Good news for U2 fans..

[Sir Stewart]

 

One, despite being rehearsed leading up to the concert, missed a full tour show for the first time in the song's history, snapping a streak of 603 straight performances since opening night of ZOO TV on 29 February 1992.

 

Whoa.

Nice to see them playing Out Of Control out the gate.

[remphish1]

Wow...opening night...the Edge falls didn't see the Edge! http://www.nme.com/news/u2/85426

[Winston Legthigh]

I just want to see the Edge's bald head, so to speak.

[remphish1]

List of all songs confirmed to have been rehearsed

 

Let's conclude with a list of songs known to have been rehearsed across all sessions in Vancouver. We should issue a mea culpa: Volcano should not have been in our earlier lists. It was played over the PA by the band's crew, but we have had no more solid confirmation that it was played than one report early in the rehearsals period that the band did "everything" from Songs of Innocence. We are only counting songs cited directly, so it has been removed from our list.

 

New songs: California (There Is No End To Love), Cedarwood Road, Every Breaking Wave (full band and acoustic versions), Invisible, Iris (Hold Me Close), The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone), Ordinary Love, Raised By Wolves, Song For Someone, The Troubles.

 

Old songs: Angel Of Harlem, Bad, Beautiful Day, Bullet The Blue Sky, City Of Blinding Lights, Desire, Elevation, Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, I Will Follow, Magnificent, Miracle Drug, Moment Of Surrender, Mysterious Ways, No Line On The Horizon, One, One Step Closer, Out Of Control, Playboy Mansion, Pride, Running To Stand Still, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Sweetest Thing, The Electric Co., The Fly, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, The Hands That Built America, Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Until The End Of The World, Vertigo, Where The Streets Have No Name, and With Or Without You.

 

Total songs confirmed to have been rehearsed: 42.

 

Source: http://www.u2gigs.com/article988.html

The only song on this list that I would go oh sht awesome! Would be Trying to Throw Your Arms...I am so jaded..

[Analogman]

This is interesting:

 

 

 

It's worth noting that the group's innovative new sound system, which utilizes a series of speakers hung from the ceiling spread evenly throughout the venue, sounded absolutely amazing. Just about every other live act in history simply stacked their sound equipment near the stage and blasted it out across the entire house, almost deafening a chunk of the crowd in the process. This new approach results in far a cleaner, crisper, significantly less abrasive acoustics. It deserves to become the new standard.

 

 

I may have to check that out. (If this new sound can be heard on a Youtube video, that is. )

[Sir Stewart]

I watched a couple of YT clips from last night before reading that and didn't notice anything special. However, the whole idea of speakers throughout the venue makes sense and I hope it sounded as good as he is saying - is that from Rolling Stone? I mean they probably called The Edge's fall the most radical and innovative moment of any concert ever.

[Lammycat]

So wait. A rock star called "The Edge" falls off the edge of the stage? Doesn't get much better than that.

[Analogman]

I watched a couple of YT clips from last night before reading that and didn't notice anything special. However, the whole idea of speakers throughout the venue makes sense and I hope it sounded as good as he is saying - is that from Rolling Stone? I mean they probably called The Edge's fall the most radical and innovative moment of any concert ever.

 

Rolling Stone

 

I wonder why the show seems built around Bono's childhood? Or at least parts of it. 

[Sir Stewart]

That Iris clip makes it seem so - also the visuals makes me wonder if we're seeing a hybrid of the current dead homie hologram novelty in hip hop and the eventual situation we'll see when they start doing that for classic rock acts. The wall of screen where the crowd is basically watching a movie of the concert is the same principle as what screens have always done for rock concerts, but the entertainment value may be finally exceeding the 'wtf I'm watching a screen' factor. Not saying any of this is good or bad but it's probably good and bad.

[Analogman]

The one I saw had to do with him talking about his childhood bedroom. I don't know the new album enough to recall the what the songs are about yet.

[Sir Stewart]

Oh, Iris is about his ma.

[Analogman]

So is the song Lemon.

[u2roolz]

My thoughts on the tour so far: Well, thanks to current technology I was able to watch both Vancouver shows via Periscope and it was pretty awesome. I'd recommend stopping by atu2.com & u2gigs.com or U2intereference.com for setlist parties that will list links for Periscope streams. Vancouver night 1 was pretty good, but fell flat in the lifeless encore. Vancouver night 2 was all around much better and felt like a proper U2 show with an amazing group of songs in the encore. It's no surprise that last night's San Jose show was the best bits of U2's Vancouver shows except they resorted to the same encore from Van 1. They did this on the 360 tour and I expect them to really mix it up where cities have 3-8 shows. 

 

The Cons: for a band that loves to tout how they make the shows personal and close, well they lose points by performing 3 songs (1 song is actually just Bono) in a gigantic screen. It looks great the first minute, but completely disconnects the band from the audience. I 'm pretty sure on the first night if you had seats that weren't facing the screen, you couldn't tell where the band was during these 3 songs, but new manager Guy Oseary has been taking feedback from the fans while they wait in GA lines and added typical concert screens on opposite ends of the arena which was obstructed view before the change. 

 

Ending the show with I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For works much better on paper than in reality. Talk about going out on a dud. For some reason that whole Van 1 encore didn't work at all. After lackluster performances of CIty Of Blinding Lights & Beautiful Day, Bono continued to kill the mood by talking about the RED campaign and started to sing Mother & Son Reunion which then led into Where The Streets Have No Name. Fans are so used to Streets coming out of the prior song, so it feels a bit anti climactic. 

 

They really need to get better with mixing up the shows a lot more than just taking out 6 songs and replacing them with another 6 in fixed slots. Vancouver got 30 songs over 2 nights and The Edge claimed that they rehearsed close to 60 songs. U2gigs.com has the list at 42 from what was heard outside the arena. If you use the 6 for 6 formula over a 4 night run in one city, then you can get 42 songs. 

 

The first set seems too fixed to be mixed up, although they knocked out Out Of Control and slid in California early in the set for Van 2. From I Will Follow to Until The End Of The World feels set in stone. Maybe on a 3rd night they'd do Sunday Bloody Sunday the album version and not acoustic. Who really knows? All of this is speculation and looking back at how past tours unfolded. {on the 360 tour Mysterious Ways & Elevation wasn't played until 2 or so weeks into the tour, but In A Little While was played opening night.}

 

The narrative in the first set (Bono's mother's death, 1st love, terrorism in Ireland) seems to be such a focus, but it clearly gets dropped in the 2nd half of the show. 

 

You'd think by ending Van 1's main set with The Troubles & With Or Without You that that "uplifting" encore would work, but the problem was with the back to back placement of the aforementioned songs to begin with. It felt redundant, but I can see why they thought it would work. 

 

Van 1 & San Jose 1 both ended around 10:30ish. 

 

The Pros: the whole stage design looks amazing from pictures and Periscope streams. I can imagine it in person. 

 

I can't believe how much Rattle & Hum is being represented and that they're actually playing these songs full electric. Who knew that Desire, Angel Of Harlem and When Love Comes To Town would kick ass this early in the tour? They're actually sounding better than the tired Joshua Tree tracks except….

 

Bullet The Sky missed the whole 360 tour and it really came back with a ton of bite. The end rant recalls a mix of what was seen in the R & H film and from the Elevation tour where the focus was on gun violence. Definitely a high point of the show, especially coming out of a beautiful stripped down version of Every Breaking Wave. 

 

They've brought back that moment on the Zoo TV tour where Bono brings up a woman on stage during Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World and lets her film them for the screens. The Sweetest Thing in Van 1 worked pretty well, but for Van 2 it actually went out over on Meerkat during the B.B. King tribute of When Love Comes To Town. I think they repeated this again last night in San Jose for the same song. remphish1, I think they'll eventually bring it full circle and bring back Trying on a 3rd or 4th night. 

 

More to come later….

atU2 and U2gigs both have great YouTube channels. U2start & U2torrents have both Vancouver shows up. Amazing sound on both. I ran into an issue on Van 1 and have half the show due to a "file being broken" error message. 

[Analogman]

Thanks for posting. Maybe they'll break out Heartland (probably not).

[sleapman]

Great points above, U2roolz.

 

 I've seen U2 17 times (not bragging, just establishing a baseline) starting in 1987 and by far my biggest disappointment with them as a live act is their complete lack of spontaneity.  While their shows make look stunning visually, they are so programmed down to the minute that it rarely, if ever, allows the band to call an audible. And this has been the case since the Zoo TV tour.   I know U2 has to balance playing the hits/pushing their new album but they completely ignore entire albums/eras from their catalog.  Obviously this is their right, but after hearing some of the rumors of them changing their sets drastically, I am not too encouraged by the early returns on their setlists - i'd also argue the only reason they are playing When Loves to Comes to Town is to honor the dearly departed BB King - which is a nice gesture - but I am sure it will drop off the setlist soon.  Hopefully the longer runs in certain cities will unearth some rarely played tunes.

 

Every fan wants to hear "their" songs and it's all subjective - but if performers like Pearl Jam or Bruce can play 50-60 songs on a tour, I guess U2 could too.  I just don't think they want to.  

[u2roolz]

You're welcome, Analogman. I'd love to hear Heartland and I could picture them doing it at least once. Shit. They did do an on the cuff version of Hawkmoon 269 on the European Elevation tour once. 

 

Before I forget, if you're looking for tickets u2interference and atu2's forums have lots for face or below. 

 

sleapman, I've seen U2 16 times since the PopMart tour. I didn't go to both 360 shows when they came to Gillette Stadium around Boston. Speaking of which, I know that they think they have to save some songs for their supposed stadium tour next summer. This tour hasn't sold out completely. I don't see how they can tour again next summer. Yeah, a lot of areas were skipped over this tour (all of the south, I think), but it'd have to be 1 night in Gillette Stadium and MetLife Stadium. The US 2011 360 tour was a lot different with some nuggets (Zooropa, Hold Me, Thrill Me, All I Want Is You, Scarlet) that I'd kill to hear, but they never came back to Boston. They did drop most of the new album for what looked like a 20 year anniversary tribute to Achtung Baby by opening the shows with 4 straight songs from that album. 

 

They kept When Love Comes To Town in San Jose last night. I think they were surprised at how well it was received in Vancouver. 

 

To clarify Bono picking a woman out of the crowd, I should state that they're giving them a cell phone with Meerkat ready to go and not a video camera like Zoo TV. 

 

I love Pearl Jam for the reasons that you gave. I could picture U2 pissing fans off for playing 50-60 songs over a 4 night run AND an 8 night run. Do the math!! I'd be pissed if NYC 1 & NYC 3 had the same setlist. 

 

Sir Stewart, I'm actually glad that they're giving One a rest. It's only been played at 1 of the 3 shows. It's a different arrangement when it gets to the breakdown. I can see people ticked off if they went the night it wasn't played. 

[u2roolz]

OH! If anyone wants to try the Periscope thing I'll explain to you how to get it set up. It's easy. I didn't have it before the 1st Vancouver show and signed up in no time. 

 

If you're on your phone or computer, hit up the app store and download Periscope. 

It will ask you to link with your Twitter account. I didn't have a Twitter account and created one within a minute. 

I found a link that looked like Periscope.TV in the atU2 or u2Interference forum and clicked on it and it linked up in under a minute. 

You can search for links on Twitter with hash tags, but it's easier to see one posted in a forum. 

Yes, someone shut their phone off to enjoy the show like they should, but another link popped up which meant that it gave another perspective of the show. 

If you're on your phone, flip it to view it properly. If you're on your computer, click on Ctrl + Alt + left arrow or right arrow to move it properly. 

 

And U2.com Tweeted out their own link for 1 song for the link up where they pick someone out of a crowd. This was on Meerkat which is just as easy to setup. 

 

If you're on the east coast the shows start around 11:20 through 11:40. I'm not going to try this for every show, but I like the idea that I could. 

[Analogman]

I have hesitated for a while to post this here - but maybe I should. I lost my Mom two days after my birthday this past February and the first song that came to my mind was One Tree Hill. So that is what I posted on FB when I made the announcement. That song is about Greg Carroll, of course. But I figure it is for my Mom now.  I doubt I can ever stand to hear that song again.

[Sir Stewart]

Peace to you, A-man.

[u2roolz]

I'm sorry for your loss, Analogman. 

[Atticus]

Sorry to hear that.

[Analogman]

Thanks dudes. 

[remphish1]

I'm sorry for your loss, also.

[Winston Legthigh]

Condolences, Analogman.

[indy81]

Saw both shows in Phoenix and they were outstanding. The spectacle is jaw-dropping, but doesn't swallow up the band, in my opinion. There are plenty of songs where it's just the four guys playing, with the screen dark. And when they use the screen, it makes sense thematically. The new songs have a lot more kick than on the album. They're clearly still working out the setlist; both shows ended somewhat anti-climactically, and the second half of the show is too "greatest hitsy" for me (although I'm sure I was in the minority there). I'd like to see a couple more rarities. First 75 minutes are brilliant, though.

 

It's never going to be 1987-1993 again, but I've been seeing U2 for quite a while now, and the quality and intensity of performance, as well as the amount of thought put into their live shows has never significantly waned. Tickets aren't cheap, but I'd recommend going if you're a fan. You never know when you'll get another chance, especially in a relatively small venue.