U2 new album "Songs of Experience" coming December 1st, plus 2018 tour.*

Yeah. Some people don't seem to be able to make up their mind. For year's some have been wishing that U2 would again follow Bono's remark during the Zoo TV years that they "might lose some of the pop kids. But that's OK, we don't need them." (I'm paraphrasing here). It looks like they are doing that now, though maybe not in a way that those people would've liked.

I can't review the show yet, as I haven't seen it. Only a few more weeks and I can't wait to experience it. I'm still not sold on the new album, but I applaud them (every artist, actually) for focusing on their most recent record. So I'll be looking forward to my 81st U2 show.

 

Like I said earlier, I would go if I had the time, no dates fit in my schedule.

Achtung Baby tour in 2021?!!!!?!! I'm there if I have the time, too! JT show last year was awesome.

 

The biggest U2 fan forum has a detailed thread about about parts of the US having the ticket demand at pop mart levels, maybe even at 1984 levels of demand. 50,000 people(ie: most) who saw them in LA in 2015 didn't want to see them in 2018. Some of the 360/2017 vs. 2018 comparisons are truly sobering.

I think Moment of Surrender and Every Breaking Wave are amongst their best work and perfect for a band 35-40 years deep. A third of this setlist is amongst their most inferior work.

 

But I would argue that that's due more to the prices of the tickets than the quality of SOE or the setlist. Especially since the setlist wasn't known until very recently, whereas tickets went on sale a long time ago. I'm a huge U2 fan. I absolutely love SOI and SOE. I really really want to see this tour, but it's not coming to my area and even if it was, I wouldn't be able to afford it. But again, it's the prices keeping me away, not the setlist.

 

The AVERAGE ticket price hasn't made any huge jumps from 2009 to 2015 to 2017 to 2018. It's clear stateside that a JT tour would sell much better than any tour with new stuff. Several US markets had tickets where price slashing was needed the week before.

Low opinion on SOE isn't just me. Probably 2/3rd of those seeing the show don't own it and never will.

For me personally, I saw multiple performances in 2017 in 3 countries and both sides of the Atlantic. Yet half of the songs on SOE I need to 2 sittings to even get through once. No U2 fan has any of the SOE songs in their top 100 U2 songs of all time.

 

So true. I feel like I'm in Bizarro World around here. All you read every tour is criticism that they don't truly support an album or that they pull out the same old songs. Now it's the reverse on here about this tour. Wow!

I can't wait to see it. I'm upset that Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses has been pulled, very upset. I am sold on the new album, so look forward to most of the songs they've picked. Although, I don't understand how Red Flag Day and The Little Things That Give You Away aren't in every show compared to, say, the acoustic Get Out of Your Own Way or maybe You're The Best Thing About Me. But maybe I will enjoy them more live.

It's absolutely thrilling to have Acrobat in the set list. And Bono can yell through the bullhorn all he wants because my mindset is right there with him.

But Lights of Home and Love is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way and 13 (There is a Light) I can't wait for.

U2 will take a good three to four-year-break after this. And you never know. Something could happen to one of them during that time period. We won't have them around forever. This run of three tours within four years has been a gift as far as I'm concerned.

 

The best song from SOI and best song from SOE haven't been played yet in 2018 on the I&E tour. EB Wave/Little Things.

 

The U2 fans probably shouldn't start panicking just yet. It could be that their popularity is declining, but it might also be a case of going to the well a bit too often. They played five I&E shows at the LA Forum in 2015, two massive JT shows at the Rose Bowl in 2017, and then followed that a little less than a year later with the two Forum shows this week. Considering the across-the-board price increases, some decrease in enthusiasm would be understandable.

 

Wow, that is impressive that you found the time to speak to every single U2 fan in the world in order to make that statement.

 

Red Flag Day is in my top 100 for sure.

 

US is the issue. Even places on the JT tour they hadn't played in a while were really easy tickets and not totally sold out.

Denver 2011 was 70,000 sold out, but 2015 was 30,000 over 2 nights with balcony sections trapped off. The cheap seats didn't sell.

Politics and the verified fan stuff were also factors.

 

Just picked up the vinyl from amazon.de for €15 along with atomic bomb vinyl for the same price

 

You might be right about the US. Coincidentally, I went to the Denver show in 2015 and was able to get a great seat a few rows off the floor for less than $200 as I recall. On the other hand, last year, when I noticed that I would be in Rome on the second of two nights at the Olympic Stadium there, I promised to take a business associate. As usual, I waited until a couple of days before the show for prices to come down, and they never came down. Ended up paying over $800 for a pair of decent seats near midfield. That was painful.

It may also be that fans will come out in droves for hits-driven tours, but only serious fans will come out for shows focused on new albums.

 

Checked out first LA show setlist----while I tip hat for daringness with that list, no JT, etc., as a listener who finds it shocking and depressing how uninteresting and uninspired (often in a pop-trend-hopping way, often in just a "who the hell was excited by any aspect of this?" way) I would have been appalled had I paid big money into the experience unexpectedly. Still, they seem to believe in themselves still, not that the passion and craft of the last few CDs would indicate that.

 

Here in NYC, the bunch of MSG shows were IMPOSSIBLE to get once the Innocence tour started. Now, to be fair, uppers were around $100 each. Lowers $275-$300 each. Still, an impossible ticket once the tour started.

This tour, most uppers are priced at $275. To quote mr. Pool, “What the a$$????”

Obviously the show is going to be spectacular. I made a promise to myself long ago never to miss them when they came around. I have never once been disappointed and each and every show walked (floated?) away exhilarated.

But the price structure they set for uppers AND lowers on this tour is an embarrassment. Yes, I get it. Defeat the brokers. Why give the money to them? I don’t know the answer. But there’s got to be a better way.

Disclaimer: I bought lower lever tix for Pru Center. 3 of them so my son could see them again as well. Spent almost a grand with fees. That’s after buying a pair to the Pru Center without thinking my son would want to go. Now I’m worried about not being able to sell them AND THEY ARE A PAIR OF THE BEST SEATS IN THE ARENA. But just priced ridiculously.

 

Didn't the verified fan stuff start with this tour, not the JT tour?

And the band's politics haven't really changed over the years. They may have been more or less vocal about it during certain periods/tours, but I don't see it as a factor in show attendance.

 

Not true at all. $125 got me fantastic stadium seats in 2017. Equivalent seats in terms of look angle to the stage and distance from the stage for this tour are $325 each. Ridiculous.

I do agree that they're also touring behind inferior material this year.

 

Probably because it was a stadium tour. I paid $275 CAD + fees in 2015 and $325 CAD + fees in 2018 for similar seats in the same venue.

 

Because of the ONE campaign Africa stuff Bono was friendly to the US president before Obama, whereas it's quite opposite to the president after Obama.

There's been heavy booing since 2015 in places like Denver/Arizona/Texas if Bono makes any gun/immigrant reference during the show. An aging fan base being the difference from past decades, generally speaking people are more conservative as they get older.

 

3 states out of 50 . And like I said, the band's political stance on guns, violence and immigrants/refugees, etc. hasn't changed regardless of who's in office. So if go into a U2 show expecting to not hear some type of political message, you get what you get. The band doesn't care and good on them for that.

You throw out a lot of generalizations in your posts that don't seem to be substantiated by much.

 

Yep, they had a very overt gun related political message during the Elevation tour in 2001. It was the intro to BTBS.

 

Exactly.

Adam Clayton: "There are some people who say you shouldn't mix politics and music, sports and politics. Well... I think that's kinda ********!"

 

Actually . . . . except for those that bought their tickets in the secondary market, everyone who bought a ticket for the show received a copy of the album, right? At least I did.

 

Unless, of course, it's Aung San Suu Kyi

Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow night though. I missed the last few tours so it'll be nice to see them and hear the new songs live.

 

This may be selfish but I wish Walk On would be played again. I know it probably wont ever be played again due to the Aung issue but I love that song especially live.