The histories of another two rehearsed songs
Yesterday, we had a look at the history of The Unforgettable Fire. Today, let's have a look at the live histories of two other rarities that U2 have been rehearsing. This time, the histories are a bit shorter, as the songs are Drowning Man and If God Will Send His Angels. The two songs at present have a cumulative total of one full live performance in U2's entire career.
Drowning Man: War Tour, April to June 1983
U2 have never played three songs from the War album live. Two, The Refugee and Red Light, have never even been snippeted. The third, Drowning Man, did make brief - and we mean brief - appearances as a snippet. You quite possibly have heard this snippet and never even noticed it.
Drowning Man has been a special song for U2, especially for Adam Clayton, who has often named it as one of his favourite U2 songs. They may be rehearsing it now, but back in 1983, they felt they could not do it justice live and did not play it. However, in April 1983, at the start of the second leg of the War Tour, Bono began snippeting it in 11 O'clock Tick Tock. The snippet is quite simple, and can be heard on the Under A Blood Red Sky video/DVD (but not on the CD). Before Edge's first solo, Bono would call out a line from Drowning Man - "hold on, and hold on tightly".
Our database records thirteen instances of the snippet; the first known occasion is 28 April 1983 in Rochester and the last known occasion is 29 June 1983 in New York. Every single one of these snippets occurred in 11 O'clock Tick Tock. Unfortunately, a number of War Tour concerts lack setlists either in full or in part, and even some shows with known setlists lack snippet details due to a paucity of reports and bootlegs. Thus, it is entirely within the realms of possibility that Drowning Man was snippeted a few more times.
What is much less within the realms of possibility is that Drowning Man got played in full once. A review of the 3 June 1983 show in Salt Lake City by the Deseret News alleges that Drowning Man was performed. This review, however, contains known inaccuracies and the Drowning Man claim is probably false.
Before moving onto If God Will Send His Angels, there is one more snippet worth noting. At the end of Mothers Of The Disappeared on 19 December 1987 in Tempe, Bono snippeted verse 31 of Isaiah 40 from the Bible. Some of Drowning Man's lyrics are also based upon this. However, the snippet more closely resembles the phrasing of Isaiah 40:31, hence it is not listed as Drowning Man in our database.
If God Will Send His Angels: Popmart Tour, April to June 1997
Fourteen years after Drowning Man's foray into the world of snippetry, If God Will Send His Angels took to the live stage. Its live career almost exactly resembled Drowning Man's in duration, running from 25 April 1997 in Las Vegas to 27 June 1997 in Chicago. It, however, managed 23 performances; this is a complete listing. All 23 segued out of Until The End Of The World.
Only one of these performances was actually the full song. For its debut in Las Vegas, the band attempted the complete song, and "attempted" is perhaps the polite way to put it. The song starts as essentially just Bono and Edge; Larry and Adam do not properly come in until the second verse, though this at least seems intentional. Bono's lyrical flubs and missed notes most certainly were not, and the band have absolutely no idea how to actually conclude the song. It does not help that Bono and Edge are playing out on the b-stage while Adam and Larry are initially on the main stage. Seemingly under the impression that their jobs are done during the "Jesus never let me down" verse, Adam and Larry make their way down to the b-stage, while Bono requests the final chorus. Larry sits down at his small b-stage drumkit and provides some token rhythm as Bono ends the song by singing "if God will send his angels, I'll do better next time".
There was, however, no "next time" for the full band version of the song. Instead, it became a glorified Until The End Of The World outro played by Bono and Edge that was approximately just two minutes long and cut many of the lyrics. Larry sometimes added a mild percussive touch for the "Jesus never let me down" verse. It was played this way at most shows on Popmart's first leg, although the band skipped it in Philadelphia on 8 June 1997 and again in Los Angeles on 21 June 1997.
This indicated If God Will Send His Angels' days were clearly numbered. Its last performance was in Chicago on 27 June 1997 and missed the last four shows of the first leg. It was replaced by New Year's Day, thus restoring the Until The End Of The World/New Year's Day segue that was popular on Zoo TV's stadium legs. Oddly enough, If God Will Send His Angels was issued as a single well after U2 stopped played it live, in December 1997; this is a very rare instance of U2 releasing a song not in their live repertoire. Claims that the band revisited the song once on Popmart's third leg are false.
360° Tour, 2009: A resurrection?
Prior to the start of rehearsals in Barcelona, Adam remarked that songs U2 have not performed live before are now sounding playable. The band seem very serious about performing Drowning Man and have rehearsed it most days. The band can be heard practicing it in a video in this article. As the setlist takes shape, it looks like the band intend to perform Drowning Man after I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
By contrast, we only know of one rehearsal of If God Will Send His Angels. It took place on 23/06. If it makes the concert setlist, and whether it takes a full band form or is stripped down, remains to be seen. As stated at the end of the article about the Unforgettable Fire's live history, a rehearsal is no guarantee of a song making a concert setlist. Just ask Mofo about its appearances at soundchecks on the Vertigo Tour's third leg.
In case you're curious: past live footage
An example of Drowning Man being snippeted in 11 O'clock Tick Tock can be found on the Under A Blood Red Sky DVD, from the 6 June 1983 concert at Red Rocks. The snippet is at 2:34-44 in the below video.
Here is the botched full band performance of If God Will Send His Angels from 25 April 1997, Las Vegas. If you ever watch this more than once, it will probably be less for its musical qualities and more for its hilarity.
By contrast, this is the glorified outro version, as played on 15 June 1997 in Edmonton:
Drowning Man: War Tour, April to June 1983
U2 have never played three songs from the War album live. Two, The Refugee and Red Light, have never even been snippeted. The third, Drowning Man, did make brief - and we mean brief - appearances as a snippet. You quite possibly have heard this snippet and never even noticed it.
Drowning Man has been a special song for U2, especially for Adam Clayton, who has often named it as one of his favourite U2 songs. They may be rehearsing it now, but back in 1983, they felt they could not do it justice live and did not play it. However, in April 1983, at the start of the second leg of the War Tour, Bono began snippeting it in 11 O'clock Tick Tock. The snippet is quite simple, and can be heard on the Under A Blood Red Sky video/DVD (but not on the CD). Before Edge's first solo, Bono would call out a line from Drowning Man - "hold on, and hold on tightly".
Our database records thirteen instances of the snippet; the first known occasion is 28 April 1983 in Rochester and the last known occasion is 29 June 1983 in New York. Every single one of these snippets occurred in 11 O'clock Tick Tock. Unfortunately, a number of War Tour concerts lack setlists either in full or in part, and even some shows with known setlists lack snippet details due to a paucity of reports and bootlegs. Thus, it is entirely within the realms of possibility that Drowning Man was snippeted a few more times.
What is much less within the realms of possibility is that Drowning Man got played in full once. A review of the 3 June 1983 show in Salt Lake City by the Deseret News alleges that Drowning Man was performed. This review, however, contains known inaccuracies and the Drowning Man claim is probably false.
Before moving onto If God Will Send His Angels, there is one more snippet worth noting. At the end of Mothers Of The Disappeared on 19 December 1987 in Tempe, Bono snippeted verse 31 of Isaiah 40 from the Bible. Some of Drowning Man's lyrics are also based upon this. However, the snippet more closely resembles the phrasing of Isaiah 40:31, hence it is not listed as Drowning Man in our database.
If God Will Send His Angels: Popmart Tour, April to June 1997
Fourteen years after Drowning Man's foray into the world of snippetry, If God Will Send His Angels took to the live stage. Its live career almost exactly resembled Drowning Man's in duration, running from 25 April 1997 in Las Vegas to 27 June 1997 in Chicago. It, however, managed 23 performances; this is a complete listing. All 23 segued out of Until The End Of The World.
Only one of these performances was actually the full song. For its debut in Las Vegas, the band attempted the complete song, and "attempted" is perhaps the polite way to put it. The song starts as essentially just Bono and Edge; Larry and Adam do not properly come in until the second verse, though this at least seems intentional. Bono's lyrical flubs and missed notes most certainly were not, and the band have absolutely no idea how to actually conclude the song. It does not help that Bono and Edge are playing out on the b-stage while Adam and Larry are initially on the main stage. Seemingly under the impression that their jobs are done during the "Jesus never let me down" verse, Adam and Larry make their way down to the b-stage, while Bono requests the final chorus. Larry sits down at his small b-stage drumkit and provides some token rhythm as Bono ends the song by singing "if God will send his angels, I'll do better next time".
There was, however, no "next time" for the full band version of the song. Instead, it became a glorified Until The End Of The World outro played by Bono and Edge that was approximately just two minutes long and cut many of the lyrics. Larry sometimes added a mild percussive touch for the "Jesus never let me down" verse. It was played this way at most shows on Popmart's first leg, although the band skipped it in Philadelphia on 8 June 1997 and again in Los Angeles on 21 June 1997.
This indicated If God Will Send His Angels' days were clearly numbered. Its last performance was in Chicago on 27 June 1997 and missed the last four shows of the first leg. It was replaced by New Year's Day, thus restoring the Until The End Of The World/New Year's Day segue that was popular on Zoo TV's stadium legs. Oddly enough, If God Will Send His Angels was issued as a single well after U2 stopped played it live, in December 1997; this is a very rare instance of U2 releasing a song not in their live repertoire. Claims that the band revisited the song once on Popmart's third leg are false.
360° Tour, 2009: A resurrection?
Prior to the start of rehearsals in Barcelona, Adam remarked that songs U2 have not performed live before are now sounding playable. The band seem very serious about performing Drowning Man and have rehearsed it most days. The band can be heard practicing it in a video in this article. As the setlist takes shape, it looks like the band intend to perform Drowning Man after I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
By contrast, we only know of one rehearsal of If God Will Send His Angels. It took place on 23/06. If it makes the concert setlist, and whether it takes a full band form or is stripped down, remains to be seen. As stated at the end of the article about the Unforgettable Fire's live history, a rehearsal is no guarantee of a song making a concert setlist. Just ask Mofo about its appearances at soundchecks on the Vertigo Tour's third leg.
In case you're curious: past live footage
An example of Drowning Man being snippeted in 11 O'clock Tick Tock can be found on the Under A Blood Red Sky DVD, from the 6 June 1983 concert at Red Rocks. The snippet is at 2:34-44 in the below video.
Here is the botched full band performance of If God Will Send His Angels from 25 April 1997, Las Vegas. If you ever watch this more than once, it will probably be less for its musical qualities and more for its hilarity.
By contrast, this is the glorified outro version, as played on 15 June 1997 in Edmonton:
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