doctorwho said:
For some ridiculous reason, I've seen almost all the shows of AI this year (which wasn't true in previous years). My coworkers and I talk about it.
A lot of the kids have good voices, but to be candid, the "rockers" on the show could not do justice to a Bono song from his "prime" (UF-R&H and arguably AB). And while some of them make all sorts of faces (which is supposed to symbolize their "emotion"), none have the swagger or the passion to pull a good U2 song. Keep in mind, this show focuses on singers, so they'd really be imitating Bono here, not Edge, Larry or Adam - and I can't see any of them really doing a great Bono. Nor are any of them talented enough to "make the song their own".
In other words, at best they'd be good copies of the song, but no more. So while interesting to see, I wouldn't really look forward to it.
More importantly, as U2 own the rights to their songs, I really doubt it will happen. U2 did allow "Beautiful Day" to be used once on "World Idol", but other than that, I've never heard a U2 song on AI - and I'm sure that's due to copyright issues. I also could never see Larry agreeing to this nor any of them judging.
As such, I doubt it would happen - and I'm rather glad it won't. 
What he said.
To add another though; I really hope this doesn't happen because if it does, it means we're going to have to sit through U2 songs get casturated by the AI editing/arranging team. Every song sung on that show is a shortened, re-arranged, mainstreamed version of the real thing.
Just the other night, one of the 'rockers' sung Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and they CUT OUT THE OPERATIC PART!! 'Thunder bolts and lightning very very frightning' and all that. They went straight from the quiet first part to the 'you think you can stone me' verse at the end, and totally skipped the middle. Boo.
Another example? Two seasons ago, in the year of Reuben and Clay, Clay sang Simon and Garfunkle's 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters' a few times. The real version ends with the line 'I will ease your mind', on a minor note, and then a breif stringy outro. On AI, after 'ease your mind', instead of the stringy outro, it's just 'ease your mind' again except that it ends on a crescendo, a very upbeat, climactic, crowd-pleasing, mainstreamed version of the song. Boo.
Seriously, think about what would happen to U2's songs when AIed:
Vertigo - I think they'd go from the second verse right to the last chrous and then the yeah yeah yeahs. I don't see them keeping the guitar solo and 'all of this can be yours'.
Beautiful Day - I bet the whole 'see the world in green and blue' verse would be cut out, and it would go straight from the first 'touch me take me' to 'what you don't have you don't need it now'.
WOWY - how much you wanna bet they'd end it after the last 'with or without you' before the oh oh oh's?
SBS - the 'wipe your tears away' verse would be gone. Take it to the bank.
Streets - I bet there would be no organ intro and no guitar intro. It would start on the guitar chords just before the singing starts.
One - I don't even want to think about what they'd do to this.
I Will Follow - Goodbye, 'your eyes make a circle' verse.
etc etc etc.
Do you want to see that?
It's all about finding the next disposable pop star, not nurturing real creative talent.
