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  1. It would be interesting to see how the tour would have went if they didn’t have to postpone the North American leg to 2011. There’s a possibility they would have stuck with more of the NLOTH up until they got to South America and Australia/New Zealand where they have tended to start dropping more of the ‘new’ songs in the past. Would we have got the likes of mercy and North Star as well. But I’m glad the way the tour turned out, a really good mix of everything.
  2. The wanted (and really needed) to sell tickets. They would have been crazy to go into the 2010 shows a year later with a very similar setlists. they were smart with playing different cities in 2010 as well. The album was over 2 years old going into the 2011 shows and it was clear that they had Glastonbury to think about and used those 2011 USA shows to work out the setlist.

    It sure kept things engaging but I've always had a soft spot for those 2009 shows. Barcelona, Milan, Berlin, Wembley 2 (hi Tim), Sheffield, Chicago 2.
  3. Originally posted by deanallison:It would be interesting to see how the tour would have went if they didn’t have to postpone the North American leg to 2011. There’s a possibility they would have stuck with more of the NLOTH up until they got to South America and Australia/New Zealand where they have tended to start dropping more of the ‘new’ songs in the past. Would we have got the likes of mercy and North Star as well. But I’m glad the way the tour turned out, a really good mix of everything.
    Yeah we speculated about that for a long time after the tour had ended. Who knows which direction the tour could have taken; I don't think we would have gotten the new songs in Europe 2010 but I don't think they would have repeated the same basic setlist as they did in 2009 either - even if they were playing different cities and regional markets. 4 legs and 2 years in a row with the same setlist would have been a bit too much even for U2 standards!
  5. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    Yeah we speculated about that for a long time after the tour had ended. Who knows which direction the tour could have taken; I don't think we would have gotten the new songs in Europe 2010 but I don't think they would have repeated the same basic setlist as they did in 2009 either - even if they were playing different cities and regional markets. 4 legs and 2 years in a row with the same setlist would have been a bit too much even for U2 standards!
    I think they maybe would have stuck with 5 or 6 NLOTH songs per show rather than the 4 and then eventually 3 it became. The introduction of the unreleased new songs probably took up a couple of song places from the album as it would have been bold to play 7 of NLOTH plus 2 unreleased songs. I do think there would have been changes though probably the likes of miss Sarajevo and HMTMKMKM would have appeared regardless of the dates changing, there would have been other ways to vary things. What would Glastonbury have been like as well, things we’ll never know.
  6. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    Good point about 360. I've always defended its two first legs as U2's best since Zoo TV in terms of show innovation & roundness (not necessarily in terms of performance, where legs 3, 6 and 7 of 360 Tour were better). As you say, they've never had so much confidence in their new material as they did in 92-93 and 09. All of their other tours (even dating back to the early 80s) used to open with maybe one new song, two max, but soon relied on jumping back to classics -usually I Will Follow, Gloria or Out Of Control- to get the audience going. They rejected that in 2009 and decided to do a ZooTV-ish start and consistently open with 4 new songs, AND ALSO close every single show with a NLOTH song. That says a lot.

    It's ironic that they've repudiated NLOTH ever since, though


    Yes, it is ironic, isn't it...
  7. Originally posted by deanallison:[..]
    I think they maybe would have stuck with 5 or 6 NLOTH songs per show rather than the 4 and then eventually 3 it became. The introduction of the unreleased new songs probably took up a couple of song places from the album as it would have been bold to play 7 of NLOTH plus 2 unreleased songs. I do think there would have been changes though probably the likes of miss Sarajevo and HMTMKMKM would have appeared regardless of the dates changing, there would have been other ways to vary things. What would Glastonbury have been like as well, things we’ll never know.
    in the end it was only a delay of 2 months, not sure if that would have made any difference. There was a bit of varying with the new songs, but apart from Return Of The Stingray, the new songs were only there for a (big) handful of shows. Stingray only was half a song, so on average the new songs maybe took 1.5 of a setlist slot.
  8. Originally posted by Ricku2:[..]
    in the end it was only a delay of 2 months, not sure if that would have made any difference. There was a bit of varying with the new songs, but apart from Return Of The Stingray, the new songs were only there for a (big) handful of shows. Stingray only was half a song, so on average the new songs maybe took 1.5 of a setlist slot.
    Yeah maybe that postponed North American leg might have ended up being like the European leg and it would have just meant no shows that paid tribute to AB at the end of the tour. You wonder if they would have still included the likes of Zooropa and Real thing if they didn’t still have that leg to come following on from the South American shows. The fly almost definitely wouldn’t have appeared. Stay as well seemed to get brought back after quite a big gap in the tour so that probably wouldn’t have appeared on the tour again.
  9. I'm sure we can turn the "ZOO TV vs Popmart" argument into a game of some sort. Maybe listen to a handful of the best bootlegs (performance wise) from each tour and each show gets given a score. The scores then get added up and each tour gets an overall score. Highest overall score wins.
  10. Originally posted by germcevoy:The wanted (and really needed) to sell tickets. They would have been crazy to go into the 2010 shows a year later with a very similar setlists. they were smart with playing different cities in 2010 as well. The album was over 2 years old going into the 2011 shows and it was clear that they had Glastonbury to think about and used those 2011 USA shows to work out the setlist.

    It sure kept things engaging but I've always had a soft spot for those 2009 shows. Barcelona, Milan, Berlin, Wembley 2 (hi Tim), Sheffield, Chicago 2.
    since Glastonbury is brought up now, didnt Willie or someone share the original idea for the setlist (that then got changed)
  12. I was about to do the same joke but I refrained at the very thought of Jon Bon Jovi trying to sing the high pitched NLOTH