U2 innocence and experience tour (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

Resurrecting this thread because U2 began the next phase of this project - the new "Experience And Innocence" tour - last night in Tulsa.

The band played 27 songs (I wasn't there), including 13 which were played on the "Innocence And Experience" version of the tour. I was hoping for a bit more variety, but there were some good selections, including the long awaited live debut of the standout Achtung Baby track "Acrobat".

I'll be seeing this show in June and I'm obviously excited for it. Still, I can't help but feel that it's a missed opportunity to be repeating so much from their previous indoor show. This would be the first time in U2's career that one tour had substantially the same setlist and setpieces as the previous tour, and while I appreciate the symmetry of the two outings, I wish they had not been so intent on repeating themselves. I'm not expecting or requesting that they play a show entirely of obscure songs that only a handful of people will know; rather, they have so many huge hits that I'd just wish that they'd play some different huge hits from the last outing.

In general, the first half of the show is mostly the same from 2015, while the second half has the bulk of the changes. But the first half of the 2015 show was by far the better part of the show, so it may actually be more exciting to see that again in person than reading about it online might suggest.

 

[Osato]

Saw they played St. Louis the other night.

I rewatched the 360 blu ray last night. Great show.

It would be interesting to see them on this current tour as they are not playing any of the Joshua tree songs. I’m also glad that staring at the sun has returned.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Same stage as Innocence? The long screen they walked inside with a stage at each end? And the surround sound?
Same videos?
Any songs from the Experience album?

They won't hit Stockholm (or even northern Europe, AFAIK) this time, so I'll hope for the blu ...

 

[Osato]

Just saw that they are filming the last show of the tour:

https://www.atu2.com/news/willie-williams-u2-to-record-final-show-of-ei-tour.html

Cool that they are changing up the set list.

Hopefully more zoo tops and pop tracks make the set list. Some deeper cuts would be a cool way to end it. No Joshua tree please.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Agreed, you can never have too much Achtung
Noted they use the same stage as the previous tour, will probably be a great video.
Wonder about the set list though, how much will they change it from previous shows?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Average US (first leg) setlist for E&I 2018:

1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. The Blackout
3. Lights Of Home
4. I Will Follow
5. All Because Of You
6. Beautiful Day
7. The Ocean
8. Iris (Hold Me Close)
9. Cedarwood Road
10. Sunday Bloody Sunday
11. Until The End Of The World
(intermission)
12. Elevation
13. Vertigo
14. Desire
15. Acrobat
16. You’re The Best Thing About Me
17. Staring At The Sun
18. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
19. Get Out Of Your Own Way
20. American Soul
21. City Of Blinding Lights
(encore)
22. One
23. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
24. 13 (There Is A Light)


Average Europe (second leg) setlist for E&I 2018:
1. The Blackout
2. Lights Of Home
3. I Will Follow
4. Red Flag Day
5. Beautiful Day
6. Zoo Station
7. The Fly
8. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
9. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
(intermission)
10. Elevation
11. Vertigo
12. Even Better Than The Real Thing
13. Acrobat
14. You’re The Best Thing About Me
15. Summer Of Love
16. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
17. Get Out Of Your Own Way
18. New Year’s Day
19. City Of Blinding Lights
(encore)
20. One
21. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
22. 13 (There Is A Light)


I saw the tour in the US, and I think the European setlist is a tremendous improvement. The US 2018 show was far too close to the US 2015, which entire sequences of songs, video designs and banter remaining identical from one tour to the next. The European set corrects this.

 

[Osato]

Average US (first leg) setlist for E&I 2018:

1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. The Blackout
3. Lights Of Home
4. I Will Follow
5. All Because Of You
6. Beautiful Day
7. The Ocean
8. Iris (Hold Me Close)
9. Cedarwood Road
10. Sunday Bloody Sunday
11. Until The End Of The World
(intermission)
12. Elevation
13. Vertigo
14. Desire
15. Acrobat
16. You’re The Best Thing About Me
17. Staring At The Sun
18. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
19. Get Out Of Your Own Way
20. American Soul
21. City Of Blinding Lights
(encore)
22. One
23. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
24. 13 (There Is A Light)


Average Europe (second leg) setlist for E&I 2018:
1. The Blackout
2. Lights Of Home
3. I Will Follow
4. Red Flag Day
5. Beautiful Day
6. Zoo Station
7. The Fly
8. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
9. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
(intermission)
10. Elevation
11. Vertigo
12. Even Better Than The Real Thing
13. Acrobat
14. You’re The Best Thing About Me
15. Summer Of Love
16. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
17. Get Out Of Your Own Way
18. New Year’s Day
19. City Of Blinding Lights
(encore)
20. One
21. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
22. 13 (There Is A Light)


I saw the tour in the US, and I think the European setlist is a tremendous improvement. The US 2018 show was far too close to the US 2015, which entire sequences of songs, video designs and banter remaining identical from one tour to the next. The European set corrects this.

Thanks!

Do you think this is the final tour?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

No, but I think they’ll be going back to their normal 4-5 year wait before the next touring cycle.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Second setlist is way better, looking forward to the video release

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Second setlist is way better, looking forward to the video release

I agree, and I think the change in the setlist is why they're now planning to film another show in Europe. They had previously filmed shows in Washington DC earlier this year.

I know I see more shows than the average fan, but my complaint about the U.S. setlist had nothing to do with buying multiple tickets. My disappointment came when a substantial portion of the 2018 show was exactly the same as the 2015 show. Same songs, same ordering of songs, same between song banter, same visuals onscreen, same physical staging. For a band that's made it their mission to not repeat themselves, it was a stunning turn of event to be watching the exact same show again. I think it detracted from the show in a big way. The band seemed to be going through the motions and the performance wasn't as energetic; it's almost as if they felt locked into doing this without any clear reason for why. The audience grew restless during some of these segments. It felt like a lose-lose. The band seemed bored, the show suffered. I have no idea why they began the tour this way, and while I'm bummed that I saw the old setlist, I'm glad that they at least fixed it.

2018 was the first time in my history of U2 fandom that I had a ticket to a show and ended up not going. I was able to get it into the hands of a fan who needed it, so I'm glad that worked out, but it's the first time in more than twenty years of going to shows where I saw it one night and lost interest in seeing it again.

 

[DavidJ]

Josh, I will say I saw their opening show on the tour and it was my first time seeing them live (after missing out on previous shows for a variety of reasons). I didn't sense a lack of energy or pick up on the band lacking any motivation. I knew they weren't performing any material from The Joshua Tree, but it is my favorite album so I was a bit bummed not to have a song or two from it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw some footage from the earlier shows and I don't think they began the tour that way. I think the energy and performance was there on the first night. I think the malaise probably set in after the first couple weeks, when the band realized that they were stuck in a loop from three years ago.

Honestly, as much as I love this band, I think the Songs of Innocence / Songs of Experience albums and the two related tours have been a major missed opportunity for the band. I don't think the albums were bad, I don't think the shows were terrible, but there were parts that felt a little, umm, half-assed compared to previous efforts. I don't think it's entirely their fault as some of the causes were outside of their control, but in the end, I think this show fell short of the awesome potential that it had.

 

[Osato]

Josh, I will say I saw their opening show on the tour and it was my first time seeing them live (after missing out on previous shows for a variety of reasons). I didn't sense a lack of energy or pick up on the band lacking any motivation. I knew they weren't performing any material from The Joshua Tree, but it is my favorite album so I was a bit bummed not to have a song or two from it.

I wonder if there will be an anniversary Joshua tree tour film released at some point.

 

[Osato]

Side thought.

Will they expand the others albums as they did up to Joshua tree and achtung?

No zooropa expanded? Rattle and hum or pop expandedreissues on cd?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I wonder if there will be an anniversary Joshua tree tour film released at some point.

I think so. Anton Corbijn filmed three South American shows from 2017 for a potential release. I think they just didn't want it to come out while they were promoting Songs Of Experience, so we'll probably have to wait for the current tour to wrap up. Thinking that it could be targeted for the 2019 holiday season.

Will they expand the others albums as they did up to Joshua tree and achtung?
No zooropa expanded? Rattle and hum or pop expandedreissues on cd?

The band hinted earlier this year that they were working on something for Rattle & Hum. Technically it should have come out this year to be a 30th anniversary, but I'm thinking maybe we'll get something next year - heck, the Joshua Tree tour live film could be folded into this release.

For Zooropa, I'm not sure if there's a lot left to be released from that, since that whole album was a quick project assembled in part from Achtung leftovers. I'm hoping that there might be some kind of 30th anniversary ZooTV sorta thing, whether it's a live tour or deluxe release or who knows what. That wouldn't be until 2021-2023 depending on which part of the anniversary they wanted to hit, but I think it's possible we could get something then. A Joshua Tree Tour-type revisiting where Achtung was played in its entirety would be a huge thrill for me. And I think the band enjoyed the Joshua Tree 2017 run more than they expected, so who knows, maybe it'll happen. If you would have asked me before 2017, I never would have believed U2 would have done that.

 

[Osato]

I think so. Anton Corbijn filmed three South American shows from 2017 for a potential release. I think they just didn't want it to come out while they were promoting Songs Of Experience, so we'll probably have to wait for the current tour to wrap up. Thinking that it could be targeted for the 2019 holiday season.



The band hinted earlier this year that they were working on something for Rattle & Hum. Technically it should have come out this year to be a 30th anniversary, but I'm thinking maybe we'll get something next year - heck, the Joshua Tree tour live film could be folded into this release.

For Zooropa, I'm not sure if there's a lot left to be released from that, since that whole album was a quick project assembled in part from Achtung leftovers. I'm hoping that there might be some kind of 30th anniversary ZooTV sorta thing, whether it's a live tour or deluxe release or who knows what. That wouldn't be until 2021-2023 depending on which part of the anniversary they wanted to hit, but I think it's possible we could get something then. A Joshua Tree Tour-type revisiting where Achtung was played in its entirety would be a huge thrill for me. And I think the band enjoyed the Joshua Tree 2017 run more than they expected, so who knows, maybe it'll happen. If you would have asked me before 2017, I never would have believed U2 would have done that.

I loved seeing the last US leg of 360 in St. Paul, Minnesota. They played several achtung tracks to kick off the concert and the crowd loved it! That was the best U2 show for me. Zooropa tunes included too.

I bought the rose bowl 360 show. I also bought the expanded achtung on iTunes.
The last U2 album that I bought was How to dismantle an atomic bomb. 2004!

I heard the others though. I finally listened to songs of experience this summer. It was ok.

The album that really got me into U2 was Pop.
I wish I had seen them on that tour. I recall Zootv in high school but I really wasn’t a U2 fan at that point.

 

[Osato]

Thought this was interesting...

1979 show that was recorded.

https://www.atu2.com/news/the-search-is-over-finding-a-rare-dandelion-in-the-market.html

 

[Osato]

Cool

U2 to share some of their most memorable gigs online for first time ever

U2 have announced that they will post some of their concerts online for first time ever as part of a new virtual series.

www.nme.com

 

[Osato]

No, but I think they’ll be going back to their normal 4-5 year wait before the next touring cycle.

It’s been pretty quiet.

I hope the record again someday.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Cool

U2 to share some of their most memorable gigs online for first time ever

U2 have announced that they will post some of their concerts online for first time ever as part of a new virtual series.

www.nme.com

Interesting, but I must say the claim 'The series marks the first time that three of these concerts – Slane, Red Rocks and Mexico City – have been made available digitally.' is untrue. They are all on DVD and/or blu, that is digital, no?
Or do they mean 'streaming'?