U2

[Gnomicide]

Not many comments on the site agree with them....

Lasse Sørnes•an hour ago

What are you guys smoking these days at Rolling Stone? This review is the worst review I have read in many years. If this is a top class album, then the last Adam Sandler movie must be nominated for an Oscar.

[russycarps]

my god look at this comment

Is U2 the most versatile band ever?

If you like punk listen to Boy or War
If you like ambient music listen to The Unforgettable Fire
If you like sweeping, grandiose rock and roll (a la The Who) listen to The Joshua Tree
If you like traditional American folk/R&B/blues listen to Rattle & Hum
If you like distortion-heavy guitar rock listen to Achtung Baby
If you like Bowie-esque experimentalism listen to Zooropa
If you like electronic music listen to Pop
If you like old fashioned pop song craftsmanship listen to All That You Can't Leave Behind

Other styles of music appear in different places in U2's catalog as well, such as funk ('Mysterious Ways' and parts of the War album), gospel ("I Still Haven't Found..."), krautrock (parts of Achtung Baby), and hip-hop ('Miami' from the Pop album). U2 even wrote a jazz song for Frank Sinatra once.

[mrtourette]

I don't think that person would know 'distortion-heavy guitar rock' if if crept up behind them and fed back into their ear.

[CaledonianGonzo]

5 star review in Rolling Stone...

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

Bwawahahha...some journos I follow on Twitter are still laughing about his ficve star review for No Line On the Horizon.

[Gnomicide]

"Is U2...."

I know it's only a minor thing but the way Americans refer to bands as a singular thing really annoys me. For all I know they may be grammatically correct but I don't like it. I don't like it one bit.

Are U2...

[CaledonianGonzo]

By finishing their set with Moment of Surrender and Out of Control, U2 was much mistaken.

[russycarps]

It's not correct tony. It should read 'is u2 the biggest corporate whore of a tax-dodging shell of its former self band ever?'

Kt's

thats the rolling stones isnt it?

though I suppose they have never not been corporate whore tax dodgers...

Edited September 12, 2014 by russycarps

[Gnomicide]

By finishing their set with Moment of Surrender and Out of Control, U2 was much mistaken.

I thoroughly enjoyed both those songs but I still tink had they made it say, Angel of Harlem and New Years Day their set would have been viewed very differently.

[CaledonianGonzo]

thats the rolling stones isnt it?

though I suppose they have never not been corporate wh0re tax dodgers...

When they fully embraced that was when they made their best album.

Wheels fell off not long afterwards, mind.

[mrtourette]

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/

"In order to claim the record for “biggest album launch in history,” U2 and Apple needed every single iTunes customer to own the album, so they added it to everyone’s account as a purchase automatically."

Are they really going to have the balls to try and claim the biggest album launch in history when people don't even want the album? It's like a free local newspaper claiming to be popular based on how many letterboxes it gets posted through.

Edited September 12, 2014 by mrtourette

[CaledonianGonzo]

I thoroughly enjoyed both those songs but I still tink had they made it say, Angel of Harlem and New Years Day their set would have been viewed very differently.

Indeed - if they'd done something like bringing BB King on for When Love Comes To Town people would have departed with far less of a shrug.

[russycarps]

I thoroughly enjoyed both those songs but I still tink had they made it say, Angel of Harlem and New Years Day their set would have been viewed very differently.

Yep. it was the easiest thing in the world to end that set with a bang. The biggest fuck up from a headliner I can remember.

It was like if macca has ended with the frog chorus, or bowie with the laughing gnome (though I might prefer that to im afraid of americans..)

[Gnomicide]

Yep. it was the easiest thing in the world to end that set with a bang. The biggest fuck up from a headliner I can remember.

It was like if macca has ended with the frog chorus, or bowie with the laughing gnome (though I might prefer that to im afraid of americans..)

I still can't get my head round it. When you watch the footage it looks like they intended to finish with Moment of Surrender then decided they had time for one more so threw in Out of Control.

What was the thinking? Let's finish with a big ballad of that last album that everyone hated, hang on... time for one more. Let's throw in that obscure 1st single that even less people own.

I've listened to the recording of the show quite often and it sounds great but even on CD the drop off in interest is palpable.

[CaledonianGonzo]

I had my issues with Arcade Fire's set this year, but at least they ended with a ruddy big bang.

U2 concluded with a whimper.

[hallamboy]

I had my issues with Arcade Fire's set this year, but at least they ended with a ruddy big bang.

U2 concluded with a whimper.

I'm not sure that Out of Control is a whimper song but I understand has been said about it as a final track of a set. It was a late add on. As it happens, I love Out of Control so I was happy with it as a closing song.

The Glasto set by U2 still bothers me (no, not that they were actually there). U2 used to get the set right every time. They built a reputation as a live band but have let it slip. They tried to be too clever with at Glasto and it back fired. The small attention to detail that they were known for has disappeared. The playing of five tracks back to back from Achtung Baby went over the heads of most in the crowd. The Dead Flies from Damien Hurst were not special and frankly nobody cared about it. The using of another TV director didn't work because they perhaps didn't understand the space they were working in.

Too many of the big hitter songs came too early in the set and left them with nowhere to go.

The weather was horrendous and that didn't help. It also didn't help that a usually active frontman was jetlagged and slipping all over the place. The fact that they felt disconnected from the audience is something they should have known about and dealt with. U2 don't need the 'toys' to put on a great show, but I think that we were all expecting a bit more than a couple of visuals from Damien Hurst and an extra set of screens. It just didn't work.

I look back on that show with delight and also disappointment. I'd never seen them play Bad and that was a real treat. There were other highlights as well.

As for the new record. Well, it isn't a bad U2 record and is much better than No Line On the Horizon. It isn't the classic period or the classic reinvention that has been seen from time to time. I think that, for me, the album will be a grower.

[CaledonianGonzo]

I disagree that the start of the set playing the Achtung Baby material didn't work or went over people's heads.

They just had trouble following it.

[russycarps]

I'm not sure that Out of Control is a whimper song but I understand has been said about it as a final track of a set. It was a late add on. As it happens, I love Out of Control so I was happy with it as a closing song.

The Glasto set by U2 still bothers me (no, not that they were actually there). U2 used to get the set right every time. They built a reputation as a live band but have let it slip. They tried to be too clever with at Glasto and it back fired. The small attention to detail that they were known for has disappeared. The playing of five tracks back to back from Achtung Baby went over the heads of most in the crowd. The Dead Flies from Damien Hurst were not special and frankly nobody cared about it. The using of another TV director didn't work because they perhaps didn't understand the space they were working in.

Too many of the big hitter songs came too early in the set and left them with nowhere to go.

The weather was horrendous and that didn't help. It also didn't help that a usually active frontman was jetlagged and slipping all over the place. The fact that they felt disconnected from the audience is something they should have known about and dealt with. U2 don't need the 'toys' to put on a great show, but I think that we were all expecting a bit more than a couple of visuals from Damien Hurst and an extra set of screens. It just didn't work.

I look back on that show with delight and also disappointment. I'd never seen them play Bad and that was a real treat. There were other highlights as well.

As for the new record. Well, it isn't a bad U2 record and is much better than No Line On the Horizon. It isn't the classic period or the classic reinvention that has been seen from time to time. I think that, for me, the album will be a grower.

All they needed to do was end on with something crappy but well known like walk on/city of blinding lights (are they quite well known?) into new years day and the set would have been remembered much more fondly

[ivan]

I thought With or Without You was brilliant at Glasto and far better than some of their own show performances of it

[ivan]

I disagree that the start of the set playing the Achtung Baby material didn't work or went over people's heads.

They just had trouble following it.

I still listen to the set , but its the first bit then i skip to the last - basically missing anything they recorded after Achtung Baby !

[hallamboy]

I disagree that the start of the set playing the Achtung Baby material didn't work or went over people's heads.

They just had trouble following it.

I'm not sure that the festival crowd had clocked that it was an anniversary of Achtung Baby. No one around me expressed great surprise at the first part of the set. You are completely right about the fact that they had trouble following it up.

In my opinion, if they wanted to make an Achtung Baby statement then they should have started with Zoo Station. That sets the tone and frees up a place later in the set for something like Mysterious Ways.

One should have been at the back end of the main set or in the encore. The same goes for Where the Streets have no names.

[hallamboy]

All they needed to do was end on with something crappy but well known like walk on/city of blinding lights (are they quite well known?) into new years day and the set would have been remembered much more fondly

There were plenty of options and those wouldn't have been bad ones.

[russycarps]

There were plenty of options and those wouldn't have been bad ones.

Indeed. I wonder how the set would have been remembered if they'd had the nice weather coldplay got?

How many pyramid headline sets where it's pissed down with rain are remembered with affection? It was pouring during the who and that wasnt considered special.

I dont think it was actually raining during radiohead in 97 was it? I think it stopped before they started.

Edited September 12, 2014 by russycarps

[Lubic]

I still enjoyed the main set apart from the miserable weather spoiling the atmosphere a bit, but that encore has to be the biggest anti-climax to any gig I've ever been to. Hardly anyone around me was paying attention to the band, and I wasn't too far behind the 2nd barrier.

Like Russy says, it needed New Years Day. I would have also pushed Where the Streets have No Name back too.

[ivan]

I cannot really rembmer the rain , I remember thinking the crowd was a bit sparse with 10 minutes to go.

The pills were working early doors so i really enjoyed the Damien Hirst images , but they had a negative effect when it got a bit boring later on with Boots and stuff.

[Wooderson]

They couldve played Freebird at the end and no one wouldve given a fiddlers. Kids in front of me spent 30 minutes towards the end of the show hitting each other over the head with lit flares.