edge smashing the guitar

[babyman]

in the boston video, after gone, edge took off his guitar and threw it down...anyone knows the real reason why he did it? he said because they killed the song, actually it doesn't seem that they killed the song...but if it's so, what does it mean they killed the song? in which part something went wrong?

 

[ylimeU2]

There was a post not too long ago, but I don't remeber what thread it's in. It was explained to me that during Gone, bits and pieces from two shows were intercut with each other. In other words, you see Edge smash the guitar but most of the footage from the song is from the second show. Watch carefully during Gone-throughout most of the song, the guitar is black, when he smashes and kicks it, it's a red guitar. Hope this helps!

 

[thrillme]

What I heard, Edge dropped his pick, on the first show, and tried to tell Larry to play softer, but Larry mistook it for longer, and so Edge was playing "Gone" with his bear fingers, which I'm told can be quite painful. He yelled at Larry, (you can see Larry make an angry face right towards the end of the song), then you see Edge throw the guitar down, and kick it.

It's not unusual for a guitarist to smash their guitar, but often it's done on purpose, I suppose the director left it in for "effect."

 

[ladylardence]

I wasn't even aware he was angry for any reason. I just thought he was having a "Who Moment" and just smashing it for affect. You learn something every day!

 

[ZOOTB]

I was there that night. It was from June 5th. From what I heard the real reason was because he was pissed off at the guy that tunes his guitar. Guess it was way out of tune. That was actual Edge anger.

 

[Sue DeNym]

You can hear it going out of tune towards the end of the song. The last few times Edge strums it, it's really distorted, like the strings are too loose.

 

[neutral]

I wasn't even aware he was angry for any reason. I just thought he was having a "Who Moment" and just smashing it for affect. You learn something every day!

Same here, I had always thought it was intentional, and done for "rock star" effect.

 

[Bunbury]

I liked it

 

[Swan269]

I was very surprised when I saw it......I didn't even realize that the guitar was out of tune until I listened to it later........

 

[RockNRollDawgie]

I remember reading an online interview with Egde, and he stated
he kicked the guitar because he felt U2 were "killing the song."

 

[ylimeU2]

I liked it

I did too!

 

[Mullen-Girl]

If you look at some cam on the DVD...I forgot which one...you can see from the guitar pit thingie when he kicks it and Dallas like jumps.

 

[Hewson]

I was two people back from the front of the stage right in front of Edge, believe me he was pissed off. Only time I can ever recall seeing him look angry.
The reason has been speculated and the most common answer was the guitar being badly out of tune, but not sure.

 

[babyman]

actually, it doesn't seem to me that the guitar was out of tune, something went wrong with the rest of the band, i've noticed bono turning sudden towards adam showing him something on his guitar and then adam watching towards edge... i think there was something wrong between the band

 

[MooMoo!]

i heard somwere he did it cos Larry finished the song too early, so he got a bit pissed off.
smashy smashy!

 

[Flying FuManchu]

Geez, Edge, don't smash up a nice little guitar like that. Get some anger control issues...

 

[Ballymun]

Whatever the reason was for Edge "smashing" his guitar (which is open to wide speculation), the incident shouldn't have been shown in an official video release. I can't beLIEve those particular shots weren't edited out (replaced with alternative angles that didn't show Edge).

Actually, I still can't beLIEve they released the Boston video at all! - It truly is a dreadful video.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I just want to say that it can't be the pick thing cause guitar players have picks in their microphone stand and sometimes in their own guitar and I'm sure that Edge could grab a hold of a pick even from Bono's mike stand if necessary.

I read somewhere from either Edge or Dallas that that Rickenbacker that Edge was using on Gone is a very temperamental guitar and that sometimes it just doesn?t work well. What happened probably is that it malfunctioned on Edge, since he knew the show was being filmed maybe he was trying to give his best performance for the cameras but when the guitar went bad I guess he got frustrated and gave us the best moment on the Boston show, when he throws his guitar on the ground and kicks it. Thank God they were wise enough to let it there. By the way as The Edge probably knows Pete always used a red Rickenbacker just like the one he smashed and Pete is known for smashing his guitar live. So that just makes the whole thing cooler.

As we know they edited sound and image on that song, I can't hear anything wrong with the song on Edge's part probably because they mixed the sound with the night everything went well. I have however no clue why he was so angry with Larry, maybe since he heard that the song was fucked up he asked Larry to stop but he didn't so they went on anyway. When I watch that Elevation documentary when Edges comes close to Larry and screams at him I always watch that moment at least some 5 times. It?s just awesome to see Edge in raw anger cause he is always so calm and I love anger, which I know Edge has a lot. You can see it on his guitar playing at times. I wish they could make a live video that was as honest as that moment. Slane comes really close.

 

[Zoocoustic]

Actually, I still can't beLIEve they released the Boston video at all! - It truly is a dreadful video.

Now, now...

...it may have quite a few weak spots, but you can't beat that performance of The Fly.