1. For early in the tour they had some magic that night.
  2. The POP Tour Rehearsals pretty amazing also 23 CD's!!!
  3. The POP tour was great , loved Lisbon in the sun .
    If you wear that velvet dress ❤
  4. I am coming to the Netherlands on July 29th, só U2 Please play some POP, Gone ir Mofo
  5. When I was around 14 years old, U2 was pretty much the only band I listened to. I listened to some other stuff, but I always returned to good ‘ol U2. The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, Boy, War, ATYCLB, I listened to everything. I even listened to October a lot. Now the one album that never grabbed my attention was POP. I knew it was generally regarded as one of the worst albums U2 ever made. I, without ever really listening to it, disregarded it as mistake as well, and hailed ATYCLB as the grand return to form, the going back to basics U2 needed (even though I just turned 4 when was released in 2000, and was only talking with the ‘wisdom’ of hindsight). However, after my peak U2-fandom years around my 14th, my music taste developed and I got into a lot of different kinds of music styles and artists. I found myself listening to U2 a lot less, even though I never lost my love for the band and its music. But the albums that I loved during my youth, did not resonate in the same way anymore. Years passed, and I really didn’t listen to U2 a lot anymore.

    However, in the past year, I have rediscovered U2 through an album that I had always regarded as a mistake: POP. While shuffling some music this song came on. It was groovy, interesting, great bass playing, and I could not recall ever hearing it before. I checked to see who this song was by, and to my surprise when I checked: Do You Feel Loved by U2. Never would I have guessed that this was made by the band that I knew so well. I was happily surprised that they were still able to surprise me. I decided to check out the album as a whole. I knew some of the songs, like Discotheque, Staring at the Sun, Gone, Please and Wake Up Dead Man. But the album as a whole, it was just such a breath of fresh air, and so good in my opinion. MOFO absolutely blew my socks off. I loved the guitar playing on songs like If God Will Send His Angels and If You Wear That Velvet Dress. Last Night on Earth, Gone, and especially Staring at the Sun are proper tunes, and I do not know why the last one isn’t a classic in U2’s oeuvre. Please and Wake Up Dead Man are gorgeous, and Do You Feel Loved is amazing, really groovy, great bass and drum work. The whole album is filled with some of Adam’s best bass playing. And Miami: wow. I had never expected U2 to sound like this, but boy what an amazing track. Bono’s voice isn’t the powerful force it was on other albums, but what it lacks in vocal strength it totally makes up for in charisma. This album is, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting pieces U2 has released. I am not saying it is as good as Achtung Baby or The Joshua Tree, but it is definitely up there as one of the most interesting things the band has ever done. And to me it is infinitely better than the bland ‘return to form’ and follow up ATYCLB. I hate that Pop at its release was received as a failure, a bad album, and that the band members themselves disregarded this album as being unfinished and generally not what they wanted. They put out this really interesting, daring piece of music, only to have it be destroyed by the music press and the fans. I feel like this whole ordeal made them lose their drive for experimentation, seeing that after POP everything they made (with exception maybe of NLOTH) to me is pretty much mediocre, pop driven, bland dad-rock made by a band desperate to stay relevant.

    This piece is turning out a lot longer than I had planned it to be, so I’ll try to finish. The conclusion pretty much is, Pop is an amazing album, one of the best things U2 ever made, and the backlash when they released paved the way for the post 2000 U2, which to me is an absolute shame. No thanks Beautiful Day, Elevation and Vertigo, I want Staring at the Sun, Mofo and Please! I will listen to every future album U2 will put out, and I am even going to the gig this summer in Amsterdam, but I do not have a lot of hope that this band will ever return to approaching music the way they did during the making of Pop. One can hope, however. I would recommend everyone interested in U2, or pop music for that matter, to give this album a spin, and be surprised.
  6. Originally posted by jopvr:............................................
    However, in the past year, I have rediscovered U2 through an album that I had always regarded as a mistake: POP. While shuffling some music this song came on. It was groovy, interesting, great bass playing, and I could not recall ever hearing it before. I checked to see who this song was by, and to my surprise when I checked: Do You Feel Loved by U2. Never would I have guessed that this was made by the band that I knew so well. I was happily surprised that they were still able to surprise me. I decided to check out the album as a whole. I knew some of the songs, like Discotheque, Staring at the Sun, Gone, Please and Wake Up Dead Man. But the album as a whole, it was just such a breath of fresh air, and so good in my opinion. MOFO absolutely blew my socks off. I loved the guitar playing on songs like If God Will Send His Angels and If You Wear That Velvet Dress. Last Night on Earth, Gone, and especially Staring at the Sun are proper tunes, and I do not know why the last one isn’t a classic in U2’s oeuvre. Please and Wake Up Dead Man are gorgeous, and Do You Feel Loved is amazing, really groovy, great bass and drum work. The whole album is filled with some of Adam’s best bass playing. And Miami: wow. I had never expected U2 to sound like this, but boy what an amazing track. Bono’s voice isn’t the powerful force it was on other albums, but what it lacks in vocal strength it totally makes up for in charisma. This album is, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting pieces U2 has released. I am not saying it is as good as Achtung Baby or The Joshua Tree, but it is definitely up there as one of the most interesting things the band has ever done. And to me it is infinitely better than the bland ‘return to form’ and follow up ATYCLB. I hate that Pop at its release was received as a failure, a bad album, and that the band members themselves disregarded this album as being unfinished and generally not what they wanted. They put out this really interesting, daring piece of music, only to have it be destroyed by the music press and the fans. I feel like this whole ordeal made them lose their drive for experimentation, seeing that after POP everything they made (with exception maybe of NLOTH) to me is pretty much mediocre, pop driven, bland dad-rock made by a band desperate to stay relevant.

    This piece is turning out a lot longer than I had planned it to be, so I’ll try to finish. The conclusion pretty much is, Pop is an amazing album, one of the best things U2 ever made, and the backlash when they released paved the way for the post 2000 U2, which to me is an absolute shame. ....................


    AMEN.
  7. +2
  8. Ah, here's my bimonthly reminder that Pop still exists.