Bono (Hewson): Battling With Shortness Of Breath?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

jick

Refugee
Joined
Aug 22, 2002
Messages
2,054
Location
Philippines
I noticed that in this tour, many of Bono's lines are rushed and done spoken-word style off-beat. This is most evident in their rendition of WOWY on the second night, but is everpresent in so many other songs. In many lines he does a quick run-through of the words and finishes it earlier than should have been or starts it later and finishes it on time. He hardly holds sustained notes anymore and many times he just recites the lyrics (instead of singing it). His phrasing is off nowadays. Does anyone else notice this? Does Bono have shortness of breath problems? Does it have to do with his chain-smoking?

Just wanted to know if people noticed this and have their explanations for it.


Cheers,

J
 
I think...(cough)...you may be on to something very (cough) (hack) interesting....but maybe (cough) not.

(cough) later...
 
I don't think he's performing as bad as you say J,
but I have noticed that his overall vocal performances have been a bit 50/50 - but maybe that's down to him recapturing his vocal technique for touring again.

And vocal chords, like car engines, require a bit of idling (and revving) time before they reach full performance.

But you make a point in that any smoking (don't believe the hype over cigar smoking) won't help his vocal performance and, more importantly, his health.
 
jick said:
I noticed that in this tour, many of Bono's lines are rushed and done spoken-word style off-beat. This is most evident in their rendition of WOWY on the second night, but is everpresent in so many other songs. In many lines he does a quick run-through of the words and finishes it earlier than should have been or starts it later and finishes it on time. He hardly holds sustained notes anymore and many times he just recites the lyrics (instead of singing it). His phrasing is off nowadays. Does anyone else notice this? Does Bono have shortness of breath problems? Does it have to do with his chain-smoking?

Just wanted to know if people noticed this and have their explanations for it.


Cheers,

J
sounds better than he has for some years, imo
 
Hewson said:
Perhaps his onstage activity and crowd interaction.
Any other specific example other than WOWY from one show?
Cheers,
H2

Specific example? Wow that's a lot of songs to look for.

I just randomly checked a concert which is 4/06/05. Check out:

Verse portions of Miracle Drug.

Sunday Bloody Sunday.

There are more examples and it won't make sense to cite all of them. It's either you notice it or you don't. If you don't notice it then just say so. I think it is unreasonable to require me to cite all the examples since they are plentiful.

Cheers,

J
 
Friend Jick,
I didn't say cite all of them, I just asked for some more cause you only referenced 1 in your original post, and if it was only 1 song in several concerts than I wouldn't call it a trend.

Cheers,

H2
 
jick said:


Specific example? Wow that's a lot of songs to look for.

I just randomly checked a concert which is 4/06/05. Check out:

Verse portions of Miracle Drug.

Sunday Bloody Sunday.

There are more examples and it won't make sense to cite all of them. It's either you notice it or you don't. If you don't notice it then just say so. I think it is unreasonable to require me to cite all the examples since they are plentiful.

Cheers,

J
look at some boots from the start of elevation, he is the same, its called becoming fitter
 
Bono is in much better form than Elevation, from what I've heard so far.

The high notes are back...that's the big thing I'm noticing: OOOOOO..OOOOOO...OOOOO.....ELE-VA-TION! Those notes, which were a little more scratchy last time.

Whatever the voice, It's Bono's soul that always comes through.

And that's (cough, hack) the truth.
 
I didn't read the post, just laughed at the "Subject Line". I was left wondering what other Bono is there...besides the (Hewson) one, that is?
 
its true and its due to his smoking, there you have the bad consecuences....
And im sure he is not doing his breathing exercises everyday, which is very important for a singer

But with all this trouble in his singing, he is still showing the extraordinary singer he is, using all this tricks

But the tricks have a short life, he needs to quit smoking now and breath a little
Beacause if not, by the time the next tour comences, Edge would have to put on the shades and lead sing
 
Bono's voice is the best its been years. Physically, he looks better than he has in years.

Again, judging someone's performance only by what you hear on a downloaded boot is like watching TV with the sound down...you only get half the picture.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
god forbid a 40+ year old man get tired from running around like a raving lunatic for 2 hours.

Cheers,

H

Headache, I think I'm falling in love with you.
 
gettingiton.gif
 
i too think bono's chords are fading away slowly....
I think it's nothing like elevation--he's in bad shape at the moment--i hate it when singer "tells" the song instead of singing it--if you listen, you can immediately notice that on many songs.

IMO, if he is having problems because of his smoking---my god, how much has he been smoking in the past?????!?
Lung diseases are pretty helpless: emphysema, carcinoma, chronic obstructive disease...All incurable, hope he's not having any of that,god!
 
Bono's voice is the best I've heard it in years. His voice in SJ2 was better than any Popmart or Elevation show I saw. He is on it right now. Don't know why he's changing the rhythm of the lyrics, but that's Bono. He's always changing things up. I think it was just the fact he was forgetting so many lyrics in those first few shows that he was just late coming in on the lines. He remembered all the lyrics at SJ2 and he was only changing the lyrics rhythm on the first verse of Streets and some on One (from what I remember).

His voice is unreal right now. The "Say it's true, it's true, we can break through" line from NYD sounded as good or better than the Zoo TV video. He was even singing the chorus on Pride, and Edge has been singing that the past 8 years.
 
Back
Top Bottom