Pensive

Song Of The Day

I know I haven't written one of these since 2014, and I'm not sure if anyone is even still reading this community, but this is something I feel the need to write...

California (There Is No End To Love)

I am so tired of seeing how underrated this song is. Songs Of Innocence is a terrific album and this is one of my very favourite tracks on it - certainly the standout song on the first half for me - but it somehow came LAST in U2.com's Side 1 poll soon after the album was released. I've seen a number of fans speak very dismissively about it, as if its crappy worthlessness is self-evident. And even when people *do* love the song, they tend to say things like "It's straight-up light-hearted fun!" and "It really captures the feel of California!", which doesn't do it justice at all. There's so much more to appreciate here.

While it's set against the backdrop of the band's first trip to Los Angeles, this is a song about life after loss. Bono explained it briefly in a 2014 radio interview that I've never been able to find again since (probably one of these that's no longer available). He said they were all really excited about their adventure, but someone in their party - he didn't specify who - had recently suffered a bereavement and it was totally dragging the mood down for everyone. The result is this amazing juxtaposition of grief and joy that I can't recall hearing in any other song.

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U2 IE Tour

Favourite recent tour?

Seen this asked in a few different places - which was your favourite tour out of Innocence + Experience, The Joshua Tree 2017, and Experience + Innocence?

I find it impossible to answer because I liked different things about each one - IE had the most impressive production and narrative, JT was the most enjoyable experience, and EI had MacPhisto!