Vorsprung durch Technik
Those words sung by Bono 16 years ago, translated as “Leading with Technology,” seems to be the best way to decribe the U2 360 Tour. Now that I’m a few days removed from the emotions of attending two shows and a week away from the excitement of seeing them one more time this year, I find myself with a slighly clearer mind to question why there are so many fans who are feeling like I am – that this tour doesn’t feel cohesive. Last night, U2 played “No Line on the Horizon” deep into their set. M2 tweeted that “One” and “Streets” were actually the first encore and not part of the main set, and that’s also how it felt in Foxboro.
Then the light bulb clicked on. Newsday said it best, “U2 played a refreshingly casual set at Giants Stadium.” For the 18 years of shows I’ve seen, there has never been a casual set by U2 until this tour. I disagree with Newsday about it being refreshing. It’s disheartening and disappointing.
Dedicated followers of U2 have had the privilege of seeing a U2 show as more theater and performance art than just a rock concert. The past tours there has been a thread that has tied the experience together – a common theme if you will. Past tours have had a “heart of darkness” core (for example Vertigo tour: “Love and Peace,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Bullet the Blue Sky”). Past tours had you wanting to sing the last song as you left the show. Past tours felt cohesive where when the band played with your emotions and cleverly took you on a journey.
Now, I can sort-of-see that they’re being a little playful with their “heart of darkness” core this time around. I can understand the rave party atmosphere of “Crazy Tonight,” melding into “Sunday Bloody Sunday” where you try to have one last dance before being sent off into battle. I get that. I understand the call for non-violence with MLK and the political take with Walk On. Those core songs, while they don’t flow as nicely as you’d hope, I can understand that part of the show.
What I am failing to see is the tie-in most of the rest of the set. “Magnificent” felt right as the show opener, and I am so glad I got to experience that. The crowd had liftoff, whereas for “Breathe” the night before, it didn’t get the crowd’s hands in the air or bouncing or anything like that. They’re still trying to find a home for some other tunes – thus the reason why last night NLOTH was so late in the set.
My husband considers “Moment of Surrender” as “Moment of Show Ender.” There were *many* fans I met up with at Foxboro who kept asking crew member after crew member about “Drowning Man.” I can see how that song could fit into the setlist. You have the theme of being lifted up from your situation and being pulled into your Savior’s arms in “Drowning Man.” Then go into “Moment of Surrender” where you accept the that saving, and end with “40″ where you acknowledge that your Savior has saved you. That would be a ballsy way to end a show – begin with “Magnificent” (a song that is a prayer of praise to the Savior) and end it with an emotional thank you.
The way the band is trying to tie together a space theme only confuses the message, and it’s not as clear of a tie-in with anything as nothing on the album they’re promoting has anything to do with space.
For the “casual” fan, then this is the tour for you. For those of us who were around for PopMart, I believe that PopMart was a far more cohesive tour than this one. For those of us who go back even further, my question is this – has U2 created too many songs with similar themes and it’s diluting their repetoire for their shows, or have they gotten too caught up in “leading with technology” and not given much effort to figuring out their set list?
I might have my answer by Raleigh.
I am glad this tour is continuing next year. There is still a lot of growth that can happen to it – and I’m not talking stage size.
Last 4 posts by U2isABLE
- Paul McGuinness and U22 Final Tally - January 21st, 2012
- Bono on The Ellen DeGeneres Show - December 1st, 2011
- Autographed Uber Achtung Baby Box Up For Auction - November 8th, 2011
- Unveiling Achtung Baby's Über Deluxe box - October 29th, 2011
I get the feeling that there are connections to be made with the new material (and the songs they’re choosing to play) with the space/time theme of the tour. While I’m too tired/lazy at the moment to really delve into it, off the top of my head, I think of the aspect of space and creation in relation to a divine creator–the idea of surrender is something Bono mentions in the show. His introduction before “Moment of Surrender” with the whole Earth-as-a-tiny-speck-of-light-in-the-universe makes one consider existence as a whole and, in turn, God. Also, I think of the lyric in “No Line”: “Infinity’s a great place to start” and “You can hear the universe in her sea shells” etc. The vastness of space denotes infinity, God is often spoken of as being an infinite “being”, and so on.
As I said, the album is an incredibly deep one, but it is something that I think has great resonance with what the band are putting for as main themes for the tour.
As for U2 having too many songs with similar themes, I think overall, sure. Does that mean it in some way diminishes the message? I don’t think so, although that’s certainly a subjective statement. I may be just glad that there’s a band out there who isn’t satisfied with releasing a song for releasing a song’s sake, if that makes any sense. It’s clear these themes are very important to them and, in contrast to the rest of the music scene these days, puts them lightyears (no pun intended) beyond the Top 10 Billboard albums in any given week.
Like who really cares whether the concert is cohesive or thematically strong?
I don’t mean to sound glib, but if you are looking for a thread to tie your experience together, I would suggest your missing the point of a rock concert.
As Willie Williams said, concerts are the rare moments where people are living in the now. At a concert we don’t think about the past or the future, it is about the now, about being in the moment.
Every U2 concert is a cherished opportunity to hear the majesty of their sound and to be moved by Bono’s lyrics. For me, I simply cannot imagine having that experience diminished because I am thinking the setlist doesn’t make any sense.
Endnote: At the end of the night: I’ll trust the four guys on stage. I think they have a pretty good handle on what makes a U2 concert.
I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t really agree. Pop and Achtung Baby were, in a way, concept albums, and they had matching concept tours. The records were very focused – Pop in particular – and so it was natural for the tours to reflect that focus.
No Line on the Horizon certainly has a thematic unity, which is more or less summed up by its title. It seems to me that the central idea in the record is one of starting fresh – seeing new possibilities – opening up to new sorts of discoveries, while at the same time acknowledging the weight of your past. Most of the songs seem to revolve around these sorts of ideas. I think it has a lot more thematic unity than All That You Can’t Leave Behind or How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. And the 360 stage set and setlist *does* follow through on these themes in its structure and especially in the arc of the encore. I do wish that the set had more of the darker songs – but the record is optimistic, hopeful, inclusive, and so on, so what can you do?
I personally like the fact that this show isn’t all about surrender and religious rapture and spiritual togetherness. They’ve played that before.
This show seems much more human, much more intimately humanistically hopeful. ESP the encore. still don’t like WOWY, but there is a very broken, very desperate feel to those last three numbers. Ultraviolet was meant for this tour, was meant for right now. it works.
It’s not beginning to end thematically perfect, but I like the fact that it feels much more grounded in a “this is us, but us are great.” It’s weirdly humble, and I think adds a really interesting space for a U2 show to be in.
and to paraphrase your post, they played with your emotions at the end on previous tours. This doesn’t end on an up note. it ends on a very, very real note, and a note dischordant with amusing 85,000 people. if nothing else, that’s ballsy for yer boys to do.
I’m very much in the same place as Sherry, and I’m also hearing the same from other people. I can certainly understand that the way U2 structured previous tours to take you on a journey and make a cohesive point may not have been a major focus for some people, so they’re not troubled by its absence — fine. But their incredible skill at creating a viscerally moving cohesive process has been a major draw about this band live for some of us, and for us feeling its absence on the 360 tour is disconcerting to say the least.
Maybe it’s just me, but I never felt the L&P,SBS and Bullet run worked. Well mostly Bullet (which was, IMNSHO, consistently boring on the vertigo tour).
I get that for many, the themes that u2 attempt to sketch are important. For the vast majority of people, they’re irrelevant. On the last tour, when they were doing RtSS, it didn’t work at all. At the U.S. shows I saw, it was pretty clear that the crowd didn’t get it at all or even thought the point was the opposite of what it was.
Personally, I thought Breathe was a great opener. But I was in the pit in Chicago, so maybe it didn’t work with the masses.
One thing I’m certain of is that most of the people that go to u2 shows aren’t thinking about the themes and they aren’t thinking about religious imagery. They’re going to see a great rock concert. Yes, it can be a somewhat “religious” experience, but that has far more to do with the audience than anything that the band says or does.
All of that said, if they have to have a major religious theme, I vote for tossing in Mercy. It seems like it’d fit the theme as well as anything else (and it’s better than most U2 songs, which is saying something).
Beth, you and I seem to disagree on this point. I personally did feel that there was an arc to this show. I perceived that the “heart of darkness” was replaced with “perspective”, but I saw them lead me toward praising God, then seeing myself and my world from God’s perspective, then surrendering myself to his will.
Hey all,
Before I begin my reply I’d just like give a shout out to Matt McGee and the rest of the @U2.com staff for making this website such an enjoyable experience to come and visit, as I have been doing so regularly since 1997. Keep up the good work! Now, on to my reply, enjoy and my apologies if it’s a bit lengthy!
I’ll have to respectfully disagree with the original poster of this thread and those other fans who may have found the 360 Tour to have an absence of an emotional moving and cohesive process. On the contrary, I found the 360 Tour to have the most emotional cohesive process of all the tours I’ve seen (I’ve attended the PopMart, Elevation and Vertigo tours). I saw the band opening night in Chicago on the 12th of September and found myself quite moved –emotionally speaking – in terms of the range of emotions the band incorporated into the set as well as the story those songs told (in conjunction with the beautiful visual images coupled with very effectively interspaced live video feed) over the course of the concert by coupling subtlety with grandiosity in a manner that was well-balanced, superbly executed and clearly well thought-out on the part of the band.
As for the concert, I found its sonic/visual narrative to be telling a particular moving – albeit at times ambiguous – emotional story. This narrative played itself out over the course of the concert by juxtaposing a number of abstract and sometimes contradictory emotions which have long been signature tropes within the band’s canon: the possibility of hope, the search for the unknown, the politics and reality of life, the search for love and the desire to be loved. This narrative was in turn supported by the prominence of songs in the set from No Line On The Horizon, with its complex, subtle and layered sonic architecture, and lyrical themes of hope, surrender and soul-searching for the infinite. This album, while probably not what most U2 fans were expecting, nonetheless reflects a sonic depth and lyrical searching (that while common on many U2 albums) I feel is found in particular abundance on The Unforgettable Fire, Zooropa and Pop; three albums respected more for the artistic freedom found in their sonic templates and the more searching and existential themes of their lyrics than their chart ascendancy and mainstream popularity. It is this template of lyrical searching and sonic depth of No Line On The Horizon that works together with the other songs in the set list to create an emotional tapestry that is in turn linked together by the two main props of the concert – the stage and the audience – to create the experience of intimacy and audience interaction that are the core elements of a concert experience.
It is the stage and the audience which are in a symbiotic link with one another, giving the show its power and emotional trajectory by the breaking down of the “fourth wall.” This is a concept familiar to theatre (and referenced by Bono in the 360 Tour program) that separates the audience from what is taking place on the stage, and for myself, this is exactly what occurred at the Chicago show I attended. After countless tours and attempts at bringing the audience closer to the band – and in doing so closer to a unified and mutually shared emotional experience – U2 had finally broken through to the final barrier of complete audience immersion. The simplistic and iconic stage design was the chief element in allowing this connection to be realized. Previous tours had seen various stage concepts utilized in arenas and stadiums, yet for myself at least, I felt a slight barrier between myself and the band when I would see them perform. This had nothing to do with the band or the music, and everything to do with stage designs. While the stage designs did their best to accommodate for field of visions and bring the band and the audience as close together as possible, there always felt a sliver at least of a barrier between audience and performer. The stage set up of the 360 Tour simply brushed that sliver of a barrier away, and in doing so ushering in the more complete connection between the band and the audience.
What makes the 360 Tour work in terms of emotional conveyance is that there is an almost perfect equilibrium between the themes and emotions conveyed on the album it is supporting (No Line On The Horizon) and how those themes and emotions are conveyed through the stage as well as the concert itself. PopMart is the only other tour that managed to balance the themes of the album it was promoting (Pop with lyrical motifs of existential loneliness and consumerism as a substitute moral compass among others) with the themes conveyed through the stage and image of the band (kitsch and ironic commentary on consumer culture to highlight consumerism’s spiritual and moral emptiness). I would also include the portion of the Zoo TV Tour that was supporting Zooropa, as the album – with its motifs of spiritual/political dislocation and the fracturing/disintegration of identity and self – fit perfectly with the tour’s themes of media manipulation/saturation and ironic commentary on the cult of celebrity; Achtung Baby, on the other hand, with its themes surrounding the dark side of love, doesn’t fit as well as a means of providing a sonic/emotional balance with the themes of Zoo TV. But with that album, the band were (in my opinion) more interested in finding a new visual angle to filter the songs through, thus creating a new emotional interpretation and context for the songs, than finding an emotional balance between that particular album and the tour. This is not to say that other tours did a poor job of this balance – they did not – there was just less balance between album themes and tour themes. This was mainly due to more sparse set designs which let the music and its themes speak with the most authority and conviction, which is not necessarily a poor quality I might add.
Nonetheless, perhaps peoples’ griping about a lack of emotional coherency signals an active decision (or inability) to acknowledge the subtleness that underlies the 360 Tour and No Line On The Horizon. I will take myself as an example. When I first bought Pop (the album that made me a fan of U2) I loved the first three tracks and detested the rest of the album. The PopMart Tour, I found to be exhilarating and extremely emotionally powerful (despite Minneapolis’ Metrodome having completely atrocious acoustics), and was able to wrap my head around at least the margins of what the band was using that album and tour to comment upon as artists. But it was not until All That You Can’t Leave Behind and the Elevation Tour that I was able to have something new to contrast against the previous album and tour. Once I had done this, I was able to more adequately grasp the vast and expansive themes at work in Pop and the PopMart Tour.
My point in using myself as an example is not to belittle those who may have found the 360 Tour dissatisfying in some manner or measure (as everyone has opinions), nor that people should become blatant apologists (as this entry may be construed as leaning heavily towards). Rather, that in the spirit of the boldness of artistic expression that U2 have exemplified over the course of their career, people should allow this tour (and the album it is supporting) to be decided upon its own merits and not necessarily the merits of a person’s memories of previous tours or albums, as some of the postings appear to indicate. Is this an easy task to undertake? No, especially given the “myth” surrounding U2, the media’s incessant perpetuation of it and individual’s personal expectations surrounding each successive tour and album cycle. One the one hand, it’s quite natural to have expectations about something, as well as to compare and contrast one’s experiences surrounding an event (such as a concert or an album). On the other hand, if one has hyper-idealized expectations, or a hardened preconceived notion of what they expect/desire an album or a concert to sound or feel like, then they are only closing themselves off to something that has the opportunity to enrich their senses and their life experience, which is a part of art’s role in our lives. If instead, one opens themselves up to what is being presented to them to allow a new mode of expression, piece of music or a live concert or film take up the space where that hardened resistance and idealized expectations lie, then the true beauty and majesty of what is being presented to them will reveal itself. This is what I felt with the 360 Tour and No Line On The Horizon.
Did this happen to me immediately with U2’s current offering? No, as No Line On The Horizon was (and still is) very much a “grower” of an album for myself (as Pop and The Unforgettable Fire were in their turn). Likewise, the 360 Tour has inherited much of PopMart’s visual scope of ambiguity coupled with iconic directness and simplicity in its stage set up, giving a layer of nuance, visual subtlety and playful argumentation as to interpretating its “meaning” or “purpose”. But in the end, this is the beauty of art (and of U2), this idea of individual interpretation and freedom of expression. We the audience, are free to interpret U2 the artists, and the various forms, functions and modes of expression their albums and tours showcase. It is a testament to their intellectual curiosity and personal temperaments that they continue to expand their own artistic horizons with such dedication and passion. They are asking us, the audience to take this journey with them, to open our minds and hearts to the new experiences they are offering up, enjoy it while it lasts.
I agree with a lot of what the original poster said. I’ve seen this show 6 times. Three of the shows have been really good, two good, and one average. In order: Chicago II, Amsterdam II, Dublin I, Chicago I, Amsterdam I, and Dublin II. I’ve gone round and round in my head thinking about it, and here are a few things I’ve come up with.
1. U2 is a slave to their visual effects. This somehow seems magnified with this huge set. The Vertigo tour had more set diversity. I know Ultraviolet is cool, but I’ve seen the last three songs close out the show 6 times. Give me something else. Do they think anyone would care if they played an impromptu cut of Please. Answer: no.
2. I think Bono doesn’t really want to sing songs from Pop and Zooropa because the lyrics are more lamenting, and he seems overall extremely positive now.
3. Breathe is my favorite song on the album, but it is a terrible opener. The band feels like Spinal Tap emerging from the stage. I would have loved to hear Magnificent open. I think it should be Fez-Magnificent, just like Anton’s movie track list has it. You say, “Fez can’t be played”. I say, f that, they’re U2 and they’ve sold out all of the tickets already. They can do whatever they want. I also don’t understand Moment of Surrender. I keep trying to, because it’s clearly important to them. I liked it the best in Chicago 2, because I thought it was the best set list I’ve heard so far. It proves my point that everything becomes more enjoyable when rarer songs balance out the hits.
4. The band doesn’t want to be a greatest hits touring band, so it proves this by opening with 4 songs from the new album, but what does that prove. Here are the consistent non single tracks they’re playing: Ultraviolet, MLK, stuff from the new album, and I guess Until the End of the World, and in Europe In a Little While. Everything else has been famous singles (Bad has been played semi-frequently, but I think of it as a single because of Wide Awake in America). I like a lot of those songs, but where are the deep cuts or rarer singles. Where are: Mofo, Kite, New York, Miami, Daddy’s Gonna Pay, God Part II, Hawkmoon 269, I Threw a Brick Threw a Window, In God’s Country, Please, Last Night on Earth, Lemon, Original of the Species, etc. I do understand what it takes to be prepared for songs, but if they’re so thankful for the life we’ve given them, well, throw us a bone sometimes, because even though it’s been cool hearing Ultraviolet and The Unforgettable Fire, there needs to be more options like Your Blue Room. Can anyone even imagine what the pit and most of GA would be like if they played one of the deep cuts mentioned above?
I’m not trying to sound like a jerk, because some people never get to see U2, and all my friends that saw them at the Chicago shows were blown away, but currently I think it lacks diversity. The PA songs before the concert have had more diversity.
All that said, I’ve had a really great time at all the shows, except Dublin II. This is my favorite band, and as two of my other bands (The Killers and The Kings of Leon) or chomping at their heels, I want U2 to stay fresh and different. I’ve collectively had more fun seeing The Killers and KOL this year than the U2 shows, and it kills part of me to say that.
Tear me apart or agree, it doesn’t matter. This is what makes the arts great. One person loves something, while the other doesn’t, but I’m right of course:)
Wow, cb8033, that’s an incredibly thoughtful and interesting post, but it just leaves me fascinated by how totally different our reactions were. I loved NLOTH, was blown away by its subtlety, maturity, and nuanced thematic depth from the first listen and it has only gotten better for me. To me it’s a mature masterwork that achieves something almost no rock band has. But I had almost no sense of any of its subtlety, achievements or preoccupations shaping the actual show except superficially.
And as for audience immersion, both shows at Foxboro (even in the pit 2nd night) actually had the poorest audience participation I’ve ever experienced at a U2 show — people sitting there talking during all the non-hits, going in and out, eating meals, thousands of people leaving early. Even the pit wouldn’t sing “Unknown Caller.” In Boston! But I’ve heard the same about reduced audience participation this tour from fans in Europe and elsewhere.
@Megan — if I were going to abstract an intellectual message from the lyrics alone in the order they come, I’d probably come up with something like the same arc you mention — so I totally see where you’re coming from. But I didn’t *feel* anything like that from the musical flow either night.
I defintely don’t want to recapture some past version of u2; I’d be sorry to see them redo Popmart or ZooTV, or give us anything-redux. I think NLOTH offers great ground to be broken in a totally new way here, and I’m glad to hear that others are having such completely different experiences of the shows that they feel it’s happening. I’m not there. Looking forward to Raleigh to see what it’s like the 3rd time.
Hey Beth,
Thanks for the compliment on my post. I should clarify that I agree with your thoughts on NLOTH. I too upon first listen felt it was a mature masterwork with an unparalled levcel of naunce, depth and layers. It continues to be a “grower” for me in the sense that I’m still discovering its depths and layers in a way that it took me much longer to do so for The Unforgettable Fire and Pop. Once again NOLOTH and The 360 Tour showcases that while there may be better musicians than U2 in popular music, (as they freely admit too often to bother counting) there probably isn’t a better group of artists than U2 in popular music. When popular music is looked back upon by historians when its all said and done,it will probably be U2 and the Beatles as the two great groups, and they will in all likely hood be looked at the way Picasso and the Renaisance masters are in the art world respecfully.
U2isAble’s original post reminds me a great deal of my reaction to the Washington, DC, Popmart. That show just failed to demonstrate enough cohesion to me. It was during the period when the band was continuing to drop some Pop songs and shorten others. New tunes were mixed with old ones with at times some thought (the “Miami”/”Bullet”/”Please”/”Streets” sequence in particular was brilliant, even though the audience didn’t react positively to the two Pop songs), but others just did not work (particularly the sequencing in the first two of three encores — “Discotheque”/mini-”If You Wear”/”With” was horrible thematically, and “Hold Me”/”Mysterious” was better but not great). Perhaps most jarring to me was how almost every song ran into the next one without any musical break, something that both didn’t allow the audience time to breathe and accentuated the contrasts between the song themes even more. Most of all, the band didn’t seem to believe in some of the new songs, most notably “If You Wear That Velvet Dress” and “If God Will Send His Angels.”
That was my first U2 concert, and it came after nearly a decade of being a fan. Needless to say, it wasn’t a great experience, made even worse by the fact that if you were in the far back left of the stadium near the ground floor, you couldn’t see the images clearly throughout 85 percent of the show, and there were too many distortions from the nearby sound box as well. (Only years later did I learn that the “telly” had serious problems that evening, having been damaged by rain. I’m still not sure that it explains all of the viewing problems, however.)
Elevation 2001 was an almost perfect show, but the only thematic unity in sections of the show was the unity of song popularity. Sure, “I Will Follow” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” turned out to be an incredibly good pairing in terms of audience reaction, but “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “With or Without You” as the sum total of the first encore was just weird. (Alas, we got one or two fewer songs than usual that night in DC, something that again happened with 360 last night and may have been true with Popmart as well. What is it with U2′s DC stops?) Aside from the first set of songs, and particularly the three-song opening powerhouse, the unity that night seemed to be in becoming the most popular band in the world again rather than in any message. But it was so inspirational a concert anyway, I was happy to sacrifice my unity qualms.
After missing the HTDAAB show because my wedding was only two days away (just a minor reason
), this DC-only concertgoer just got to see 360 (along with his wife, a first-time U2 concertgoer who only became a fan after we married). And compared to the previous two concerts I attended (I’m limiting this discussion to those, even though I’m thoroughly familiar with the other tours thanks to video), 360 at least as, and probably more, thematically unified than the two other tours I’ve experienced live. Thematically, the now second encore set is perhaps the most thematically linked three songs I’ve heard live next to the three opening songs of the Elevation tour and the concluding section of Popmart’s main set. To go from the pleading for divine light in “Ultraviolet” to the saint/sinner dichotomy of “With or Without You” and finally to the yielding in “Moment of Surrender” is incredibly moving and powerful, and it in many ways sums up the whole of NLOTH. Bono’s wrestling with God personified in the microphone is the most enjoyable and thought-provoking visual treat I’ve seen in some time, made even better by the whirling “light bulb” over all of our heads.
And while the concert is not totally unified thematically (and cannot be so as long as the band keeps experimenting with the set list), the album’s main theme of spiritual conversion comes through loud and clear (even with the painful lack of “No Line” and “Unknown” in DC), if people are thinking along thematic lines. Yeah, since “Drowning Man” was the song that threw me into U2 fandom (aided by “New Year’s Day” in particular and the whole War album in general), I was hurt when they decided not to debut it. But the inclusion of “Your Blue Room” (here, the idea that the earth is God’s “blue room” comes through clearly if you know the song, thanks to the visuals) and “The Unforgettable Fire,” not to mention the mind-boggling second encore, end up making up for it. The “Unforgettable Fire”/”City of Blinding Lights” duo is another example of incredible thematic unity, from temptations and encountering God “in a dry and waterless place” (Psalm 63) to returning to the faith you once had in the city. (When I first saw that duo in the early concert set lists, I posted in Facebook that U2 is a genius for putting those two songs together thematically.) I’m sure it would have been even better with “Unknown Caller” before “Fire,” but alas . . .
Finally, concerning U2isAble’s question as to why we don’t get, say, a “’40′” to close the deal, as it were: as I told my wife, who I warned ahead of time that “Yahweh” would almost definitely not be played and who wondered why in turn, that’s not what NLOTH is about. NLOTH is about getting to the point of spiritual conversion, not about spiritual renewal. NLOTH is about becoming aware of the God you do not see and coming to see the need for change in your life. It is about coming to the point of that turning; only “Breathe,” I think, examines substantially what life is like *after* that turning. NLOTH songs also mostly take the point of view of characters who apparently do not have a firm religious background, unlike on HTDAAB, where the speakers see the need to return to a faith they once had. With NLOTH, we’re wrestling with and eventually surrendering to things we don’t really understand. We’re not yet at the point of “waiting patiently for the Lord” because we’re just getting to the point of knowing him. (Presumably, Songs of Ascent will take us to the next level.) For these reasons, no song could be a more appropriate concert closer than “Moment of Surrender,” even if the general audience doesn’t like it. (What I’ve just outlined also, I think, reinforces my earlier comments about the amazing unity of the second encore.)