When I played bass in a U2 cover band many years ago, we tried many songs that U2 had never or rarely played live. Often it became obvious very quickly why certain songs are part of every tours setlist: they simply work well in a live context. Others not so much, such as "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses". I know many people love that song, and so do I, but it's a tough one to bring to life on stage.
We also gave "Heartland" a go, one of my personal favourites. And it was fun to play and worked extremly well. There is so much beauty in it, I love every instruments part as well as the vocals and the beautiful melody. We did it live and it was always a pleasure to play.
So yes, I do think that it would work live if U2 did it, at least in an intimate arena setting. When we did it with our cover band, we placed it fourth or fifth song in the set, after some rockers. I could also imagine it being the first song of the encore, the spot COBL had on the last tour.
This has always been a favourite of mine. I just love it to bits. I think it should have been one of those 'sometimes' songs, the ones that isn't a SUPER rarity but you probably wouldn't get at the average show.
We singled Heartland out as an absolute gem on Rattle and Hum (which wasn't one of our favourite albums overall) but wondered whether it was simply too big of a challenge to sing consistently? That part near the 4 minute mark is incredible but must also be quite intimidating!
One of those rare times I feel U2 let us down live. So Cruel and Heartland are the ones I always come up with when I think of songs they never play but should. Acrobat as well. I may complain about Pop not getting any play, but at least they were playing the songs on that tour. U2 have never been ones to embrace tough arrangements live. I don't blame them really, but enjoy complaining about it ha! I don't like doing difficult stuff lol.
If U2 wanted to bring back the "Two Americas" inspiration for recording the Joshua Tree - and to continue to make strong statements next year in the new era of Trump - imagine Bullet followed by Heartland. With Bullet, continuing the dialogue with Trump on the screen, the conversation between Bono and his younger, idealistic self, ending with the inevitable "run" into the arms of America...and then seguing into the beauty of Heartland. The dark side of America transitioning into the mystique of its landscape...
