Ulimate discussion of live WOWY history

[marik]

I'm hoping we can use this thread as the difinative resourse for all WOWY live performance questions.

I know I have had many myself over the years, and i find it very interesting to compare the changes over the years and tours.

It would be easiest to break it down by tour and by instrument.

JT TOUR

vocals: featured "Shine like stars" verse


guitar: used infinite guitar. Using the whammy bar?
extended solo added on as per R+H video

bass: always the same as far i know

drums: Larry used headphones to keep beat. Live drumming thru out.




Now this is a basic start with the JT tour. Can we add onto it with all tours and performance variations?

 

[digitize]

I'm not sure about drumming, so I won't mention it.

Lovetown was nearly the same as Joshua Tree, but Bono's voice typically sounded better (unless it was one of his really bad nights). Case-in-point: 26 December 1989.

ZooTV first three legs: Similar to Lovetown, but with Bono's voice being rather different, Shine Like Stars often having alterations (of which only some can be... understood), and, of course, the infamous extended solo. Examples: Stockholm and Washington.
ZooTV leg four: Same as first three legs at first, except with break between the traditional end of the song and the beginning of Edge's solo being knocked out, and Bono as MacPhisto. Towards the end of the fourth leg, they dropped the solo and Shine Like Stars, letting the song just die similarly to the album version. I think Cardiff was the last time that the solo and SLS were present, but don't quote me on that (I'm too lazy to check on u2gigs right now). For examples of both versions, listen to the bootlegs of Basel and Dublin (second night).
ZooTV leg five: Totally different. Segue from Lemon required that Edge play the song on a Les Paul, with an e-bow. Totally new outtro, with Bono singing the "AND YOU GIVE" part in an awesome MacPhisto voice. See: ZooTV Sydney or Adelaide. I think this was pretty effective for the Zoomerang encore.

PopMart: Edge playing it on a Fernandes contraption with a sustainer and whammy. No ending solo to speak of, but a lot of "OH OH OH OHHHHHH" at the end. Shine Like Stars was sung exactly twice. See: Just about any PopMart show.

Elevation: Similar to PopMart in most respects, but Shine Like Stars was more common, especially in the second and third legs. It is worth noting that the song itself was only played a few times in the third leg, though. See: Boston for the crappy version without SLS, and Slane or South Bend for the decent version with SLS.

Vertigo: Similar to Elevation, but with Infinite Guitar again. Shine Like Stars was sung twice (one of those performances, on the second Saitama night, was truly brilliant). usually just ends with "OH OH OH OHHHHHHH".

360: We can only hope and pray.

 

[bigjohn2441]

JT Tour:

Bono: various acoustic guitars, sometimes played "solo" parts right before or during solo (see LA and Paris performances)

Edge: Strat, solo at the end, sometimes cut short by "shine like stars" snippet, sometimes a few more notes added, like R&H movie.


Lovetown Tour:

Bono: used red Gibson es-335 electric, from what i've seen/heard.

Edge: strat i guess, same as JT


Everything else from then on is irrelevant, but the early zoo tv performances were ok.


Bono used black gibson es-137 and played the 4 chords, rather than variations of the D chord, like on JT/LT

Edge the same except extended solo, beginning sounds like the Fly and ends similar to JT/LT solo.


funny how people always diss bono's guitar playing, but the only GOOD versions of WOWY are ones with the 2nd guitar. same with ISHFWILF and AIWIY

 

[djerdap]

360: We can only hope and pray.

That it won't get played. At least seldom.

 

[popacrobat]

I really hope With or Without You gets played on 360. Yeah, fine, they've played it all the time, but it's still one of their best songs and I'd really like to see how Bono sings it seeing as how his voice is as good as it's been in recent history.

Ditch Bullet, Pride, SBS but keep Wowy, Streets and NYD. New Years Day reminded me how good it was when I saw U2 3D.

 

[popacrobat]

also, Bono played guitar a few times on WOWY on the Elevation tour. I wish he'd do that again if they do play it on 360, it does add to the song.

 

[digitize]

I really hope With or Without You gets played on 360. Yeah, fine, they've played it all the time, but it's still one of their best songs and I'd really like to see how Bono sings it seeing as how his voice is as good as it's been in recent history.

Ditch Bullet, Pride, SBS but keep Wowy, Streets and NYD. New Years Day reminded me how good it was when I saw U2 3D.

Agreed, although I can live with or without NYD. And I really wish they'd bother to play WOWY... well... instead of just playing it.

 

[phillyfan26]

Yeah, Edge never played the Infinite live. He played the Strat on the JT Tour. The first post is wrong about that.

 

[phillyfan26]

Edge has used different Fernandes models on recent tours. On PopMart, I think he used the Decade, he used the Native Pro on Elevation, and I wanna say he used the Retrorocket Elite on Vertigo.

So:

JT: Stratocaster
LT: Stratocaster
ZooTV: Stratocaster / Les Paul
PopMart: Decade
Elevation: Native Pro
Vertigo: Retrorocket Elite

 

[digitize]

Edge has used different Fernandes models on recent tours. On PopMart, I think he used the Decade, he used the Native Pro on Elevation, and I wanna say he used the Retrorocket Elite on Vertigo.

So:

JT: Stratocaster
LT: Stratocaster
ZooTV: Stratocaster / Les Paul
PopMart: Decade
Elevation: Native Pro
Vertigo: Retrorocket Elite

Hmm... are you sure that Vertigo isn't the Infinite Guitar? This guitar here:

YouTube - U2 - Live (Sao Paulo) - (21) With or without you

Is definitely the same as the one this this video that he introduces as the Infinite Guitar:

YouTube - The Edge - U2's arsenal (BBC - The Story Of The Guitar)

EDIT: I guess not... looking at the second video again, the guitar says "Fernandes" on it. I guess Edge is just using "Infinite Guitar" as a general term for the original Infinite Guitar and subsequent guitars that do the same thing.

 

[uuu222]

I don't care what anyone says....this song has to stay in the setlist. Personally, I enjoy the u2 3d version, however, my favorite was certainly the zoo versions, especially D.C.

 

[Rob33]

for this song, it's pretty simple...the entire band just needs to sit down on a couch for 5 hours with a really good sound system...and blast the rattle and hum dvd version then blast the audio from 12/26/89....repeat this process for 5 hours...and U2360 would feature some of the greatest WOWY versions ever...or at least give us a much more consistently great WOWY...seriously, it's this simple and easy...

 

[xtrmx]

ZOOtv (washington) was without a doubt the best. I like the way bono is singing on all zootv bootlegs I have.

 

[gman]

Zoo Tv (Washington) is indeed a fantastic version. I love the wee guitar solo type thing. But R&H version is the Ultimate in my opinion.
Worst version is the god awful Zoo Tv Sydney effort. What the hell were the band thinking? I thought the irritating, chilling, minor key keyboards in the background were an oversight from someone, but they also were prevalent in Adalaide too
I think the song should be dropped for 360 tour UNLESS....bono sings it like he isnt just going through the motions (as has been the case the whole 00s from where i am standing)

 

[BVS]

It's been ruined live since MacPhiso got a hold of it...

There were a few moments during the last two tours where it almost came back, but ever since ZooTV he's just been talk-singing it...

 

[kings]

I agree MacPhisto killed WOWY. I want it to stay with the Shine Light Stars...and for Bono to sing his heart out.

 

[bigjohn2441]

also, Bono played guitar a few times on WOWY on the Elevation tour. I wish he'd do that again if they do play it on 360, it does add to the song.

which shows?

i must have audio