EXP
Active topics
2015-07-31 - New York
 Tour: Innocence and Experience tour
Songs played: 27
Audio recordings: 1
  1. Originally posted by dylbagz:[..]
    Unfortunately the crowds (age, fan status, atmosphere, enthusiasm and energy levels) on this tour are a lot different to those 23 years ago.. Most of the crowd doesn't know a single word until Sunday Bloody Sunday.
    Is it a younger crowd? I find these days younger crowds (no offense to some) are harder to entertain. They have the spoils of technology vying for their attention 24/7 and are harder to please.

    While the older folks and casual fans (especially in places like NY and LA) are there to be part of the "in-crowd". They can say they were there, snap a selfie for proof and off to the beer line they go. Or they are there for the hits (see set 2 )

    To me, so far the 1st set has been the highlight of the tour. The new stuff mixed with the roots... But this is where we here differ from the minions, I guess.

  2. @dylbagz: Maybe true, but if you're wanting "better atmosphere" AND the band to play more rarities and/or rotate some more new songs, then even less people will know them and be singing along, right?
  3. im a little scared to be honest
  4. Originally posted by bpt3:@dylbagz: Maybe true, but if you're wanting "better atmosphere" AND the band to play more rarities and/or rotate some more new songs, then even less people will know them and be singing along, right?
    Can they any less. The crowd doesn't sing along to any new song except every breaking wave and a little of the miracle. They don't know iris from acrobat. Wouldn't make a difference to play California or heartland at song 14. The place would be just as dead, the casuals wouldn't know it and the other fans would be having strokes.
  5. Two Hearts Multicam!

  6. Originally posted by dylbagz:[..]
    Can they any less. The crowd doesn't sing along to any new song except every breaking wave and a little of the miracle. They don't know iris from acrobat. Wouldn't make a difference to play California or heartland at song 14. The place would be just as dead, the casuals wouldn't know it and the other fans would be having strokes.
    you really believe they wouldnt know iris
  7. Originally posted by blueeyedboy:[..]
    Is it a younger crowd? I find these days younger crowds (no offense to some) are harder to entertain. They have the spoils of technology vying for their attention 24/7 and are harder to please.

    While the older folks and casual fans (especially in places like NY and LA) are there to be part of the "in-crowd". They can say they were there, snap a selfie for proof and off to the beer line they go. Or they are there for the hits (see set 2 )

    To me, so far the 1st set has been the highlight of the tour. The new stuff mixed with the roots... But this is where we here differ from the minions, I guess.



    The other night in ga, about ten people back from the front, I was surrounded by middle aged people mostly. I counted, in the miracle, the six people directly in front of me videoing with their phones and looking through the screens the whole song. It's annoying to just have to try and see the band through the field of phones, let alone having to see them there on Facebook halfway through iris!
  8. Originally posted by dylbagz:[..]
    Unfortunately the crowds (age, fan status, atmosphere, enthusiasm and energy levels) on this tour are a lot different to those 23 years ago.. Most of the crowd doesn't know a single word until Sunday Bloody Sunday.
    Hopefully we will get a more lively, engaged crowd in certain European stops. U2 are still big on the continent. Like, mainstream big. Not viewed as dinosaurs and despised to their very mortal core like they are in the UK (and perhaps the US).

    It's a little disheartening that I even have to say that, but it's true.
    Example: Remember a couple of days ago when Bono called The Beatles Irish? A news story on that speech is up to a thousand scathing comments in a prominent British newspaper. Bono is the only man more hated in the UK than David Cameron.

    Sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent at the end there...
  10. Originally posted by dylbagz:[..]
    Can they any less. The crowd doesn't sing along to any new song except every breaking wave and a little of the miracle. They don't know iris from acrobat. Wouldn't make a difference to play California or heartland at song 14. The place would be just as dead, the casuals wouldn't know it and the other fans would be having strokes.
    Fair point about casuals not knowing the difference in rotation...but from U2's point of view: do we want to play rarities that most casual fans won't recognize on the E stage, or play hits like Elevation to please the masses, while also continuing to believe in our new material, like Ordinary Love? (Admittedly, kind of disappointing that Cali, Crystal Ballroom, and Lucifer's Hands haven't been rotated more as new material. I saw both TCB and LH in Chicago though, and don't really like Volcano all that much, so I won't complain here.)

    Are your crowds in NYC really that bad, though? I understand the criticism of some American audiences being too distracted by their phones to really live in the moment, but at the two Chicago shows I went to the atmosphere was incredible.
  11. my friend is american she probably went to the show if shes super fast enough to get tickets that is
    not everybody is fortunate enough to get good tickets
    so why block the view with your phone etc
    its the young crowds' who want to show off to their mates
    where they have been on social media
    who know none of the new songs
    my friend says show knows' tons of them around her like that
    its frightening really
    and i think of me at home all sick in bed
    who would love to go see u2
    but cant bc of issues
  12. Originally posted by bpt3:[..]
    Fair point about casuals not knowing the difference in rotation...but from U2's point of view: do we want to play rarities that most casual fans won't recognize on the E stage, or play hits like Elevation to please the masses, while also continuing to believe in our new material, like Ordinary Love? (Admittedly, kind of disappointing that Cali, Crystal Ballroom, and Lucifer's Hands haven't been rotated more as new material. I saw both TCB and LH in Chicago though, and don't really like Volcano all that much, so I won't complain here.)

    Are your crowds in NYC really that bad, though? I understand the criticism of some American audiences being too distracted by their phones to really live in the moment, but at the two Chicago shows I went to the atmosphere was incredible.
    They aren't bad crowds when the hits are on.. I just can't believe that so many people can come to a U2 concert and know so few songs!
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Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.