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  1. A comment in the Berlin thread prompts me to raise something I’ve been mulling over for some time now – is seeing U2 live a traditional rock concert or is it more like watching musical theatre. After seeing 6 shows on JT19 and back-to-back shows in 2018, I’ve been leaning towards the latter for some time now.

    I think about this because one of my other interests is in life is musical theatre and I’ve seen over 25 different shows, and a handful of productions multiple times in the one season. With musicals, the songs, the props, the stage positions and the choreography is exactly the same every night. Every audience member gets to have the same experience, no matter what night they go. Which brings me back to U2.

    It was different in the early day when I first saw them but I find now that their shows have a lot more similarity to a West End or Broadway production than a pub gig.
    • The experience tour had its carefully curated story arc or narrative; it was more than just a collection of songs the band wanted to sing. The same with JT19.
    • There’s some obvious choreographing going on, with the band members taking up the same positions on the stage each night during specific songs; they don’t just wander around anywhere because they feel like it.
    • The set-list barely changes from night to night. At best maybe one or two songs interchange for each other; not a half dozen or so over different nights in the same city.
    • Even the banter with the audience or between the band members becomes evidently rehearsed when you see the show over multiple nights. Yes, maybe Bono says it slightly differently but the essence is the same – I’m f---ing Bono

    I understand why a lot of that occurs. It does make things easier if you don’t have to come up with something new every night; plus the technology and the visuals limit deviation from the plan. All up though, I think it inhibits spontaneity and lessens the air of excitement or risk of danger. They’re also not the only band doing this, but I really wish they could mix it up a little more.

    Thoughts?
  2. I'd say the latter, not so much on the 2015 tour however which seemed a bit looser but since 2017 that has become much more rigid. They first got good at this way back in 1993 towards the end of ZOO TV and each tour since that had some repetitive structure, albeit an overhaul of the set on 360 and Popmart becoming more streamlined as the tour went on.

    Bono was asked in an interview if he found the narrative structure of the 2018 tour hard and he did admit he missed that spontaneity. I think there are influences around the band that steer then towards an 'act' rather than just a band on stage and maybe now they suffer too much for being icons rather than musicians. Plus the band have had to work around the singer's health issues, etc and with age I guess they are playing it more safe and don't have the same energy as they did in previous tours. Personally, I feel more cheated when bands say the same things every night rather than keep a rigid set list because you want to have that unique experience rather than knowing what the singer is about to say.

    I'm surprised a band like U2 who've been touring all these year's don't get bored of their own rigid sets, they must do sometimes. Larry said way back on Love Town how he feared they were becoming a heritage act.

    I saw New Order last year and was reminded how great a great a gig was when a band just plays songs and creates a great atmosphere, I think on the next U2 tour they need to get that excitement back.
  3. 100% musical theatre.
  4. I would say other than 2015/18, all the tours are rock concerts. Did the likes of Elevation, Vertigo and 360 have a narrative? Even the JT30 tours, despite having a theme, I would say were rock concerts too.
  5. JT30 was very rigidly structured and highly choreographed. Watching them repeat the same moves each night, going to the same spot on the stage during the same song is what drew me to my conclusion. Don’t get me wrong; they still put on a terrific show but it harks back to a comment Bono made during Zoo-tv era that the trick is to make it look spontaneous.
  6. Is there a theme to anyone except die hard fans though? Does a casual who saw an experience (for example) show come away thinking about a narrative or a set of themes? Or is it just another rock show to them too?
  7. Originally posted by Sydney_MIke:JT30 was very rigidly structured and highly choreographed. Watching them repeat the same moves each night, going to the same spot on the stage during the same song is what drew me to my conclusion. Don’t get me wrong; they still put on a terrific show but it harks back to a comment Bono made during Zoo-tv era that the trick is to make it look spontaneous.
    90% of the audiences will only see it once so they probably don't care about appeasing the uber obsessive fans who travel to multiple gigs.
  8. Originally posted by popmarter:[..]
    90% of the audiences will only see it once so they probably don't care about appeasing the uber obsessive fans who travel to multiple gigs.
    Is it Uber obsessive to want to see multiple gigs? Funny that view that people have yet plenty of people would listen to the same song several times. You’re hearing 20+ songs you enjoy every show £4 or £5 a song performance right in front of my eyes from the band that actually wrote it, happy days.
  9. I often think of music tours the same way as theatre productions when they tour. Ultimately, it's the same show every night but being showed in different markets to the locals there. Why would they change the production?