U2 frontman Bono has attributed the lukewarm response to the band’s 2009 single ‘Get On Your Boots‘ to a section of their fans who ‘aren’t groovy enough’.
“Look, sometimes our audience isn’t as groovy as we’d like,” he told Rolling Stone. ‘Get on Your Boots,’ as it was released, is a sort of crossover, half-club, half-indie-rock record. People are not sure about the club side of U2. They want ‘Vertigo’ , and when we did this the last time – with ‘Discotheque‘, from ‘Pop‘, they didn’t like it either.”
Bass player Adam Clayton added he believes the reaction to the song live shows the studio version may have suffered due to the band’s habit of over working new material in the studio.
“Interestingly, it’s going off live,” Clayton remarked. “I think probably what happened was it’s a common U2 problem. I think we probably worked on it and worked on it and worked on it, and instead of executing one idea well, I think we had probably five ideas in the song, and it just confused people. They weren’t sure what they were hearing.”
Earlier this week, U2’s current world tour surpassed The Rolling Stones‘ Bigger Bang Tour to become the highest grossing of all time.