1. I thought the music of Achtung Baby called for the visuals, the interference, the misuse of the technology, etc.. given the times, I thought it complemented the songs well. Now take the Elevation stage- picture it in place of the ZooTV setup- with the heart, the simple four high screens, etc..would the appreciation of that kind of "Achtung Baby 92" tour be as high? It's a good question. On the merits of the music alone, I'd say yes. But without the visuals, it's an interesting conversation.
  2. Originally posted by popmarter:[..]
    That's an interesting point songs like Pride,Still haven't found and With or without you could have done with a break on that tour they kinda felt out of place on that futuristic stage ,always felt that screen was made for The Fly which they never played.Popmart definitely had some great moments but it never felt as groundbreaking or exciting as Zoo TV.


    I recall that Paul McGuinness had to practically force them into adding ISHFWILF and Pride into the Popmart set list. It was a last minute decision made during the Vegas rehearsals. And then later on, greatest hits like NYD, SBS and AIWIY were brought in as some of the weaker Pop songs were dropped (I still think they should’ve kept Miami”).

    You are correct, The Fly would’ve been amazing with that giant screen! A mistake on their part to not include it. I’m surprised that only 4 AB songs were played on the entire Popmart Tour. Even more surprising though, is nothing from Zooropa. At that point, none of the Zooropa songs had been played in North America. Strange decisions.
  3. Originally posted by Ricku2:[..]
    yes and it also had 3 tracks on the Popheart live EP and it was used for the Please video. The 2nd show had the first four songs broadcasted (partially) on MTV. Well, in the end maybe there's not much in between. 2nd night was more joyful with very crisp sound, the first night maybe had more special moments (opening night, the live broadcast, the bridge in Last Night On Earth, long speech before Still Haven't Found, Rain (the song) and rain). For me, in the stadium, the 2nd night was clearly superior.
    I remember the sound being great indeed, probably the best I heard at a U2 concert. Might have been due to it being the last show in the roofless Feyenoord stadium, which is much better for sound.


  4. Like many have pointed out: their best tour and their best album, too.

    The album was innovative and consistently outstanding.

    The tour was also innovative to say the least.

    Bono was young and handsome, consistently on top form, in his coolest outfits ever.

    It's the first time I saw them - I was mind blown and still am to this day.

    Popmart was also a fantastic show, yes. But no tour, I think, can really compete with Zoo TV. Of the more recent tours, 360 1st leg had perhaps a similar vibe, even though it's more like an echo. Anyway: in Summer 2009 every show would take off with four new songs; several new songs were played every night; the stage was genuinely innovative; Bono was again in brilliant form. The Milan shows and Amsterdam I rank, I think, among the very best 'recent' U2 shows.
  5. Originally posted by podiumboy:[..]


    I recall that Paul McGuinness had to practically force them into adding ISHFWILF and Pride into the Popmart set list. It was a last minute decision made during the Vegas rehearsals. And then later on, greatest hits like NYD, SBS and AIWIY were brought in as some of the weaker Pop songs were dropped (I still think they should’ve kept Miami”).

    You are correct, The Fly would’ve been amazing with that giant screen! A mistake on their part to not include it. I’m surprised that only 4 AB songs were played on the entire Popmart Tour. Even more surprising though, is nothing from Zooropa. At that point, none of the Zooropa songs had been played in North America. Strange decisions.
    Stay was played during rehearsals in Las Vegas IIRC. Not really sure if it was spontaneous or actually planned for the setlist.
  6. Originally posted by JuJuman:[..]


    Like many have pointed out: their best tour and their best album, too.

    The album was innovative and consistently outstanding.

    The tour was also innovative to say the least.

    Bono was young and handsome, consistently on top form, in his coolest outfits ever.

    It's the first time I saw them - I was mind blown and still am to this day.

    Popmart was also a fantastic show, yes. But no tour, I think, can really compete with Zoo TV.
    Good point about 360. I've always defended its two first legs as U2's best since Zoo TV in terms of show innovation & roundness (not necessarily in terms of performance, where legs 3, 6 and 7 of 360 Tour were better). As you say, they've never had so much confidence in their new material as they did in 92-93 and 09. All of their other tours (even dating back to the early 80s) used to open with maybe one new song, two max, but soon relied on jumping back to classics -usually I Will Follow, Gloria or Out Of Control- to get the audience going. They rejected that in 2009 and decided to do a ZooTV-ish start and consistently open with 4 new songs, AND ALSO close every single show with a NLOTH song. That says a lot.

    It's ironic that they've repudiated NLOTH ever since, though
  7. NLOTH (the song) was garbage live. UC, Boots, Magnificent were all stellar
  8. 360 was basically 3 different tours in one. The setlist in each year was different. It's a shame they lost confidence in those opening NLOTH songs though - unlike ZOO TV where the same songs opened all the shows for the whole tour. 2009 was basically the tour supporting the NLOTH album. 2010 was a mix of NLOTH and playing unreleased music. 2011 was basically an AB anniversary celebration.
  9. Unknown Caller, their best (new) live song of the past 15 years
  10. Originally posted by SJKamal:360 was basically 3 different tours in one. The setlist in each year was different. It's a shame they lost confidence in those opening NLOTH songs though - unlike ZOO TV where the same songs opened all the shows for the whole tour. 2009 was basically the tour supporting the NLOTH album. 2010 was a mix of NLOTH and playing unreleased music. 2011 was basically an AB anniversary celebration.
    Correct, there was only 3 songs played from NLOTH during the final shows of the 360 tour.


  11. I thought NLOTH was one of their best in years. Grungy, upbeat and Bon always gave it a good dig.