Joshua Tree tour hits Vancouver - All discussions

Originally posted by Hoosier2012:...also, where the hell did Eeny Meeny Miney Moe come from? Lol.

Originally posted by Hoosier2012:So, I think the show generally has some flow and transition elements to be worked out, but I'm pretty confident that they'll do so in short order. I'm guessing Bono will loosen up, start talking more, start moving a little bit more, etc., as the tour goes on, too. (Also, they won't be trying to shoot promo video for the whole tour, so that might help with the general movement, too.)

The combination of songs they played is positively crazy to me, in the best way possible...even though we knew we were getting the full JT album. The fact that they played A Sort of Homecoming, a full MLK, Ultraviolet, and closed the show with a new song is ridiculous. (I still think they should play Pride before MLK and then use the organ from MLK to fade into the opening organ from Streets, but what do I know?)

Highlights for me were ASOH, MLK (it actually seemed like a substantive song last night, rather than a transition, as it's been in the recent past), Streets, One Tree Hill, Trip Through Your Wires (!!! I love that song), In God's Country, EXIT (I can't wait to see how he rips into Trump with that song in DC), Ultraviolet, and The Little Things That Give You Away. It seemed like a perfect way to end the show, which seems strange to say about a new song, but I think it really worked.

I used to think that 40 was the only proper closer for this show, but as I recall seeing someone say a few pages back, it would be weird for them to play all the old stuff, then play newer songs, then play Little Things, then revert back to 40. They're definitely trying to capture the trajectory of moving forward (and apparently trying to move past their last 3 albums, ha). (Although I think the only songs I really might have missed were Every Breaking Wave and City of Blinding Lights...I'd have loved to see what they could do for COBL with that incredibly screen.)

I was a bit let down by Red Hill Mining Town...which on its face seems a little greedy to say after hearing it for the first time since its release 30 years ago...but I think the lack of guitar really hurt it for me. I love Edge's guitar part in that song, and I really wanted to hear it. I hope they rethink how they play that song live. We'll see.

The only other two songs I was underwhelmed with last night were Miss Sarajevo and One. I watched the video this morning for Miss Sarajevo, though, and it grew a little on me. I'm still not sure that it would be my choice to put in that penultimate slot (like I said, I'd probably put COBL there, then play Every Breaking Wave, then close with Little Things), but it wasn't as bad as I initially thought in my 2:30 AM sleep-deprived state. (Worth it, though.) One lacks something without Bono playing guitar, but I also know that a lot of people think a U2 show isn't really a U2 show unless they play One, so...meh. Also, I wasn't disappointed with Bullet, but I think they could play it with a little more fire, like they did on the last tour. I think that one may come around as they keep playing, though.

Some of Bono's vocal choices were interesting--it definitely seemed to me like he was choosing to conserve his vocal power for when he really wanted to cut loose. I know he wants to conserve his voice for the whole tour, so that's not a bad thing, either. Starting to wonder if he's lost a little bit of power in his voice? Or if he's just warming up. We'll probably have to wait and see.

I'm not sure we'll get a whole lot of setlist variation from the non-JT slots, given how they seem to have paired the screen visuals with many of the songs in the setlist. Like I said, the one song I'd swap out is one of the songs they had the strongest visuals for (Miss Sarajevo), so I'm not sure it's going anywhere. (Also, what happened to the fan-submitted Ordinary Love thing? I guess I didn't submit a video, so I may have an idea, ha.) But they may surprise us. I guess we'll see. Also, since the setlist was pretty fantastic overall, I wouldn't really mind there not being too much variation.

Overall, I thought last night was a really good show (despite spending the last 4 paragraphs talking about things that I didn't necessarily love about the show, ha...I just figure that most of the good things have already been said). I'll be really interested to see how they alter the presentation and if they alter the setlist at all in the upcoming shows. And I can't wait to see the show in DC in just over a month!

Originally posted by u2_michaelc:[..]
not much to add you think bono maybe is actually trying to save his voice not just for this tour but actually trying to conserve it for the long term?

Originally posted by Bullet_Blue:[...]
About a future break-up, I'd prefer it to something like the current Stones - 70 years old and still touring the same songs.
If they don't have nothing more of interesting to say, it wouldn't make sense going on just for the money (and they don't even need it).

Originally posted by I_LIKE_U2:The new song sounds pretty good, but am I the only one that's a little nervous about them debuting it live? I'm afraid that if the song doesn't get the reaction they're hoping for they might lose confidence in it and go back to the drawing board yet again and push the album back even further.

I know everyone here is stoked to hear new stuff, but in general, people prefer to hear songs they already know at live shows so they can sing along and stuff. The chances of a new song getting an overwhelming reaction when played mostly for people who have never heard it are never great. Especially in this setting (a stadium tour for the 30th anniversary of one of there most revered albums), there's going to be a pretty big portion of casual fans in attendance that aren't going to care about hearing a new song. And the crowd was clearly way more into the main set than the last couple songs. But that's just the nature of doing something like this. That doesn't mean it's not a good song.

I don't know, it just seems like U2 get spooked easily if they don't think something they do is going to be the biggest thing in the world and it makes them take forever in finishing their records. And I sometimes feel like they're almost looking for any reason to start retooling stuff again.

Originally posted by georgemccauley:[..]
I thought Bono sounded excellent for the majority of the show, couple of hitches here and there but i'm sure he'll iron that out. Really want him to sing the italian part to Sarajevo, that makes it worthwile

Originally posted by popmarter:[image]
Is it 1987 all over again?digging the cowboy hat amazing start to the tour Exit was incredible ,going by the video's on YouTube they hit the ground running and will iron out any kinks in the next few gig's.

Originally posted by Hoosier2012:...also, where the hell did Eeny Meeny Miney Moe come from? Lol.