U2 song draft signup/discussion thread

[johnnya24]

"40" was one of the other tracks I was contemplating ... starts like an REM track, but doesn't develop like an REM song. Still a good song though.

[johnnya24]

Was also debating "Even Better Than The Real Thing", which of course was already taken. That's 5 minutes I'll never get back.

[johnnya24]

12 minutes, no picks ... WTF!

[johnnya24]

I made the mistake of choosing my next pick ... nice pick whoever takes it.

[Long John]

Yeah, I Will Follow was on my short list for my 3.01 pick. I had to have something from Joshua Tree and 1 Tree Hill was my favorite of those left. Gloria is far and away my favorite from October. My logic was that I could get something from Boy later since there are more songs I like from that album.

[Fresno Bob]

Yeah, I Will Follow was on my short list for my 3.01 pick. I had to have something from Joshua Tree and 1 Tree Hill was my favorite of those left. Gloria is far and away my favorite from October. My logic was that I could get something from Boy later since there are more songs I like from that album.

I Will Follow would have been my round 2 pick

[Long John]

I Will Follow would have been my round 2 pick

So why did you not get in the draft?

[johnnya24]

So why did you not get in the draft?

Bono's fault.

[Erik]

Love the Exit pick. Like a lot of the quieter songs in the REM draft, this one really takes on a life of its own in concert.

Yes indeed. When The Joshua Tree came out, my first favorite was Where The Streets Have No Name, then everyone else co-opted it. Then I latched onto Bullet the Blue Sky, then everyone else co-opted that. Then I latched onto Exit, and it remained as underrated as a song from The Joshua Tree can be.

[Erik]

Thanks man.

I expected to take a little ribbing for Wild Horses, but it's just too good.

I am probably in the minority but I prefer the "cleaner" single mix to the more cluttered and noisy album mix. The former is much more distinctive and melodic. The latter gets lost amid the clang of the rest of the album.

[Erik]

I was considering Out of Control at the turn but I took my chances since I Will Follow fell so far. Oh well.

[Erik]

The three U2 shows I have seen:

09/25/1987 John F Kennedy Stadium - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Where The Streets Have No Name, I Will Follow, Trip Through Your Wires, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Exodus (snippet), MLK, The Unforgettable Fire, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, People Get Ready, In God's Country, Exit / Riders On The Storm (snippet) / Van Morrison's Gloria (snippet), Sunday Bloody Sunday, Help, Bad, October, New Year's Day, Pride (In The Name Of Love)
encores: With Or Without You, Party Girl, Stand By Me, 40
comment: Stand By Me is performed with Bruce Springsteen.

09/03/1992 Veterans Stadium - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Zoo Station, The Fly, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Mysterious Ways / Love To Love You Baby (snippet), One / Unchained Melody (snippet), Until The End Of The World, New Year's Day, Whiskey In The Jar, Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Angel Of Harlem, When Love Comes To Town, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Satellite Of Love, Bad / Rain (snippet) / All I Want Is You (snippet), Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, Where The Streets Have No Name, Pride (In The Name Of Love)
encores: Desire, With Or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet), Love Is Blindness, Can't Help Falling In Love

06/08/1997 Franklin Field - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Mofo, I Will Follow, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Gone, Pride (In The Name Of Love), I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet), Last Night On Earth / Streets Of Philadelphia (snippet), Until The End Of The World / Break On Through (snippet), Staring At The Sun, Daydream Believer (Edge Karaoke), Miami / My Mammy (snippet) / Cuba (snippet), Bullet The Blue Sky / America (snippet) / Amazing Grace (snippet), Please, Where The Streets Have No Name / Playboy Mansion (snippet)
encores: Discothèque / I Feel Love (snippet) / Discothèque Howie B Hairy B Mix (snippet), If You Wear That Velvet Dress, With Or Without You, Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, Mysterious Ways, One, Hallelujah

Two of the three shows were logistical nightmares, which probably explains why I have only seen them three times.

The 1987 show was one of the last in the mammoth JFK Stadium, which was condemned later that fall. The site of the US edition of Live Aid, it was a shithole in every way imaginable and did not have stuff we expect from modern stadiums, like video screens. I was 16 and was with my 14-year-old sister and two of our friends. We were smack in the middle of a huge field, wall to wall with people (many of them wasted.) A drunken fratboy pissed on my leg at one point. It took forever for the band to come on, I have no idea what the holdup was. Bono had broken his arm when he fell onstage in the rain a week before, so he had his arm in a sling and couldn't play guitar. But the show itself was incredible. Everything was ramped up in intensity and passion. I remember Bullet the Blue Sky, Bad and New Year's Day being particularly awesome. This show is famous for having Springsteen join them during the encore for Stand By Me, but I missed it, as we had to leave before the encore due to curfew. Most people would have been incredibly bummed. But I don't like Springsteen that much. Years later I saw a video of the sit-in, and it's Springsteen at his shoutiest and hackiest, so now I really don't feel bad about it.

The 1992 show was the only one that had no logistical issues. The Zoo TV tour really redefined what a stadium show could do, and they executed it brilliantly on this night. I remember the use of satellites and video more than the music, but the latter was solid to spectacular all night. Love Is Blindness/Can't Help Falling in Love seems like a strange way to end a stadium show, but it worked.

The 1997 show was a logistical cock-up for different reasons. U2 wanted an unprecedented percentage of revenues on this tour, so no established promoter or venue in Philly would have them. So they resorted to playing the football stadium at the University of Pennsylvania. There were several problems with that decision. 1. The stadium, while a bit smaller than JFK, is every bit as much of a shithole. 2. Because it's on a university campus in the middle of West Philadelphia and was built ages ago, it doesn't have much in the way of parking nearby, or much of anywhere for traffic to go once you get off the interstate. 3. It has benches instead of seats, so if you arrive late, you have no chance of getting to your actual seat and have to improvised. And boy, did we arrive late because the area roads turned into parking lots and actual parking lots with spaces in them were impossible to find. So I have no idea what the first 25-30% of the show sounded like. Acoustic arrangements of Staring at the Sun and the Monkees' Daydream Believer went over really well, and the warhorses in the second half of the show delivered like you'd expect, but they played too many style-over-substance setpieces from Pop late in the show that really hampered momentum. After this I had no desire to go through the U2 stadium experience again.

[Stephen]

I've seen U2 2 times and both experiences were pretty amazing. 11/12/2001 wasn't too far removed from 9/11 and the concert was very topical and emotional. 11/21/2005 was in Madison Square Garden. Enough said.

11/12/2001 Staples Center - Los Angeles, CA 360 Tour
Elevation / Beautiful Day / Until The End Of The World / New Year's Day / Out Of Control / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of / Kite / Angel Of Harlem
People Get Ready / Please / Bad / Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (snippet) / 40 (snippet) / Psalm 116 (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name /I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Encore(s): Bullet The Blue Sky / What's Going On / New York / One / Walk On
Comments: No Doubt's Gwen Stefani joins the band for What's Going On.

11/21/2005 Madison Square Garden -- New York, NY - Vertigo Tour
City Of Blinding Lights / Vertigo / Rockaway Beach (snippet) / Elevation / I Will Follow / I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet) / Original Of The Species / Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / Torna A Surriento (snippet) / Love And Peace Or Else / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet) / Bullet The Blue Sky / Please (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / Miss Sarajevo / Pride (In The Name Of Love) / Where The Streets Have No Name / One / Ol' Man River (snippet)
Encore(s): Until The End Of The World / Mysterious Ways / With Or Without You / Love Will Tear Us Apart (snippet) / The First Time / Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of /
Instant Karma! / Bad / People Have The Power (snippet)
Comments: Patti Smith joins U2 for Instant Karma.

I had tickets for a 3rd show in Dallas, Texas in 2009, but my son was sick and it would have been the first time we left him with a sitter so we ended up giving them away last minute.

[Fresno Bob]

So why did you not get in the draft?

because I was/am going to be offline for entire days when you started

[Pogues]

If I was in this draft "Sunday Bloody Sunday" would have been my first pick if it was available

Same here. It's not my favorite U2 song, but I knew it'd go early. My 2nd round pick, had I been in this, has not been selected as of yet. Which is probably the single best reason I stayed way out of this draft.

Oh, and Where the Streets Have No Name would make my Top 10 list of songs that make me want to run screaming from a room.