The 'new' Tolerate live is absolutely stunning.

[ZiZi]

So, I said it. I was there in Bath 2023 when they introduced a new 'sing along' part right after the final chorus. The moment when all the guitars and drums kick back in is magical. It's one of the best things they've ever done live. Even though I've heard the song a billion times at every gig I've seen them, this was goosebumps all over the place. It's the dream setlist closer now, perhaps even surpassing what Design For Life once was.

https://youtu.be/tQxk9Fm4GMM?feature=shared&t=197

[LA ex]

I've only seen Tolerate performed like this on videos (I think they did the same thing at Glasto last summer) and when viewing like that I'd prefer the standard outro. That said, it may well work better when you're in the crowd.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but Tolerate is one of their songs that seems to get better and better live as the years pass by.

[Marat Sar]

Originally Posted by LA ex

It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but Tolerate is one of their songs that seems to get better and better live as the years pass by.

The song itself just becomes grander and grander. Especially if you do the unfair thing and compare it to, let's be honest, every other single ever released. For them to go from where they came to making this is just gobsmacking, the elegance, the glory and the spell of it -- from these Welsh villagers. Every time its played you're reminded of how far the world is from that now, how far other musicians, seemingly time itself is from producing something like this again -- the size of the accomplishment grows. It's like that miner's fairy-tale from the Soviet Union: coal miner meets Lenin on his way home, they talk, they agree, Lenin leaves and when he does he seems to grow larger not smaller as he approaches the horizon. It's one of those rare songs, like Uncommon Valor by Jedi Mind Tricks (which I'd also suggest to everyone who hasn't heard it) that encompasses its enormous historic subject material entirely. This one even more, spreading its wings just a bit wider, reconciling something irreconcilable. It is very, very Hegelian. I've said many times on many forums, this one too probably, that it gives me a sense Translucent History. As if I can see into History and its weight is temporarily lifted. They discovered something very special with this one, a truly unique effect. And then they went and put it on "MTV", gave it a "music video" and it became a "number 1 hit". People all over Europe said: yes. I hear it too. They played it live during a concert called "Leaving The Twentieth Century", almost precisely the moment two thousand solar revolutions turned into three thousand solar revolutions since Christ. And the opening words were "the future teaches you to be alone -- the present to be afraid and cold." Five years after their friend and greatest creative mind vanished forever.

I mean c'mon. That's a spell. Art isn't "art", culture isn't "culture". The closest word I've found is reconciliation. Not quite redemption, weaker -- nothing redeems Gaza, or Bucha, or Guernica. But reconciliation, that is possible, already the ancients discovered that the right hymn at the right time can achieve it in an instant. This one does it too.

[theplague]

Originally Posted by Marat Sar

The song itself just becomes grander and grander. Especially if you do the unfair thing and compare it to, let's be honest, every other single ever released. For them to go from where they came to making this is just gobsmacking, the elegance, the glory and the spell of it -- from these Welsh villagers. Every time its played you're reminded of how far the world is from that now, how far other musicians, seemingly time itself is from producing something like this again -- the size of the accomplishment grows. It's like that miner's fairy-tale from the Soviet Union: coal miner meets Lenin on his way home, they talk, they agree, Lenin leaves and when he does he seems to grow larger not smaller as he approaches the horizon. It's one of those rare songs, like Uncommon Valor by Jedi Mind Tricks (which I'd also suggest to everyone who hasn't heard it) that encompasses its enormous historic subject material entirely. This one even more, spreading its wings just a bit wider, reconciling something irreconcilable. It is very, very Hegelian. I've said many times on many forums, this one too probably, that it gives me a sense Translucent History. As if I can see into History and its weight is temporarily lifted. They discovered something very special with this one, a truly unique effect. And then they went and put it on "MTV", gave it a "music video" and it became a "number 1 hit". People all over Europe said: yes. I hear it too. They played it live during a concert called "Leaving The Twentieth Century", almost precisely the moment two thousand solar revolutions turned into three thousand solar revolutions since Christ. And the opening words were "the future teaches you to be alone -- the present to be afraid and cold." Five years after their friend and greatest creative mind vanished forever.

I mean c'mon. That's a spell. Art isn't "art", culture isn't "culture". The closest word I've found is reconciliation. Not quite redemption, weaker -- nothing redeems Gaza, or Bucha, or Guernica. But reconciliation, that is possible, already the ancients discovered that the right hymn at the right time can achieve it in an instant. This one does it too.

Yes.
Love this.

[someone, somewhere, soon]

I was never the biggest fan of Tolerate when I was younger, but I must admit it's grown on me more and more over recent years.

Regarding "new" versions, this take they played at that online Airwaves festival thing mid-COVID really stood out for me - disappointed all those additional guitar lines and alternative melodies never transitioned to standard live performances.

[everlasting]

The first time I watched one of their festival sets last year online I didn't know how I felt about it, but then I've watched it again and again, as well as other performances on Youtube, and man it's great. Gets the crowd really into and it just sores when the all the band come back in