I have a huge soft spot for U2. I saw them at Glastonbury last year when it was the wettest most miserable crappy day and I thought they were fantastic. I actually felt sorry for them that they had the worst of the elements for the weekend because it held them back and the crowd couldn't cut loose. They didn't look like a band that should quit. The thing I liked most was that the set was hit after hit and, although they had screens, there was no stage gimmick.

If I were U2 I'd simplify. I don't know what Spiderman has brought to Bono & Edge creatively but it must have been a huge drain on their time and energy. How many songs are left in you in your fifties? Why divert them to a musical, keep them for your own engine. They should not let the Glastonbury experience hold them back: they should do a bunch of well-chosen festivals, eg Coachella, and blast other bands off the stage. They should also knock out another one or two Passengers records. I guess asking U2 not to think to much is a bit like asking Ringo not to say "peace & love".

...i hadn't considered that before but, in the same way that no one wants/cares for/listens to new RS albums but will happily go in their millions to see the live shows (for the old stuff), could it be that U2 are entering that territory?

Certainly, I've a soft spot for U2 but have had no interest in recent albums - and feel exasperated at ever-more-humungous stage props and all that palaver.

I thought theGlastonbury performance was terrific. As a casual fan, I'd be happy to see them stop competing (with themselves) to deliver increasingly ridiculous enormo-shows and just get out there and play - 4 people without all the crap. There's something great in their chemistry and unpredictability, and they have a classic back catalogue in place to sustain them - plus all manner of deft covers/homages that could be done thrillingly.

This is from 1986 - the Irish equivalent of Live Aid (Self-Aid), where they opened with an unpredicted cover of 'C'mon Everybody' then went into 'Pride'. I recall hearing this live on the radio at the time and thinking what an exciting thing to do, right in the middle of the 80s, to play a no-frills recreation of a 50s classic. And the bit where Bono falls backwards between songs is quite entertaining too:

...in a way that no other band really does. Boy was released when I was a first year student and 32 years later, they're still cranking out the tunes. They have also spanned everything from post-punk new wave through indie to the dance boom and more and can make the claim to be the last ever guitar-bloke-band to hold the title of 'biggest rock'n'roll act in the world'. There will be no successor, not given the way that the recording industry, technology and youth culture has changed in the last 30+ years. (Sometimes I wonder if this has something to do with why it's fashionable to dislike them; that and their stadium-rogering popularity which has taken them a long way from their post punk roots.)
Not being a fanboy, i seem to miss the interviews and other media appearances where Bono rubs people up the wrong way, so I don't have too much of a problem with him - although many of the Massive treat him as a bete noire that seems to be an odd case of scapegoating to me.
The other thing about not being a fanboy is that i've not slavishly followed every release, so hard as it is to credit, i only sought out Stay (Faraway So Close) on YouTube a few weeks back. I saw the video was a ripoff of Wings Of Desire (Wim Wenders' movie) but it's still a fantastic tune. Then you can pick out others that have formed a backdrop to parts of my life since the 1980s and - thank god for being middle aged - i no longer care if that's cool or not.

I wasn't there for the actual event but the DVD is absolutely fantastic - one of the best live shows I've ever seen - and showed what they were capable of with all of the hi-tech histrionics stripped away or scaled down...

I've always been a huge fan but I must admit at being increasingly disappointed in them for the past ten years. As has already been mentioned here, they have an awful tendency to over think things and it does them no favours.

No Line On The Horizon could have been a great album, but was ruined by ruined (a) terrible mixing and (b) a trio of horrendous 'pop' songs in the middle (Crazy / Boots / Comedy) that mar the entire album, just because they felt they had to have some singles in there somewhere.

Shame, because there were some lovely tunes tucked away on that record, like White As Snow and Unknown Caller.

Their live shows, as already mentioned, seem to be purely an exercise in scale, both in terms of size and profit.

Word has it that they're working on tracks with Will I Am and Danger Mouse at the moment. That can't be a good thing.

My thoughts? They're in their 50s now. Go acoustic.

Bono's voice has lowered a lot over the years and he shouldn't be still yelling Pride. Give us some more chilled out tracks in the vein of Deep In The Heart or One Step Closer.

U2 - show us you've got some balls by creating some more music that is unique to you and doesn't conform to whatever rules you may have left yourself by constantly looking for 'the hit'. It worked for With Or Without You.

Birmingham NEC 2001 on the Elevation Tour. I'm not a huge fan (but best mates with a real U2 fanboy) and seen them in stadiums before but indoors in a relatively small arena (9,000!) was a revelation.

The segue from Bad to 40 to Where The Streets Have No Name still has my spine tingling when I think about it. Bono running around the heart shaped ring around the stage and the house lights going up when Clayton's bass kicked in to see every man and his dog in the arena on their feet going absolutely mental.

On that tour with Bono's Dad at death's door (and sadly passing on) this song was shot through with emotion every time they played. Still makes me go all throaty ten years on.

All That You Can't Leave Behind was certainly their last "complete" work - the last two, whilst having their moments, are the weakest in their canon by a distance. Still a great, great live band though. If you can afford nuclear grade FX systems built under the stage to make you sound better, go for it!

similar things to what's already been said here. I feel it's like they feel they have to keep up their 'massiveness', keep being 'down with the kids' and an almost paranoia about not having hit singles. Surely they need to forget about competing with Coldplay or whoever and tap into their inner Leonard Cohen, Van the Man and Dylanness and just make a simple, serious, beautiful album. Stop trying to be cool basically.
They aren't really like The Stones who are more of a dance band - U2 are in a position where their fans will take them seriously if they did that low-key-type record.
If it's true that they've got Will I Am on board then god help them that's embarrassing and a waste of everybody's time.

Please U2 just stop, you have delighted me enough, just stop, please just fucking stop (and pay some goddam tax to your poor skint government whilst you're at it) and NEVER DARKEN MY CONSCIOUSNESS AGAIN.

Unbiased of course.

I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons, but it's pretty difficult.

U2 to keep going with all of their usual stuff (which I really don't like) or U2 to call it a day, perhaps allowing Sir Bonio more time to devote to his various causes, with your man no doubt running for Irish president at some point.

Can we have a third option, like, you know, a plague of locusts or something?

and use your accumulated wealth to do some good instead of haranguing the rest of us to put our hands in our pockets.

Interesting posts people...
I think the acoustic route would suit them well too. They did sessions with Rick Rubin which haven't seen the light of day yet - but as pointed out they seem to still want to connect with the kids, get on the radio, played in clubs etc.

And agree - the last two albums the weakest by some distance. The 90's trilogy of AB, Zooropa and POP have their finest moments IMHO.

Whatever the next move is, I hope they show some balls and do something brave and out of kilter - and dont take years doing so !

I think the best stuff U2 have done of late has been the more melodic reflective stuff. Not acoustic, but allowed to mellow into a good state. Having said that, they have produced some interesting louder songs in recent years too, but they tend not to be the ones that people always think of. For me, I thought "Elevation" was one of the best songs they've done. And "Fast Cars" which was a bonus track from HTBAAB which has a mariachi vibe and certainly should have been on the album if not released as a single.

And because it would be a B-K post without a list, here are 15 of my favourite latter day U2 tracks. Not in any order of preference, they just got thought of in this order:

1. Fez - Being Born
2. Elevation
3. Fast Cars
4. City Of Blinding Lights
5. All Because Of You
6. Magnificent
7. Yahweh
8. Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)
9. The Hands That Built America
10. Walk On
11. Grace
12. In A Little While
13. White As Snow
14. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
15. Moment Of Surrender

Here is a song called Mercy that was recorded for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb but left off because it was too long. It was subsequently leaked (by Bono, who gave a copy to a fan who gave him a lift!).

In my opinion, it it easily the greatest u2 song of the last ten years and one of the best they've ever done. It absolutely SOARS.

They decided to play the song live on the last tour. Of course, they couldn't leave it alone as a piece that builds. No, Bono had to shoehorn some awkwardly scanning lyrics in and get to the chorus quicker and make it generally more like a hit for the kids.

It suffered as a result:

It makes me wonder how many other of U2's recent songs started off with a natural beauty before being hammered in staleness by their perfectionism.

... downsized venues: indoor arenas and mid size theatres. U2 play with absolutely massive balls, which they sometimes don't get credit for. And I think a lot of it is lost in their enormo-shows of late. Slaine was a massive field but was amazing - I can't begin to describe the atmosphere, it still heralds as my best gig - and I've been to one or two (ahem). After that, even, they should have scaled it down. I would *love* to see them in somewhere like Brixton Academy. Wonder what the chances of that are? I have friends who saw them on the same tour as the Slaine shows at indoor places like Birmingham and reported they were fantastic shows. I'm sick of bands playing in the 'round'. Looks great on DVD but feels really odd when you're there. No focus.

Saying that, yes, their last couple of albums haven't hit the mark for me. I can usually find something to love in any U2 record, even if it's a solitary Edge twang, but there's very few great 'U2' moments on the last couple. I do strangely find No Line... 'interesting' though, but nobody talks about their favourite 'interesting' albums, do they?

And don't get me started on Get On Your Boots. There's a brilliant, cheeky, daft pop rocker in there somewhere but what on EARTH they did to it in the studio? Massive drum intro, huge guitar riff, but the drums just disappear. into a stupid, inappropriate click. Please re-record with louder drums. That is all.