Eye Contact...

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
A

ahittle

Refugee
Joined
Nov 14, 2002
Messages
1,096
This has been swimming around my head since the Elevation tour.

So, after years and years of being a fan with lousy seats, I find myself on the tip of the heart, right? And one thing that I couldn't help noticing was that Bono seemed to take special care not to really engage anyone around the ramp with eye contact. He had the whole 1000-yard-stare thing going in full effect. Maybe he was taking in the whole arena, maybe he was working on including the nosebleed seats, maybe we were an ugly group of people. But it really struck me at the time as being noteworthy if not unusual. The show was amazing; it just made me wonder, you know?

Any similar experiences or thoughts?
 
Why does it strike you as unusual? Most performers worth their salt find a way to engage their audience without actually being distracted by their audience. Focusing on one person could throw off a performance.
 
At our first show on the Vertigo tour, we were right at the tip of the ellipse and definitely locked eyes with Bono. He and Adam were at the tip and I saw through his sunglasses that he was looking down in the direction of me and my wife. I thought it'd be a kick if he took my wife on stage, so I started pointing my finger at her and smiling. He kind of chuckled as he sang and smiled at us, then looked somewhere else.

In all, though, I think it just depends on where his eyes fall. It's actually pretty standard stage practice for theater, etc, to look out above the crowd. Of course the setting's different for a concert, but I can see why looking out to the distance can be easier when singing some of the big, sweeping songs than looking right at specific people.
 
i dunno i was at the tip of the ellipse too. Bono made eye contact with a few of the fans but mostly stared out. Adam seems to be the one that makes eye contact with alot of people.
 
Yep, my front-row experiences have been similar -- Bono usually looks out at the sea of the crowd, most of the time. One time, though, in San Jose during the Vertigo tour, he grabbed the camera of a girl standing right next to me on the rail, and snapped a picture of her during the opening song (COBL)... he smiled and nodded at both of us (even though I didn't even know her :wink: ) and it TRIPPED me out to have him looking right at me.
 
Me and adam , rocked together during gone in 2001 , i was rocking out , he noticed me , that felt good , everybody had good time and all
adam is a core member , larry should've been replaced with drum machine long time ago


:wink:
 
When I saw them at msg I was first row back stage, and he made alot of eye contact with me and others too. It was the one thing I kept saying over and over he looked at me!!!!
 
I felt that when Bono does make eye contact with the crowd, he REALLY makes eye contact...

...I was right on Edge's walkway jn Melbourne last year and Bono stopped and sang a part of SYCMIOYO right infront of me... and his eye contact was so strong that I couldn't take any pictures... I just had to look back... he seemed so vulnerable... especially without the glasses on

...so now I have a really huge close-up of the back of Bono's head because it wasn't until he turned around did I think to start taking photos. lol!
 
AchtungGirl219 said:
I felt that when Bono does make eye contact with the crowd, he REALLY makes eye contact...

...I was right on Edge's walkway jn Melbourne last year and Bono stopped and sang a part of SYCMIOYO right infront of me... and his eye contact was so strong that I couldn't take any pictures... I just had to look back... he seemed so vulnerable... especially without the glasses on

...so now I have a really huge close-up of the back of Bono's head because it wasn't until he turned around did I think to start taking photos. lol!
Click to expand...

I fully understand. I wouldn't take photos in a situation like that, it's so precious and taking a picture would destroy it. I have never taken any photos at a U2 concert or at the P8 show in Rostock, even when I was very close to the stage, because I simply feel I cannot enjoy the moment so much when I start looking for photo ops.
 
AchtungGirl219 said:
I felt that when Bono does make eye contact with the crowd, he REALLY makes eye contact...

...I was right on Edge's walkway jn Melbourne last year and Bono stopped and sang a part of SYCMIOYO right infront of me... and his eye contact was so strong that I couldn't take any pictures... I just had to look back... he seemed so vulnerable... especially without the glasses on

...so now I have a really huge close-up of the back of Bono's head because it wasn't until he turned around did I think to start taking photos. lol!
Click to expand...

I'll bet you wanted to hug him reaally tight. What a vision to be burned into your memory-I am sure you treasure it -how lucky you are:drool:
 
Adam made eye contact with me after I thanked him.
He looked away to the girl next to me, so then I prepared to take a photo, because I felt it was rude if I put the camera to my eye while he was looking at me.

As I was getting the camera set, he looked back and smile just as I took the pic, so now I have a pic of Adam looking at me :)
 
Cool. Interesting responses.

It must be a strange life - everywhere you go, people are trying to engage you like that, trying to make eye contact.

I could see being tripped pretty easily by the little things happening immeditately below me in a crowd.

And it wouldn't surprise me that Bono was keeping the big picture in mind - and trying to engage the people in the back.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
many performers look for psycho-nut job fans who know every word by heart so that they can follow along in case they forget a verse... one would think bono should start using this practice.
Click to expand...

:lol:

yup
 
waynetravis said:
Adam made eye contact with me after I thanked him.
He looked away to the girl next to me, so then I prepared to take a photo, because I felt it was rude if I put the camera to my eye while he was looking at me.

As I was getting the camera set, he looked back and smile just as I took the pic, so now I have a pic of Adam looking at me :)
Click to expand...


Can you post it??? :reject: :reject:

BTW Every artist do that, I guees is the ligth or something but in every concert I have atended it seems that the artist is watching exactly at the place where you are, of course there´s always special moments :wink:
 
I was front row in Chicago the night they filmed the majority of the dvd.

I have to say I'm certain that I made eye contact with Bono and the Edge.

At the end of Vertigo I yelled to Edge: "Edge, you da fuckin MAN!!!" He smiled and winked down at us. During Electric Co., Bono emptied his water bottle out directly on myself and a buddy---he made eye contact the whole time. That was like 3 feet away eye contact.
 
That's awesome, ImOuttaControl! :D

WayneTravis, that's such a cool moment! :)

Originally posted by Last Unicorn:

I fully understand. I wouldn't take photos in a situation like that, it's so precious and taking a picture would destroy it. I have never taken any photos at a U2 concert or at the P8 show in Rostock, even when I was very close to the stage, because I simply feel I cannot enjoy the moment so much when I start looking for photo ops.
Click to expand...

That's how I felt at the time too. Those moments really are too precious... you never forget them... :)
 
Last edited:
There were a few shows I noticed him making eye contact with people (also reaching out to shake hands, smile at a sign or prop, etc) and then there were other shows where he seemed to not notice or care about anyone in the first few rows. It's hard to tell exactly when he's making eye contact with a specific person. Many times he looked in my direction and I was looking right at him, but I can't just say he was definitely making eye contact with me. The only time I know for sure was when he said something to me into the mic, responding to something I said. But yeah anyway, I did notice differences in shows. Sometimes, annoying amounts of eye contact and messing with the audience, other times....nothing.
 
Would be interesting to know in which situations Bono is making eye contact and when he's not. I guess he is looking for something or maybe he needs some sort of connection with individual people in the audience. I don't think it's something he's doing by accident. Like I said before, I guess it depends on how he's feeling at that particular show.
 
Caroni said:



Can you post it??? :reject: :reject:

Click to expand...


DSCF0313.jpg
 
Bono and the rest of the band are just normal guys. I don't see why a huge deal has to be made out of them glancing at you.

Sorry to ruin the fun, I've just never liked that attitude.
 
shart, it can mean a lot to someone, establishing a moment of magic, of intimacy, I can totally understand that. Don't expect everyone else here to be as indifferent as you are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

cobl04
Kiss the Future documentary
Replies
11
Views
3K
MrsSpringsteen
MrsSpringsteen
N
NBA 2023-24 Thread
10 11 12
Replies
333
Views
10K
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
N
  • Locked
NBA 2022-23 Thread
46 47 48
Replies
1K
Views
45K
U2inUtah
U2inUtah
Headache in a Suitcase
  • Sticky
U2 in Vegas - Tips for booking hotels, flights and other Vegasy type things.
20 21 22
Replies
642
Views
32K
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
T
Latest U2.com Stream: Chicago 2005
2
Replies
43
Views
2K
LemonMelon
LemonMelon

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom