set will be twenty versions of "Trip Through Your Wires" and then they leave without acknowledging the crowd.

haha that would be awesome

Tbf, their last tour leaned very heavy on the new album nobody wanted. Like, 7 or 8 songs, I think. So they have faith in their new material, I think they just currently lack new material. Bono's got to eat, and Edge has to keep up those Malibu estate payments.

have they done the same thing with "Achtung Baby" or is it the first time they do that kind of things ?
If so, I predict numerous tours in the coming years !

when did this trend of playing only one album during a tour start ?
The first example I have in mind is Brian Wilson/Pet sounds but maybe it was done before...

I mean, not in the case of bands or artist who only have one album or just play the latest released album, of course !
I mean play an older album with all the tracks in the same order, etc.

they've picked what could be the lamest slate of opening acts (like they need one) imaginable: Mumford & Sons, Lumineers and OneRepublic.

Here's who they had (at various stops) on the original Joshua Tree tour: Lone Justice, The Pretenders, Big Audio Dynamite, UB40, Little Steven, The BoDeans, Mason Ruffner, World Party, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Spear of Destiny, The Waterboys, Hurrah!, Los Lobos, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Pogues, The Alarm, The Silencers, and Lou Reed.

I was just thinking the other day about how they had Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Primus open for them on the Achtung Baby tour.

public enemy and the sugarcubes opened the dodger stadium achtung baby show i saw

xps: the one time i saw them, which was on the tour before that, we got the gloriously dirgesome Belfegore

Heh, there's an air of "let's not pick a support act that's going to show us up" about those selections. U2 clearly don't want to end up on ILM's "blew off the stage" thread.

The first big concert I ever saw was The Joshua Tree tour in Philly, at the Spectrum, in 1987, I think. Opening was some dude named Mason Ruffner.

xpost there he is, in your list! My man, Mason Ruffner.

Primus and Disposable Heroes opened the Achtung Baby stop I saw, iirc. I've subsequently seen PJ Harvey and Garbage open up for U2. The latter's amps blew up and they had the crowd sing along with Beatles songs while they replaced them, I think.

i saw the trompe-le-monde-era pixies; they did not blow U2 off the stage

http://tours.atu2.com/opening/this-heat

on the popmart tour in Chicago they had Fun Lovin Criminals open, which for a show in a football stadium was just a bit underwhelming.

not sure how this is much different than any other anniversary tour in recent years, cf underworld and springsteen or whoever. also i think the last album that everyone owns in virus format is actually vv good.

Wish I had seen them in Rotterdam with Einstürzende Neubauten opening

I saw them on the Joshua Tree tour. That was at their peak of popularity in the US. The problem with the show, as I recall, was that everybody in the arena sang along with every word at the top of their lungs, and it was hard to hear the actual band.

They sang 40 all the way to the parking lot, it was a little creepy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnxLhKfZ1x4

^ Talking about their one support date with U2

excited for bono updating the spoken-word bit in 'bullet the blue sky' for 2k17

Here's who they had (at various stops) on the original Joshua Tree tour: Lone Justice, The Pretenders, Big Audio Dynamite, UB40, Little Steven, The BoDeans, Mason Ruffner, World Party, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Spear of Destiny, The Waterboys, Hurrah!, Los Lobos, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Pogues, The Alarm, The Silencers, and Lou Reed.

Now there is a roster of Greenpeace compilation CD artists.

I saw them on the Joshua Tree tour. That was at their peak of popularity in the US. The problem with the show, as I recall, was that everybody in the arena sang along with every word at the top of their lungs, and it was hard to hear the actual band.

They sang 40 all the way to the parking lot, it was a little creepy.

― kornrulez6969, Monday, January 9, 2017 11:42 AM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I saw them on that tour too, the same week they were on the cover of Time. The crowd wouldn't shut up. Bono gave a lengthy introduction to Peggy Seeger's "Springhill Mining Disaster," and talked about the 1984-85 British miners strike. After the first verse, Bono said to the crowd, "Shut up for a second, willya? It's not the Beatles up here, it's just U2."

Ah, here it is, at 1:04:43
https://youtu.be/zviYtGNNWgs

Saw them once in 1993, Rotterdam, with Utah Saints as support act.