Bono's Voice on Joshua Tree tour...

[LJT]

Just to ask the experts...can Bono's voice continue to improve? It seems like such a leap from the Elevation Tour...I think during Elevation he got the guts back into his voice which could be lacking at times during Popmart, as there was very little strength in it...now he seems to have got strength and quality back to a remarkable degree, and consistency to, as there has been no night where his voice has gone on him yet?

I really love his voice now, it sounds 'complete' as such, wrong terminology i know but it has a fullness that has not been there since Lovetown i think.

 

[miss becky]

I really love his voice now, it sounds 'complete' as such, wrong terminology i know but it has a fullness that has not been there since Lovetown i think.

I absolutely agree. I point to Mercy as a good example. First time I heard that, I thought it could have come straight out of the Hansa sessions. (Actually, I still think that.) Bono's voice is definitely stronger now than it has been in years.

 

[amerrydeath]

Just to ask the experts...can Bono's voice continue to improve? It seems like such a leap from the Elevation Tour...I think during Elevation he got the guts back into his voice which could be lacking at times during Popmart, as there was very little strength in it...now he seems to have got strength and quality back to a remarkable degree, and consistency to, as there has been no night where his voice has gone on him yet?

I really love his voice now, it sounds 'complete' as such, wrong terminology i know but it has a fullness that has not been there since Lovetown i think.

I agree, there always seemed to be something missing from Popmart. The setlists are AMAZING, same with the rest of the band, but Bono's voice just seems to be weaker and he sounds less passionate at times (though I know that's probably not the case).

 

[u2granny]

I think one of the major contributors as to how Bono's voice sounds in concert is the recording you are listening too. I think it is important to compare apples and apples. R&H and other official releases are probably jazzed up in the studio afterwards so they have to taken with a grain of salt. Audience bootlegs are probably a better measure but then they vary wildly in quality such that comparisons across them are difficult.

All this aside, I have a feeling that on every tour post JT they started putting a lot reverb/echo treatments into Bono's live vocals and that is why his JT voice sounds harsh at times. In JT concerts you are hearing his real voice whereas on later tours you are hearing his voice + various mixing desk treatments.

Someone mentioned the Syracuse JT DVD. That's a perfect example of a god-awful "sterile" soundboard recording. That show was only weeks before the JT footage you see on R&H. There is no way his voice differed that much and rather the difference is just that R&H was dressed up in the studio afterwards.

All you have to do is listen to the real live recordings used in Rattle and Hum. Some of them are drastically different.

 

[u2granny]

double post

 

[zwervers2]

I was wondering if anyone else gets a bit annoyed with Bono's singing on the Joshua Tree tour. Sometimes he put on this really throaty/nasally voice that sounds kind of like the Barenaked Ladies singer. He didn't do it all the time, but it sounds pretty annoying sometimes, while other times he sounds fricking awesome as always. He only seemed to really do it on the JT tour - he dosn't really sound like that on the album. I just compared the Syracuse JT show to the Conspiracy of Hope show at East Rutherford, and there'a mile of difference in Bono's style. I think he sounded way better in that 1986 concert than on alot of the JT shows. Has anyone else noticed that thing he does with his voice...I'm not sure that I described correctly, but something is really dieffernt about it (and not in a good way).

I hate Bono JT-tour era!!!!

 

[zwervers2]

Just to ask the experts...can Bono's voice continue to improve?

simple answer...no it can't..but it doesn't matter because he 'rules"again vocally...

 

[Nisse]

I think I know what you mean and yeah, it's annoying, it sounds so...fake.

 

[starvinmarvin]

I think I know what you mean and yeah, it's annoying, it sounds so...fake.

Yes "fake" is a good way of putting it. That version Bono's voice was totally put on, and often comes and goes without rhyme or reason

 

[Shade]

I think the reason Bono sometimes sang that way on the Joshua Tree Tour is not just because he was grasping at certain notes, but also because he was listening to a lot of gospel music and wanted to sing like some black singers did, to give the words he was singing a more soulful power. I agree with others that it was a vocal crutch, much like the falsetto was in the 1990s. If he didn't think he could hit the note he was going for under his normal power, he'd use a vocal trick instead. But, that particular vocal affectation was/is not an uncommon thing in gospel music, and Bono sometimes wears his influences on his sleeve.

 

[doctorwho]

Is there anybody out there who can articulate the annoying thing Bono did with his voice on the JT tour. Not to be rude, but it has kind of a constipated quality to it. There have been a few other people that have commented on it too while I was watching JT footage with them, and it has always bothered me too. What is it?

I have noticed that he has this "Kermit the Frog" type of operatic voice. It's like an opera falsetto. It works for him in short bursts, but it is a fake voice nonetheless. He usually used it on very high notes where he didn't want to scream or use a more traditional falsetto. Is this the voice you mean?

 

[gareth brown]

i was listening to a denver Joshua Tree show and I personally found it annoying how he sometimes lets his voice slip into an American accent...

 

[doctorwho]

I agree, there always seemed to be something missing from Popmart. The setlists are AMAZING, same with the rest of the band, but Bono's voice just seems to be weaker and he sounds less passionate at times (though I know that's probably not the case).

While I was a staunch defender of Bono's voice because I felt that Bono, even at his weakest, was still far, FAR better than just about any other rock singer. However, I have to admit that from about '95 to '99, I was quite worried about Bono's voice. It was weaker, scratchier and lacked the power I was used to hearing.

Then, starting with ATYCLB, his voice started coming back. We heard bits of it on songs like "Kite" and "Wild Honey". It still wasn't perfect, but it was returning. The Elevation Tour had some super strong moments (see Boston DVD video and the Bono wail at the beginning of "Streets" in the Slane DVD) that were impressive.

With HTDAAB, it seems his voice is back. Sure, there are some scratchy moments, but I think this is partly due to the mix. If one listens to the single version of "Pride", there is an extra chorus which has a very scratchy Bono - that is, a line that wasn't super polished in the studio. Plus, I think some of Bono's scratchiness now adds a lot of character to the songs. But more importantly, he has that richness and power back, as exemplified not only be songs on the album ("Vertigo", "Sometimes...", "Original...") but also on the tour. The '98 Bono would never have clearly done the operatic bit in "Miss Sarajevo". But the 2005 Bono hits those huge notes with power and depth. This makes me very optimistic for the future - because when Bono's voice is working, it's truly another instrument in the band. I think this is part of what hurt "Pop" some.

 

[david]

All you have to do is listen to the real live recordings used in Rattle and Hum. Some of them are drastically different.

Do you know of any torrent sites that might have some live Rattle and Hum shows that were recorded and used in the movie?.. But not the doctored ones that appear in the movie.

I really want to hear the first performance of When Love Comes to Town live because I heard it was pretty bad.

 

[The_One1932]

The hardest singing part bono has ever done is the end of running to stand still during the zootv tour and the end of mysterious ways during the zootv tour (no, not the falsetto). He can't sing like that now, and he couldn't do it like that before (that i have heard at least).

During the end of running to stand still when he would do the "hallle-halllllllllay HALLLELUJA HALE HALLLE HA-LEY-LUU_JA HA LEYY" he is singing with a certain style of singing he could sustain during ONLY this tour. It is again evident during the live ending of mysterious ways when he would yell "C'MON LOVE... C'MON LOVE." Its that range/register/style that is the hardest for him to do and really was only in the grasp of he and freddie mercury to ever sing. He could sing INto that style during the previous tours but could hold it for only a note of so, but during zootv he could jump from one range to that in a split second and use it properly and sustain it. Thats bono at the ultimate of his ability and i don't think anyone can refute that with a straight face.