Wow, U2 is going to U2-fy their own songs? This is both a compliment, and an insult, depending if you're a fan or not.
I am excited.
Translation: "We haven't written any good new songs lately, so here's a whole bunch of old ones"
I'm interested, but this band is beyond irrelevant at this point.
I really liked "Pop" (even, though nobody liked it...) afterwards they became so bland and safe and it shows in their music.
Last efforts were "Ok" (and yes nobody liked them either), but are far from essential and now they are going back to the well understandably, sadly nobody cares at this point.
The sold out stadium/arena tours they continue to pack 40 years into their career beg to differ with you. Not relevant to young people, sure, but U2 is still very much relevant to a looot of people worldwide.
Personally I'm incredibly excited for this project. Considering the pace they release new music with these days, it's kind of a miracle they were able to re-write and re-recorded 40 whole songs.
I'm not saying they don't have value or are even a good show, but only as a nostalgia act.
They haven't written a song or a critically acclaimed album in years, even Coldplay is more successful at this point (yuck), but i still like the band and will give the new album a chance, it's just kind of sad to see how boring they became.
Based on the new version of "Pride" and the snippet of the new version of "Beautiful Day", I don't have high hopes for this thing.
I saw them on the Joshua Tree tour (twice I think), and they sounded really fucking good. Bono's voice sounds pretty amazing still, and I was super surprised. Anyway, if you like them even a little bit I would check out their shows. They also seem to try to keep ticket prices down. I think I was on the floor twice for about 80-100 bucks.
Im pretty sure they'll stick to the original versions for the most part and maybe do one or two new versions on a B-Stage set. But I did read something recently where Larry stated that he would not be touring with the band in 2023 due to back problems, so I can see them going on a small-ish acoustic tour performing at smaller venues without Larry this year.
I don't want to hear this album, i heard 3 songs and they are sleeping pills, i'm afraid the whole album will be like that...
Eh, I'd say about half of it is that way. The most bland and uninspired reimaginings are incidentally all of the band's biggest hits. The one's that end up sounding kinda interesting and ACTUALLY reimagined are a lot of the deeper cuts. Unless you're a diehard like me and don't have an issue sitting through a 3 hour acoustic album, it's at least worth a shot skimming through the whole thing once because there are genuinely a few interesting new versions on it.
I enjoyed the new version of Where The Streets (the entire song is sung over cello and brooding synths, almost like a remix more than anything else), I thought it worked really well. Also really enjoyed Dirty Day, The Fly, ETOTW, and Two Hearts Beat As One gets turned into an interesting 1970s era funk track (that will either be enjoy or hate, depending on who you are). Like I said, a lot of the ones worth listening to are all deep cuts. The Top 40 hits like One and Beautiful Day sound really uninspired and lack anything interesting and really just aren't worth the time. I'd say at least over half of the album isn't worth ever listening to again.
Last edited by richardp; 03-24-2023 at 03:32 PM.
Anyone see or planning to see Bono solo at the Beacon in NYC?
I've been a fanclub subscriber for a while (damn physical media addiction) and had an opportunity to request free tickets for a performance they're filming next week.
Just learned I'm "confirmed", which is neat - but for the fact that the performance is midday on Tuesday, and that overbooking (to ensure every last seat is filled) is guaranteed. As such, I'm trying to decide if the hassle of rearranging work and queueing for potentially hours is worth it...
"POP" is one of their greatest albums and the most underrated...
Well, I ended up going, and it was well worth it.
It wasn't anything remotely like a regular performance of Songs of Surrender, but rather multiple run-throughs of nearly all the musical segments plus different chunks of the narrative. The advance communications indicated a 2-3 hour commitment, but from Bono's first appearance onstage until wrap was just about 4 hours. Having expected a reasonably sedate, seated experience, it was pretty exhausting (in a good way) to be encouraged to actively participate throughout. Not unexpectedly given the fanclub-sourced crowd, everyone was standing, singing, and clapping throughout.
I'd characterize myself as a Bono-skeptic U2 fan, but he was fucking fantastic. Incredibly charismatic, strong dramatic chops (including an extended, hilarious impersonation of Pavarotti), and most importantly, his singing voice was in excellent shape. Based on my mixed feelings about the studio albums since the 90s and competing priorities, I've not seen U2 live since Popmart. This experience definitely has me keen to catch the next go-round - especially if they take some form of the Achtung Baby show on the road.
Will be interesting to see how everything gets stitched together, since the arc was hard to get a feel for with everything out of sequence. Rumors circulating in the crowd suggested that it will probably surface on Disney+ in July or thereabouts, but who knows if that's remotely accurate. In any event, it should be well worth investigating as/when it finally appears.
Last edited by roolfdriht; 05-10-2023 at 08:31 AM. Reason: oops
Since all our electronics were locked away, I talked to a number of (very hardcore) fans who got burned by the Vegas ticket process. Here's hoping they find some way to rectify it, including non-Sphere shows in other locations.
Not surprisingly, the ticketing process for the filming was also a clusterfuck. A number of people who were informed by the audience management company (1iota) that they had "confirmed" tickets were notified the day before that - oops! - due to "production changes" or some nonsense, they wouldn't actually be getting one. Others just never received the promised link. I helped out someone in the latter category when my husband couldn't make it. That was another highlight, given they were a much more dedicated U2 fan than I could ever claim to be.
I saw U2 on the Joshua Tree tour a couple of times, Bono sounded absolutely fantastic.