Bono's Voice on Joshua Tree tour...

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starvinmarvin

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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).
 
A country-ish twangy thing? Something like that? I know he did that on the JT tour sometimes. Even though it didn't show as much until R&H, they were really into country/blues/etc at the time. I think he was trying to sound 'a little bit country'.
 
I've always thought JT/Lovetown was the peak of Bono's voice. Amazing power, depth, and range.

It's just a shame that at the time, he was killing his voice!
 
Axver said:
I've always thought JT/Lovetown was the peak of Bono's voice. Amazing power, depth, and range.

It's just a shame that at the time, he was killing his voice!
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He still had most - I said MOST - of his voice during ZooTV...he just adopted a different style of singing during that tour. It wasn't until Popmart came along that his voice really started suffering.
 
Axver said:
I've always thought JT/Lovetown was the peak of Bono's voice. Amazing power, depth, and range.

It's just a shame that at the time, he was killing his voice!
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I've always liked his Lovetown voice better than JT. He did less of that annoying vocal thing I was talking about earlier, and his voice was so powerful.
 
That era definitely was the highpoint of his voice. It seemed to start suffering after Achtung Baby/Zooropa. I wonder how much of it was due to the cigar-smoking he picked up as The Fly....?

Ah, if ever there were a good example for an anti-smoking campaign, this would be it! :wink:
 
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?
 
Heh. Yeah, he did sound constipated from time to time. That's a good way to describe it.

I don't know if he was doing it consciously, but he'd go to emphasize a word or a phrase, and there it went, all in the back of his throat.

I'm trying to think of a specific example, and failing. But I know it's there!
 
I thought he sounded amazing live during the JT era, but then again I only have Rattle and Hum and a couple of bootlegs to base that opinon on. I'm sure he had a off night now and then, as all singers do.
 
Utoo said:
I wonder how much of it was due to the cigar-smoking he picked up as The Fly....?
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You can see photos of him smoking cigars during the JT days and smoking regular cigarettes even further back than that.
 
Hey starvinmarvin I know what you're talking about, he'd get that low, nasally sound sometimes and it rubs me the wrong way to. I think he'd do this whenever he got tired, but I'm purely speculating.

And as for his voice going south during the late 90's early 2000, smoking was only a part of the cause, he trashed his voice with bad technique and overuse in the 80's and 90's.
 
Reggie Thee Dog said:
Hey starvinmarvin I know what you're talking about, he'd get that low, nasally sound sometimes and it rubs me the wrong way to. I think he'd do this whenever he got tired, but I'm purely speculating.

And as for his voice going south during the late 90's early 2000, smoking was only a part of the cause, he trashed his voice with bad technique and overuse in the 80's and 90's.
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Yeah, it's probably because he got tired....it's easier to hit the high notes when you use that technique, but it doesn't sound as good, plus it's really hard on your voice (you're pushing with your throat instead of your diaphram). Mind you, he wopuld use that technique on Streets, which opened many of the shows, so maybe that's not the reason ...who knows?

I agree with reggie about the smoking thing too. It didn't help his voice, that's for certain, but the primary cause of his voice problems in the late 90's was poor technique, such as the one I was talking about. Actually, I think that his voice was starting to become a problem during Zoo TV, although i know some people feel differently about it. I think his vocal problems in the early 90's was one major factor that caused Bono to change his style during Achtung (i.e. using more of his lower register, and more falsetto because it's easier to hit the high notes using falsetto)
 
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Marvin, I honestly have not noted this annoying thing you're describing. On the Syracuse DVD, can you point out a specific moment of what you're talking about? I have that DVD and I'd like to hear it.
 
Axver said:
Marvin, I honestly have not noted this annoying thing you're describing. On the Syracuse DVD, can you point out a specific moment of what you're talking about? I have that DVD and I'd like to hear it.
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OK, put on the Syracuse show and listen to the first song, Streets. Pay attention to the first verse, "I want to run....." etc... and then compare it to the album version. He's singing it differently, it's plain as day. Then move on to, say, "I Still haven't Found," which is even more obvious. He's doing that weird, low throaty thing all over the place...now go back and listen to the album version, or even to how Bono sings it now. On the album, he's pushing from his diaphram, and it sounds way more powerful. I know it's hard for Bono to sing with such passion and power throughout an entire concert, but I just didn't like how he tried to compensate for it at times during JT.
 
I haven't really listened to enough Joshua Tree live performances to make a judgement on this. I won't flog a dead horse but I think most of Bono's finest performances (that I've heard) were during ZooTV / Zooropa.

One thing I would say - one of Bono's best ever vocal performances was Springhill Mining Disaster in March 1987.
 
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I want to make one thing clear though - I don't hate Bono's voice on JT. It's just that sometimes he would do that vocal technique, and I kind of wish he would just use his real voice instead of a put-on one. I know for certain that I'm not the only one who's noticed this. I first took note of it the first time I saw RH back in the day..one example is my wife, who was introduced to U2 via RH. She claimed she hated U2, and hated Bono's voice. Over the years I gradually converted her, to the point that at the show we saw on the Vertigo tour she said, "he has such a great voice..wow!" during SYCMIOYO. But to this day she swears that his vocal technique during JT turned her off of U2 for a really long time, even though she loves his voice when he uses it properly.
 
Muad'zin said:
IMHO Bono sounded worse during the 1982 Pre-War tour. He really sounds annoying on the bootlegs from that tour. Annything after that is an improvement.
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Yeah, that was worse. I saw a boot of them playing on a TV show, and his voice breaks like a pimply teenager when he goes for the "it's true, it's true" part on New Years Day. It was really bad. I can't believe how much he improved by the time of Red Rocks. He sounded like a GOD at that show.
 
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.
 
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Is it the growly thing he does when he starts every verse on ISHFWILF on the Syracuse DVD? (IIIIII have kissed) Or the really deep, kind of strange thing that you can hear on some verses of WOWY from Rattle and Hum? The first one doesn't bother me, but I LOVE the second one. I wish he could still do that, it's sexy as hell.
 
Too me that sort of vocal from Bono sounds like he's getting lazy. It always bothered me on Rattle and Hum when they played Streets and Bono sings "Where the schtreets've no name", but I'm really just nitpicking here, but it just sounds lazy to me.
 
starvinmarvin said:
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?
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Ha! By coincidence I actually mentioned this in my response to you in JT & AB; but I just found this thread. Myself and four buddies (none of them interferencers) are all rabid U2 fans and amongst ourselves call this Bono's Kermit The Frog voice.
 
Snowlock said:


Ha! By coincidence I actually mentioned this in my response to you in JT & AB; but I just found this thread. Myself and four buddies (none of them interferencers) are all rabid U2 fans and amongst ourselves call this Bono's Kermit The Frog voice.
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Ha! Why didn't I think of that before? He does sound like Kermit!!! LOL!!!!
 
starvinmarvin said:


Ha! Why didn't I think of that before? He does sound like Kermit!!! LOL!!!!
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It is called singing in your throat. Bono was reaching notes that he couldn't fully place. He was definently back in his throat. That is a wrong way to sing and it messes up the vocal cords and can cause damage. When i haven't trained properly, in a long time, i tend to go way back in my throat. it is when the vowels have not been placed right in the mouth or you can say head. that the resonance , which brings out the voice to full. is not there. If you have not had training done it is difficult to explain. But I hope that some of you understand. I actually love his Jt voice and his voice now, is amazing. He is hitting notes I thought he would never be able to again. His voice is less edgy and raw now, it seems more refined.
 
I like his voice best now actually.

Although Ultraviolet from Dublin 93 is pretty much up there as well.

I hate his country-voice.
 
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