The U2 Experience on Amazon
Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-11-30)
On November 28, 2017, Billboard announced that U2 had teamed up with Amazon.Com to offer an “Immersive online radio ‘experience’”. The ‘experience’ started on November 29, 2017, at 6pm ET, and was a six hour chunk of programming, which repeated four times. As we write this, the final cycle is now airing. The broadcast was available to all customers with an Amazon Music account in the USA, UK, Germany and Austria. Listeners in other countries were able to sign in using a USA Amazon.Com store login.
IMAGE: Cover of The U2 Experience
The ‘experience’ was hosted at http://www.amazon.com/theu2experience. It could also be accessed via the Amazon Music app, and for Prime subscribers via Alexa on the Amazon Echo device by asking “Alexa, play The U2 Experience.”
IMAGE: Cover of U2: 100 Greatest
Featured as part of the effort was the six hour broadcast, titled The U2 Experience, a previously available special on Amazon Music titled Side by Side U2 which has been streaming since earlier this year, but now features additional songs and commentary for songs like “Get Out of Your Own Way” and “American Soul” and also a 100 Greatest U2 Songs feature, containing 7 hours and 22 minutes of music curated by Amazon’s “Music Experts”.
During the six hour broadcast of The U2 Experience, songs are mixed with interviews from throughout the years. There are even some new tracks included in the broadcast. All four of the tracks from this year’s U2.Com fan club gift, the four live songs were featured. Also featured was a live version of “The Little Things That Give You Away” from Seattle, which recently streamed on U2.com. The broadcast also featured the studio version of “The Little Things That Give You Away” which had not previously been released. Another ‘new’ track was a live recording of “You’re The Best Thing About Me” taken from U2’s concert in Sao Paulo, Brazil, recorded on October 25, 2017. That song has not been released elsewhere in that format. One other odd song pops up as “new” – a demo version of “A Day Without Me” that starts with Bono singing “causing a landslide” instead of “starting a landslide”…
Although most of the six hours was fresh, some of the content did repeat, with some songs being repeated a second time. The full list of songs played in the order that they played is:
- I Will Follow
- Breathe
- The Fly
- Two Hearts Beat as One
- Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own
- Bullet the Blue Sky
- With or Without You (Live from Foxboro, June 25, 2017)
- Stand Up Comedy
- Walk On
- Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
- In Gods Country (Live from Miami FL, June 11, 2017)
- Rejoice
- The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
- Staring at the Sun
- The Blackout (Live from Amsterdam, July 28, 2017)
- “40”
- Lemon
- Shadows and Tall Trees
- Beautiful Day
- Where the Streets Have No Name (Live from Louisville KY, June 16, 2017)
- Get On Your Boots
- Angel of Harlem
- Mysterious Ways
- Elvis Presley and America
- Red Hill Mining Town (Live from Amsterdam, July 29, 2017)
- All Because of You
- 11 O’Clock Tick Tock
- Discotheque
- Every Breaking Wave
- You’re The Best Thing About Me (Live from Sao Paulo, October 25, 2017)
- I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
- Tomorrow
- One
- The Unforgettable Fire
- The Little Things That Give You Away (Live from Seattle, May 14, 2017)
- I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Album Version)
- Desire
- Another Time Another Place
- Acrobat
- I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Live from Washington DC, June 20, 2017)
- Grace
- Wire
- Pride (In the Name of Love) (Live)
- Vertigo
- The Blackout (Live from Amsterdam, July 28, 2017)
- Sunday Bloody Sunday
- The Fly
- A Day Without Me (Unknown Demo Version)
- Numb
- In Gods Country (Live from Miami FL, June 11, 2017)
- In A Little While
- Cedarwood Road
- I Threw a Brick Through A Window
- The Little Things That Give You Away
- With or Without You (Live from Foxboro, June 25, 2017)
- Gone
- One Tree Hill
- Shadows and Tall Trees
- Zoo Station
- You’re The Best Thing About Me (Live from Sao Paulo, October 25, 2017)
- MLK
- Babyface
- When Love Comes to Town
- Gloria
- The Little Things That Give You Away (Live from Seattle, May 14, 2017)
- Mofo
- With or Without You
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- The Blackout (Studio Version)
- I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Live from Washington DC, June 20, 2017)
- MLK
(Unless noted, the tracks above were mostly the more common album versions of songs.)
The music was mixed with interview tracks between each song, and other than advertisement for U2’s albums, and the special itself, it was free of advertisement. One of the interviews was conducted by Amazon Music’s global head of programming, Alex Luke, and that interview took place during U2’s stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil on the recent The Joshua Tree 2017 tour.
IMAGE: Cover of Side By Side: U2
In a press release accompanying the announcement of this special, Luke said “Few bands have as storied a career as U2, and we saw an incredible opportunity to build a broadcast for their fans. This all goes back to voice innovation, and what we’ve built is an immersive, ephemeral listening experience for our customers, with a wealth of interviews and content going back nearly 40 years.”
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