Heartbeat->flatline on the screen before 'Sometimes' on European shows.

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VertigoGal said:


alright, well I just feel the entire song has been so heavily marketed as a song about his father's death, in an effort to pull at the heartstrings of their mainstream audience. call me cynical, but I think the extent to which it's been marketed as this goes beyond a sincere tribute and becomes a sales technique. :reject: Lemon turned out to be a song about his mother, but that fact wasn't rammed down your throat. Which makes it more heartfelt, imo. It was left open to interpretation.

*runs away*

Lemon may have been about his mother, but it was very abstract. Sometimes, marketing or not is obvious. Why would you lose sincerity by marketing the song? Do movies lose sincerity by marketing them? I think that's bullshit.

It's a very sincere song no matter what and a very sincere performance.
 
This is art.

This is life.

This is death.

Deal with it.

That is how I interpret what the band are trying to say with the heartbeat thing.
 
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financeguy said:
This is art.

This is life.

This is death.

Deal with it.

That is how I interpret what the band are trying to say with the heartbeat thing.

Very good point made here. It's more than "marketing", if you will. It's an artistic interpretation of the feelings experienced by Bono while dealing with his father's death, and the relationship preceeding it. To be honest, it would only be cheap if it were intentionally done to make U2 money. Since no one can ever prove this as fact, I don't think any of us can call it "cheap" or a "marketing" ploy.
 
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walkon11 said:
Very good point made here. It's more than "marketing", if you will. It's an artistic interpretation of the feelings experienced by Bono while dealing with his father's death, and the relationship preceeding it. To be honest, it would only be cheap if it were intentionally done to make U2 money. Since no one can ever prove this as fact, I don't think any of us can call it "cheap" or a "marketing" ploy.

Good post. I think the reason that Bono states something like "this is for my father" every time is that the song is his way of dealing with his father's death. They had such a rocky relationship....this is one of Bono's last ways of showing respect & love to his dad, and he's proud of it.
 
Utoo said:


Good post. I think the reason that Bono states something like "this is for my father" every time is that the song is his way of dealing with his father's death. They had such a rocky relationship....this is one of Bono's last ways of showing respect & love to his dad, and he's proud of it.

Yep, very true. I feel the saddest part of listening to the song isn't the fact that Bono's father died (albeit a very sad thing), it's the relationship they never had. It's as if he could only express his feelings after the fact, because of the tension between the two. It's deep on so many levels.
 
Oh man. I wish we has gotten that here in the U.S. Just from the sounds of it, it seems like the emotional highlight of the show. To me, on the first leg, Sometimes just felt a little "uninspired", though maybe that's just cause it comes after Miracle Drug. BUT, I would realyl love to se a European show just for this.

And I don't feel that is at all distasteful. Mikal said it better than anyone. It's Bono's own emotions and loss, he's certainly not exploiting his own father's death. It is art.
 
I love U2 because they use things like that. If i like what they say is not importaint.

For save music and shows,..the Backstreet boys are on tour also.
 
Seriously, hearing people on here pick apart every little thing...it sometimes gets to be too much.

Go to a show, experience the pulse/flatline-thing, and then comment. Not before that.

It's so damn easy to comment and critique. I don't see anyone of you putting yourselves out there the way Bono & Co do.
 
the soul waits said:
Seriously, hearing people on here pick apart every little thing...it sometimes gets to be too much.

Go to a show, experience the pulse/flatline-thing, and then comment. Not before that.

It's so damn easy to comment and critique. I don't see anyone of you putting yourselves out there the way Bono & Co do.

:yes:

Seriously... overly nitpicky/bitchy/stupid/negative comments that criticize the shows/setlist made by people sitting behind their computer (as the damn show is happening) is what has kept me away from this place since Friday afternoon...

Only came back to help out a little around here, but I am pretty much done READING most comments around here for a while... :tsk:

Thank god for PLEBA :wink:
 
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Wow, so interesting...
So, they got rid of the walking man thingie for Euro-shows, and have just this pulse-y thing happening then?

I just lost my mother, she'd been in this nether-world lying in a hospital bed for months when I'd first heard Sometimes, and I knew it would be emotional to see it performed live...surely was!
I'd cried a good number of times listening to it in the car, and cried at the show no surprise.

I liked the staging with the walking man and Bono's stance/movements while singing it. I think it would be even more emotional with this added pulse and flat-line thing for me actually, evocative of that experience.

To watch this parent sick for so long, trying to relate to them through a haze of rocky relationship (my relationship with my mom was too--one of the last things I said to her before the surgery to fix her heart didn't quite do the trick was 'you gotta make it through this because we have some more fighting to do!') as their life ticks away. It's a bit of a surreal period, especially if just then you're trying to achieve what you hadn't managed to with them all the years before, some sort of understanding, some sort of forgiveness, some approximation of a state of grace as those last heartbeats register on the machines. And it's not like the old feelings of resentment or wishing that the parent would be different go away at that place, at least for me they didn't, even as you try to move beyond them. Then for me at least there were these discordant extra bits of guilt, regret to go with the sympathy, desire to see things be better. I haven't really read much of the stuff bono has said about his relationship with his father, but for me, one of the things I'd bristle against most was any comparison of me to my mother. I just love Sometimes--it is to me the sound of someone trying to achieve a hardwon peace in that so-complicated relationship at that so-charged time. I wasn't with my mom when she died, and I would have liked to have been actually, so if they keep the flatline and pulse in for the fall leg shows I think I'll cry more...

cheers all...

and wait, really??!! Lemon is about bono's mum?!
 
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Bono's mother used to wear a lemon-colored dress, and the song is (what I get from it anyway) about losing her and doing everthing in man's power to get her back.
 
I think its one of the best ideas theyve had for this tour and it fits the song perfectly I dont know why it is at all distasteful.
 
Lancemc said:
Bono's mother used to wear a lemon-colored dress, and the song is (what I get from it anyway) about losing her and doing everthing in man's power to get her back.

wow, gonna have to listen to it again now...
I lost my father a bit younger than bono lost his mum, but similarly suddenly, and of course the issues are *so* different with those two sorts of life-circumstances. Still, I'm finding it interesting how losing the last parent, even with all that's different about that relationship and stage of life and such, brings back a good amount of the rawness of losing the first at such a young age. I too struggle to recall what it was like to be in his presence, what his voice sounded like, what he was truly like. Total re-evaluation of lemon in order for me perhaps!
cheers...
 
The walking man came on screen after the flatline- the screen was devided in two parts; 1 part showing Bono in close-up singing the song and the other part showing the walking man.
 
the soul waits said:
Seriously, hearing people on here pick apart every little thing...it sometimes gets to be too much.

Go to a show, experience the pulse/flatline-thing, and then comment. Not before that.

It's so damn easy to comment and critique. I don't see anyone of you putting yourselves out there the way Bono & Co do.

exactly. i like these boards, but feel very fortunate that i'm not like some of the people here. yeah, harsh of me to say, but it's honest.
 
Yeah, some people here are such loosers just because they disagree with a little, tiny part of the show. And even have a reason to. They are so fucking sad! :rolleyes:

I'm amazed that some folks here are amazed just because some people here don't agree with a decision the band has made. So fucking what? I'm not saying that now I hate the band and that they suck or something.... Jesus.
 
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TheBrazilianFly said:
Yeah, some people here are such loosers just because they disagree with a little, tiny part of the show. And even have a reason to. They are so fucking sad! :rolleyes:


loosers?

I'm amazed that some folks here are amazed just because some people here don't agree with a decision the band has made. So fucking what? I'm not saying that now I hate the band and that they suck or something.... Jesus.

there's nothing wrong with criticizing the band here and there(considering that this is a discussion board), but criticizing the way someone else deals with their father's death is what's tasteless.
 
mikal said:

That's perfect. That kind of stuff says a lot about a person. Keep it up.


mikal said:
there's nothing wrong with criticizing the band here and there(considering that this is a discussion board), but criticizing the way someone else deals with their father's death is what's tasteless.

Here and there it's all right? That's as much as it can be done? Here and there.... interesting. Now I understand why some people get so pissed with people's reactions when they just criticize a move by the band. You said yourself before that people deal with things diferently. You said it all right there. The band is in front of 50 thousand people.
 
Alright...I've never lost a parent and I shouldn't judge, but the concept struck me as tasteless. I'm not going to judge Bono or decide how well the heartbeat thing works till I see it (U2 concert! :hyper: ), but no need to act like the reaction I (and others) have had to it is so horrible.
 
TheBrazilianFly said:


That's perfect. That kind of stuff says a lot about a person. Keep it up.



that i like to correct spelling errors?

Here and there it's all right? That's as much as it can be done? Here and there.... interesting. Now I understand why some people get so pissed with people's reactions when they just criticize a move by the band. You said yourself before that people deal with things diferently. You said it all right there. The band is in front of 50 thousand people.

you seem to like sticking words in my mouth. by "here and there", i meant not criticizing the band excessively. i never said that there was a set limit on how much you are allowed to criticize the band. but once again, you twisted my words to make it seem that way. talk about stuff saying a lot about a person.

you also quoted me incorrectly. i said "everyone deals with death differently", yet you once again twisted those words around to make that a general statement. i'd appreciate it if you would stop with that.

the point is, whether U2 is playing in front of 50,000 people or 50 people, he's singing about his own father's death. the heartbeat on the LED screen is a direct representation of the song Bono wrote about his father's death. criticizing the way Bono deals with his father's death is tasteless. luckily, my father is still alive, but someday when his time comes, if someone were to criticize me about how i'm dealing with it, i'd punch them in the mouth.
 
mikal said:


that i like to correct spelling errors?

You didn't correct anything. But since that's what you think you did, let me follow your example by recommending you to use capital letters in the beginning of every phrase. Did that feel good? Not that I actually care about something as stupid as that, but whatever...


mikal said:
you seem to like sticking words in my mouth. by "here and there", i meant not criticizing the band excessively. i never said that there was a set limit on how much you are allowed to criticize the band. but once again, you twisted my words to make it seem that way. talk about stuff saying a lot about a person.

I didn't stick anything in your mouth, yet. If there's a shit load of meanings to every phrase that you use (like "there's nothing wrong with criticizing the band here and there") you should try and make yourself more clear. Even though that one seems to be pretty damn clear to me.


mikal said:
you also quoted me incorrectly. i said "everyone deals with death differently", yet you once again twisted those words around to make that a general statement. i'd appreciate it if you would stop with that.

I think you are exagerating things here to try and prove your point.... please don't do that.


mikal said:
the point is, whether U2 is playing in front of 50,000 people or 50 people, he's singing about his own father's death. the heartbeat on the LED screen is a direct representation of the song Bono wrote about his father's death. criticizing the way Bono deals with his father's death is tasteless. luckily, my father is still alive, but someday when his time comes, if someone were to criticize me about how i'm dealing with it, i'd punch them in the mouth.

All right, first of all I'm fine with whatever Bono does to deal with anything in his life. That cause it's his life and not mine. I don't care and I'M NOT CRITICIZING HIS ACTIONS! I don't do that. I have my own life to live. The heartbeat and the flatline are a lot more of an artistic choice than anything else. So, once again, the fact that he is doing that in front of 50 thousand people makes the difference, even if it's his dad or not!
 
TheBrazilianFly said:


You didn't correct anything. But since that's what you think you did, let me follow your example by recommending you to use capital letters in the beginning of every phrase. Did that feel good? Not that I actually care about something as stupid as that, but whatever...


i believe you were trying to call me a "loser" before. when you spelled the word wrong, your attempt to rip on me failed miserably.


I didn't stick anything in your mouth, yet. If there's a shit load of meanings to every phrase that you use (like "there's nothing wrong with criticizing the band here and there") you should try and make yourself more clear. Even though that one seems to be pretty damn clear to me.

so you expect me to say "one can only criticize U2 once a day"? get real. you're fighting the wrong battle, and losing it miserably.

I think you are exagerating things here to try and prove your point.... please don't do that.

how? i posted direct proof that your twisted my words around by quoting myself and then quoting your response. you're really backed up against a wall here.

All right, first of all I'm fine with whatever Bono does to deal with anything in his life. That cause it's his life and not mine. I don't care and I'M NOT CRITICIZING HIS ACTIONS! I don't do that. I have my own life to live. The heartbeat and the flatline are a lot more of an artistic choice than anything else. So, once again, the fact that he is doing that in front of 50 thousand people makes the difference, even if it's his dad or not!

very true that the heartbeat and flatline is used to emotionally connect with the audience. there's no denying that. remember, Bono is a man who's every action(besides going to the bathroom, blowing his nose, and maybe sleeping) is amplified. he lives his life in front of people. unfortunately, he doesn't have the chance to have the privacy most of us have while dealing with personal issues. maybe he wants the heartbeat and flatline to emotionally connect him to the audience because that's part of his healing process.
 
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