1. It really is crazy when you break the years down. Like it was only 10 years ago that U2 had just finished the 360 tour and we were about to get SOI, IE, JT30, SOE, EI, JT19.

    There was only 10 years between October and Achtung Baby. War, UF, Live Aid, JT, dream it all up again, AB and Zoo Tv. It’s just crazy
  2. Funnily enough I was thinking about this earlier as well. They really did go pretty all out early in their career with releases. They actually released as many albums in the first 15 years of their career (going from formation in 1976) as they did for the next 31 years or 26 at the time of SOE from AB. I think generally speaking the longer gaps have led to better quality though. Only 3 of they first 7 albums break out of the bottom 5 imo. Although 2 of them are also the top 2 I’d say.
  3. Its mental when you think about it,however we had 4 albums by 1984 after a 1980 debut.I think they deffo got the right balance on their releases by building up enough anticipation without over saturation.
  4. I know it wouldn’t have worked so conveniently because of when songs were wrote etc but if you condense they first 4 albums down to 3 you have 3 very strong albums. Well actually I’d leave boy as it is maybe swapping out shadows and tall trees for 11 o’clock tick tock. But the next 3 condensed into 2 make 2 very good and maybe even a very good and a great album rather than a very average October, and only quite good war and Uf albums.
  5. Originally posted by deanallison:I know it wouldn’t have worked so conveniently because of when songs were wrote etc but if you condense they first 4 albums down to 3 you have 3 very strong albums. Well actually I’d leave boy as it is maybe swapping out shadows and tall trees for 11 o’clock tick tock. But the next 3 condensed into 2 make 2 very good and maybe even a very good and a great album rather than a very average October, and only quite good war and Uf albums.
    Album 1 - Side A
    1. Gloria
    2. I Threw A Brick…
    3. I Fall Down
    4. Fire
    5. October
    Album 1- Side B
    1. Tomorrow
    2. Sunday Bloody Sunday
    3. Seconds
    4. New Year’s Day
    5. ‘40’

    Album 2 - Side A
    1. Two Hearts Beat As One
    2. Like A Song..
    3. Drowning Man
    4. Wire
    5. Promenade
    Album 2 - Side B
    1. A Sort of Homecoming
    2. Pride
    3. The Unforgettable Fire
    4. Bad
    5. MLK

    Album 2 - Side A doesn’t quite work (does it?) but it’s a starting point.
  6. Here’s my go, cheating a little by including 11 O’Clock Tick Tock but it’s not been on an album and is much better than everything that’s left. Probably just 2 very good albums though than greatness.

    1. Sunday Bloody Sunday
    2. Gloria
    3. I Fall Down
    4. Two Hearts Beat As One
    5. October
    6. New Years Day
    7. With A Shout
    8. Seconds
    9. Surrender
    10. 11 O’Clock Tick Tock


    1. A Sort Of Homecoming
    2. Wire
    3. MLK
    4. Pride
    5. Drowning Man
    6. Promenade
    7. The Unforgettable Fire
    8. Indian Summer Sky
    9. Bad
    10. 40
  7. So at the end of the day you do quite like TUF but would simply prefer October and War to be condensed into one LP. ;-)
  8. Originally posted by RUMMY:So at the end of the day you do quite like TUF but would simply prefer October and War to be condensed into one LP. ;-)
    It looks like that on paper doesn’t it but Indian summer sky was a bit of a grudging inclusion. If you read my thoughts on like a song (the song not the u2starter lol) it’s similar to that. It’s fine but it’s the best left from the rest imo. So really TUF a 10 song album only has 7 good or better with Indian summer sky hovering in the decent category. Not enough quality in a 10 song album for me but the best of the 3 absolutely.
  9. Just thinking about what a weird era for music 2001 was. It was the beginning of "hip hop driving the big cars", awful nu metal, boy bands still dominating but with the bubble about to burst...and then U2 coming on the scene with a back to basics album like ATYCLB and tour like Elevation.
  10. i knew Popmart had seats on the floor. But are you sure ZooTv did? And every thing prior? Like the club gigs of Boy and Oct? highly doubtful
  11. Originally posted by marik:i knew Popmart had seats on the floor. But are you sure ZooTv did? And every thing prior? Like the club gigs of Boy and Oct? highly doubtful
    They had seats on the floor once they graduated to arenas in North America. When they were doing club shows and the like it was no different from today when you go to one. There was a big deal being made when U2 announced they were doing GA in 2001. It got a lot of media coverage that a band was doing a full tour in arenas without seats on the floor. But even before that they did do some tour stops as GA. It happened on a few earlier tours.

    Edit: if you look at the replies to that tweet you’ll see several examples in North America where U2 did GA in North America before Elevation.