Acrobat revived

On holiday in Dublin over Easter Marlon asked me what my favourite U2 song was. There are so many it took me a while to sort them in my mind but after mentioning Bad as an all-time favourite for many years -especially live, and then leaving out songs specific to a particular year or special occasion ("Stay" in Cologne 2001, "Streets" in Mannheim in the rain 1997 and the version with the introduction von Hamish Hamilton on the 2001 Elevation DVD, or "Kite" while driving under a full moon on an October night to collect Steve from the train in Rottweil... I could go on!) I said Acrobat. He immediately played it on his iPhone and wasn't too impressed by my choice. However, not only has it a great instrumental part, the lyrics manage to juggle 3 parallel meanings: the disgrace of Ireland and IRA; a woman, her falling apart and rise from that; and the hypocrisy in each of us. So once again for Marlon, here it is the way I've heard it in my head for years. (Many Thanks to Bartek for the video,)



And coincidentally this week on atU2:

Results from the worldwide #U2Request campaign are in, and U2 fans on Twitter have voted "Acrobat" as the U2 song they most want to hear during the upcoming Innocence + Experience tour. The event, organized by Italian fan Angelo D'Arezzo, took place on April 14 with fans naming a song they want to hear.

The results? No surprise, really. "Acrobat" was the top vote-getter by a landslide, with almost three times as many votes as the No. 2 song, "A Sort Of Homecoming," and more votes than the next three songs combined.
Here are the top 10 songs with their vote counts:

1. "Acrobat" - 3,592 
2. "A Sort Of Homecoming" - 1,289
3. "Exit" - 1,195
4. "So Cruel" - 1,062
5. "Please" - 823
6. "Lemon" - 648
7. "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" - 643
8. "Gone" - 610
9. "Heartland" - 603
10. "Kite" - 601