ZOMG CONCERT!!!!!!!!!!!!
25th of November, baby.
ROCK AND ROOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahem.
Just btw, guys, don't flip if I don't reply straight away. Computer issues, you see. More later.
ROCK AND ROOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahem.
Just btw, guys, don't flip if I don't reply straight away. Computer issues, you see. More later.
We fully need our own "Chunnel" between Australia and NZ. Cos dude how much freaking cooler would that be? I'm not a great flyer either- I tend to have a bit of trouble with my ears on planes, even on really short flights.
Speaking of which, I fully have to post my dream about seeing U2 play on a plane. *shakes head* Yup, that's Erin's whack imagination for ya...:P
As for Pop...I'm with you, Gone is absolutely stunning. Please and Wake Up Dead Man...spine-tingling stuff. Those lyrics, I tell ya! Then you've got Do You Feel Loved which is all raw and raspy, and slightly sexy on the side. And If God Will Send His Angels, where the band proves once again they are the masters of the rock ballad. And If You Wear That Velvet Dress, which is...dark, and voyeuristic, and vulnerable, and really quite scrummy. And I do love me some Staring at the Sun...even though I know you don't like it. :P
So yeah, I'm hooked. ;) With you on Miami and Playboy Mansion...to me, they're kinda saying the same thing. Y'know, pointing out trashy, superficial Holywood lifestyles. It's almost like they seem to bleed into one, and there's nothing that sets them apart. Discotheque...is growing on me. :P
As for icons...may I please gank the Hawkmoon 269 icon, and the one that says "Adam owns your soul"? Ta. :P Gotta say, I love your "Geeky Edge" icons...but those are so quintessiantially you, so I'll leave those alone.
Oh my gosh, are they *actually* going to play Miss Sarajevo?!! Dude...
I'm pretty certain they will play One Tree Hill. They better bloody well play One Tree Hill. :P I'd be pretty freaking amazing to hear Van Diemen's Land as well...but I'm thinking that'll be reserved for the Aussie shows.
Don't worry too much about spoilers...I've been doing a bit of my own setlist study of late, and I've been reading a lot of the posts of some of the u2 ljers who have caught the band on the Vertigo tour, canadanne's and
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Now, did your dream about U2 on a plane also involve snakes? Because I totally can't wait for that Snakes On A Plane movie. What a stupidly hilarious concept, I can't believe they've made it!
I still remember the first time I heard Gone. It was Christmas Day 2002. I put the Best Of 1990-2000 in my CD player. I played a few songs, skipped a few I knew (whenever I get new CDs, if I know some songs, I tend to skip to those I don't know) ... and then suddenly this wailing guitar just knocked me sideways. I thought I was in love. That song really set my U2 fandom off. And WUDM was my salvation from crappy contemporary Christian music; my anti-secular music friends tried to get me to listen to CCM but I found it so stale, bland, and hollow, and then along came WUDM. It feels so honest and full of emotion, it was a breath of fresh air. Oh, and Velvet Dress is way under-rated. Heard the Jools Holland version? Because that is EXCELLENT. Blows away the original. I could upload it if you don't have it.
Discotheque has slipped in my eyes. Every time I play the studio version, I cringe. But every time I listen to a live Popmart version, I rock out. It was SO GOOD live. It's hard to pinpoint one amazing performance because most of them were exceptional. Playboy Mansion feels like U2 weren't even trying, like it's half-formed and didn't go where it was meant to go; Miami is better live and kind of fun, but I don't like the album version.
Sure, go ahead and take those icons. :) They're a couple of my favourites. And hee, the GeekyEdge icons are definitely some of my favourites, especially the Pi one. I now think I could've made them better, but ah well.
Miss Sarajevo made its Vertigo Tour debut on 16 July 2005 in Amsterdam (it had only been played twice before ever) and has been played at every show since then, so hopefully we'll get it too! I'm really looking forward to it. Bono has been NAILING the opera part, it's amazing to hear.
We'll definitely get a One Tree Hill reference, but like I said, whether it'll be a snippet (better bloody not be!), an acoustic version (acoustic versions are meh to me), or an amazing full band electric version, who knows. Van Diemen's Land ... maybe in Australia, but it's less likely than you'd think. They bizarrely haven't played it in Australia since Lovetown, even though they did sporadically play it elsewhere on ZooTV!
I co-maintain U2-Vertigo-Tour.com, so setlist spoilers are pretty much my name. Definitely check out the stuff in 'tour history' if you're interested in sets; it covers all of U2's tours. I've been working on making it as accurate as possible. I've put so much time into the damn thing, it's crazy. I enjoy it, but I wonder if anyone else cares, heh. I've listened through EVERY SINGLE BLOODY TOUR from the start of the Joshua Tree Tour (except Popmart leg 2, as I don't have it yet) to find snippets for each show. You cannot imagine how much I hate ZooTV right now.
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Heee, no. :P It did involve Bono reaching out and shaking my hand, in a formal, business-like, "oh-so-nice-to-meet-you-dahling" fashion. My dream self was all like, "Uh, Bono? Where's my hug, mate?!" *g* Will have to post the whole lot later, it's absolutely hilarious. Reckon I must've had the Beautiful Day video in my head or summat. :P
and then suddenly this wailing guitar just knocked me sideways. I thought I was in love.
Oh man, hell yes! I tell ya, Edge doesn't just play the guitar, he makes it speak. He truly makes it just...ring out, and soar and sparkle. It's amazing. But yeah, the guitar parts in Gone are magic. And ohmigosh, who can't listen to Bono's falsetto screams towards the end without getting some serious chills? And those lyrics are awesome!
Hmmm, I truly think U2 are the closest I've come to being in love. Sad one, eh? :P But, I meant it when I said U2 were my first love- I had them before I was involved in any serious romantic relationship, and I had them even before I had God in my life. So yeah, they'll always be just that little bit special in my eyes.
And WUDM was my salvation from crappy contemporary Christian music; my anti-secular music friends tried to get me to listen to CCM but I found it so stale, bland, and hollow, and then along came WUDM.
I have anti-secular music friends as well. Gets me down somewhat. When you say CCM, do you mean modern worship music? Like what gets played in Pentecostal churches? Like Hillsong and Planetshakers?
For me, praise and worship music does wonders for my mood, yet leaves me completely cold. I used to love it...but since my music tastes have gotten more adventurous, and I've discovered some truly fabulous secular artists, I'm finding it harder and harder to get into worship in church. Just cos, as you say, some of it is bland and hollow, and completely cliched and over-done and just plain cheesy. For me, the religious music of people like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash (and U2, of course)is just so much more passionate and beautiful, and so much better written...but hey, when you're worshipping God, and the Spirit falls upon you, then you do tend to forget the poor quality of the music. :P
But yeah, WUDM...4 minutes and 52 seconds of joy. Kinda sums up the angsty relationship between myself and God at the moment. Even Bono cursing at the start...cos I have been known to swear at God from time to time. :P
Aw, how do you feel listening to The Wanderer these days, with all your struggles with your faith? Cos for me, that songs sums it up to a tee.
Bono has been NAILING the opera part, it's amazing to hear.
Bono singing opera...*drool* Don't you just love it in THTBA when he suddenly belts out that random little operatic bit after the bridge?! Blows me away every time. I haven't heard him do Pavarotti's bit on Miss Sarajevo yet, but I hear it's fantastic.
I'm pretty sure they will give us a full electric version of One Tree Hill. It'll just be so special for them, considering the powerful connection they have with Auckland, and that it's almost 20 years since Greg Carroll's death. If it's just a snippet, I will feel seriously ripped-off...but hey, we'll just have to get what we get.
Will check out the website. :) Heee, ZOOTV is coming out on DVD just in time for my birthday! Rather excited, as I'll get to check it out and see just what everyone on makes such a fuss of!
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I suppose, in contrast to you, U2 for me is essentially an essential part of music. They were one of those bands at the centre of music when I grew up, and I find it really hard to imagine life without songs such as New Year's Day or Sunday Bloody Sunday. It seems weird to me that for two months of my life, The Joshua Tree hadn't been released. A world without Red Hill Mining Town and the Suite Of Death? Say it never was so!
'When you say CCM, do you mean modern worship music? Like what gets played in Pentecostal churches? Like Hillsong and Planetshakers?'
I'm thinking of shite such as Newsboys, DC Talk, Jars Of Clay, et al. I can't remember the names of the truly shitty bands, the ones that bear more of a resemblance to secular pop than anything. Seriously, if you don't capitalise the 'He' and change 'Lord' to 'baby', it could be some top 40 hit. And I don't like Pentecostalism in general. Give me Anglicanism any day. Though given my musical tastes ... well, could you imagine doom metal in an Anglican church? I'd pay good money to see THAT! (Interestingly, one of the proto-doom metal bands, Trouble, was openly Christian, and given the lyrical nature of Pray For The Dead, I suspect Catholic.)
I'm all about complex, well-played music and deep, emotive lyrical themes. I find next to none of it in modern Christian music. Some of the older stuff is great, though, you can feel the sincerity even after hundreds of years, but ... well, when I think of modern stuff, I think of this one song my old high school's worship band would sing: "I will read my Bible and pray/I will follow you all day/All day now/All day/All day now". Yeeeaaahhh, how about no?
And for fuck's sake (yes, that was deliberate), the people who have a problem with the first verse of WUDM irk the living daylights out of me. It's people like that who need to listen up to the song and get a cold, hard dose of reality. Christianity isn't about legalism and nonsense like that. And I'll personally give $100 to anyone who can find a prohibition on swearing in the Bible. It's just not there!
I know what you mean about The Wanderer too; those are some of my favourite U2 lyrics EVER. Wow, why can't Bono still write great stuff like that? I mean, I like half of HTDAAB, but where are the Wanderers, the WUDMs, the Heartlands and the ASOHs and the Mofos? "Looking for a sound that's going to drown out the world" is such a good line.
I must say, though, I won't be buying the ZooTV DVD. I hate ZooTV. I didn't like it to begin with, and then listening to ALL FIVE BLOODY LEGS of the tour for U2-Vertigo-Tour.com nearly drove me up the wall. It's interesting to see how my opinions of some tours changed after listening to all of them. Sure, each tour got tiring and repetitive after a while and I had to mix things up just to keep myself sane, but tours like the Joshua Tree and Lovetown just raised in my opinion, Popmart gained a bit, while Elevation took a huge fall and I just got more ammo against ZooTV. But I'm in an incredibly small minority of opinion. Ah well.
I guess one reason I dislike ZooTV is that NZ got just a snippet of One Tree Hill. ;) So, yeah, I hope we get it this tour. I mean, 20 years since Greg Carroll died, 13 years since U2 played New Zealand, two shows in the city of the hill, the first U2 gigs in the country since the tree was attacked ... it has to be a full version! Oh, I'd die of joy.
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I suppose, in contrast to you, U2 for me is essentially an essential part of music.
Totally. *sigh* I guess I'm just being all sappy about them cos...well you tend to get thoughts like that when you've not been in a relationship since the age of 16. :P Ha, I always joke around that Bono and Jesus are the nearest thing I have to a man in my life. Guess I've just got a thing for blokes with long hair...*g*
I'm thinking of shite such as Newsboys, DC Talk, Jars Of Clay, et al.
*squirm* I have a Newboys album. You're going to go and remove me from your f-list, aren't you? :P
Hee, I bought the album cos it's got a version of one of my favourite worship songs In Christ Alone...which is actually an old Anglican hymn, with an Irish folk-ballad tune, and 'tis verra nice indeed. They also do a lovely version of You Are My King, another favourite. But yeah, definitely not an album I listen much to these days, as you can well imagine. :P
Oh gosh...as a budding music geek, one of my most embarrassing confessions is that I almost came to Christ at a LADS gig in seventh form. Yeah. Those guys are totally on fire for God, and had some beautiful things to say about the faith...but they truly are "The Wiggles of Christian music." :P
Some of the older stuff is great, though, you can feel the sincerity even after hundreds of years
Y'know what? Speaking of older Christian music, I do love me some hymns. Yes, hymns. I grew up in an Anglican church, and my Dad always had a massive collection of church music when I was younger, and some of my earliest memories including me attempting to sing along to his King's College Choir CDs at on long car journeys. :P I always get the chills listening to hymns such as Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel and Jerusalem and All Glory, Lord, and Honour. Ooooh, and I love Handel's Messiah as well. These days, I go to a Pentecostal church, which I love...but I do miss the thundering organ music of my traditional Anglican childhood.
Heee, I was reading the famous Rolling Stone interview with Bono, and he talks about his childhood, and how much he loved hymns like Amazing Grace and Be Thou My Vision. That made me smile. :)
And I'll personally give $100 to anyone who can find a prohibition on swearing in the Bible. It's just not there!
If I remember right, I think there's something in Ephesians about "not using foul and profane" language...or it could be Proverbs? I can't remember, will have to go and have a check. But, for me, "unsavoury" language is actually the least of my worries. Oh gosh, I actually once got the hard word from someone for using the word "bollocks" in an LJ Christian community. Dude...:roll:
This also reminds me of another Bono interview, where he compares his relationship with Jesus to King David's relationship with God in Psalms, and he saidthat sometimes David got slightly pissy with the Lord, and spent a lot of time railing at Him, and wanting to know just what the hang He was playing at. According to Bono, a relationship with God is one that involves a fair bit of teeth-nashing and head-banging and a lot of blind fury...and, y'know, sometimes when you're in a fit of rage, you let out the odd swear word. Hell, I know I do.
The Wanderer is just amazing. Bono's words and Johnny Cash's voice...heaven, right there. And the bassline! And the rough bit of guitar in the middle! And the falsetto at the end! I freaking love it!
Wow, why can't Bono still write great stuff like that?
Agreed. I like HTDAAB as well, but I think sapphires13 says it best when she describes their latest stuff, as their "I'm so happy, Jesus loves me, everything is shiny, and we can save the world" music. I mean it's good "I'm so happy, Jesus loves me etc" music, but I think you and I both know that our lads are capable of so much more.
I hate ZooTV.
Not a MacPhisto fan then? :P I'm interested to hear your reasons, seeing as most of the U2 fans I've met think it's the greatest thing ever to happen to humanity. Hmmm...
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'Jerusalem' is the shiznit.
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