Achtung Baby: U2's Best Live Album?

[singnomore]

Easily. Look at the Glastonbury set.

Not sure that works for me. If I was going to call out great live performances for Achtung Baby I'd go to the ZooTV tour - not Glastonbury.

[U2-obsessed and proud]

Zoo Station is their best ever live opening song, by a country mile.

There are some on here that will say Streets was.

[The Exile]

Zoo Station is their best ever live opening song, by a country mile.

There are some on here that will say Streets was.

Fair point. Maybe a city mile, then....

[MLP Midnight]

Zoo Station is their best ever live opening song, by a country mile.

There are some on here that will say Streets was.

Fair point. Maybe a city mile, then....

Zoo Station not only fit perfectly as an opener sonically, but also set the tone of the entire Zoo TV show in the thematic sense. Streets has such a good intro, but now it is too well known a song to start with.

[zootv]

Streets works much better as a climax rather than an intro

[singnomore]

Streets works much better as a climax rather than an intro

Agree

[MacJoost]

Streets works much better as a climax rather than an intro

Agree

So very true, but zoostation remains overrated.

[DGordon1]

Zoo Station is their best ever live opening song, by a country mile.

There are some on here that will say Streets was.

Fair point. Maybe a city mile, then....

Zoo Station not only fit perfectly as an opener sonically, but also set the tone of the entire Zoo TV show in the thematic sense. Streets has such a good intro, but now it is too well known a song to start with.

Zoo Station worked brilliantly with the visuals.Without the visuals it would be harder to call.

[Izzy]

Easily. Look at the Glastonbury set.

Not sure that works for me. If I was going to call out great live performances for Achtung Baby I'd go to the ZooTV tour - not Glastonbury.

Glastonbury sounded a bit tired, IMHO

[The Unknown Caller]

Definitely not, but it's a firm second. There are at least three songs on TJT which beat out literally any song on Achtung Baby live fairly easily, but it's still an album which works amazingly well live.

[Tumbling Dice]

Easily. Look at the Glastonbury set.

Not sure that works for me. If I was going to call out great live performances for Achtung Baby I'd go to the ZooTV tour - not Glastonbury.

Glastonbury sounded a bit tired, IMHO

Glasto sounded sterile to me.  You can't beat Zoo TV for live performances from Achtung Baby.

[Dublin Dave]

The Zoo TV tour was sensational, Achtung Baby provided songs of such a diverse nature that the album allowed U2 the platform to put on a concert event that no album ( by any artist) had ever done previously.

Achtung Baby was epic in every sense from spine-tingling love songs to melodies of faith and epic rock songs absolutely jaw-droopingly good.

Re Glastonbury, U2 were playing against a backdrop of mostly (non -U2 fans) and the tide of public opinion wasn't in there favour as the media made sure everyone knew about u2s tax situation which didn't help.  So Glastonbury was not one of their finest moments but that should taint the legacy of Zoo Station

[ScotK]

I think it is debateable btn Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.  Think of it this way: If you went to a U2 concert and they played only one full album in order, live...which one would you choose...JT...or AB?

I agree that Streets works better to end the main set...always has and always will.
I would also debate that Elevation was one of their best opening songs.

SK

[A_Fly_On_The_Wall]

I think it is debateable btn Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.  Think of it this way: If you went to a U2 concert and they played only one full album in order, live...which one would you choose...JT...or AB?

I'd choose Achtung because I think I'd get a bit fed up halfway through The Joshua Tree.

Achtung would open with Zoo Station and close with Love Is Blindness, you simply cannot beat that for a live show. (Unless you replaced ZS with COBL).

[Droo]

Zooropa is no slouch, either.

Numb was great live, with the video footage and bizarre sound effects not present on the album version.

Stay full band AND acoustic is an incredibly powerful live track.

Daddy's Gonna Pay found a life to its sound live that the album version doesn't quite have, and served as a great MacPhisto entrance song. The money cannons, the dangling cars, it was spectacular.

Dirty Day, like Daddy's Gonna Pay, came to life live. I love this song live so much, and it pains me that they never revisited it again.

Lemon live was amazing, what with the new Bono opera vocals during the "midnight" section, the karaoke bouncing lemon, and the segue into With Or Without You.

Zooropa on the 360 Tour was a psychedelic showcase for the cylindrical screen and unabashedly experimental for a tour that ended up towing a pretty safe line.

The only songs from Zooropa that were performed live that I thought were a bit "meh" were Babyface and The First Time.