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  1. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    Well this was a big surprise. I would never have thought anybody would rank Vertigo Tour ahead of Zoo TV. You're very right when you say this is highly subjective and highly dependant on your personal life moment - I'd even say it's highly dependant on the location within the venue, hence the sound quality at your spot, and also the crowd surrounding you. But since [..]
    , I would have guessed you, having seen 3 Zoo TV indoor and 5 Outside Broadcast gigs, would too. Interesting.
    Zoo TV was great, but I think it gets overhyped to almost some mythical existencial experience. Typically, not always, by people that never saw it in person. It wasn't, it was a great rock concert that for the time was innovative. I enjoyed it but the overall tours I ranked ahead of it I enjoyed more. But I thought Popmart was a better production and improvement from Zoo TV to me.
    I think Vertigo gets a bum rap. The setlists were great and other than 1 show I saw on that tour, the band were just on it. Vertigo was like an improvement from the Elevation tour for me.
  2. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    Yeah, I've always known that. My parents saw the Zoo TV show in Madrid '93 and didn't REALLY get it. And most of the audience didn't either. It all only made sense a few months later when they broadcasted the Sydney show and they saw it on TV. Then they were blown away and actually their memories from the Madrid gig (which I've seeon on DVD but they have not) are absolutely contaminated by watching the Sydney VHS over and over

    I think many of the people that attended 92-93 gigs have a biased opinion for what the tour has eventually proved to mean over time, rather than their opinion on it at the actual time.


    .
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    (And still it's the best tour ever)
  3. Originally posted by Blue_Room:[..]
    Zoo TV was great, but I think it gets overhyped to almost some mythical existencial experience. Typically, not always, by people that never saw it in person. It wasn't, it was a great rock concert that for the time was innovative. I enjoyed it but the overall tours I ranked ahead of it I enjoyed more. But I thought Popmart was a better production and improvement from Zoo TV to me.
    I think Vertigo gets a bum rap. The setlists were great and other than 1 show I saw on that tour, the band were just on it. Vertigo was like an improvement from the Elevation tour for me.
    PopMart and Vertigo maybe were improvements, but Zoo TV and Elevation were more original. It's always hard to 'judge'. For me Zoo TV was U2 at it's peak, Bono's best vocals and everything they played just sounded brilliant. Glad I still catched a bit of that at PopMart.
  4. Popmart 97
    Elevation 01
    Zoo 92
    Zooropa 93
    JT 87
    360 09
    IE 15
    Vertigo 05

    But my favourite is definitely Lovetown....
  5. Originally posted by Ricku2:[..]
    PopMart and Vertigo maybe were improvements, but Zoo TV and Elevation were more original. It's always hard to 'judge'. For me Zoo TV was U2 at it's peak, Bono's best vocals and everything they played just sounded brilliant. Glad I still catched a bit of that at PopMart.
    I don't think you catched any of "Bono's best vocals" at Popmart
  6. Originally posted by Ricku2:[..]
    PopMart and Vertigo maybe were improvements, but Zoo TV and Elevation were more original. It's always hard to 'judge'. For me Zoo TV was U2 at it's peak, Bono's best vocals and everything they played just sounded brilliant. Glad I still catched a bit of that at PopMart.
    Improvement on a good idea is always a good thing to me. Just a personal preference. Like I said I enjoyed Zoo TV, it is in my top 4 but not my favorite tour.
    I would disagree about the vocals part though. I think his peak was Unf. Fire/JT 87 tours and maybe Lovetown (although he began to destroy his voice as a result then).
    Also, while U2 were huge in 1992/93, in 1987 they were THE band. They were number one in the charts and tickets were tough to get wherever and whenever they played that year, instant sellouts in most places. Obviously the production of Zoo TV was better, but in 87 they didn't need production to draw the same/more attention. Its funny because I remember a lot of my U2 fan friends didn't like AB or Zoo TV at the time. I remember the U2 are "sellouts" crowd. I thought it was stupid at the time and still do, but they lost some of their fans with it.
    Its all so subjective. There is no U2 tour I have hated. JT17 was close until I saw a show later in the tour. I saw great shows on just about every tour I have seen.
  7. I said 'a bit of'... He sounded great at the Rotterdam shows, still got the falsetto for example and a really powerful voice. But yeah, in general his voice was a lot more vulnerable during PopMart. But it was the tour after Zoo TV, so clearly his voice wasn't completely different.
  8. Originally posted by Blue_Room:[..]
    Improvement on a good idea is always a good thing to me. Just a personal preference. Like I said I enjoyed Zoo TV, it is in my top 4 but not my favorite tour.
    I would disagree about the vocals part though. I think his peak was Unf. Fire/JT 87 tours and maybe Lovetown (although he began to destroy his voice as a result then).
    Also, while U2 were huge in 1992/93, in 1987 they were THE band. They were number one in the charts and tickets were tough to get wherever and whenever they played that year, instant sellouts in most places. Obviously the production of Zoo TV was better, but in 87 they didn't need production to draw the same/more attention. Its funny because I remember a lot of my U2 fan friends didn't like AB or Zoo TV at the time. I remember the U2 are "sellouts" crowd. I thought it was stupid at the time and still do, but they lost some of their fans with it.
    Its all so subjective. There is no U2 tour I have hated. JT17 was close until I saw a show later in the tour. I saw great shows on just about every tour I have seen.
    Some like his voice from the (middle) 80's better, I like the more subtle way of singing of the 90's. But even that can differ from song to song.
    And indeed, in terms of popularity U2's peak probably already was in the 80's. Fans complaining about U2 taking the wrong direction appartently is of all era's.. already started with The Unforgettable Fire I think, or maybe even before...
  9. Originally posted by Ricku2:[..]
    Some like his voice from the (middle) 80's better, I like the more subtle way of singing of the 90's. But even that can differ from song to song.
    And indeed, in terms of popularity U2's peak probably already was in the 80's. Fans complaining about U2 taking the wrong direction appartently is of all era's.. already started with The Unforgettable Fire I think, or maybe even before...
    Good point about U2 'selling out'... this had happened may times in their career. .

    Some people didn't like TUF in 1984 I remember, they wanted a other War album.

    Many casual fans... & remember everyone in the world & their dog had TJT in 1987, bailed with AB and couldn't hack it. Many more bailed wuth Pop but for me the 90's was their best, most productive period.

    and SOI and SOE arguments now ?!
  10. 360 '11
    iNNOCENCE
    eXPERIENCE
    360 '09
    Joshua Tree '17
  11. I+E 2015
    360 2011
    Vertigo
    Joshua Tree 2017
    360 2009
    Joshua Tree 2019
    Elevation
    I+E 2018

    I have a particular fondness for Vertigo, lots of personal memories attached to it. But I can recognize that there were some lame parts to it (neutered version of Bullet for example).

    I thought I+E 2018 was a pale imitation of 2015. Plus I didn't like the new album. I might rank it a little higher if they started out with the AB-heavy setlist for the last third of the tour.
  12. Off topic but: does anyone know if the U2 show at Red Rocks was their First performance in the USA? ... I’m thinking it Wasn’t but don’t really know....