To appreciate our first video, there are a few things for U2 know. The video is from U2\u2019s performance at Abbey Road Studio for BBC One\u2019s 50 minute documentary to mark the release of Songs of Experience (2017). The documentary comprised short interview snippets between the band playing songs from their new album, as well as a few oldies. For U2, this was one of their more intimate performances. To compensate for the smaller than usual audience, the band arranged for an orchestra to back them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the interludes, Bono acknowledged that having an orchestra and a choir was \u201ca little self-indulgent,\u201d but, hey, this was U2\u2019s way of toning down the stadium rock bombast. The Irish Times wrote that guitarist Edge found \u201cthe rare intimacy\u201d of the Abbey Road performance daunting. It quotes him: \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing to 70,000 people since our 20s.\u201d The attempt to \u201ctone down\u201d follows through onto U2\u2019s latest LP, Songs of Surrender (2023). In the video, note the segue into Joy Division at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neither the fan comments on YouTube nor the reviews of the BBC special mention the last minute of the song when With or Without You becomes Joy Division\u2019s Love Will Tear Us Apart. I did a little search. It turns out that U2 has been ending With or Without You like this at concerts more or less consistently since 4 April 1987, on the US leg of The Joshua Tree tour \u2013 the Joshua Tree (1987) being the parent album of With or Without You. For some, no doubt, the Joy Division bit is part of the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n