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#29 - Unboxing the Atomic Bomb
 In this special episode, we share our Chicago 2005 livestream afterthoughts and unbox the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 20th Anniversary box set. ..
  1. Originally posted by u2wanderer1:[..]
    They didn't release "Achtung Baby" when they put it out (January 2024), and that would likely sell even better than HTDAAB.

    Streaming is where most music revenue is coming from these days. So not that surprising they are doing streaming only releases. In the US in 2024 streaming made up 84% of revenue, and physical recordings just 11% split between CD and vinyl. (Vinyl makes up about 3/4 of revenue from physical products, because of a higher price point, but sells a very similar amount to CD.)
    Interesting it must be financially viable as I noticed a lot of the big artists like Pink floyd, Pearl jam ,Fleetwood Mac,Prince Led Zeppelin ,Phil Collins etc have all recently released some of their old classics albums on Blu ray so maybe U2 will look at doing it at some point.


  2. Personally, I think it's more related to physical attributes of the band. They were at their peak. The next tour, the 360, was more like of a "The best of" than No Line on The Horizon Tour.
  3. Originally posted by tchezao:[..]


    Personally, I think it's more related to physical attributes of the band. They were at their peak. The next tour, the 360, was more like of a "The best of" than No Line on The Horizon Tour.
    Actually 360 is my favourite but yes I agree the second and especially third leg didn't feel like NLOTH tour at all,even magnificent was essentially dropped as they moved to that remix version.
    I really enjoyed the Boy and Zoo elements on Vertigo,and the unpredictability of some of the setlists.
  4. Originally posted by tchezao:[..]


    Personally, I think it's more related to physical attributes of the band. They were at their peak. The next tour, the 360, was more like of a "The best of" than No Line on The Horizon Tour.
    360 lasted so long it was AB20 aka Zoo 2.0 in 2011.

    Much respect to new songs in the set in 2010.
  5. Originally posted by Bonu:What I mean by that, in my humble opinion, is that HTDAAB is a very similar album to ATYCLB, but worse. It doesn’t really improve upon the predecessor or introduces new sounds. It’s another try to stop the clocks and do the same thing once more but this time it wasn’t as successful. I mean mainly from songwriting standpoint. When ATYCLB had 4 big singles, HTDAAB had really only one. It’s also much less structured, disciplined and cohesive than the predecessor, due to first case in U2 history of too many cooks (producers). It is still a good album, best after 2000 alongside SOI, but just not as good as ATYCLB was. ATYCLB has some of the best songwriting in U2 history, so understandably repeating that was not an easy task…

    Kinda same problem with Vertigo Tour vs Elevation Tour. The former was a shadow of a blueprint developed on the latter, just not as fresh and memorable as Elevation Tour was.


    Hmmm
  6. I'm still mad they didn't release the Chicago concert on streaming services... They overcomplicated simple things
  7. For me this album was where the rot started to set in and they quickly ceased to be the interesting and forward looking band I fell in love with. When set against what the band had done in the 90's ATYCLB was actually really interesting to me at the time and almost seemed like the most logical move for them to prove they could still make an an album in the same, mega-hit, radio friendly vein that made them so massive in the 80's. But as others have said, HTDAAB just seemed like they were trying to repeat that in terms of ambition, only with less sincerity and less actually good songs. Yes, ATYCLB is only half great, but what a half those first 6 songs are. The only song on the Atomic Bomb album that gave me a genuine emotional reaction was SYCMIOYO, the rest is just a formulaic, cliche'd mish-mash.... Vertigo just sounds like them trying to write a song to the same formula as Elevation (and GOYB was them flogging that same dead horse even further but don't get me started on that)....

    And as for the tour, it had its moments but for me it signifies the point where Bono's onstage preaching went from occasionally irritating to just straight up excruciating. I remember when I saw them at Twickenham, I think he literally spoke for longer than the length of the song before One... And what the actual f*ck was playing Vertigo, in full, twice in one gig all about?!?!?
  8. I resonate with your take, ric. We forget now that ATYCLB was a stunning departure from Zooropa/Pop. And "side A" is just one monster song after another. Nothing since has been as surprising (they chickened out with NLOTH) and as excellent, song by song. Because that was the thing in the glory days: every album was a departure AND was awesome.
  9. Originally posted by ric:For me this album was where the rot started to set in and they quickly ceased to be the interesting and forward looking band I fell in love with. When set against what the band had done in the 90's ATYCLB was actually really interesting to me at the time and almost seemed like the most logical move for them to prove they could still make an an album in the same, mega-hit, radio friendly vein that made them so massive in the 80's. But as others have said, HTDAAB just seemed like they were trying to repeat that in terms of ambition, only with less sincerity and less actually good songs. Yes, ATYCLB is only half great, but what a half those first 6 songs are. The only song on the Atomic Bomb album that gave me a genuine emotional reaction was SYCMIOYO, the rest is just a formulaic, cliche'd mish-mash.... Vertigo just sounds like them trying to write a song to the same formula as Elevation (and GOYB was them flogging that same dead horse even further but don't get me started on that)....

    And as for the tour, it had its moments but for me it signifies the point where Bono's onstage preaching went from occasionally irritating to just straight up excruciating. I remember when I saw them at Twickenham, I think he literally spoke for longer than the length of the song before One... And what the actual f*ck was playing Vertigo, in full, twice in one gig all about?!?!?
    Regarding playing Vertigo twice. They used to play 11 O Clock twice a show during the early days. They played it twice on the Vertigo tour and l thought it worked.
  10. Originally posted by miryclay:[..]
    Regarding playing Vertigo twice. They used to play 11 O Clock twice a show during the early days. They played it twice on the Vertigo tour and l thought it worked.
    Slight (and glaringly obvious) difference between 2005 and the early days is that by 2005 they had a vast and almost unlimited reservoir of incredible songs to draw from. In the early days they did not so it would make sense to give those small venues what they want and play one of their tiny handful of popular songs again.

    Absolutely no excuse whatsoever for that kind of behaviour by 2005 though.....
  11. Originally posted by ric:[..]
    Slight (and glaringly obvious) difference between 2005 and the early days is that by 2005 they had a vast and almost unlimited reservoir of incredible songs to draw from. In the early days they did not so it would make sense to give those small venues what they want and play one of their tiny handful of popular songs again.

    Absolutely no excuse whatsoever for that kind of behaviour by 2005 though.....
    I suppose you feel the same way about the light bulb stage prop in 2015 and the intention behind it.

    The best thing for you to do is to create your own global stadium stomping rock band and then you can determine the setlist.
  12. I liked Vertigo twice, something they hadn't done in ages and after all it's only an encore song.