bono's voice it's amazing!!!!!

[babyman]

i've listened to a few live songs and i must say bono's voice is really astonishing, it reminds me to the zoo tv era, he sounds so clean, young and fresh!!!! wow, i'm so glad, he's so far away from the hoarse elevation bono...........................man this is simply fucking amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! welcome back bono, you're voice is on top again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pero]

Maybe he was spending 4 years to learn French.
It is a language to clean your throat

 

[Sken]

Hi babyman,

I gotta agree, he is sounding remarkably good at the moment. Its especially noticeable in the anahiem show, it seems to be getting better each night. I'm sure he'll be sounding even better once he is comfortable with all the words to the songs, that way he can plan what notes to hit harder etc.

On another note, I'm so glad that the acoustic set is pretty much gone and almost all songs are played full band..........thank god.

Sken

 

[RademR]

it's getting better as the tour goes on, definetly. Anaheim I was the best vocal performance by him.

 

[Axver]

He's sounding the best he's sounded since ZooTV.

Though right now I'm listening to a Lovetown bootleg and there's simply no beating this rich, powerful, and passionate voice that I wish he still had ...

 

[KUEFC09U2]

sure is. best since ZooTv by some distance

 

[Sken]

From what I have heard this is how I rank his vocals from best to worst.

Best: Joshua Tree/Lovetown
2nd: ZooTV/Zooropa/Zoomerang
3rd: Pre Joshua Tree
4th: Vertigo (so far)
5th: Elevation
6th: Popmart

In relation to his voice, I always thought that the smoking was the cause of the decline in his voice since ZooTV, but after watching some Joshua Tree and Lovetown shows it was quite evident that these tours were really hurting his voice.

Watching the Joshua Tree Syracuse show it was quite evident he was struggling to hit his notes as compared to the LA and Paris gigs, pretty much every note in With or Without You was off. Also in the Dortmund Lovetown gig, he would back off from hitting certain notes particularly toward the end of the show, and would be holding his throat as if he was in pain. I read he even had to cancel some shows in Australia due to vocal issues.

After watching these shows it was quite evident he was giving it his all, but at a personal expense. Its a real shame he didnt take care of himself better during the Lovetown - ZooTV period, but its great to hear that he sounds somewhat like his former self.

Sken

 

[Anu]

I *need* to hear these new shows then. I just played my SD 1 set on the full stereo and I was shocked at how shitty the vocals were. On the headphones alone, I had a full U2 moment listening to the songs. But my very sympathetic house-mate said, "is that Bono? is he just a shadow of his former self?"
We chatted about it, and I came to see that the crackles and rustiness and the roughness of the recording all pointed in the same direction. So, please say it is so, and I will believe and look for some Anaheim songs to d-l.
love, Anu

 

[KUEFC09U2]

as far as am concernd he has sounded pretty damn good on them all, but thats just my opinion

 

[Mr. BAW]

Listen...he's approaching 45 years of age, he drinks and probably smokes, his voice, looks and demeanor is gonna change....all in all, if he just sat there he'd sound great to me!

 

[U2Girl1978]

With the mp3's I've been hearing, I think he sounds damn good!

 

[ShellBeThere]

From what I've heard it's fantastic, especially as it moves along..
I can't wait to hear it live live...
He sounds strong and controlled and sweet and emotive. I've loved his voice thru all the 'eras', they've all had their virtues, even (i know it sounds weird) the vulnerability and world-weariness of the crackly smoky gaspiness we'd hear a couple years ago, but this version is most masterful. IT's not the wondrousness of youth where he could just directly translate the emotion to the vocalization, it felt so pure...but that's what youth's about and Bono was amazing, powerful ethereal. I don't want him to be hurting by the end of the tour, but I sure hope we see a couple instances of him seeing how far he can push it. I think he's just singing differently than he used to, because he can't push his aging and lifestyle challenged cords so much without killing them and has had to adopt a more 'deliberate' style. So, he's in this position i bet of having to *plan* how to get the spontaneity vocalized, and that's gotta take a little time...
I *loved* Mysterious Ways from Anaheim 1, I think that's what I'm refering to with the controlled spontaneity feel...
cheerio all...

 

[Mr. BAW]

Well put both...we were also at Anaheim 1 and I agree with your perspective....

 

[KUEFC09U2]

From what I've heard it's fantastic, especially as it moves along..
I can't wait to hear it live live...
He sounds strong and controlled and sweet and emotive. I've loved his voice thru all the 'eras', they've all had their virtues, even (i know it sounds weird) the vulnerability and world-weariness of the crackly smoky gaspiness we'd hear a couple years ago, but this version is most masterful. IT's not the wondrousness of youth where he could just directly translate the emotion to the vocalization, it felt so pure...but that's what youth's about and Bono was amazing, powerful ethereal. I don't want him to be hurting by the end of the tour, but I sure hope we see a couple instances of him seeing how far he can push it. I think he's just singing differently than he used to, because he can't push his aging and lifestyle challenged cords so much without killing them and has had to adopt a more 'deliberate' style. So, he's in this position i bet of having to *plan* how to get the spontaneity vocalized, and that's gotta take a little time...
I *loved* Mysterious Ways from Anaheim 1, I think that's what I'm refering to with the controlled spontaneity feel...
cheerio all...

i wonder if he is actually about to try and push it to the limits with lemon?

 

[unosdostres14]

i wonder if he is actually about to try and push it to the limits with lemon?

He did a couple 'hoo hoos' during elevation at Anaheim....and he's also hit "fake it" during SYCMIOYO. So I think he would be able to try it maybe a couple times after a lot of rest.

 

[bcrt2000]

lemon is actually easy to do, even i can hit that voice most days.. its the quick transitions back and forth that really kill though (stay's falsetto "stay", with or without you "ho-oh-oh-oh" if done JT style, etc)

also the guy who said bono's voice sounds tired and old and he discussed it with his friends either has been living under a rock since the JT days or is on drugs because it hasn't sounded this good since ZooTV

 

[KUEFC09U2]

lemon is actually easy to do, even i can hit that voice most days.. its the quick transitions back and forth that really kill though (stay's falsetto "stay", with or without you "ho-oh-oh-oh" if done JT style, etc)

also the guy who said bono's voice sounds tired and old and he discussed it with his friends either has been living under a rock since the JT days or is on drugs because it hasn't sounded this good since ZooTV

AMEN to that, people are forgetting how bad he was some days on the elevation tour,

 

[Lila64]

I was at the 4/2 Anaheim show on the floor last night. It was awesome. The crowd was great, the vocals, everything. Just wished they had played more at the tip of the ellipse. Bono sang SYCMIOYO at the top there, right in front of us. And the opening of LaPoE - Larry was right there! ANd when Bono took over, OMG! He was so into it!!! The whole show - just elevated me.
I need a copy of the show NOW!!! (pictures too would be great). Like when he tried on a fans white magician type decorated hat and then did a Bono pose - I saw all the cell phones go up

Help!!!

 

[Axver]

Also in the Dortmund Lovetown gig, he would back off from hitting certain notes particularly toward the end of the show, and would be holding his throat as if he was in pain. I read he even had to cancel some shows in Australia due to vocal issues.

Yeah, he wasn't healthy during the Dortmund gigs - the third one ended slightly early - and then when the Amsterdam show had to be called off mid-concert, they had to cancel the next two nights in Amsterdam. I can't remember what illness he had, but it was something quite unpleasant. In Australia, he also fell ill, at one show he said some "pretty psychadelic germs are having their annual general meeting in my throat", and that caused the postponement of three shows.

But when he was healthy on that tour - like the four Dublin shows - there's only one word: wow.

 

[Stingray]

Does this mean we could hear heartland?