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2018-05-22 - Chicago
 Tour: Experience and Innocence tour
Songs played: 26
Audio recordings: 1
  1. Originally posted by eddiemonsoon:[..]


    this tour currently stands at 30 songs so according to u2 gigs

    boy 20, october 26, war 28, unforgettable fire 31, not bad considering the number of songs they had available to them at each point. so what's their excuse now? oh yes laziness.

    let's continue for a few tours
    JT 44
    zoo 54 (apparently you don't think 24 constitutes more setlist variation)
    Pop (so neither will) 56 then

    this band is finished accept it. accept that some of you will never see shows with the passion that those of us who attended 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87 did stop trying to defend them and the impact livenation has had on them and most of all stop trying to rewrite history.

    Those of us who are enjoying following the tour and who are excited to see it in person (like me tonight in Chicago) are not trying to "rewrite history". Nor am I, at least, trying to "attack" you or anyone with a negative opinion of the band's current status with pitchforks. So, respectfully, please stop just slinging mud. It doesn't bother me one bit that you choose to express your opinion that the band is "finished". OK! Sorry you see it that way, but that's fine. However, when you say things like "stop trying to defend them", you're basically saying that anyone who is having fun with the fact that the band is still touring after 40 years, in support of new material, with an incredible production, with clear continuing passion for confronting the present insanity that has gripped America politically, and with the balls to play zero songs from their most famous album, is just wrong. Why can't we just see things differently than you?

    At the risk of dragging this out unhelpfully, I'd suggest you're missing the point with those stats from Zoo TV and PopMart. U2gigs includes songs like "Happy Birthday" and karaoke covers like "Daydream Believer", for one thing, in those totals. For Zoo TV, they had two albums over two years eventually included in the set. That would be like combining the song totals from I & E in 2015 and E & I in 2018. (And U2 used the same Zoo TV set up for Zooropa! Talk about lazy... ) Regarding PopMart, that tour settled in to a pretty consistent run of songs every single night after they dropped some of the Pop songs early on. Do you really think that different karaoke songs and a different abbreviated closer each night is that much better than what we're getting now?

    Again, this is not an "attack" in any way. U2 has always been a polarizing band, so I don't care if you think they've lost the plot and want to express that. I've expressed multiple times on here in other contexts how much I think Elevation & Vertigo were U2's lowest points, so clearly I am not just a fanboy unable to criticize the band. Can all of us just express those thoughts, either way, without trying to shut the other side up?
  2. Originally posted by ChicagoU2Fan:After the encore, it looked like GA didn't know if it was over... Not sure I really liked the show... There were some moments where I felt that B wasn't getting the fan engagement he expected - I was on the left side of the stage, first row in the balcony and GA seemed way more passive than Innocence (and, certainly WAY more so than JT)... B tried a few times to engage and, for the most part, the crowd eventually came around, but, not with the crazed response to which we're accustomed... Seems like the new material, while meaningful to them, hasn't found the same acceptance with the fan base... Too little time between release and tour?


    I’ve been getting the same vibe. I don’t think, for whatever reason, that the new album is connecting, and the shows are suffering for it a bit by comparison. (I’ve enjoyed the shows, I’m speaking generally from a fan-engagement standpoint.)

  3. Yeah and try looking at the total songs played each night. U2 are head and shoulders above the stones live.
  4. Originally posted by ChicagoU2Fan:After the encore, it looked like GA didn't know if it was over... Not sure I really liked the show... There were some moments where I felt that B wasn't getting the fan engagement he expected - I was on the left side of the stage, first row in the balcony and GA seemed way more passive than Innocence (and, certainly WAY more so than JT)... B tried a few times to engage and, for the most part, the crowd eventually came around, but, not with the crazed response to which we're accustomed... Seems like the new material, while meaningful to them, hasn't found the same acceptance with the fan base... Too little time between release and tour?
    I kind of called this a few weeks ago that I’m sure people will be confused at the end. Like “is that it?” It’s a terrible way to end the concert.
  5. Originally posted by lovesicktycoon:[..]


    I’ve been getting the same vibe. I don’t think, for whatever reason, that the new album is connecting, and the shows are suffering for it a bit by comparison. (I’ve enjoyed the shows, I’m speaking generally from a fan-engagement standpoint.)
    New material hasn’t connected since Vertigo tour tbh. I get they’re touring an album but they need to drop some new material. Or try the songs they aren’t playing from SOE, maybe those are the ones connecting and they don’t know it.
  6. Originally posted by MoFoNYR15:[..]
    New material hasn’t connected since Vertigo tour tbh. I get they’re touring an album but they need to drop some new material. Or try the songs they aren’t playing from SOE, maybe those are the ones connecting and they don’t know it.
    If they drop new material it'll just be replaced with MW, WOWY, AOH, etc.
    The one good thing this tour has is the courage of touring with new material, don't take that away too, as much as I dislike AS, Best Thing or GOOYOW.
  9. Originally posted by MoFoNYR15:[..]
    Damn that’s awesome. Assuming he’s not hurt of course. Ironic “I shouldn’t be here cuz I should be dead” as soon as falls
    I love that grin on his face, he clearly saw the irony of the moment.
  10. Stones set lasted 2 hours and 5 minutes... Not sure about the U2 set, but I guess it was about the same lenght. Anyway, it is just silly to judge a show by merely looking at the setlist. The whole point of these events is being there in person. It's supposed to be a physical experience rather than a desktop/armchair event.

    That being said, The Rolling Stones play Rock 'N Roll with Rock 'N Roll songs: what you see is what you get!
    U2 is currently doing a rather intellectual, narrative based rock show with lots of cunning videos and lots of shit to think about. It is challenging, to say the least.

    But both bands work hard and any assessment on the quality - not the quantity! - of their respective shows should be relative to each band's own history and performance. Matters of personal taste are, of course, irrelevant to general reviews.
  11. He introduced IWF as "I Will Fall". If that is not putting a brave face to adversity, I don't know what is it.
  12. Originally posted by BigGiRL:[..]
    Stones set lasted 2 hours and 5 minutes... Not sure about the U2 set, but I guess it was about the same lenght. Anyway, it is just silly to judge a show by merely looking at the setlist. The whole point of these events is being there in person. It's supposed to be a physical experience rather than a desktop/armchair event.

    That being said, The Rolling Stones play Rock 'N Roll with Rock 'N Roll songs: what you see is what you get!
    U2 is currently doing a rather intellectual, narrative based rock show with lots of cunning videos and lots of shit to think about. It is challenging, to say the least.

    But both bands work hard and any assessment on the quality - not the quantity! - of their respective shows should be relative to each band's own history and performance. Matters of personal taste are, of course, irrelevant to general reviews.
    I don't have an issue with the static setlist per-se. My issue is with the song choices they're doing.
    Yes, ZooTV and Popmart had the same static setlists, but you always had something to look for as the show progressed. There was always how Edge was going to do the solo of LIB, how Bono was getting his groove on Discotheque, Please was always a highlight, you never knew what shenanigans MacPhisto was going to do... the songs were just stronger.
    If they play the same Tulsa setlist night after night, at least we will have Wild Horses and LIBTAIIW to look for on the encore, or ABOY as a rarity in the first part.
    Now we don't have anything.
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