U2 Experience + Innocence Tour **Discussion Only // No Ticket Sales or Requests**

q2xv9rjei4awgb

This is what it must have been like back in 1992 at the start of the Zoo TV tour.

Zoo Station
The Fly
EBTTRT
Mysterious Ways
One
UTEOTW
WGRYWH
TTTYAATW

All in a row, with absolutely nothing before 1984

Teacher0101

Yeah, but 'Achtung Baby' is a littttle bit better than their most recent album. Although 'Songs of Experience' is a lot better than 'Songs of Innocence'.

still and all, I get what you mean, ballsy move at the time for a band who had an audience used to the Joshua Tree.

'War' was a UK no 1 album, and if you listen to 'The Unforgettable Fire', apart from maybe 'Pride', 'Wire' and 'Indian Summer Sky' there's a lot of experimental stuff there which was brave and would have alienated many fans.

q2xv9rjei4awgb

Teacher0101 wrote: »

Yeah, but 'Achtung Baby' is a littttle bit better than their most recent album. Although 'Songs of Experience' is a lot better than 'Songs of Innocence'.

still and all, I get what you mean, ballsy move at the time for a band who had an audience used to the Joshua Tree.

'War' was a UK no 1 album, and if you listen to 'The Unforgettable Fire', apart from maybe 'Pride', 'Wire' and 'Indian Summer Sky' there's a lot of experimental stuff there which was brave and would have alienated many fans.

Achtung Baby is a little bit better than most albums by anyone tbf.

Still, was a very ballsy move playing almost an entire album in a row, when it had only been out 3 months or so at the time

lambayire

Interesting stuff on Today FM just now.

Dermot had dinner with Edge and Adam last night.

Apparently there is nothing pre Achtung Baby on the setlist.

delbertgrady

... but four pre-Achtung Baby songs were included in the Tulsa rehearsal.

innuendo141

delbertgrady wrote: »

... but four pre-Achtung Baby songs were included in the Tulsa rehearsal.

Maybe they'll just be part of the encore? Hard to know now.

q2xv9rjei4awgb

delbertgrady wrote: »

... but four pre-Achtung Baby songs were included in the Tulsa rehearsal.

5

Wooderson

SBS integral to the chunk of the i+E show they’re replicating 1:1. Would be v surprised if it was dropped.

Quite like the idea of all pre-Achtung stuff getting binned however. As Willie W intimated in the RS interview it gives more of a “flow” to the I+E -> Joshua -> e+I tour phases.

johnpatrick81

That'd be fine by me!

Wrongway1985

Some people are offended by the bands stance on the upcoming referendum they claim they won't be using tickets purchased to their upcoming shows (a lot of these people weren't even Irish).

innuendo141

Wrongway1985 wrote: »

Some people are offended by the bands stance on the upcoming referendum they claim they won't be using tickets purchased to their upcoming shows (a lot of these people weren't even Irish).

I saw that their Repeal post has around 1.6 thousand likes out of all the 17 odd million that follow them.

Fair play to the lads I say. And to anyone that doesn't go, your loss is our gain. More room to point our massive phones at the telly.

q2xv9rjei4awgb

Wrongway1985 wrote: »

Some people are offended by the bands stance on the upcoming referendum they claim they won't be using tickets purchased to their upcoming shows (a lot of these people weren't even Irish).

There was confusion on some of the posts. American fans thought it was about their 8th amendment.

Personally, I'm not offended. The band and everyone else in this country, the world, have a right to express their opinion or point of view.
The upcoming referendum is a sensitive issue obviously

Wrongway1985

bclar12 wrote: »

Personally, I'm not offended. The band and everyone else in this country, the world, have a right to express their opinion or point of view.
The upcoming referendum is a sensitive issue obviously

100% agree, It is slightly baffling though that U2 having their say on the political climate isn't exactly something out of the blue.

johnpatrick81

I'd be shocked if they didn't get involved. Bono's daughters are really active on the repeal front. He said he'd only get involved if they let him. It's a huge deal for this country.

MisterAnarchy

bclar12 wrote: »

Personally, I'm not offended. The band and everyone else in this country, the world, have a right to express their opinion or point of view.
The upcoming referendum is a sensitive issue obviously

They do but to be honest Bono's pontification in particular is becoming hard to take.
I dont like being lectured by celebrities ,especially ones with massive vested business interests.

Bono's Trump bashing didnt go down too well in the US last year and he has egg all over his face after the Aung San Suu Kyi debacle.

Just stick to the music lads .

PTH2009

This makes me feel very excited

https://youtu.be/PxngIpxYLdM

q2xv9rjei4awgb

What's baffling to me is that Adam two days ago, Bono yesterday and The Edge today all said that NOTHING pre Achtung Baby will be played...

So, why were they rehearsing 6 songs pre 1987?
Is it a smoke screen?

Scorpion Sting

innuendo141 wrote: »

I saw that their Repeal post has around 1.6 thousand likes out of all the 17 odd million that follow them.

Fair play to the lads I say. And to anyone that doesn't go, your loss is our gain. More room to point our massive phones at the telly.

17 odd million, ehm no more like 1.6 odd million.

lambayire

http://www.u2gigs.com/show2055.html

Nothing from the Joshua Tree.

Some surprises in there!

but1er

lambayire wrote: »

http://www.u2gigs.com/show2055.html

Nothing from the Joshua Tree.

Some surprises in there!

Delighted it's not. Brilliant set list, tour not made for the fans whos into the hits

Stacksey

Delighted to see Acrobat and WGRYWH on there but I'd rather they dropped Beautiful Day and Elevation for Where the Streets have no name

innuendo141

but1er wrote: »

Delighted it's not. Brilliant set list, tour not made for the fans whos into the hits

Exactly. I'm delighted with that set, and I'm sure there'll be some class surprises along the way.

Songs 8-13 is a surprising sequence...

Pdoghue

Very eclectic playlist..and very welcome.

What I like too is that they've retained 4 great live songs from SOI,..
Iris, Cedarwood Rd, Raised by Wolves, and Song for Someone too

And love Acrobat, Staring at the Sun, and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses

Great to see UTEOTW back..

Yea, the sequence from 8 to 14 looks great.

q2xv9rjei4awgb

Part of me fears Acrobat will be dropped in a few shows...

You can see from the clips people in the seats not interested in it

Beggers belief but, however...

innuendo141

bclar12 wrote: »

Part of me fears Acrobat will be dropped in a few shows...

You can see from the clips people in the seats not interested in it

Beggers belief but, however...

On the last Queen & AL tour, they were doing 2 amazingly underplayed songs throughout Queen's career from News of the World, Spread Your Wings and Its Late, but dropped them very early on because of the reaction (or lack thereof) they received from the casual fan. Hoping this isn't the case with aforementioned song. And others!

Seve OB

bclar12 wrote: »

What's baffling to me is that Adam two days ago, Bono yesterday and The Edge today all said that NOTHING pre Achtung Baby will be played...

So, why were they rehearsing 6 songs pre 1987?
Is it a smoke screen?

i count 5 pre achtung songs on the setlist
but none from TJT - -kinda mad. but i like it.


Anyway, I guess it might all have something to do with the Innocence & Expericnce theme.
1st Tour... more innocence, mainly concentrated on tunes before Actung, when they were still growing up
This tour, the experience, Actung onwards.. the coming of age...

Arthur Daley

Nothing from Zooropa and only 1 from Pop. So not the full 'experience'. If you are going to have a good few SOI songs, then surely 'every breaking wave' on the b stage deserves a slot.

q2xv9rjei4awgb

Something we must not forget also...

They were rehearsing behind closed doors before they moved the rehearsals to that arena a couple of weeks back...

Not speculating but, I know for sure that Gloria and Electric Co were rehearsed so, who knows what else they did and what might come into play.

Only one night down, plenty of developments to come

dublinman1990

Barry Egan has put up a review of the opening E&I show in Tulsa on Independent.ie.

U2's opening night of eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour in Tulsa review: 'One of the bravest, most powerful and even angriest performances U2 have ever done'

Move over, World. U2 are back on the road again with a new tour, eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE, which opened last night at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

It was anything but an exercise in phoniness and corporate blandness. The much-maligned, and ageing, quartet nailed their colours to the mast from the get-go in what was perhaps one of the bravest, most powerful - and even angriest - performances U2 have ever done. There was no let up.

Bono wasn't the messianic, self-important bore he can so easily be. Nor was he particularly preachy. He was, in fact, raging.

From the Unforgettable Fire album all the way back in 1984, Pride (In The Name Of Love) was a defining moment of the night. U2 had the courage to use images of braindead white nationalists with their tiki torches lighting up Charlottesville last August, their faces burning with hatred; as well as other images of equally brain-expired neo-nazis and KKK supporters fighting on the streets of America. U2's message was clear: hate is wrong, love is better. Later U2 used slogans in a similar way to the Zoo TV Tour of the early 1990s – this time the mantras on the big screen rang true in a post Harvey Weinstein, Me-Too era in America and beyond...

Empowered Women.

Empower Women.

Women of the world take over.

We can make history. Herstory.

Brothers and Sisters — stand up for each-other.

Respect resistance, or expect resistance.

None of us is equal until all of us are equal.

AIDS is sexist.

Racism is not Patriotism.

Refugees welcome.

It takes 20 cents to save a life.

Last night in Oklahoma, Bono hopefully taught some of the redneck Trump followers in the crowd how to work an unused organ: their brains.

90 minutes earlier they opened the show with Love Is All We Have Left from last year's Songs Of Experience album, with Bono singing a mantra to the crowd "Nothing to stop this being the best day ever” on a sci-fi and state-of-the-art walkway. Bono appeared out of the screen then disappeared into it again. U2 then performed two more tracks from Songs of Experience, The Blackout ("When the lights go out, throw yourself about" sang Bono doing just that) and Lights Of Home ("Oh Jesus if I'm still your friend/What the hell you got for me?") before U2 blasted off into Beautiful Day - performed with house lights on - from 2000's All You Can't Leave Behind album.

They followed this up with All Because Of You from 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. I Will Follow from U2's 1980 Boy album got one of biggest reactions of the night from the 19,000 in the audience. Everyone was up on their feet singing the words back to Bono:

"I was on the outside when you said You said you needed me...”

This was followed up with another track from that era, The Ocean, also from the Boy album. U2 then moved to the ultra emotional territory of Iris, from 2014's Songs Of Innocence album, with Bono singing his pain, singing about the mother he lost when he was 14: "The ache in my heart is so much a part of who I am." Up on the giant floating screen that ran down the middle of the in-door hockey stadium we were treated to Iris’s wedding day home movie. We also saw a home movie of Bono as a kid running about on the beach. Cedarwood Road came next and was just as autobiographical, with young Bono on his bed playing his guitar and talking about giving guitar lessons to a young girl called Alison (“the charge would be the rest of her life”) with images of Guggi on horseback and Ziggy Stardust waving at us flashing across the screen. Introducing the song Bono talked about fond memories of seeing his mother in the ocean swimming. This was followed by Song For Someone. After three tracks in a row from Songs Of Innocence, U2 then went into one of their true timeless classics, Sunday Bloody Sunday from 1983's War album.

"I can't believe the news today," sang Bono as 19,000 fans were once again up on their feet singing the words about a country far away and a time long ago. "Oh, I can't close my eyes. And make it go away. How long? How long must we sing this song?" sang Bono who has been singing this song for over three decades now. Then it was back to 2014's Songs Of Innocence again with Raised By Wolves. They then jumped back over decades to The End Of The World from U2's 1991 album Achtung Baby and then Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me from 1995. Elevation, from 2000's All You Can't Leave Behind, Vertigo from 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, and Desire from Rattle and Hum all the way back to 1988 then follow.

Bono brilliantly revisited the horned character of MacPhisto with a chilling speech on the nature of evil, before going into Acrobat from Achtung Baby, complete with Bono singing: “If you just close your eyes/You can feel the enemy."

Then we were transported back to You're The Best Thing - which was performed acoustically - from Songs Of Experience before we got an acoustic Staring At The Sun from 1997, followed by the aforesaid white supremacist-nailing Pride (In The Name Of Love.)

Four fellas from the Northside of Dublin - with one of the greatest back-catalogues of songs from any band in the world - held middle America in thrall for almost three hours last night. In the darkness of the vast arena Bono was their - our - personal Jesus.

Get Out Of Your Own Way, from Songs Of Experience, was next alongside a blistering version of American Soul from the same album, before this part of U2's set closed with a dazzling rendition of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb's City Of Blinding Lights.

And yet Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry Mullen junior (who was expressionless throughout as the rest of the group were full of facial energy) were not done yet. There was still the encore to come. The crowd lost their minds when the opening chords of Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (from Achtung Baby) spilled out of the sound system. Then the spiritual beauty of One (also from Achtung Baby) rang out across the ice skate venue, and Bono asked the song's famous question: "Is it getting better?" U2 are getting better with age. The version of One comes very close to Bono seeming in a place of rapture.

Next up it is Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way (from Songs Of Experience) with the lead singer of U2 singing:

"The door is open to go through

If I could I would come, too

But the path is made by you

As you're walking start singing and stop talking."

The night finished - though 19,000 people and even U2, after a gruelling set, don't want it to - with one of most emotive and moving songs from Songs Of Experience: There Is A Light.

Read more: U2's The Edge comes out in support of repealing the Eighth Amendment: 'For me, it's the smart thing to do'

When Bono sings the words, the ghost of William Blake (who inspired the titles, and the work perhaps, of the last two U2 albums) would have been happy with he heard...

“If there is a light

We can't always see

If there is a world

We can't always be

If there is a dark

Now we shouldn't doubt

And there is a light

Don't let it go out.”

When the song ended, Bono simply strolled down the giant walkway to the other small stage at the end of the venue and was gone.

MisterAnarchy

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Barry Egan has put up a review of the opening E&I show in Tulsa on

Bono probably wrote that himself I'd say.