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Fun and Games / Re: Drop a word...Add a word Game
« Last post by OnlyU2 on Today at 05:37:48 PM »fender dinger
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Fun and Games / Re: The ABC game
« Last post by OnlyU2 on Today at 05:36:09 PM »XtremelyXcitingXperienceForYa
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Fun and Games / Re: U2 - Fantasy Setlist Draft - Season 12
« Last post by ZEROpartII on Today at 05:34:46 PM »16: Van Diemens Land
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General U2 Discussion / Re: U2, Please: Get Up Off Your Knees
« Last post by Ultrafly on Today at 05:25:39 PM »With Adam confirming the new album is ready to go today, it seems like we're in new and uncharted U2 territory...or are we? If memory serves me correctly, Zooropa came out while the band was in the midst of the Zoo TV/Zoomerang tours...
So why NOT release Songs Of Experience now?
Release it and replace the first or third sections of the tour with new songs. I'd be very happy with that and new U2 to listen to over the summer...they'll probably wait until Christmas, though...unless the tour continues to get extended.
Because Zooropa was inspired by the ZooTV tour and thematically and sonically consistent with the material they were already highlighting. SoE was written 30 years after The Joshua Tree so that's not the case.
Yeah. At this point, SOE will be its own "thing", even if it sort of relates to SOI. Zooropa was originally intended just as an EP to be released to help promote the Zoo TV tour on the European outdoor leg.
Point being, they released an album in the middle of a tour before, so why not now? Why sit on new tunes?
I suppose it's a sign of the position of power they've achieved that they can hold back a full album and decide when it's best to drop it, but I feel like the younger, more hungry U2 would be hellbent on getting the new stuff out into the world.
Maybe the new stuff is...meh?
You're starting with a hypothesis ("maybe the new stuff is meh?") and ignoring any facts that get in the way of that hypothesis.
1) as noted previously, the release of Zooropa is 100% inapposite to the current situation, because that album was essentially an extension of the tour itself.
2) It's pretty clear that they are using this tour as a way to re-ingratiate themselves to an American audience that they feel (with some validity) has written them off, due to a couple of underwhelming albums and the iTunes snafu. They have tailored the message to be "Hey, remember this album you all loved? It's still relevant in these troubled times. Also, here are some other songs from our back catalog that also seem sort of poignant in the age of Trump." Suddenly dropping a new album, which they would then have to feature...what? At least 3-4 new songs from? Would totally blow up the show. They'd have to remove either songs from the pre-JT portion, which would kill the energy and interest levels from non-hardcore fans, or make the encores almost strictly new stuff, which would do the same and undo whatever feel-good momentum that was built up from the JT portion.
3) When to release the album is not solely a band decision. The label has input, too, and odds are they want to use the JT tour to restore public awareness of U2, and then use that to market the new album. They tried the sneak-attack album drop with SoI, and, well, it flopped. They need marketing to build album awareness, and that marketing will likely take place in November in time for a holiday release, so all of the old U2 fans who went to the JT2017 shows, or heard about them, will say "Hey, let's check out the new U2 album!" and buy it around xmas time.
4) The Joshua Tree album is currently in the Top 20 again You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, first time since 1988. Why on earth would U2 want to mess with that by putting another album out now? They (and the label) want to wait until the tour bump is over so they don't cannibalize their own sales.
5) They will want to tour again, on the new album, to do it justice, not do a half-assed "oh by the way!" type thing for fans that aren't familiar with it (see #2).
That's why they won't release it now.
Zooropa was a strategic move. The band owed Island one more album in their contract, and Island was expecting it in 1995, 2years after the ZooTV finished. All of sudden, U2 at their commercial peak, BAM, surprise release a new record, *and* fulfill their Island contract so can negotiate it much earlier than expected.
A very savvy move.
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Fun and Games / Re: The ABC game
« Last post by riffraff on Today at 05:13:45 PM »WellIAmGoingToFindOutCan'tWait
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Tours / Re: Let's be honest about U2's set list this tour
« Last post by Boba Fett on Today at 05:13:03 PM »Why don't they play Pop? Because it was a commercial disaster, the tour tanked in the U.S. and the critics destroyed them.
Commercial disaster? Nope. 1.5m sales - and that's just in the US.
Tour tanked? Nope again. Second highest grossing tour of 1997.
Critics destroyed them? Three for three on the 'nope' answers - 4 stars from Rolling Stone, 4/4 from the LA Times, 9/10 from Spin, etc etc
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Fun and Games / Re: Drop a word...Add a word Game
« Last post by riffraff on Today at 05:12:33 PM »hum dinger
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Fun and Games / Re: Questions Only.....
« Last post by riffraff on Today at 05:12:13 PM »Yes but it's quite hard to come by confidence sometimes, isn't it?
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Fun and Games / Re: Word Association Game - New and Improved!
« Last post by riffraff on Today at 05:11:37 PM »apathetic
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