Today, I’ll be sitting down for a conversation with Eugene Peterson, who provided us with a wonderful, personal paraphrase of the Bible called The Message.
In preparing for the interview, I’ve been deeply moved by this interview conducted by Mark Galli at Christianity Today last year. Reading it has been one of the highlights of my week. I encourage you to take the time to read the whole thing… especially the stuff about churches. It’s convicting, bold, disruptive stuff. And I love it.
By the way, if you have any questions for Rev. Peterson, and if you can post them here in the next couple of hours, I may include them in my interview.
I was just wondering if you were planning on blogging any of your interview with Eugene Peterson. I ask because he’s one of my favourite writers. His recent books, “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places” and “Eat This Book,” are both worth their weight in gold and have been food to my pastoral soul. Interviewing him would be a wonderful opportunity, because while he’s not a dynamic super-pastor that attracts a lot of attention, he is someone filled with a rare biblical wisdom sorely needed in many pews and pulpits.
Yeah, it’s gratuitous, and a waste of money for real fans, but, for the uninitiated, this as about as good of an introduction to the band’s body of work as you could hope for in a single-disc set. It’s obviously not thorough or comprehensive, but it does at least cover all of their most utterly essential songs. The sequencing of the tracks seems to make a lot of sense to me. And the fact that they’re labeling it a collection of SINGLES rather than the absolute BEST U2 songs makes it okay for them toinclude four tracks from ATYCLB while skipping Pop altogether.
So…what would be your Best of setlist? I have a hard enough time just coming up with a Top 3…
Hmmm. Good question.
My personal list of favorites will probably be quite different from others’ fans lists:
Here are about 30 favorites:
–MY TOP TEN–
With or Without You
Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Gone
Love is Blindness
Until the End of the World
40
Vertigo
Running to Stand Still
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
–OTHER FAVORITES–
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
New Year’s Day
Bad
All I Want Is You
Elevation
Mofo
Exit
When I Look at the World
God Part 2
In God’s Country
All Because of You
Lemon
Silver and Gold
A Man and a Woman
Stay
Walk to the Water
Luminous Times
One
Please
But don’t forget the 10-song Live from Milan DVD that comes with the deluxe edition – that’s the reason I’ll be buying a copy.
“When Love Comes to Town” didn’t make your top 30? I’m sure it was number #31, right? I forgive you and will keep readind your blog. 😉
FWIW, my top 10 U2.
One Tree Hill
Hawkmoon 269
Running to Stand Still
All I Want Is You
40 (Live)
Promenade
Elvis Presley And America
Walk On
Race Against Time (B side)
City of Blinding Lights
A couple of their 90s songs would make it in my top 20. “City” gets played a lot when my wife is out of town – “and I miss you when you’re not around”.
Aight. I’ll give it a shot.
Favorite Song From Each Album:
Boy – Another Time Another Place
October – Fire
War – Drowning Man
UABRS – New Year’s Day
UF – none of them/hate the album (ok…maybe Pride)
Joshua Tree – In God’s Country
R&H – God Part II
Achtung Baby – Until the End of the World (speaking of which…is the movie any good?)
Zooropa – Some Days Are Better Than Others
Passengers – Your Blue Room (I count it as an album)
Pop – Staring at the Sun
ATYCLB – In A Little While
HTDMAAB – Original of the Species
Favorite Live Song – Until the End of the World
Favorite Studio Song – Mercy