It is a bit hard, but at the same time easy, to state that I am disappointed with U2. I am disappointed with their last three albums and the last 360° tour.
Their last album, No Line on the Horizon, contained energy and some quite rocky tunes, but where were the spark that made you want to change to world after listening? I’m sorry, but No Line on the Horizon will be the last U2 album I buy and I doubt that I will listen to it any more then the twenty-odd times I’ve listened to it so far. The same goes for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, but not as much for All that you can’t leave behind as the latter has grown since it was released. But it takes months between each listening.
As for the tour, lets just say that everything was against a good experience. I attended the 31st August concert in Gothenburg and the high wind prevented quite a bit of the party it could become, but that is no excuse because I also attended the 1993 Zooropa concert in Stockholm and then it was raining without anyone really noticing. I’ve read a review that stated that the second concert in Gothenburg where pure magic, and I don’t doubt it, but I wasn’t there and I doubt that my impressions would have changed. I was standing in the inner circle, the one inside the cat walk, slightly to the right of The Edge, and something that struck me was that people around me was standing most of the time. There where very little singing and jumping.
There where a group of younger fans that really enjoyed With or Without You and some of the other songs but it felt like I was the only one of about 30 that stood closest to me that actually sang during Ultra Violet (Light my Way). I can understand if most haven’t listened to more then the last three albums and the Best of, but Achtung Baby is one of their more iconic albums and more then that should know about Ultra Violet, IMHO. Especially in the inner circle!
Or am I just being old?
When it came to U2′s performance it was without the igniting spark more or less throughout. The first three songs, all from No Line on the Horizon, all proved that the new tracks are not arena rock, they cannot ignite tens of thousands of people.
I know that one bad concert shouldn’t make me shun the band, but it was the last drop. I am, as I said above, disappointed with the last three albums and this didn’t help. If nothing changes very soon, then this concert will be the last concert with U2 and I won’t buy the next album.
But what makes this of U2MoL? Well, U2MoL is simply too famous to kill off – I get about 800 page visits per day, this is not the same as unique visitors as one single visitor might theoretically read one page 800 times, and it has been around for far too long time. It will turn fifteen years this autumn! So I will continue to maintain it for the foreseeable future…
I should start out by saying I am a huge fan of U2 so maybe I am so biased that in my eyes they can do no wrong but I just don’t see U2 that way. I came across U2Mol for the first time today and I was impressed by the analysis of the song meanings you have posted and I agree with the majority of them, see them in very similar ways. I was surprised to see this posting though coming from someone who’s maintained U2Mol for so long and has spent so much time looking at the deeper meaning behind every song.
I will agree with you that over the years U2 has become far less militant and have definitely adopted a more pop vibe to their music. These are different times though. The music industry is a lot more fluffy. There just aren’t many bands that are successful and meaningful at the same time now. That being said, U2′s act in 2010 is still so far above any of the competition as far as depth and spirituality is concerned its ridiculous. I still listen to them and want to go out and change the world. I can’t even think of another band I respect more. These are 50 year old fathers now and they’re millionaires. There are no more Sunday Bloody Sunday fight songs in them to write. They have never relented and given up on adding the message that this world must change. When How To Dismantle… came out I will agree that from the 1st until maybe the 10th listen I was sort of let down and put it away altogether but for some reason it ended up back on my playlist and it eventually has become one of my favorites. When I actually gave it a REAL listen and then went to see the concert I felt what I thought was missing.
I have seen U2 360 in the US and I enjoyed it. The stage and the grand production of this show can actually set fans up for disappointment – it’s a lot to live up to for them to deserve a stage like that. People are expecting U2-topia. I won’t say it was my favorite but I definitely would and was going to go again before Bono’s recent surgery stopped the 2nd leg. I am not the biggest fan of outdoor arena shows (I like the intimacy of a smaller venue) but that stage was amazing and they still rock. You have to admit that. Their evolved sound may not be your cup of tea but the fact that they can stagger their old stuff right in with the new and not miss a beat is pretty darn cool. The youngsters will learn eventually that U2 have been together long before Beautiful Day and when they hear the classics in concert if they’re smart they’ll catch on. It is still a beautiful experience for me and I respect that after so long they can sell out arenas, spare no expense for production without charging Madonna ticket prices. You can still see the tremendous spirit they carry and joy they have for the job. Sounds like you just ended up with a weak crowd…the excitement in Vegas was awesome.
I am not a blogger and have NEVER sent a comment of this length before but this posting made me sad. I am sad that the love you had for them didn’t make it to 2010. What they gave us in the 80′s I still carry with me and for that and for who they’ve become I will always be a fan, never miss a tour and buy every album even if I may be thinking how October or War is far superior every time. Speaking of God, Aids, poverty and human suffering is not popular in pop music but they have disregarded that and that never has changed. I wish you could take that into account plus consider that a band that’s been around 25 yrs must evolve. The sound has changed but you and I both know the message it there and that its genuine. Make that count for something.
I don’t think that your should be sad, I am disappointed but I haven’t stopped listening to them. We all evolve and change over time, I don’t play U2 as frequently as I used to as I’ve changed taste a little and discovered new bands. In 1997, I think, I played Achtung Baby more or less all the time I was at home – for an entire school year! That is a number of hours per day times about 200 days! I don’t play AB that much nowadays, mostly because I’ve heard it so many times I’ve got an overdose – but I still put it on sometimes and just plain enjoy the music. The same goes for October, Rattle and Hum or War. I haven’t stopped listening to U2 but to their latter albums because they lack something.
My disappointment with U2 is not only about a bad concert (which I think was very much due to the weather), but more about three bad albums. I’ve been a U2 fan since about 1988/1989 and I know a album might grow on you – October is such an album to me, it is close to a favourite to me now, it wasn’t when I bought it – but HTDAAB, ATYCLB and NLOTH are all in the ”I don’t care if they will grow or not” category. The reason is that there is a spark that is missing, a fire that has gone out. I can accept that a band evolve, and I expect them to do so – any band that doesn’t evolve dies out, there are thousands of examples if you look for it. I tried to capture some of my feelings in two previous posts, please read them if you want to know better why I feel so disappointed: