The rehearsal was excellent, he sang it as good as on the 12/4 Tokyo performance at the end of the Vertigo tour.
The official performance, I am still disecting as I am sort of a live Pride geek. The closest I can come to a coherent thought on this is it started out a little weak but then Bono picked it right up fast. It has sounded better and better with different listens taped from different places in the crowd. It sounded better on most 'bootlegs' than it did on the official HBO broadcast, dont know whats up with that. Well, anyway, the voice was maybe a little too high pitched and a little short on power, if the former came down and the latter up a hair, it would have matched Tokyo.
In order to get the general feel of the song, for it to be a good performance, Bono needs to hold the chorus and put a respectable amount of power into it. He did both in the rehearsal more so than the official, but he definitely still passed the test of a good vocal Pride on the official. It passed most 2005 Vertigo performances, which were pretty strong in general.
Why was the official not as strong: 1.)The cold- I would imagine, though I am no expert, that one can only do a great performance in the cold once in a span of 24-28 hrs. I know artists drink warmer water before singing, ice cold is not good for your voice and just by way of anecdote, Madonna REFUSES to sing unless in arena temperature is 85F. She actually holds up the show. So there has got to be some truth to the colder the harder on the voice theory. I kind of thought to myself when I saw the rehearsal that Bono was either overextending himself and will be flatter tomorrow as a result, but hoped he was still doing well but holding back the amazing power for tomorrow.2.)Bono the politician-I love the fact that he works within the system to affect positive change, has good things to say about America and capitalism, gets himself educated, does a damn good job at it. He will work very well with Obama and Biden. However, with all these entertainers and politicans in one place, you can be sure he did a great deal of talking before the performance! That never helps. 3.)Acoustics- not the best place anyway for a concert, and there were alot more people around and things on the stage on day 2 for the actual concert. Also, some of the speakers and sound systems may have been used throughout and were not customized to U2. Maybe they did things more their own way at the rehearsal to get used to the songs again.
Either way, at the official, looking at the crowd tapes, U2 easily got the best reception. I just loved how Pride started before the PA lady could even say "please welcome U2" to the crowd and there had already been a damn loud reaction. Then as soon they showed Bono moving toward the front of the stage w/the microphone in the air talking about MLK, the entire crowd completely erupted! It was incredible. Never forget, anyone, that despite what people say here sometimes, U2 is still universally LOVED and respected.
A friend of mine who never paid much attention to U2 and never had much of a reaction whenever I mentioned that I was a fan to her called me about an hour after the concert and said she now completely understands what I mean. So they made an impact on the crowd for sure. The best performance of Pride, either rehearsal or official, no, but damn good, yes and yes again!
Better: Tokyo 2006, Wellington and Dortmund 1984, 1986 Conspiracy of Hope, maybe a couple Zoo TV performances when Bono was really on.
Anyone happen to have an MP3 link to Wellington 1984, I would love to hear that again and U2 start has been acting up on me! May not be the place for this, but thank you so very much if you can come through with anything.
