U2

[fifilamore]

I was really looking forward to U2 in 2011 particularly as they pulled out in 2010 and were replaced by Muse (Not a big muse fan but they were actually really good) but the U2 set wasn't particularly memorable in 2011 it was just okay - at the time I thought it was just because of the rain, the fact that we were right to the side of the stage so couldn't really see much and because I was rather inebriated! - but it sounds like it just wasn't that memorable a set! Did have a good sing a long though.Coldplay were definitely better on the Saturday - was a toss up between Coldplay (who I am again not a massive fan of!) and Chemical Brothers - decided on Coldplay as I probably wouldn't ever go to see them so thought I would see what the hype was about - and was surprisingly a really good show,

[russycarps]

U2 didn't/don't have the flexibility to adapt to the elements. Theyve become too programmed by the stage show.

I think the set order was a big factor. Why were they playing One so early? Even better than the real thing was a cack opener too. New years day would have been just the ticket.

The rain didnt help, but that set list order was a massive error of judgement.

That being said, I still enjoyed it (I think, memory is hazy)

[**claire**]

I thought U2 were OK - I could have improved my own enjoyment of the set by moving forwards from the back of the field where I couldn't hear a single note they were playing, and being a little less whiney about the weather. i think they did the best they could given the conditions.

I don't think there'd be the same hype about them returning to the Pyramid though - I thought that the main reason people were so excited about them headlining was that festivals are something they just don't normally do (and therefore the likelihood of them doing so again would be slim).

[The Nal]

I think the set order was a big factor. Why were they playing One so early? Even better than the real thing was a cack opener too. New years day would have been just the ticket.

The rain didnt help, but that set list order was a massive error of judgement.

That being said, I still enjoyed it (I think, memory is hazy)

The Stones played Wild Horses early. A well placed ballad can work. But in the pissing rain everything really needs to be kept on the "up".

Loved the opening few songs. Even Better was ace! There were some odd choices after granted (like not playing New Years Day, Desire, Discotheque etc etc) but the rain just ruined it.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Well - they played One early as the first 1/3rd of their set was an Achtung Baby / Zoo TV tribute - and it definitely seems that that was the bit that people enjoyed the most. It's so visually distinctive and unlike most other things that U2 have done that by the time they moved in to the more prosaic / 'standard' U2 of the rest of the set that it was left looking and sounding a little flat.

[russycarps]

Well - they played One early as the first 1/3rd of their set was an Achtung Baby / Zoo TV tribute - and it definitely seems that that was the bit that people enjoyed the most. It's so visually distinctive and unlike most other things that U2 have done that by the time they moved in to the more prosaic / 'standard' U2 of the rest of the set that it was left looking and sounding a little flat.

aye on paper it seemed a good idea I'm sure, and great for the fans.

Where I was stood it was during One that people started streaming out. Ballads in the pissing rain arent a great idea for the casual observer I suppose

[CaledonianGonzo]

Yup - great idea on paper, just in practice it left things feeling a little lop-sided.

At least from my point of view. But then I can't stick things like Vertigo and Elevation.

[The Nal]

Ballads in the pissing rain arent a great idea for the casual observer I suppose

Aren't a great idea for anyone. I remember during the opening notes, which are quiet in comparison to The Fly or whatever, hearing the rain drops smashing off raincoats and heads everywhere. The reality that it was indeed utterly pissing it down suddenly dawned on the crowd.

[CaledonianGonzo]

During 'One' Bono also let the crowd have a sing-a-long and it became clear pretty quickly that not that many of them knew the words.

[GlastoSimon]

New album released yesterday. Bit of an odd one, because it's been 'given away' for free to 500 million iTunes accounts - found it sitting there in my library. Seems like I've been i-raped by U2.

I'm sure I'll have a listen at some point, though both the album title ('Songs of Innocence') and the opening track title (The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)) don't fill me with confidence

[Pinhead]

The whole Apple event seemed to be more interested in promoting U2 than their latest products - a real cringing love-in between Bono and Tim Cook as they rake all that tax free cash in again......

[The Nal]

Bono and Apple in a corporate circle jerk and the album "automatically" added to itunes libraries?!

And I get the hear it after people with iphones?! U2 should just put on suits and go sit in Apple HQ and work from there. Make music as a side project. About as far away from their north side Dublin punk roots as you'll get.

Anyway, listened to the album twice (on my third listen now) and there isn't a single tune on there I can imagine myself wanting to listen to again. Its like the last album. It sounds like a mixture of Coldplay b sides and the worst parts of Kasabian.

Only half decent tune on there is "The Troubles" and that sounds like they wrote it immediately after listening to Blue Lines.

Its as MOR as you can possibly get. They should have stuck with Rick Rubin.

Edited September 10, 2014 by The Nal

[Avalon_Fields]

It's definitely better to make your own choice of music, rather than being mass-fed!

[Wooderson]

I really like it!

[Mardy]

It sounds like a mixture of Coldplay b sides and the worst parts of Kasabian.

*shudders* I can't begin to imagine how bad this album is. That's the stuff of nightmares.

[The Nal]

*shudders* I can't begin to imagine how bad this album is. That's the stuff of nightmares.

First tune here mate. Give it 2 mins. This is the opener!

"The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)". As hammy as a Parma piggery.

http://youtu.be/tK54LOTwy8g

[Mardy]

Hmmm... OK, so (and this is true) at the moment there's a ban on meat and dairy products from the European Union being imported into Russia.

That is so full of both ham AND cheese I'm expecting a knock on the door and to be in a Gulag by nightfall.

[Mardy]

Euphemism?

I'll be in your gulag by nightfall. Giggedy giggedy.

Just be careful as you enter my gulag archipelago. I'm not as flexible as I used to be.

[Gnomicide]

It's the smoking process you want to be wary of.

[The Nal]

Hmmm... OK, so (and this is true) at the moment there's a ban on meat and dairy products from the European Union being imported into Russia.

That is so full of both ham AND cheese I'm expecting a knock on the door and to be in a Gulag by nightfall.

I'm a fan. Still listen to a lot of their music, I was really hoping for a new approach from them after the last wet fart of an album. Took them five years to play second fiddle - sorry, third fiddle - to a phone and a fucking watch. For the tidy sum of $100m.

The genuinely sad thing for me is that they've lost their balls. The last album in 2009 was supposed to be "experimental", "like the jump between Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby" but they chickened out in the end in favour of MOR safety.

This album isn't officially available to non itunes customers, like me, for another month. An absolute corporate circle jerk. An over-considered, pathetically safe and cowardly way to make and release music. They've managed to make an album representing everything that rock and roll is not.

[FloorFiller]

although the way they've released this album is rather pathetic, it kind of speaks volumes: (repeating what i said in the album thread) had this album been released in the regular way, it would've slid out of memory and down the charts in a heartbeat. this at least gives it something to hold on to, because the songs definitely aren't gonna do that. one of the songs (Every Breaking Wave) is a leftover from No Line On The Horizon, that was originally supposed to feature on a 'leftovers album', and that's one of the best things here

[Pinhead]

Reported in 9tomac is that they have added the album to the list of purchased items for every iTunes account so that it automatically begins downloading to any profile that includes a mac device of one sort or another. This to apparently fiddle the figures to make it look like the most downloaded album ever whilst blocking up the internet and everyone's personal mobile and broadband account... You can remove it before this happens if your're lucky - instructions in the article.

http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/10/u2s-new-album-might-be-on-your-ios-devices-right-now-even-if-you-havent-downloaded-it/

[bocumaroy]

Well it hasn’t downloaded to mine and I actually want to listen to it. I know it’ll probably be dead boring, but I do like some of their stuff, so I’m mildly curious.

Been listening to Achtung Baby a lot recently. It’s great. As is Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Edited September 11, 2014 by bocumaroy

[LondonTom]

Listened to it earlier, all told its a bit of a non event of an album. Can understand why they went in with Apple.

[Gnomicide]

5 star review in Rolling Stone...

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/u2-songs-of-innocence-20140911?