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

[TheBrazilianFly]

^ I guess with you it's all down hill from here now, uh? Awesome! I must be a horrible loser. I'm failing and losing miserably so much you even had to point it out for me!

 

[mikal]

even worse, you pointed "^" when you had the first post on this page.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I know I didn't wanted to quote the whole thing again. I'm a "looser" I guess.

 

[bathiu]

loosers?

That's perfect.

"We win, we loose... it's perfect"

 

[Westport]

poor taste (anyone who has actually experienced seeing a flat line screen of a loved one would agree).

 

[U2girl]

but he's singing about his own father. everyone deals with death differently. so how could this be distasteful? and who are we to make that decision?

Agreed, I am confused by the cynical and tasteless comments.

 

[zwervers2]

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.

Interresting discussion. There can be said things for both of this story but I couln't dissagree more on the last part about about Bono not having the chance to have the privacy most of us have. Bono has left almost no interviewroom without mentoining the death of his father and the sycmioyo connection. He is a man who can walk the streets of Dublin and be almost left alone, he has many friends and admires but he also has something a lot of famous people don;t have and it privacy. I can't think of a famous person who is left more alone then Bono.

"maybe he wants the heartbeat and flatline to emotionally connect him to the audience because that's part of his healing process".

There is nothing wrong with artistic freedom infact I'm all for that but the emotional connection needs to be made by the audience not by a flatline..seeing loved ones die is a terrible thing and my opinion is that is over the top in a bad way(and comming from me that is saying something ..Maybe I've seen too many people die but the song speaks for itself. the words"this is about my father"should be enough IMHO for an emotional moment in the show

 

[dezmaas]

No I don't think they got rid of walking Bob. http://www.u2achtung.com/01/photos/photo.php?id=892

Walking Bob is still there. The flatline thingy is between MD and SYCMIOYO.

 

[U2@NYC]

As I mentioned before, and with the caveat that I have not seen the flatline live (and that I might change my mind if they ever bring the flatline back to the third leg in the U.S., when I will see them again), I consider this bad taste.

As Mikal pointed out, Bono is singing about his father's death. True. And we shared that. However, there are ways to prove points when you decide to share these feelings with 50,000 people.

Some people may disagree with me, and I am sure Bono does, but a U2 concert is not simply a showcase for Bono to say or do whatever he wants. He has continuously used concerts to convey his ideas or goals and, as long as they do not tamper with people's feelings, and even though I may not always like them (e.g., the use of African flags during 'Streets'), it is ok.

However, my view is that Bono needs to be more careful when dealing with more sensitive issues such as death. Many people in the audience might have recently lost a loved one, and might be trying to get over that and forget it, so there is no need for Bono to shove a flatline in front of all their faces.

In my opinion, SYCIMOYO is powerful enough and proves Bono's point well as it is. Based on what I have seen and geard, the addendum of the flatline seems like an exaggeration.

 

[zwervers2]

As I mentioned before, and with the caveat that I have not seen the flatline live (and that I might change my mind if they ever bring the flatline back to the third leg in the U.S., when I will see them again), I consider this bad taste.

As Mikal pointed out, Bono is singing about his father's death. True. And we shared that. However, there are ways to prove points when you decide to share these feelings with 50,000 people.

Some people may disagree with me, and I am sure Bono does, but a U2 concert is not simply a showcase for Bono to say or do whatever he wants. He has continuously used concerts to convey his ideas or goals and, as long as they do not tamper with people's feelings, and even though I may not always like them (e.g., the use of African flags during 'Streets'), it is ok.

However, my view is that Bono needs to be more careful when dealing with more sensitive issues such as death. Many people in the audience might have recently lost a loved one, and might be trying to get over that and forget it, so there is no need for Bono to shove a flatline in front of all their faces.

In my opinion, SYCIMOYO is powerful enough and proves Bono's point well as it is. Based on what I have seen and geard, the addendum of the flatline seems like an exaggeration.

Well I must say U2@NYC that I could drink your blood after a discussion we had some months ago about bootlegs and newbies but I couldn't agree with you more than this...cheers

 

[U2@NYC]

Well I must say U2@NYC that I could drink your blood after a discussion we had some months ago about bootlegs and newbies but I couldn't agree with you more than this...cheers

After 349 posts you now have all my respect

 

[zwervers2]

After 349 posts you now have all my respect

like promised I did my best to contribute

 

[Lancemc]

U2's always been about "tampering with people's feelings", though I wouldn't choose "tamper" as the exact right word for this case. They are the most passionate band on the planet, and emotion is always center during their concerts and in their music. Sometimes it's good to have your heart wrenched every now and then. Who better to do it than U2. They've never done anything in bad taste, and anyone who feels this is, is overreacting.

 

[Liesje]

Some people may disagree with me, and I am sure Bono does, but a U2 concert is not simply a showcase for Bono to say or do whatever he wants. He has continuously used concerts to convey his ideas or goals and, as long as they do not tamper with people's feelings, and even though I may not always like them (e.g., the use of African flags during 'Streets'), it is ok.

However, my view is that Bono needs to be more careful when dealing with more sensitive issues such as death. Many people in the audience might have recently lost a loved one, and might be trying to get over that and forget it, so there is no need for Bono to shove a flatline in front of all their faces.

I can see what you're saying and I guess I disagree b/c why is it fair to say Bono should be more sensitive to certain issues than others? None of us can judge what someone else feels about this or that. Africa is a very VERY sensitive issue to me and pretty much everything having to do with Pride, One, and Streets on this tour is emotional for me. I went to Africa recently and I can promise you that if anything is "dealing with death" it's this issue.

 

[Utoo]

First, let me say that I think it's fine--great even.

However, whether "tasteful or not," I think it's a brilliant part of the show simply for stirring up such a great discussion! This thread's reached 5 pages, filled with posts from people pouring both their hearts and their minds into the debate. What a success for a rock concert!

 

[Dismantled]

but he's singing about his own father. everyone deals with death differently. so how could this be distasteful? and who are we to make that decision?

exactly....we have no say in it at all.

 

[Utoo]

exactly....we have no say in it at all.

Dismantled, you're right again.

I can recognize & respect the feelings behind most of the 'distasteful' posts, but I just personally don't agree.

1). We're paying big bucks to see him--he should think about us. ---------Not true--we're paying to see HIS show, we're not paying to be played up to. We are paying to see U2's art, take it or leave it. How they run the show that we pay to see is entirely up to them.

2). The flatline is too graphic & strikes too close to home. -----IMHO, if it takes seeing the picture to get you emotional about the song, I'd say that you haven't listened to the song very well or that you don't think it's a very good song. If you really love the song & what it's about, I personally think hearing it alone--with or without graphics--should stir something up inside you, whatever that feeling may be.

3) Bono should be sensitive to his audience's feelings. ---------He is, isn't he? Isn't that the point of Bono's performance, the key that's made him such a potent & successful entertainer for so many years? If you've lost someone and you become emotional by seeing the flatline, etc., isnt that the point? That's your connection with Bono--that's what ropes you into the show. People cry at U2 shows & for all kinds of reasons. So many of the band's songs have such personal meanings to nearly every fan. It's okay & that's a testament to how beautiful & amazing the music is.

 

[the soul waits]

At the end of the day, all discussions aside, life and death are part of our time here, I see nothing offensive in the band's choice to project their emotions in this particular manner.

 

[U2ElevatesMe415]

Thats a bit frightening. bad idea

 

[zwervers2]

2). The flatline is too graphic & strikes too close to home. -----IMHO, if it takes seeing the picture to get you emotional about the song, I'd say that you haven't listened to the song very well or that you don't think it's a very good song. If you really love the song & what it's about, I personally think hearing it alone--with or without graphics--should stir something up inside you, whatever that feeling may be.

Funny That's exactly why I feel there is NO need in emphasizing it. The song itself should be enough to make you think be sad, think of a loved one or whatever..

 

[Utoo]

zwervers, I definitely agree with you. I think the image is only there because they've got this humungo video/stage setup & need to do something with it. That's the problem you run into when everyone wants a huge stadium setup, but then you've got songs that don't need all the hooplah. I think it'd be good either way.

 

[ShellBeThere]

i totally disagree with the flatline naysayers...I just saw the picture and it was stunning. That's how it goes folks, a machine goes flatline. It's not bloody, it's not like the brains being shot out of some thug in a videogame, and I don't think it was just a heart-string manipulation. It was perhaps what bono actually experienced, it was likely what someone in the room experienced, it is what nurses and doctors who tend to our loved ones as they die experience all the time. It graphically captured the transition from hope-against-hope of continued life to the dashing of such, it visually alluded to the end of corporeal existence, via the heart, indeed, as loaded as that it image-wise. It was brave and moving (I never did get to see it in the show I went to) and can imagine it only adding to the deep sense of loss and pain this event encompasses. Tough, Bono's dad thought he had the stuff, hard enough. That is the struggle to keep the monitors going, to make them hum and oscillate, that is the struggle that ends with the inevitable, the fate we all meet, and that is not just the beginning of grieving an end but at least for some the end of bodily travails and the start of something else, something many may consider something better. nor is it like pulling the plug, as long as it's not of course, it's the freeing, the release. IMHO it's only hooplah if the event, the flatline, has only the meaning ascribed to it from watching too much ER, a tear-jerker device for a character left mostly undeveloped, and not the kind of thing you feel about your parent.
Especially with all the complexity of it happening as part of a terminal illness.
So, to tie up a long rant, I like it!

cheers all!