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  1. This grew out of a random musing I had earlier about how U2 probably won't play California (There Is No End To Love) again, even given opportunities at shows in California. It made me think: how well do U2's recent (2000 and onward) songs fare across tours since their release? Since this is not the "classic" era of U2's catalogue it certainly feels like these are the songs likely to be put away to gather dust once the tour for their album is finished. Some basic data, compiled below, seems to support that. All That You Can't Leave Behind has fared the best out of their more recent work.

    Overall, most of these numbers seem in line with my general feeling on how U2 treat their new stuff, but I gotta say it was a little disheartening to actually see just how poorly Atomic Bomb and No Line have fared over several subsequent tours (and just how often they play Elevation - i+e was the only real break, and even then it was at almost half the shows!) I have only counted tour shows, with no promo non-tour shows. Songs of Experience is included but mainly for completeness's sake as it really hasn't had the opportunity to be dropped. Full breakdown under the spoiler tag.

    Spoiler (click to toggle)
    ============================
    ALL THAT YOU CAN’T LEAVE BEHIND
    ============================
    Beautiful Day — 541/541
    - Elevation: 113/113
    - Vertigo: 131/131
    - U2360: 110/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 51/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 60/60

    Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out of — 188/541
    - Elevation: 113/113
    - Vertigo: 34/131
    - U2360: 36/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 5/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Elevation — 480/541
    - Elevation: 113/113
    - Vertigo: 131/131
    - U2360: 94/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 32/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 51/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 59/60

    Walk On — 233/541
    - Elevation: 112/113
    - Vertigo: 11/131
    - U2360: 110/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Kite — 106/541
    - Elevation: 98/113
    - Vertigo: 8/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    In a Little While — 111/541
    - Elevation: 59/113
    - Vertigo: 2/131
    - U2360: 50/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Wild Honey — 11/541
    - Elevation: 11/113
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Peace On Earth — 3/541
    - Elevation: 3/113
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    When I Look At the World — 0/541
    - Elevation: 0/113
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    New York — 110/541
    - Elevation: 110/113
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Grace — 0/541
    - Elevation: 0/113
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    Bonus:
    The Ground Beneath Her Feet — 25/541
    - Elevation: 25/113
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    2 songs on 6 tours (Beautiful Day, Elevation)
    0 songs on 5 tours
    1 song on 4 tours (Stuck In a Moment You Cant’ Get Out of)
    2 songs on 3 tours (Walk On, In a Little While)
    1 song on 2 tours (Kite)
    3 (4) songs on 1 tour (Wild Honey, Peace On Earth, New York; The Ground Beneath Her Feet)
    2 songs on 0 tours (When I Look At the World, Grace)

    ==============================
    HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB
    ==============================
    Vertigo — 456/428
    - Vertigo: 170/131
    - U2360: 110/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 41/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 59/60

    Miracle Drug — 94/428
    - Vertigo: 92/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 2/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: /60

    Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own — 131/428
    - Vertigo: 131/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Love and Peace Or Else — 127/428
    - Vertigo: 127/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    City of Blinding Lights — 374/428
    - Vertigo: 131/131
    - U2360: 110/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 74/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 59/60

    All Because of You — 118/428
    - Vertigo: 96/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 22/60

    A Man and a Woman — 0/428
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Crumbs From Your Table — 7/428
    - Vertigo: 7/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    One Step Closer — 0/428
    - Vertigo: 0/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Original of the Species — 38/428
    - Vertigo: 38/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Yahweh — 96/428
    - Vertigo: 96/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    Bonus:
    Fast Cars — 16/428
    - Vertigo: 16/131
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    1 song on 5 tours (Vertigo)
    1 song on 4 tours (City of Blinding Lights)
    0 songs on 3 tours
    2 songs on 2 tours (Miracle Drug, All Because of You)
    4 (5) songs on 1 tour (Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace Or Else, Original of the Species, Yahweh; Fast Cars)
    2 songs on 0 tours (A Man and a Woman, One Step Closer)

    ====================
    NO LINE ON THE HORIZON
    ====================
    No Line On the Horizon — 44/297
    - U2360: 44/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Magnificent — 97/297
    - U2360: 96/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 1/76
    - The Joshua Tree: /51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Moment of Surrender — 108/297
    - U2360: 108/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Unknown Caller — 34/297
    - U2360: 34/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight — 111/297
    - U2360: 111/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Get On Your Boots — 110/297
    - U2360: 110/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Stand Up Comedy — 0/297
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Fez — Being Born — 0/297
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    White As Snow — 0/297
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Breathe — 43/297
    - U2360: 43/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Cedars of Lebanon — 0/297
    - U2360: 0/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    0 songs on 4 tours
    0 songs on 3 tours
    1 song on 2 tours (Magnificent)
    6 songs on 1 tour (No Line On the Horizon, Moment of Surrender, Unknown Caller, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight, Get On Your Boots, Breathe)
    4 songs on 0 tours (Stand Up Comedy, Fez — Being Born, White As Snow, Cedars of Lebanon)

    ==================
    SONGS OF INNOCENCE
    ==================
    The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) — 76/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Every Breaking Wave — 79/297
    - U2360: 3/110
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    California (There Is No End To Love) — 3/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 3/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Song For Someone — 77/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 1/60

    Iris (Hold Me Close) — 115/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 39/60

    Volcano — 10/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 10/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Raised By Wolves — 83/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 7/60

    Cedarwood Road — 115/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 39/60

    Sleep Like a Baby Tonight — 0/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now — 0/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 0/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    The Troubles — 4/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 4/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    Bonus:
    Lucifer’s Hands — 3/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 3/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    The Crystal Ballroom — 2/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 2/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Invisible — 76/187
    - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: 76/76
    - The Joshua Tree: 0/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    0 songs on 3 tours
    5 songs on 2 tours (Every Breaking Wave, Song For Someone, Iris, Raised By Wolves, Cedarwood Road)
    4 (7) songs on 1 tour (The Miracle, California, Volcano, The Troubles; Lucifer’s Hands, The Crystal Ballroom, Invisible)
    2 songs on 0 tours (Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now)

    ==================
    SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
    ==================
    Love Is All We Have Left — 27/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 27/60

    Lights of Home — 60/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 60/60

    You’re the Best Thing About Me — 74/111
    - The Joshua Tree: 15/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 59/60

    Get Out of Your Own Way — 59/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 59/60

    American Soul — 27/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 27/60

    Summer of Love — 32/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 32/60

    Red Flag Day — 14/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 14/60

    The Showman (Little More Better) — 0/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    The Little Things That Give You Away — 14/111
    - The Joshua Tree: 14/51
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    Landlady — 3/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 3/60

    The Blackout — 60/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 60/60

    Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way — 59/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 59/60

    13 (There Is a Light) — 59/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 59/60

    ***
    Bonus:
    Book of Your Heart — 0/60
    - eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: 0/60

    ***
    1 song on 2 tours (You’re the Best Thing About Me)
    11 songs on 1 tour (Love Is All We Have Left, Lights of Home, Get Out of Your Own Way, American Soul, Summer of Love, Red Flag Day, The Little Things That Give You Away, Landlady, The Blackout, Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way, 13)
    1 (2) songs on 0 tours (The Showman; Book of Your Heart)


    ... I guess there's not much to discuss here (although any thoughts are welcomed), just thought other setlist geeks might like to see the turnover of U2's recentish songs laid out. Might aim to put this in context with the classic earlier stuff at some point...
  2. Here’s a good simple list going back to Zooropa, basically non singles that were played on tours not supporting the album they were from. A good few of these only had very few performances too. (Little Things could be added but that was played before its albums was released so a bit different maybe, you can decide).

    Iris
    Cedarwood road
    Raised By Wolves
    Miracle drug
    In a little while
    Kite
    Wake up dead man
    Gone
    Zooropa
    Dirty Day
    The First Time
  3. All Because Of You was a very pleasant surprise last year.
  4. Originally posted by deanallison:Here’s a good simple list going back to Zooropa, basically non singles that were played on tours not supporting the album they were from. A good few of these only had very few performances too. (Little Things could be added but that was played before its albums was released so a bit different maybe, you can decide).

    Iris
    Cedarwood road
    Raised By Wolves
    Miracle drug
    In a little while
    Kite
    Wake up dead man
    Gone
    Zooropa
    Dirty Day
    The First Time
    When you put it like that it looks really bad... granted, not all of the singles they kept were necessarily big hits but they’re still generally going to be better known than most non-singles. It’s really a shame.
  7. I mean during EI
  8. I love the later U2 i thought NLOTH provided the band with a few songs that wouldve fitted the i+e tours,however im not really a fan of when they "debut" old songs.For sure i wanted Acrobat but i prefer just the odd performance giving it a special moment rather than nightly,its time had passed imagine how amazing this wouldve been on ZooTv.
  9. One of the things that made U2 songs classics was their evolution in live performance. Songs like Streets, Fly, WOWY, Bad became cemented as classics by the live performances.

    In many ways, U2 massively underserve their most recent material by not sticking with them live. Crazy Tonight, for example was an absolute 100% monster live that the band should *still* play regularly. COBL, BD, Elevation, Vertigo, etc have all become classics by repeated live performances.

    Songs they've played live on tours that after the album are :

    Beautiful Day, Elevation, Stuck, Walk On, Little While, Kite
    Vertigo, COBL, All Because of You,Miracle Drug (twice)
    Magnificent (*ONCE
    Iris, Cedarwood Road, Song For Someone (twice, or so), Raised By Wolves, Every Breaking Wave (Just twice, I think), California (Just once, I think)

    Of those songs, I would be happy for almost all of them to be played much more regularly : Love and Peace Or Else, Miracle Drug, Magnificent, Boots, Crazy Tonight, Song For Someone, Raised By Wolves [into Please into Streets], EBW, Joey Ramone, would all benefit from being played more often.
  10. Originally posted by markreed:One of the things that made U2 songs classics was their evolution in live performance. Songs like Streets, Fly, WOWY, Bad became cemented as classics by the live performances.

    In many ways, U2 massively underserve their most recent material by not sticking with them live. Crazy Tonight, for example was an absolute 100% monster live that the band should *still* play regularly. COBL, BD, Elevation, Vertigo, etc have all become classics by repeated live performances.

    Songs they've played live on tours that after the album are :

    Beautiful Day, Elevation, Stuck, Walk On, Little While, Kite
    Vertigo, COBL, All Because of You,Miracle Drug (twice)
    Magnificent (*ONCE
    Iris, Cedarwood Road, Song For Someone (twice, or so), Raised By Wolves, Every Breaking Wave (Just twice, I think), California (Just once, I think)

    Of those songs, I would be happy for almost all of them to be played much more regularly : Love and Peace Or Else, Miracle Drug, Magnificent, Boots, Crazy Tonight, Song For Someone, Raised By Wolves [into Please into Streets], EBW, Joey Ramone, would all benefit from being played more often.
    Exactly. The band seem afraid to play lesser-known material, but if they play a song regularly, it will become better-known. Innocence and Experience were both, in my opinion, excellent albums with songs that worked well live. Almost all the songs off Atomic Bomb were great live tracks too, and that album was a massive success. Yet because they have already made so many classic songs in the 80s and with Achtung Baby and Leave Behind, it’s like the can’t give these other songs a fair shake. Not attempting Every Breaking Wave in its full band electric iteration is just crazy, and dropping Raised By Wolves early in Experience but keeping SBS and UTEOTW ruined an amazing transition and sidelined a massive live song for a stripped back version of a song we’ve heard about 900 times.

    For a band that doesn’t want to be too nostalgic- which despite the Joshua Tree Tour revival, they really have avoided pretty damn well for an act in their position - they do rely on the same sets of well-known songs for a an awful lot of their live performances.