OK, so this has been on my mind a lot recently and I have brought it up in a few different threads.
My view is u2's use of pre recorded parts/loops etc has got too much now....it has been building steadily for a long time, but has increased IMO to the point where their live performances come across as just not authentic now.
I decided to have a look online to see if could find any discussions about it where maybe i could find discussions where people more articulate than me had discussed it and i found a fair bit....
Here are some of the more interesting posts i found online about the subject:
Im new and seeing u2 at wembley last night attracted me to this thread- wanting to discuss it. I like that this has been discussed in a constructive way, so I thought Id join in.
So yes the new show is no doubt a spectacle, but the 'computer behind a curtain' providing the backing track is too much. What worries me is its not just providing backing for musical instruments that arent there but also a (lower frequency) guide vocal for Bono- this was obvious when he mis cued his lines or wasnt spot on.
Having seen them a few times over the last few years I can say the show is polished to the point of watching a 'music video' live and they are certainly not the same 'live' band the were years ago.
That said, the show was fun and I was entertained, just too polished and homogenised for my taste as a live music lover though.
On this note, I know one of the guys in the Arcade Fire, who supported u2 a couple of years ago in Canada. He told me that they noticed that not only did u2 play to heavy backing tracks and vocal trickery but played everything 'to click'.
When the two bands covered 'love will tear us apart' together, Bono refused to do it unless they had a click track. When Arcade Fire said 'Hey, dont worry, we're playing live, we'll be fine, who cares if we make a couple of mistakes and f*ck it up a bit- it will be more fun that way!'. Bono refused to play it live, as is, so they did it with the click track.
Anyway I only bring this up because when I was told about it, the arcade fire guys were shocked that a band as seemingly confident as U2 had been using 'live aids' for so long that they were almost too nervous or insecure to go out and play live 'naturally' without them.