Classic or Dud: U2

please god let us all live that long

haha i love the constant monocle adjusting that goes on whenever a popular old band decides to play shows featuring songs that a lot of people love and will enjoy....it's so sad really, they should have a little moral fibre and play b-sides from the how to dismantle an atomic bomb era

who gives a shit? they seem like they are probably still good live, there's a lot of ppl who would like to hear the joshua tree live what's the harm?

when I saw them at the Elevation tour's opening date in Ft Lauderdale, PJ Harvey was supposed to open; it was why I bought tickets. But strep throat forced U2 to replace them with...the Corrs.

Cor!

I sympathize, but Jon Pareles' review of the Joshua Tree tour redux reads like a robot wrote it. On the other hand, it concludes with this:

The band couldn’t let that energy go; Bono impulsively called for an oldie, “I Will Follow,” U2’s first single. Bono urged the crowd to take the roof off, but this was U2’s longtime habitat, a stadium. There was no roof.

Which maybe is meant to be sort of portentous? But I think it's hilarious.

I'm giving All That You Can't Leave Behind a listen now for the first time in years and while the singles jog memories of the years 2000-2001, I can see why I don't listen to this more often - it's more than a bit dull.

Not to mention that I'm 9 tracks in and I've already heard 'The Sun Always Shines On TV' ('Beaitiful Day'), 'Here Comes Your Man' ('Walk On'), Bon Jovi's 'Always' ('Kite'), an outtake from a shit late-period Stones album ('In a Little While') and just general shittiness ('Peace on Earth') ...

'When I Look at the World' is underrated, tho.

*'Beautiful Day', rather.

('New York' is underrated too, and possibly the best track on the LP. Sounds like it would have been more at home on Zooropa ... just needs more swirly FX.)

you could craft one of their best albums out of the tracks from the tail end of their last 4 LPs.

these songs have all made zero impact on the U2 fanbase but they'd make a good playlist. none of them go beyond mid-tempo(ish), most are slower mood pieces or odd tracks they would never play live.

Breathe
Cedarwood Road
New York
This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now
FEZ (Being Born)
White As Snow
One Step Closer
When I Look At the World
Grace
The Troubles
Cedars of Lebanon

Ready your barbs, new album imminent, new song circulating in some form. Sounds different from what I would expect from them, kind of generic alt rock maybe?

https://www.facebook.com/u2/videos/10155989836631686/

This one's... uh... Songs of Incontinence, wasn't it?

like with the pre-release of their Invisible track, i aint taking this on face value.

i loved Invisible and had high hopes for a lot more of the same kind of groove (i.e. the minimal electro drums), and we all know how that turned out.

Reports that edge in particular is v concerned about opinions itt

Oh god is my iPhone safe?

The Edge? More like the Dull!

"You're The Best Thing About Me"

1. Zooropa
2. Achtung Baby
3. Boy
4. The Joshua Tree
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. War
7. Pop
8. All That You Can't Leave Behind
9. October
10. Rattle and Hum

11. the rest

pretty much OTM. I might have Unforgettable Fire ahead of Joshua Tree but why quibble?

I listened to Boy a couple of nights ago and it blew me away how punchy and fresh it sounded.

glad to see POP in the list.
for all the crap that is thrown at the album (incl. from the band themselves), i still really enjoy it.

I think that Pop had the potential to be one of their best but they cocked it up during the recording... I really like 'Discotheque', 'Do You Feel Loved', 'MOFO', 'The Last Night on Earth', 'Gone', 'Staring at the Sun' and 'Please' and weirdly for all of Pop's flaws I don't like the attempts at remixing the tracks anywhere near as much as the ones that made the LP.

as you say, something was not right. it sounds muddy.
there is no clarity in the mix at all for Discoteque.
i wouod suggest that a good straightforward remaster/remix to seperate the instrumentation would reawaken several of the tracks, but i think the band have disowned this album, so we just have to put up with it as it is.

I think they've gone off the LP, which is a shame because there's a lot of great material on it and it would have been amazing if the production had been more OTM - maybe they would have carried on in this direction. A lot of potential new directions opened up on Achtung Baby, Zooropa and the Passengers LP, and it would have been great if they'd explored more.

They seem to regard the tour as being one of their best, at least presentation wise.

A lot of potential new directions opened up on Achtung Baby, Zooropa and the Passengers LP, and it would have been great if they'd explored more.

as i am sure i have said elsewhere, i came onboard at AB and so have always preferred this era.
at times NLOTH revisited the same kind of groove for me hence why i rate that one highly.
still working on the new album.
always takes a few weeks before i either get fed up, or i succumb.
at the moment, it's looking like the latter.

Fucking hell, Bono.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42502453

U2 frontman Bono has criticised what he says is a lack of rock and roll in today's music.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the singer said: "I think music has gotten very girly.

"And there are some good things about that, but hip-hop is the only place for young male anger at the moment - and that's not good."

He added that one of his sons, Elijah, "believes that a rock and roll revolution is around the corner".

And the singer said he agreed with his son that the genre "will return".

stfu bono

"When I was 16, I had a lot of anger in me. You need to find a place for it and for guitars, whether it is with a drum machine - I don't care.

looool. I love that that's where he draws the line.

"Lady GaGa stole this music...we're stealin' it back!"

Bono is a knob but not quite sure why this is so offensive - the word 'girly' or a misunderstanding over his comment about hip-hip?

yes "girly" as a pejorative, because there are a lot of women making great rock music right now and the idea that male anger is somehow underrepresented in rock music or the world in 2017 is fucking ridiculous

The drummer from Shed Seven isn't in agreement

Yes @U2's Bono is a top cunt, but fuck me, if you can't use the word "Girly" anymore to describe something as a bit sissy. In the name of.....

— Alan Leach Shed7 (@AlanShed) December 28, 2017

BONO PLEASE JUST GO THE FUCK AWAY

The most generous interpretation of the hip-hop line: "that's not good" meaning that hip-hop shouldn't be the only genre through which young men express anger. But I'm not feeling generous, and fuck Bono for "girly."

Is this the same Shed Seven drummer who said girls couldn't be drummers in the 90s?

It's also remarkably immature to be in your fifties and still be obsessed with expressing anger

The same Alan Leach who declared in one of the weeklies that ALL female drummers were inferior to him

Xp lol sorry

Boner, Stink, please just go retire together in Tampa

I think it's the same Alan Leach who claimed the band name stemmed from his losing his virginity to his own dad in a shed, aged 7

Good band, lots of good songs

Shed Seven is terrible

Better than U2 though, and I've never heard them.

I don't know what's so special about electrified guitars. If you're a male with male rage, playing drums is a much better outlet anyway.

buddy rich was pretty angry