Question for those who actually experienced ZooTV & Popmart, not just watched the dvd

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Boxer Bono was definitely kickass! And I don't even like boxing.

So whatever he did during Zoo TV/Popmart was at least ironic and he was mocking rock star poses. What excuse does he have now? Has he not become the rock star he mocked? :lol:
 
Zootlesque said:
So whatever he did during Zoo TV/Popmart was at least ironic and he was mocking rock star poses. What excuse does he have now? Has he not become the rock star he mocked? :lol:
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last 2 tours he walked onto the stage and started to sing
if he was mocking himself it would his late 80s self
imo :lol:
 
Zoo Tv (Philadelphia) was awesome. I was very close to the stage and left feeling satisfied, entertained, blown away in general. Popmart (Philadelphia) was boring.

Regarding Bono's stage follies, almost anything a rock star does on stage is ok - when he is young and, um, not fat.
 
ZooTV was the FIRST concert I'd been to (no I don't count Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton when I was little as a concert :giggle: )

It was MINDBLOWING! I was close to the stage, and my brain struggled to keep up with everything going on around me. :rockon: When I watch the DVD it just takes me back to that feeling. I see it more clearly for what it is, but it doesn't make me enjoy it any less.

His moves are his moves. Some may find it OTT, some just accept that's what he is. :shrug: I don't go to the concerts to worry about how he's going to move, I go to get lost in the atmosphere and the sound.
 
So what I'm concluding from this thread is that seeing them live doesn't really make a difference in how one perceives his antics then and now. In other words, people who think the Vertigo posturing is awful compared to the past are not gonna change their opinion if they magically go back and witness Zoo TV or Popmart posturing. I guess "dvd opinions" are good enough for this kinda thing! :wink: The whole thing is subjective as hell anyway.
 
Being lucky enough to see each show 2x, I was on cloud 9 each time I went and didn't think anything of it at the time. You have to think of Zoo TV as pure entertainment, to acting like MacPhisto, being sexy as the fly, and big grandstander as Mirrorball man, all this was supposed to be a cheesy act. As for POP, it was definately supposed to be a bit cheesy, starting at Kmart and coming out of a lemon.

So if you weren't there, I could definately see that after watching the dvd's that someone would think how cheesy it was.
 
I never understood all the talk about some of this stuff though...Bono's stage antics never phase me...they're often entertaining....
 
corianderstem said:
I saw both tours, but was only close enough to see anything for Pop. I don't remember thinking anything about the posturing and gestures - I was just so damned excited to be there, I didn't have the chance to really get critical about the tours in the future when I watched multiple shows on DVD (bootlegs or official releases).

At the time, it felt like the greatest, most exciting thing ever.
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Bingo.

You had to be there.
I was at both and the excitement was incredible.
 
the older he gets, the worse it becomes. it wasnt bad at all for zoo tv. that tour was the epitome of cool. there were a couple of mad moves on popmart and then vertigo...well...it was full of cringeworthy moments!!

he needs to realise his age i think!

i do still love him though :)
 
Bono's pointy hoody and robe he wore during the intro of the pop mart mexico show looked kind of funny though, for all the wrong reasons.
 
The only thing wrong with Popmart in my opinion was when Bono shaved his head.

There....I said it.


But other than that....I saw two Popmart shows in Toronto and one in Montreal. I thought it was fantastic.
 
Zootlesque said:
Was Bono's posturing on stage as cringeworthy or cheesy as it has been on the Vertigo tour? I was not able to be there in person to experience Zoo TV or Popmart so I'm basing all my opinions on the Zoo Sydney and Popmart Mexico & Santiago dvds alone. To me, nothing from those past tours looked as bad as the animal impressions or the hyperactive drumming during LAPOE or the bird flapping etc. But maybe people who watched him on stage in the 90s feel differently?
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I've only watched the videos
I actually like the drumming. I also like the "Bullet the Blue Sky" segue into "The Hands That Built America" and the blind soldier thing.

What I don't like is stuff like encouraging women to have romantic feelings for him and dancing with them in a way that says, "You're normally with your shlep boyfriend/husband; here's a taste of what you really want." He did that in the Zoo TV era, and I think that is encouraging women to hold him as some kind of weird unattainable ideal. It's sick.
 
Rob33 said:
If you watch this performance of Wild Horses from 1992 you can see how Bono really hasn't changed...he's lying all over the stage in his one...watch around 3:30

YouTube - u2 stockholm who's gonna ride your wild horses live

I don't think Vertigo Tour was any worse or better than previous tours.
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That looked pretty awesome to me. All he did was touch some folks hands. It's a lot better than the way he lies on the ground singing romantically to some teenage girl on the Elevation DVD.

Why couldn't they put this performance of "Wild Horses" on the damn DVD for Zoo TV; pisses me off how they gipped us!
 
Muldfeld said:
What I don't like is stuff like encouraging women to have romantic feelings for him and dancing with them in a way that says, "You're normally with your shlep boyfriend/husband; here's a taste of what you really want." He did that in the Zoo TV era, and I think that is encouraging women to hold him as some kind of weird unattainable ideal. It's sick.
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Wow, you really do have some issues don't you? Does shaking hands with fans encourage them to have friendship feelings towards Bono?

I've danced with plenty of girls at weddings and such, gosh I hope they didn't think I was encouraging romantic feelings.
 
Muldfeld said:
What I don't like is stuff like encouraging women to have romantic feelings for him and dancing with them in a way that says, "You're normally with your shlep boyfriend/husband; here's a taste of what you really want." He did that in the Zoo TV era, and I think that is encouraging women to hold him as some kind of weird unattainable ideal. It's sick.
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Yes, because no rock star has ever played up the fantasy part of the role before on stage.
 
Muldfeld said:
What I don't like is stuff like encouraging women to have romantic feelings for him and dancing with them in a way that says, "You're normally with your shlep boyfriend/husband; here's a taste of what you really want." He did that in the Zoo TV era, and I think that is encouraging women to hold him as some kind of weird unattainable ideal. It's sick.
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By bringing them up on stage and holding them he's putting that into their head? I always thought he was just bridging the gap between fan and rock star by destroying the seemingly "untouchable barrier." Like, you know, what he did at Live Aid.
 
In terms of the DVD's, the only Bono thing that I remember making me literally "cringe" was the cat motions on the Chicago DVD. That's just...bad.

All the posturings and what-not on the Boston and Slane DVD's I thought were cool.
 
Muldfeld you seem to hold these absurd standards to Bono and seem to be overly critical...I don't know how you tolerate other rock stars, really.
 
I didn't like it on ZooTv, I felt Bono was exaggerating it, especially when alcohol was involved, I liked it during the last tours, I thought it was quite romantic. It's always the men who have problems with a singer bringing girls on stage. :flirt:
 
As to the original question, I've seen U2 live now since UF and Bono's had many a cringeworthy moment at all of them, from the white flag waving, to the cat thing :yikes:

I loved Lovetown but I thought Bono pretending to be a Mississippi deltaman was a bit much.

Zoo TV and Pop worked for me, even with the MacPhisto OTT stuff, cos he was in character for both. It wasn't Bono, it was the Fly, and he was cool :love:

00s Bono is less cool, cos he's older and he's not behind a character, it's Bono, dopy glasses and all. And pretending to be a cat when you're 45 is like dad-dancing.
 
I saw them on the ZooTV 1992 - indoor. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. He was also very theatrical on stage these days - but somehow it seems to me that now he has become this ironic-zootV-Bono in real... But I love him anyway.

Love this - Ultraviolet from Stockholm:
(esspecially at and after 3:20 - great!!!)

YouTube - U2 Ultraviolet live from Stockholm
 
Zootlesque said:
Boxer Bono was definitely kickass! And I don't even like boxing.

So whatever he did during Zoo TV/Popmart was at least ironic and he was mocking rock star poses. What excuse does he have now? Has he not become the rock star he mocked? :lol:
Click to expand...

Popmart boxing intro was for me the epitome of what you called it in that other thread..."Yeah bitches, we rule your world! Celebrate us! We are bigger than God!" And the outfits... :no:

And irony and all, Bono does love grand gestures and theatrics, and all the idolising that comes with his job. I looked at it more as owning up to that side of his character in the 90s. "hypocrisy of my own heart" etc

And if you think I didn't cringe around anything the 00's, I did. The US flag in his jacket, the POW routine, the dedication of RTSS to US troops right after that routine, and "this is your song now" line re: SBS.
 
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