I'd say only a 0,5% (max) of all 65K U2starters have attended at least one show of all tours... So I'd say the vast majority of us are judging by bootlegs we've heard, reviews we've read, photos we've seen, videos we've watched.
@Bloodraven splitting Zoo TV and Zooropa just give it a double 1 & 2 position was brilliant
1. Zoo TV
2. Elevation
3. I+E
4. Lovetown
5. Popmart
6. 360
7. TJT 30
8. TJT
9. Vertigo
10. Unforgettable Fire
11. War
12. Boy
13. October
Favourites from what I've seen (this is based on staging, concepts, etc. not just performances):
1. I+E (everything)
2. 360 (unbelievable tour but looking back, I don't like how they moved to a greatest hits tour at the end)
3. TJT 30 (although Toronto was the best show out of the 5 others I've seen. Great but just can't top the two others)
To be perfectly honest, I still have not listened to enough of the early tour bootlegs to judge fairly on ALL of them, but I'll do top 5:
1. Zoo TV - untouchable
2. PopMart - flawed, but a total monster of a tour when it worked.
3. 360 - incredible spectacle, staging, and performances this late into their career
4. I & E - love the narrative arc of this show.
5. War - love the fire and energy of the band displayed in stuff like Red Rocks, obviously.
The problem i have with this topic is my final list is always subject to change,judging by most of you guys i'm likely to cause outrage by placing Zoo Tv at 5 and War at 12 but its not a wind up just my fav U2 tours are the recent ones.That being said i LOVE EVERY tour they have done.
Elevation Tour had it all for me,the setlists were perfect,U2 "re-applying for the job" of best band in the world.Just four guys in an arena giving it everything they had and totally delivering.Those times also around 9/11 when U2 rose above fear and the hope and positivity they brought America that autumn was incredible,i doubt any other band could've done that.
1.Elevation Tour
2.Vertigo Tour
3.360 Tour
4.Joshua Tree Tour
5.Zoo TV/Zooropa Tour
6.Popmart Tour
7.Unforgettable Fire Tour
8.Innocence and Experience Tour
9.October Tour
10.Lovetown Tour
11.Joshua Tree 30 Tour
12.War Tour
13.Boy Tour
14.Conspiracy Of Hope Tour
Here's my list, from worst to best. Keep in mind that if I place a tour as "worst" is for U2 standards, it's still better than most of the shows out there. Also, Conspiracy of Hope was not a U2 tour.
13. JT 2017 (The whole concept of the tour was wrong for me. Plus, the performances are not getting any better with the years. Understandable.) 12. I+E tour 11. Vertigo Tour 10. Boy Tour 9. October Tour 8. War Tour 7. Unforgettable Fire Tour 6. Popmart (We will always have Sarajevo, Leeds, Mexico and Santiago, but for every one of them we had 4 Vegas or San Diego shows. Performances were not consistent, half-empty stadiums, Bono's voice was weak and karaoke? wtf)
Ok, now for true greatness, any band will be lucky to have a tour like these and U2 had 5! 5. Elevation Tour 4. 360 Tour 3. Joshua Tree Tour 2. ZooTV tour 1. Lovetown (I already said enough about this tour)
1.Elevation Tour
2.Vertigo Tour
3.360 Tour
4.Joshua Tree Tour
5.Zoo TV/Zooropa Tour
6.Popmart Tour
7.Unforgettable Fire Tour
8.Innocence and Experience Tour
9.October Tour
10.Lovetown Tour
11.Joshua Tree 30 Tour
12.War Tour
13.Boy Tour
1. elevation
2. vertigo
3. zoo tv
4. popmart
5. jt
6. ie
7. lovetown
8. unforgettable fire
9. war
10. jt30
11 ei
12 war
13 boy
14 conspiracy of hope
15 october