Your favorite little moments on U2 songs

[youarenotimmune]

Here's one of mine:

The transition back to the verse from the bridge on Ultraviolet during Zoo TV. Contrary to the studio version, The Edge plays slide guitar during the bridge on the Zoo TV version. It fits the song infinitely better. He went back to playing it a la the studio version on 360 unfortunately.

This little part epitomizes the theme of the song. The angst and despair of being lost in the wilderness, and the light which appears out of the dark to guide you just as you feel it's gone pitch black. The slide guitar during the bridge drives home the utter despair the singer is singing about in that part. And then the light appears. The bridge transitions instantly back to the ringing guitar as Bono sings, "Your love was like a light bulb, hanging over my bed." Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Check it out at the 3:25 mark here:

U2 Ultraviolet live from Stockholm - YouTube

And at 3:45 here on this soundcheck for better clarity of Edge's guitar work:

U2 - Ultraviolet (soundcheck Zoo TV 1993) - YouTube

 

[Vlaco]

Yes definitely, it's my favourite part of the song and the main reason why I prefer the Zoo TV versions to the 360 ones. ''I remember when we could sleep on stones'' combined with Edge's guitar playing were so epic (still are)!

p.s. How great do those drums sound in that second clip? Larry was really pounding those drums back in the days.....

 

[allbecauseofu2]

After ultra on zoo TV, when thiers a brief musical flourish before with or without you. Like when he quoted Sinatra.

 

[youarenotimmune]

After ultra on zoo TV, when thiers a brief musical flourish before with or without you. Like when he quoted Sinatra.

The Ultraviolet - With Or Without You couplet is awesome

 

[youarenotimmune]

Yes definitely, it's my favourite part of the song and the main reason why I prefer the Zoo TV versions to the 360 ones. ''I remember when we could sleep on stones'' combined with Edge's guitar playing were so epic (still are)!

p.s. How great do those drums sound in that second clip? Larry was really pounding those drums back in the days.....

Absolutely. Larry's drumming in the 80s and on Zoo TV was so impassioned.

 

[RoKKeR]

This just popped into my head today, but Edge at 1:52 in Sweetest Thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WybiA263bw

Man, I just love that guitar part. Very restrained but beautiful, seeping almost and lying perfectly on top of the rhythm section. Downloaded a live version of this song from 2001 and hearing that part live gave me the chills. I'll be thinking of this though!

 

[Rob33]

Here's one of mine:

The transition back to the verse from the bridge on Ultraviolet during Zoo TV. Contrary to the studio version, The Edge plays slide guitar during the bridge on the Zoo TV version. It fits the song infinitely better. He went back to playing it a la the studio version on 360 unfortunately.

This little part epitomizes the theme of the song. The angst and despair of being lost in the wilderness, and the light which appears out of the dark to guide you just as you feel it's gone pitch black. The slide guitar during the bridge drives home the utter despair the singer is singing about in that part. And then the light appears. The bridge transitions instantly back to the ringing guitar as Bono sings, "Your love was like a light bulb, hanging over my bed." Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Check it out at the 3:25 mark here:

U2 Ultraviolet live from Stockholm - YouTube

And at 3:45 here on this soundcheck for better clarity of Edge's guitar work:

U2 - Ultraviolet (soundcheck Zoo TV 1993) - YouTube

I'm hoping Ultraviolet comes back on the next tour with the ZooTV style guitar.

I think this is the most emotive guitar part Edge has ever put down....absolutely incredible...so bittersweet and nostalgic. Between the brilliance of Edge and Larry's drumming, it's kind of depressing to listen to this. We can only hope this level of songwriting and playing comes back this time around.

 

[Zoo Lemon]

Not just about songs, but today I thought of a moment on ZooTV which always gives me goosebumps: the transition from 'Unchained Melody' to 'Until The End Of The World', where you can first hear the atmosphere getting darker, then when Bono sings "speed your love to me", the explosions burst and bring you into UTEOTW. It's a moment I can't compare others, for how it's thrilling for me.

 

[gareth brown]

god The Edge is such a fucking great singer

 

[jeevey]

Yes. Can't wait to hear that Edge vocal on the new album.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

I was working another looooonnnngg shift in a factory when I heard "Miss Sarajevo" for the first time, on a crappy old system that was nevertheless loud enough to get the radio to every corner of the place - and when Pavarotti came in it was so unexpected and so beautiful I burst into tears

 

[YBORCITY]

The Ultraviolet - With Or Without You couplet is awesome

I couldn't get over at my first 360 show I was actually hearing Ultra live again, I thought the song was destined to live in my fadi
ng memories from zootv.

One of my favorite moments of a U2 song is RTSS on ZooTV. Iliked that edge played that with his guitar instead of piano.

Another is any live versions of Bad (but mostly from JT/Zoo era). Edge puts in these little runs here and there. Alot of times in the outro after the huge wave of emotion crashes during the song.

Also Edge in the outro of WOWY live.

I wish I knew how to post vids of these instances but most of you might b e able to relate.

 

[YBORCITY]

Not just about songs, but today I thought of a moment on ZooTV which always gives me goosebumps: the transition from 'Unchained Melody' to 'Until The End Of The World', where you can first hear the atmosphere getting darker, then when Bono sings "speed your love to me", the explosions burst and bring you into UTEOTW. It's a moment I can't compare others, for how it's thrilling for me.

I never thought about that transition but how great is that?

 

[Hollow Island]

Several from If You Wear That Velvet Dress

Edge's solo
the burbling bass under it, and how the bass goes back to swinging, releasing the tension
the twinkling guitar that accompanies it
the twinkling guitar that develops out of it in the last section
the two-note-and-mute riff in the last verse
the sparkly solo during the last verse

Then there are the drums...

Basically, I really love everything about this song.

 

[Hollow Island]

Adam's playing during the last 40 seconds of Please.

 

[Hollow Island]

Adam's playing during the second verse in Wake Up Dead Man, and his development of it during the third verse. It's genius. None of that "ah, I'll just play the root note" shit for Adam 1997.

All three of the players are fantastically creative and technically great musicians, yet as soon as they achieved that status they retreated from it. It's very odd.

 

[U2DMfan]

That instrumental moment in One Tree Hill before the "I don't believe in fancy roses..." verse comes in. It's not really a solo or a bridge, I don't even know what to call it. A perfectly tasteful and subtle - pause? Although it's not a literal pause either because the song continues. It just feels like an emotional respite for a moment. Almost as if they were collecting themselves.

And it might not even be a "little moment", I just think it's one of those perfect U2 moments that will never be seen again. One of those moments that reminds me of when I fell in love with this band. And to think, they recorded all of that album in the time it will take (these days) for them to decide what shoes to wear for the next tour.

 

[pepokiss]

For me, there are 2 defining moments in U2's history

The first: ULTRAVIOLET in Washington DC, Zoo TV 92. Their peak. The whole song. Their greatest moment ever...


unless you count N°2


PLEASE segueing into WTSHNN in Santiago, 1998. I was there.

The long "Please", the longer one, the short one, the drumsticks, Edge's guitar, the red screen, and then: 70.000 people, a crowded stadium, jumping up and down...

16 years later, I can't think of any other moment in music that resembles perfection like this moment does.

From 1:23:10

U2 - El Pueblo Vencerá Popmart Tour (1998-02-11; Santiago de Chile) Full Concert. - YouTube

Nothing will top those two moments, ever.

 

[jeevey]

That Washington show is shot so well. The camera work is very different to most of the tour and I really love the changes, such as not flashing on the Fly text so that you can actually see the band during that song. I haven't watched the whole thing continuously yet--guess I need to!

 

[allbecauseofu2]

1. That dial time when bono gets put on hold on the zoo tv dvd. Then the little song , then intro to lemon.
2. Elvis can't help falling coming on after bono sings it.. Elvis has left the building.
3.. popmart dvd. The pause and hum before uteotw kinks in.
3. Popmart intro to real thing.
4.zoo tv love is blindness solo.
5. Srgt pepper snippets in bd during vertigo tour. And blackbird outro.
6. The opening of zoo tv montage. Into just the opening riff of zoo station. That moment is like everything that band been through to this point. And Thier future..reinvention . Etc. It told you this band will transcend the 80s. And ascend to great heights.

 

[redhill]

1. Bono's laugh in the studio version of Wire
2. "Don't you look baaaack" in WGRYQW
3. "It really is" in one of the live versions of Cartoon World (in the chorus)
4. Larry's changing high hat patterns in the latter half of studio Bad
5. The way Bono says the word Vampire in Stay

...

 

[Zoo Lemon]

2. "Don't you look baaaack" in WGRYWH

+1 on that, adding that the whole part from 'The deeper I spin' to that is very special and one of the highlights of AB for me.

 

[An Cat Gav]

My defining U2 moments are:

1: The instrumental build up at the beginning of WTSHNN, synths followed by edge's jangling guitar then in comes the rythem section.
2: Bono singing "oh beliiieeeve Him" followed by Edge's soaring guitar line on Tomorrow.
3:The "wo ho ho ho ho" bit in An Cat Dubh, again followed by those delightful Edge chimes.
4: All of Promenade, but in particular the "i like a firework explooode" part, the shimmering shiny layers behind are sublime to say the least.
5: The ache in Bono's voice when he sings "and if the mountain should crumble or fall into the sea" on The Unforgettable Fire.
6: The first time Bono sings "I'm hanging on, you're all that's left...." on Red Hill Mining Town.
7: The guitar solo on the studio version of The Fly.

And my all time favourite moment in any U2 song:

8: When Bono sings, "i'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky" in the utterly majestic in every way One Tree Hill.

 

[jeevey]

Nice list.

 

[nielsgov]

2: Bono singing "oh beliiieeeve Him" followed by Edge's soaring guitar line on Tomorrow.

I love reading these lists. Makes me go back to some U2 songs I haven't heard in a long time. This one in particular is great.

 

[prbiker15]

My defining U2 moments are:

2: Bono singing "oh beliiieeeve Him" followed by Edge's soaring guitar line on Tomorrow.
5: The ache in Bono's voice when he sings "and if the mountain should crumble or fall into the sea" on The Unforgettable Fire.
6: The first time Bono sings "I'm hanging on, you're all that's left...." on Red Hill Mining Town.
7: The guitar solo on the studio version of The Fly.
8: When Bono sings, "i'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky" in the utterly majestic in every way One Tree Hill.

Agree with all of these. (I haven't made a list yet )

 

[YBORCITY]

My defining U2 moments are:

1: The instrumental build up at the beginning of WTSHNN, synths followed by edge's jangling guitar then in comes the rythem section.
2: Bono singing "oh beliiieeeve Him" followed by Edge's soaring guitar line on Tomorrow.
3:The "wo ho ho ho ho" bit in An Cat Dubh, again followed by those delightful Edge chimes.
4: All of Promenade, but in particular the "i like a firework explooode" part, the shimmering shiny layers behind are sublime to say the least.
5: The ache in Bono's voice when he sings "and if the mountain should crumble or fall into the sea" on The Unforgettable Fire.
6: The first time Bono sings "I'm hanging on, you're all that's left...." on Red Hill Mining Town.
7: The guitar solo on the studio version of The Fly.

And my all time favourite moment in any U2 song:

8: When Bono sings, "i'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky" in the utterly majestic in every way One Tree Hill.

WOW! Excellent list - very subtle but extraordinary moments.

I do have to say Promenade is such a beautiful song "Ohhh tell me, Cherry you dance with me, turn me around tonight, up through spiral staircase, to the higher ground". Pure poetry.

 

[allbecauseofu2]

IUWTVD both live and studio.

 

[Mr. Millennium]

Edge's little guitar part after the 2nd chorus into the "I can't escape myself" line from the studio version of Mercy.

 

[gareth brown]

i'll always love the opening of Streets (studio)