U2start.com | Anybody else here really miss Popmart?

Originally posted by PEDRO67:[..]

You are right about the bottle part although Pop was the end of a 3 album experimentation which totally changed the myth of U2. Perhaps by the time the 3rd leg started, they had taken it as far as they could and as Bono points out in U2 Live - the South American leg effectively saved the band such was their attitude at the time.

I dunno if they left their balls back then as such but I think the tour experience totally shot their confidence and has left a bit of a scar on them.

The Pop era is looked upon with great fondness amongst the fans (myself included) but I doubt the band look upon it the same way.

unfortunately for me that 3 album experimentation was the reason i became a U2 fan. i loved war, the joshua tree and UF as a young kid then kind of lost all interest in any kind of music at the same time as the AB/zooropa/ZOOtv era, then i was watching the chart show one day in 1995 and the video for HMTMKMKM came on and i was totally BLOWN AWAY by it. as far as i was concerned U2 made music like streets, WOWY, ISHFWILF etc etc and i actually couldn't believe this was the same band!?!? so from that point onwards i was totally intrigued as to how they had gone from making the music i had loved as a kid to this. i went to the bookshop and looked at the first U2 book i could find and saw all these photos of bono dressed up as the devil and the fly and the zootv stage and the trabants and larry singing and my brain went into overload. so from that day i pretty much became the biggest U2 fan possible, bought every album, every video, subscribed to propaganda magazine and eagerly awaited their new album and tour. i remember listening to songs like mofo and miami and feeling scared and freaked out but in a totally good way. music that can do that to me is a rare and precious thing

fast forward a few years to ATYCLB and at the time i thought it was a refreshing change that they had made a 'back to basics' album and tour.. but then after HTDAAB which i wasn't really keen on at all i began to realise that it wasn't the same band i loved anymore.. the music didn't come close to freaking me out anymore and i just find it safe and predictable..

how i miss those days..

u2spear

14 years

Wow nice story, I agree with the safety thing...
What gets me is how U2 can change in 10 years and how they can stay the same for 10 years,

In 10 years: 1987-1997
Joshua Tree: Country/Rock/Acoustic/Folk
Achtung Baby + Zooropa: Mishmash of genre and ideas
Passengers: Ambient and daring
Pop: Crazy mix of everything

compared to
2000-2010
ATYCLB: Back to basic - soft rock
HTDAAB: Same
NLOTH:Same

Change your music style please.... or bring back a change to the setlist

KieranU2

14 years

I would like the experimentation that they done in the 90s back. It was brilliant. Ok, Pop wasn't perfect but most of it was outstanding.

I want experimentation back!

Macphistfly

14 years

I'm good friends with a man who photographed ZOOTV quite extensively for the band.
I asked him "did you ever get to Photograph Popmart?" He replied "oh, God no. That tacky mess?"

I was unaware of this, but apparently my lips tightened and my eyes flared.

ric

14 years

Originally posted by u2spear:Wow nice story, I agree with the safety thing...
What gets me is how U2 can change in 10 years and how they can stay the same for 10 years,

In 10 years: 1987-1997
Joshua Tree: Country/Rock/Acoustic/Folk
Achtung Baby + Zooropa: Mishmash of genre and ideas
Passengers: Ambient and daring
Pop: Crazy mix of everything

compared to
2000-2010
ATYCLB: Back to basic - soft rock
HTDAAB: Same
NLOTH:Same

Change your music style please.... or bring back a change to the setlist

yeah that sums things up pretty well unfortunately.... i was especially p*ssed off when i first listened to NLOTH after being promised that U2 had returned to experimentation.. its no more experimental than the two albums before it!!! (ie not at all) ok eno might have added a few weird sounds here and there but there was no miami's or mofo's on there.. not by a long way.

and macphistfly thats such a weird thing for a photographer to say!?!

i'dve thought popmart would be a photographers dream!? i've actually got a load of professionally shot prints from popmart Leeds and they are amazing! i might get round to scanning them one day and putting them up on here..

for now though you'll just have to make do with my pretty average snapshots

ric

14 years

Originally posted by KieranU2:I would like the experimentation that they done in the 90s back. It was brilliant. Ok, Pop wasn't perfect but most of it was outstanding.

I want experimentation back!

they're not even willing to play any pop or zooropa material (apart from the acoustic stay) at all live so i doubt they have the guts to make another album like that unfortunately...

it really does seem that the days of experimentation are truly over

mikewazowski

14 years

well, I think we have to look at it from u2's point of view.
They're at a totally different age now, they've done the whole extreem experimenting thing and they are obviously NOT happy with popmart and the whole POP thing 13 years later.
I think they are a much more stable and grownup band these days who still surprise me at times...
So no, I don't want popmart....I don't want 50 year old guys going off in weird costumes and travelling in a fruit.
I like the current strong approach to making quality music without loosing themselfs in weird ideas.

Janus02

14 years

I miss POP, I miss ZOO and I miss the 80's. We are getting old.................

RememberEveryMoment

14 years

Originally posted by mikewazowski:well, I think we have to look at it from u2's point of view.
They're at a totally different age now, they've done the whole extreem experimenting thing and they are obviously NOT happy with popmart and the whole POP thing 13 years later.
I think they are a much more stable and grownup band these days who still surprise me at times...
So no, I don't want popmart....I don't want 50 year old guys going off in weird costumes and travelling in a fruit.
I like the current strong approach to making quality music without loosing themselfs in weird ideas.

whaha, that made me laugh 'cause they actually were! the idiots

But seriously, if we were in 1997 right now and this friday leg 3 would kick-off we would SERIOUS cock about the setlist. SO.

AllBecauseOfU2

14 years

Originally posted by mikewazowski:well, I think we have to look at it from u2's point of view.
They're at a totally different age now, they've done the whole extreem experimenting thing and they are obviously NOT happy with popmart and the whole POP thing 13 years later.
I think they are a much more stable and grownup band these days who still surprise me at times...
So no, I don't want popmart....I don't want 50 year old guys going off in weird costumes and travelling in a fruit.
I like the current strong approach to making quality music without loosing themselfs in weird ideas.

Agreed for the most part. I think since this is the first stadium tour they've done since Popmart, there's naturally going to be comparisons with it moreso than Elevation or Vertigo, and I thnik they probably want to avoid that - not because they thought Pop/Popmart was a failure, but because they never want to repeat themselves.

I miss Popmart for Popmart itself - the Pop songs, the setlist, etc. I don't miss Popmart because of the lack of Pop songs on the 360 Tour.

mikewazowski

14 years

Originally posted by AllBecauseOfU2:[..]

Agreed for the most part. I think since this is the first stadium tour they've done since Popmart, there's naturally going to be comparisons with it moreso than Elevation or Vertigo, and I thnik they probably want to avoid that - not because they thought Pop/Popmart was a failure, but because they never want to repeat themselves.

I miss Popmart for Popmart itself - the Pop songs, the setlist, etc. I don't miss Popmart because of the lack of Pop songs on the 360 Tour.

well, actually, they've done a lot of stadium shows during the Vertigo tour, only in America the production was moved indoors.
That time around the stage had far more resemblance to the Popmart setting then the 360 tour.
I think POP songs aren't played anymore simply because the popmart and POP area had it's own mindset that pretty much expired after 1998. Those songs just aren't relevant to them anymore.

Macphistfly

14 years

Makes me miss it more than anything.

The sheer absurdity, the huge (mirror) balls they had back then, to pull that off.

The vibrance.

Willie Williams is right, everyone else is wrong.
When U2 are finished this tour will be remembered best.

Anybody else here really miss Popmart?

what they said

did you know

you

forums

U2start