Bono's lacking the energy on this tour compared to DM

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soctheo

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Just a quick thought after catching the Depeche Mode concert this week in Toronto. My favorite band is u2 and I will defend them to death against any criticism but the Depeche Mode concert blew away the vertigo tour. Granted DM haven't made a great album since Songs of Faith and Devotion but on stage, they play like they have something to prove.

Dave Gahan (DM singer) was all over the place: dancing, strutting, moving around the stage, and was involving the crowd every step of the way. You could feel the energy throughout the building and you really felt by watching them that they wanted to be there playing those songs. The visuals were great as well (spacey concept)

I saw all 4 u2 shows in september and I must say that this tour doesn't do anything for me. Bono's energy level was not there and stage design was the same old from last tour. Bono hardly used the ramp and was standing alot in one spot (not like other tours i've seen). The audience participation was not there as well.

I will say that this is Edge and Adam's best tour though (really impressed with their playing and performance).

Anyone else catch DM and U2 tours this year. Any thoughts?
 
I think you are half right. I agree that Bono doesn't seem to be putting as much energy into his performance in this tour. He's not doing much, even though he is playing less guitar this time. I was watching a Popmart show yesterday and I was blown away by how much energy and how much he was moving and doing crazy stuff on stage and getting the crowd involved. I don't know what's the problem, maybe he's tired or something.

I know this has nothing to do with the topic but why do people think the production for this tour is like Elevation? Just because it's more stripped compared to Popmart and Zoo TV it doesn't mean nothing is happening. I got the Chicago DVD yesterday and I was very happy with the production, much more interesting and cool than Elevation.
 
I think this tour is more about content than flash. Here I think each band member soars above any other band. It is really strange to me that no other band, that I can think of, is currently
involving themselves with such a rich agenda. But yet they do not in anyway make it boring.. Judging by the #s of seats sold, it looks like this is what people want. I personally think they are doing more than any other group in the industry now (inside and out of the arenas). I know it's hard on them, but it's good for us, or else we probably wouldn't get to see them near as much.

Someone in a different thread here attached a really good article from the St. Pete Times. Thought is very interesting..
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/15/Artsandentertainment/U2_Then_who.shtml
 
1. DM DOES have something to prove. As a DM fan from the 80s, I was very sadly disappointed when I saw them many years back. What a BORING show. I've heard they are better now....likely because of that rep they got back then for being so canned.

2. U2 in Toronto?? Forget it. I saw all 4 shows here too...Im sorry, but Toronto sucks ass. It really does. You gotta see them somewhere else....Montreal being a good example...Miami....New York....
 
Well, for Montreal 1 Bono was jumping around like a monkey when he came out to my side of the ellipse, so I can't really complain.

I'm kind of glad he's not pretending to have seizures on stage and spinning around like a top - a la Chris Martin circa this tour.
 
I saw Depeche Mode a week and a half ago and I must say that I was absolutely blown away. Their performance was flawless, the setlist was fantastic, and the crowd was hanging on every note. I have also seen 5 Vertigo shows so far this year and it's a really tough call, I'm a bigger U2 fan so that automatically creates a bias, the thing is that the DM show and the U2 show are very different, DM's show is very stylized but at the same time they play the EXACT SAME setlist at each show, and for that reason it's a show I only feel the need to go see once, whereas the U2 tour's setlist develops over the course of the tour, Depeche also isn't as warm and uplifting but they do make up for it with sheer energy as their music was also made for rocking arena's. One thing I do think DM has over U2 is that at their show Martin Gore sings lead on 3 songs which is fantastic and is like a breath of fresh air. What if the U2 show had a section where the Edge did Numb and Van Dieman's Land? I think we'd all be into that.
 
Bono still has good energy; if it's less than prior tours it's only to be expected seeing as how he's 45 now. :shrug:

As far as Depeche Mode, I wish I could comment but I missed that show a month or so back. Wish I could've made it!!! :sad:
 
I've never seen Depeche Mode, but I did see Green Day and I was blown away by how much energy they had, but of course they're, what, 10 years younger than U2? Plus as a punk band you'd expect them to be more energetic. Still, as a whole I'd say they were running around and even involving the audience more than U2. But is that what you go to a U2 concert for? To see Bono run around? Personally I go first and foremost to see them play music, I don't really care if Bono's not running around the whole show. He still has plenty of energy and it's not like he's just standing there singing the whole time :shrug: And I still get an uplifting feeling from a U2 show I haven't really quite gotten from any other show I've seen.

I also don't really get the comparisons to Elevation. The technology is not over the top like ZooTV and Popmart, but it's still very much there. There's a helluva lot more going on than Elevation. Look at the light curtains and ellipse during Vertigo. Fucking incredible. Not to mention the GIANT screen during the European leg that is a lot more akin to Popmart than Elevation.
 
U2 and DM are my two all-time favorite bands. I grew up listening to their music. I've been to 5 U2 shows (including to Vertigo shows) and 5 DM shows (including 2 Playing the Angel shows). My thougts... They are like apples and oranges. You can't compare them, because they have their own distinct energy and style.

U2 I believe are about raising the spirit and conscious of a world-wide community. Musically their songs sound amazing live, with uplifting themes. They have a heavier, rockier sound which undures.

DM are more about bringing the inner, darker emotions to the forefront. It is also a spiritual experience being at a DM show because the themes they bring forth activate emotions we all can relate and connect with to a degree. Musically, their songs have higher energy you can dance to.

So, U2 delivers higher messages with their deeper lyrics and rockier sounds. DM reflects on lower emotions with relatable lyrics and dancable beats..which somehow results in higher energy.

So...to conclude... They are great in their own class. I suppose it is as a parent and their two chcildren. The children are distinct and wonderful in their own way. Yet, you love them both as much.
 
i enjoy having bono's voice back this tour, if he was jumping around all the time, he may become winded.
 
soctheo said:
Just a quick thought after catching the Depeche Mode concert this week in Toronto. My favorite band is u2 and I will defend them to death against any criticism but the Depeche Mode concert blew away the vertigo tour. Granted DM haven't made a great album since Songs of Faith and Devotion but on stage, they play like they have something to prove.

Dave Gahan (DM singer) was all over the place: dancing, strutting, moving around the stage, and was involving the crowd every step of the way. You could feel the energy throughout the building and you really felt by watching them that they wanted to be there playing those songs. The visuals were great as well (spacey concept)

I saw all 4 u2 shows in september and I must say that this tour doesn't do anything for me. Bono's energy level was not there and stage design was the same old from last tour. Bono hardly used the ramp and was standing alot in one spot (not like other tours i've seen). The audience participation was not there as well.

I will say that this is Edge and Adam's best tour though (really impressed with their playing and performance).

Anyone else catch DM and U2 tours this year. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Should've seen them in Montreal. The crowd, the band...
 
Even if you’re a casual fan you’ll have a great time at a Depeche Mode concert. A really good CD, Dave Gahan, danceable beats, and a kickin sound system that was by far the best and loudest I’ve experienced this year all equal fun. The only negatives were oddly no GA seating, officially anyway, and a really lame “Goodnight Lovers” closer because though Dave tried to get the crowd to sing along he had a hard time because many people didn’t know the words because hardly anyone bought their last CD. Stylistically it’s impossible to compare bands like the Stones, U2, or DM but one similarity is that Mick Jagger and Dave Gahan make a constant effort to keep the fans involved while Bono sings like Keith Richards and Ron Wood play guitar which is silky smooth. U2, The Stones, Depeche Mode, and Nine Inch Nails made 2005 one heck of a concert season for me.
 
I've been to half a dozen Vertigo shows and only one Mode show (just this past week in the Chi) this year, but Dave Gahan is hands-down a far better stage performer nowadays than Bono. He was charging around and exuding unbridled confidence in himself, the band, the music, and the audience even moreso than I'd seen him do so on previous tours. I should add that when I saw DM during the Exciter tour in 2001 as U2 was touring with Elevation, Gahan couldn't hold a candle to the already semi-boring, but at least active, Bono. He seemed lazy, bored, and just kinda blah...

The moment after this week's concert ended, the friend who accompanied me (and who has attended all of this year's U2 shows in the Chi with me) turned to me and said, "Man, remember when Bono used to be like that? That's why the shows haven't been as good."

I can only judge the Vertigo Tour by the dates in Chicago, but Bono was static and uninspired (physically, mind you...maybe not emotionally or psychologically, although I would beg to differ on those as well) for the most part. The shows were mostly good/great, but the Bono I've seen on this tour is not the same man I used to proudly hail as the greatest stage presence in the history of contemporary music. I'll take it, but seeing a mediocre band perform so much better than another now-mediocre band I used to be able to believe in was more than a bit of an eye-opener.

I've seen about 25-30 shows of various sorts this year, and I can say that including opening acts, Bono is easily in the lower third of frontmen/women, as far as charisma and stage presence go. At least his voice sounds pretty decent, for the most part. That's always nice...

:shrug:
 
I'd say BONO's singing is the best its ever been on this tour, and that is far more important than prancing around like goofball. In any event, I've seen the Vertigo show four times, as well as many of the tours in the past, I think the "energy" level is fine.
 
soctheo said:


I saw all 4 u2 shows in september and I must say that this tour doesn't do anything for me. Bono's energy level was not there and stage design was the same old from last tour. Bono hardly used the ramp and was standing alot in one spot (not like other tours i've seen). The audience participation was not there as well.

I will say that this is Edge and Adam's best tour though (really impressed with their playing and performance).
Click to expand...

i don't know what shows you saw but by the time they returned to NYC inn OCT & Nov Bono was often all over the place!!!!! ..... all around ......on the elipse... jumping around ........at the edge of the stage {AS well as going from center to adam or edge......... running and he & edge chasing each other around the ellipse......

and BTW YES EDGE A& ADAM are really great this tour!!! :up:


And Hellllllooooooooo didn't you pay anyattention to the light curtain and the wonder further subtlies of the lights allaround the ellipse and the main stage......It was very funky,fun and powerful & beautfully moving at times!
 
To compare, for "big shows" other than U2, this year I've seen Coldplay, Ben Harper, and Nine Inch Nails. All impressed without doubt.

But Bono is not out of his element in terms of charisma, connection with the fans, energy onstage.

In fact, all four members of U2 still have the ineffable "it," whatever "it" is.

Anu
 
You have to remember that Bono is 45 -- not 30 or 25. As one ages, one tends to slow down; that's just nature and a fact. I believe the shows had a lot of energy and Edge and Adam helped to carry the show. They did a great job. I believe the group is just coming into their greatest years....they've traveled a long road to get there....what talented, professional men they have become. Yes, we loved them when they were younger, but they still are great. I would bet the people who are complaining about the low energy of Bono are younger than 30 -- they'll be surprised how they feel at 45 :wink:
 
ewings said:
You have to remember that Bono is 45 -- not 30 or 25.
Click to expand...

And Gahan of DM is 43 (born may 9, 1962). That'as not a huge difference.

Don't have much else to add to the discussion, but the band members ages are about the same.
 
I would love to see DM, but I cannot comment on them. I can however say that the Nine Inch Nails show I saw in the theater in New York this year blew all the Vertigo shows I saw out of the water.
 
I think the excuse that Bono is 45 is a bit old, cos Springsteen is 56 and his energy level from what I've seen from DVD's (unfortunately :( ) is amazing.
 
Bono wasn't very energetic at the May Chicago shows because he had a cold. I heard he was suffering from back problems in September, perhaps that explains why his energy level seemed a bit subdued especially if he were staying more in one place rather than running around the stage and ramps. Can't expect each night to blow the previous night out of the water......everyone has good and bad days. Same goes with rock band performances....some are great, some mediocre, some shite....the bands will agree. Also depends on the vibe of the crowd.
 
Haven't seen them live yet, and probably won't this tour, the tickets sold out in an hour (or less). I have downloaded one show however and I must say I was impressed, because mostly unlike U2, DM basicly reeinvents their songs on every tour, and the songs also doesnt sound completly like they do on the albums. The setlist was great, a bit too many hits, one or two songs shorter than U2's though.
 
One thing I'd like to add to this discussion is that I think there is a bit of a difference in DM's audience then U2's audience in concert, and alot of that has to do with ticket prices. U2's top face value price is $165 and DM's top face value price is $85, even the best seats at the DM show are cheaper then alot of balcony seats at the U2 show. I really feel that high ticket prices are making the audience at the U2 shows more boring because a bunch of rich yuppies who are only fans of the hits go to impress their friends that they have executive U2 tickets, these are the people who are sitters in the lower loge sections at all the shows. I'm 24 years old and I know alot of people my age who would love to go see U2 but simply can't afford it and I personally would rather go to a show that was packed with an excited younger generation of kids who had never seen the band before. This is what I saw at the Depeche Mode show, tons of kids in their 20's who have assimilated DM's music into their generation and not only sang along to the hits but also sang along to album cuts. At the DM show I was at I didn't see anyone sitting the whole show, and it was a seated floor, it just felt like it was a hipper show in terms of the crowd and that's because of ticket prices. The one reason I hope U2 does a large stadium tour next year is so that they can do shows that are cheaper to get into because the demand won't be so easily satisfied.
 
Bono is old, has a cold, has a backache, etc are excuses fans make for him that aren’t necessary. If he wanted to he would do what other front men are expected to do but Bono is developing his own distinctive style that will carry him through the bands mature years, the stage where balding pot bellied graybeards jumping around stage would look foolish. Mick Jagger can pull it off because he’s a freak of nature but most performers don’t age as well. Bono already has the shades going and dancing with girl on stage in the routine so maybe in 10 years he’ll be wearing a sequined jumpsuit. Elvis remade himself and if anyone is the heir to Elvis it’s Bono and there are worse things to be called than the “King”.
 
I think Dave Gahan exercises more - that man could double as a aerobics instructor. I don't think there is a front man like him. But I don't there's a front man like Bono, either. Different strengths.

Frankly, it'd be frightening to see Bono try to act like Dave Gahan.
 
ahmad said:
Frankly, it'd be frightening to see Bono try to act like Dave Gahan.
Click to expand...

Really? Did you honestly find Bono frightening during performances on the Zoo TV tour? That's fine if you do...I guess it's just an example of how different people can have radically different tastes. I definitely preferred the over-the-top Bono, myself. Or at least the hyperactive one who periodically went too far in the '80s.
 
Maybe Bono could take his top off and do a 'snake hips' dance.

:|

Got tickets to 2 DM shows next year, i'm sure it will be great. But Bono just aint built like Dave, if you know what I mean.
 
ouizy said:
I would love to see DM, but I cannot comment on them. I can however say that the Nine Inch Nails show I saw in the theater in New York this year blew all the Vertigo shows I saw out of the water.
Click to expand...

So how many more Nine Inch Nails shows will you be going to this year and next?
 
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