U2 'Songs of Innocence' Album // iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour 2015 Discussion

[ZoSoRose]

Bono fuck those people. This show is amazing. It's transformative bro. You and I rise above. You should BLack Sab and I in NYC. You down?

Bono, let's do this.

My favorite albums are Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, so I'm bummed there aren't a lot of deep cuts being played from those so far.

My favorite songs from the new album are also relatively absent- Every Breaking Wave, Volcano, Sleep Like A Baby Tonight, This is Where You Can Reach Me Now, and The Crystal Ballroom

I also am unsure with how I feel about the new stage. I know they are going for the intimate, scaled back thing. But its hard to really do that in an arena. The new screen does look cool, though.

Do I still love U2? Yes. Do I want to see this tour? Yes. Have I seen this tour to form my own opinion? No.

So yeah, they are just a few personal observations on my part based on what I see in the setlist and in videos and pictures

My favoruite is Achtung Baby too and I wish they'd throw the fans a bone and at leats akcnowledge the song Acrobat exists. Easily the most wanted song by fans simply because it's a great song and it's never been played live. Makes no sense. Last tour was great for Achtung Baby as they consitently played 6 songs from the album. I wish so badly they'd bust out Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses full band electric. But I'm afraid I'll never see that. Achtung baby has been treated pretty well since day one so I think they're trying to give some other albums some love..... but where's POP?

They need to dust off some deeper cuts from Joshua Tree for sure. God's Country and Exit would be AWESOME!

The stage is fantatsic. It 100% absolute makes the shows more intimate. Half the show is basically at one end the other half at the other end. Mix in all the stuff along the runway and the stage is fantastic. Even with out the screen it would be awesome. The sound is the best sound ever for arena shows so they've nailed the production aspect of it big time.

I don't think Sleep Like a baby tonight was ever an option to be honest. I'd like to hear it but I think the only place it would actually work would be as a closer. Which would be cool. The abscence of Volcano baffles me to this point. It would be a perfect follow up to Vertigo in my opinion. I have a feeling Crystal ballroom will make an appearance but maybe not till Europe. Every Breaking Wave is a regular and a main focus of the show. I'd like them to switch it up at some point though and play it more in the style of the album. As for This is Where You Can Reach Me Now..... I'm not sure I can see them playing it. Would be cool though. Volcano and Crystal Ballroom though definitely need to show up at some point.

All good points

I was very happy with the amount of Achtung Baby at the 360 show I saw. I'd LOVE to see Ultraviolet and Acrobat live at a show I attend one day, but I did see the album showcased at their Lansing gig in 2011.

Good to hear the stage setup really works in a live scenario, then. Hoping for more SoI songs and Joshua Tree deep cuts along the way.

I'm sure the set will be very different by the time they come my way next year

[Bono]

Just bought tickets to the November 3rd show in London, England at the O2 Arena. Also had the time off work approved today.

[Bono]

The Electric Co - San Jose, May 19th 2015

Bad - San Jose, May 19th 2015

[Carlos Castaneda]

Bono, what song is played on the loud speakers before beat on the beat?

[Bono]

Bono, what song is played on the loud speakers before beat on the beat?

Baby I Love You - The Ramones

Also on Beat on the Brat if you listen closely it's remixed with Discotheque and Even Better Than the Real Thing

Edited May 22, 2015 by Bono

[maynard]

Looks like Bono's voice is still great. Not hitting some high notes is not a big deal when the performance is energetic and the voice sounds good overall.

I miss seeing Bono with a guitar lol.

[Subtle Signs]

Come on guys, the Mofo snippet is cool but Pop deserves more love!

Exactly this. I'm not sure why they tend to all but ignore that album. Discotheque would be incredible to begin the 2nd half after Even Better Than the Real Thing or even to start the second half. Mofo would be cool too. The massive video screen is just begging for some songs from Pop.

They're playing 23-24 songs a night though and have consistently played 7 new songs a night sometimes 8. They've added WLCTT and have been playing some songs that haven't been played ina while like Out fo Control and Bullet the Blue Sky. Then they have to play some of the hits. For them it must be tough finding the balance . I read one review from San Jose and the guy complained they didn't play enough hits yet 14 of the songs were off Best of compilations and the majority of the others were new songs. Then I read on interference fans complaining they aren't playing enough new songs haha. They have 14 new songs they could possibly play and so far they've played 9 of them in three shows so.... there's always gonna be people who aren't happy.

I definitely think they need to show more love to POP and not just an acoustic version of Staring at the Sun. Discotheque. Mofo, Last Night on Earth, Gone, Please, etc etc. C'mon U2!! Man up.

They played those songs 18 years ago on the POP tour. I'm not sure if you are old like me or you were just too young to see that tour? Anyway,I love POP and that was my favorite u2 tour that I've seen live but asking them to bring back all of those songs from one of their least successful commercial albums is kind of unrealistic.

[Black Sabbath]

For a tour that was originally marketed as supposed to be more diverse due to the double night deal, asking them to bring back songs like that is not unrealistic.

[Bono]

Come on guys, the Mofo snippet is cool but Pop deserves more love!

Exactly this. I'm not sure why they tend to all but ignore that album. Discotheque would be incredible to begin the 2nd half after Even Better Than the Real Thing or even to start the second half. Mofo would be cool too. The massive video screen is just begging for some songs from Pop.

They're playing 23-24 songs a night though and have consistently played 7 new songs a night sometimes 8. They've added WLCTT and have been playing some songs that haven't been played ina while like Out fo Control and Bullet the Blue Sky. Then they have to play some of the hits. For them it must be tough finding the balance . I read one review from San Jose and the guy complained they didn't play enough hits yet 14 of the songs were off Best of compilations and the majority of the others were new songs. Then I read on interference fans complaining they aren't playing enough new songs haha. They have 14 new songs they could possibly play and so far they've played 9 of them in three shows so.... there's always gonna be people who aren't happy.

I definitely think they need to show more love to POP and not just an acoustic version of Staring at the Sun. Discotheque. Mofo, Last Night on Earth, Gone, Please, etc etc. C'mon U2!! Man up.

They played those songs 18 years ago on the POP tour. I'm not sure if you are old like me or you were just too young to see that tour? Anyway,I love POP and that was my favorite u2 tour that I've seen live but asking them to bring back all of those songs from one of their least successful commercial albums is kind of unrealistic.

Well obviously they played them 18 years ago. They are songs off the POP album and the tour was Popmart. How commercially successful SOI is absolutely irrelevant. Fact is this album got more press than the previous three albums combined. Did they have a hit single no? Are the new songs being sung along to by the people n the crowd? Yes. As for the Pop songs I'm not sure why you'd even remotely assume I sadi bring back ALL those songs. Nobody is saying that. What we are saying is it makes no sens eot ignore the Pop album completely. It would not be hard at al to play Discotheque and alternate a few of those other POP songs in and out of the setlist. For the record I'm probably old like you. I saw them live on Popmart tour also.

For a tour that was originally marketed as supposed to be more diverse due to the double night deal, asking them to bring back songs like that is not unrealistic.

Exactly. I know they've pulled back from the different sets for each night thing BUT like Black Sabbath says it's anything but unrealistic to ask them to bringa few Pop songs back. Even if they stuck to the singles, just acknowledge the album exists for crying out loud. The fans, hardcore and casual would love it if they played Discotheque. Imagine Bono pumping his fist in the air as he screams BOOMCHA! and then the crowd following suit.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Bono

[Bono]

Pro shot Song For Someone - supporting Red Nose Day in the United States. Anyone who says their new songs suck doesn't like music in my opinion haha.

Really good audio from opening night in Vancouver

Edited May 22, 2015 by Bono

[Gackt]

Longest setlist to date, near-identical to the May 19th show except for adding In God's Country and swapping One for ISHFWILF

1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)

2. The Electric Co.

3. Vertigo

4. I Will Follow

5. Iris (Hold Me Close)

6. Cedarwood Road

7. Song for Someone

8. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Acoustic)

9. Raised by Wolves

10. Until the End of the World

11. Invisible

12. Even Better Than the Real Thing

13. Mysterious Ways

14. Desire

15. In God's Country

16. Sweetest Thing

17. Every Breaking Wave (Acoustic)

18. Bullet the Blue Sky

19. The Hands That Built America / Pride (In the Name of Love)

20. Beautiful Day

21. Bad

22. With or Without You

23. City of Blinding Lights

24. Where the Streets Have No Name

25. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Edited May 23, 2015 by Gackt

[Bono]

Gackt is on top of it but still.......

Joshua Tree Deep Cut Alert!!!!!!!

They played In God's Country tonight. That's awesome. The setlists are pretty status quo though. Not much variation but it's nice to see some unexpected songs showing up. I guess I won't lose complete hope that one day they'll do Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses again...... and no it won't count if it's a shitty acoustic version haha

Edited May 23, 2015 by Bono

[Black Sabbath]

Pretty cool, but they played that on the 360 Tour a few times I think. Hope they start to dig a little deeper.. Trip Through Your Wires would be amazing

[Bono]

As for In God's Country It was kinda cool because they pulled a guy up on stage and he played acoustic guitar with them but the performance was some lazy paint by numbers soft acoustic version. Nobody needs or wants that to be honest.

But Dude at least wait 12 hours before you start saying "yeah but" to a deep cut and asking them to go deeper. Soak it in for five minutes at least haha!

I think that brings the total number of songs performed on this tour to 31 now.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Bono

[Black Sabbath]

I guess I'm just being hard to please because of how the tour was initially marketed, then they flipped that around, but I figured they'd go deeper than they are. Just a little frustrating

[Gackt]

If it was Red Hill Mining Town they played for a JT deep cut, then I'd have gotten excited and really optimistic

[Bono]

I guess I'm just being hard to please because of how the tour was initially marketed, then they flipped that around, but I figured they'd go deeper than they are. Just a little frustrating

I agree though. I don't understand why they chickened out on that idea. I mean pearl jam plays whatever the hell they want and it's not like people aren't going to their shows and they sometimes ignore their biggest hits. Often times actually. I don't get why u2 is so afraid to play a different set. They really do rely to heavily on a half dozen or so songs. Do we really need to hear With or Without You AGAIN? and pride?

[Gackt]

1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)

2. Out of Control

3. Vertigo

4. I Will Follow

5. Iris (Hold Me Close)

6. Cedarwood Road

7. Song for Someone

8. Sunday Bloody Sunday (w/ marching snare, semi-acoustic)

9. Raised by Wolves

10. Until the End of the World

11. Invisible

12. Even Better Than the Real Thing

13. Mysterious Ways

14. Angel of Harlem

15. When Love Comes to Town

16. Every Breaking Wave (acoustic)

17. Bullet the Blue Sky

18. Pride (In the Name of Love)

19. Beautiful Day

20. With or Without You

21. Miracle Drug

22. Where the Streets Have No Name

23. One

I wish the band still did the Stories for Boys snippet during Vertigo otherwise a rather ordinary night for this tour, five nights in California next

Edited May 24, 2015 by Gackt

[Carlos Castaneda]

Set list bitching. It never goes away. Pearl Jam have an entirely different fan base. PJ's fan base is unique to rock bands. The shows are still magical. The people who say they would see the show of the set list were varied are full of it. They don't have the true grit. I think Volcano is being held back to eventually supplant Cedarwood. Volcano could have some real cool screen images. I'm really curious which city gets the DVD show. I have never seen one and I really want to attend a DVD show.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Carlos Castaneda

[Black Sabbath]

I'm so critical of the setlist because of the stuff I recently expressed. How the tour was marketed and then they went back on that and honestly, aside from small rotations, the setlist has been fairly static. U2 are still in my Top 5 bands and I'm going to at least see one show, but with the multiple night deal, they know diehards are going to be at multiple shows and there are going to be casual fans at the shows. That's how it is for any band really, even Pearl Jam. U2 could play 5 or less "rare" or "deep cut" tracks and no one would be upset. Hell, there are probably tons of casual fans who don't even know Until The End of the World or One.

So that's why I'm critical of the setlist. It's still a strong setlist, but I still don't like how they chickened out of their initial idea behind the touring idea, and I think and know that they're capable of playing an even better setlist.

[Bono]

I'm so critical of the setlist because of the stuff I recently expressed. How the tour was marketed and then they went back on that and honestly, aside from small rotations, the setlist has been fairly static. U2 are still in my Top 5 bands and I'm going to at least see one show, but with the multiple night deal, they know diehards are going to be at multiple shows and there are going to be casual fans at the shows. That's how it is for any band really, even Pearl Jam. U2 could play 5 or less "rare" or "deep cut" tracks and no one would be upset. Hell, there are probably tons of casual fans who don't even know Until The End of the World or One.

So that's why I'm critical of the setlist. It's still a strong setlist, but I still don't like how they chickened out of their initial idea behind the touring idea, and I think and know that they're capable of playing an even better setlist.

Pretty much. They could be tossing in a few bones for the hardcore fans every night and it wouldn't hurt the show. I mean seriously how many casual fans know Invisible or MIracle Drug and those two songs are opening the second set and the encore. Although I highly disagree that there are many casual fans showing up to the shows who don't know One.

I wish the band still did the Stories for Boys snippet during Vertigo otherwise a rather ordinary night for this tour, five nights in California next

That was awesome. Just gave it that extra punch. I loved how you thought they were done the song then Stories for Boys comes in and then BOOM back inot the vertigo outro. It was awesome!

Set list bitching. It never goes away. Pearl Jam have an entirely different fan base. PJ's fan base is unique to rock bands. The shows are still magical. The people who say they would see the show of the set list were varied are full of it. They don't have the true grit. I think Volcano is being held back to eventually supplant Cedarwood. Volcano could have some real cool screen images. I'm really curious which city gets the DVD show. I have never seen one and I really want to attend a DVD show.

I don't think Cedarwood Road is ever coming out of the set this tour. It's too important to the theme of that section of the setlist. Plus it sounds great live and I'm not even a big fan of it. I think it's my least favourite song on the album. What I'd like to see is them slide Volcano in after Vertigo and I'd like them to start opening the encore with California

Here's my dream scenario for this tour:

Opening:

The MIracle

Vertigo

Volcano

Out of Control

The Electric Co.

I Will Follow

Encore:

California

Ultraviolet

Where the Streets Have No Name

Love is Blindness w/ Sleep Like a Baby Tonight lyric snipets at the end.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Bono

[Carlos Castaneda]

I would live to see Kite make the set list permanently.

[Carlos Castaneda]

I'm so critical of the setlist because of the stuff I recently expressed. How the tour was marketed and then they went back on that and honestly, aside from small rotations, the setlist has been fairly static. U2 are still in my Top 5 bands and I'm going to at least see one show, but with the multiple night deal, they know diehards are going to be at multiple shows and there are going to be casual fans at the shows. That's how it is for any band really, even Pearl Jam. U2 could play 5 or less "rare" or "deep cut" tracks and no one would be upset. Hell, there are probably tons of casual fans who don't even know Until The End of the World or One.

So that's why I'm critical of the setlist. It's still a strong setlist, but I still don't like how they chickened out of their initial idea behind the touring idea, and I think and know that they're capable of playing an even better setlist.

Black Sab I don't think the tour was ever actually marketed as two distinct nights. I believe that was more of a discussion about the tour in a RollingStone article. I remember reading that article, but it was never set in stone. Initially, I was disappointed but the tour is awesome and the stage and their use of it is so unique that the set list is of no importance to me. I'll be curious what happens at MSG with the 8 nights.

[Bono]

The tour may never ahve been officially marketed as that but Bono and Co. sure did enough to imply it. Staing numerous times they wanted the two nights to have completely different feelings, statijng that was why they booked the shows in pairs, naming the tour iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE itself suggests two different shows. Especially when it teases at the next album.

So yeah the show may not have officially been marketed that way but U2 definitely wanted people to think that was the case.

[Bono]

The tour may never ahve been officially marketed as that but Bono and Co. sure did enough to imply it. Staing numerous times they wanted the two nights to have completely different feelings, statijng that was why they booked the shows in pairs, naming the tour iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE itself suggests two different shows. Especially when it teases at the next album.

So yeah the show may not have officially been marketed that way but U2 definitely wanted people to think that was the case.

Black Sab I don't think the tour was ever actually marketed as two distinct nights. I believe that was more of a discussion about the tour in a RollingStone article. I remember reading that article, but it was never set in stone. Initially, I was disappointed but the tour is awesome and the stage and their use of it is so unique that the set list is of no importance to me. I'll be curious what happens at MSG with the 8 nights.

These types of cities is where they will switch thngs up I think. If they don't then it's really poor on their part. They can't go inot a place like NYC or LA or Chicago or even Montreal and play near identical shows 4-8 nights in a row.

I also think the tour will look different in the fall. My guess is Crystal ballroom shows up in Europe and maybe even Discothque