Bono's Voice for 2017 (Official Thread)

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georgemccauley

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I posted this reply elsewhere but I wanted to create a thread to gather thoughts from others on here.

I am making a reference from 360 tour in this post as 360 was a big favorite of mine in terms of Bono's voice. And the the changes in his voice from 2009 - 2015 were huge and not for the best!!

This is the one thing that bugs me with his voice these days, if you listen to performances from 360 you can hear there's always a deep layer in everything he is singing. His voice even talking just sounds deeper with more feeling. Bono's voice also hardly ever broke all all during 360 it really was impressive.

Fast forward to SOI and 2015. An huge change for the worse and now we are hearing an incredibly thin and almost nasally sounding voice from bono. As if he has lost all of his lower range and now has to rely on one particular range to sing every song in.

These days he is sounding very thin and almost shouting these songs at us, it might sound harsh but I don't understand why he can't sing like he did in 360 anymore? Is this intentional, is he having vocal lessons?

His voice is incredible still but one thing that bugs me so much is how nasally his voice is. If only he could just relax a bit more and bring out some more lower range, similar that to the 360 tour, please don't tell me there's no difference because imo there's a huge difference [emoji4]
 
Almost nasally sounding?

He's always had a nasally sound to his voice which is one of his strengths! So I never understood this complaint. It's on full display and put to perfect use here:



Sounds good to me!

Beyond that, I agree with you. I noticed it when I stumbled across this video:



I was looking for a more recent performance and was surprised by the difference. Now with that said, this is one area where I definitely look on the bright side. I remember hearing / watching One from Popmart Mexico and thinking that it was almost over for him. Never one to be counted out, that crazy elf found a way to sound drastically better in 01. Let's remember that he sounds better now overall, IMO, than he did twenty years ago live.

At this age, that's saying something. I've learned to never count Bono out. If they're still performing in another twenty years (God willing)...and his voice is nearly shot...he will still find a way to sound exceptional on some songs.
 
Almost nasally sounding?

He's always had a nasally sound to his voice which is one of his strengths! So I never understood this complaint. It's on full display and put to perfect use here:



Sounds good to me!

Beyond that, I agree with you. I noticed it when I stumbled across this video:



I was looking for a more recent performance and was surprised by the difference. Now with that said, this is one area where I definitely look on the bright side. I remember hearing / watching One from Popmart Mexico and thinking that it was almost over for him. Never one to be counted out, that crazy elf found a way to sound drastically better in 01. Let's remember that he sounds better now overall, IMO, than he did twenty years ago live.

At this age, that's saying something. I've learned to never count Bono out. If they're still performing in another twenty years (God willing)...and his voice is nearly shot...he will still find a way to sound exceptional on some songs.



I miss the deeper voice he had and sang with in previous tours. He still sounds brilliant for his age and how he's adapted his voice to go with getting older. BUT! it does sound like a lot these days that he is shouting these songs at us...
 
it is what it is at this point. I remember the Elevation Tour and how bad his voice was at times. I thought it was the beginning of the end. And then it seemed to improve with HTAAB and the Vertigo Tour. Hell I was at opening night of the Vertigo Tour in San Diego and nearly cried when I heard him hit some of the notes in Yahweh - which took me back to his 80s singing. But he just hasn't been the same singer since Elevation and maybe even Popmart.
 
I think he sounds fine. He is 57 years old now & still sings/performs with great passion. Be thankful for what we got.
 
In some videos you can also see that he struggles physically hitting the high notes throughout this current tour.

Part may be due to age and for the fact that he has thousands of shows under his vocal cords.
 
There really is no point expecting post-1993 Bono to sound anywhere near as good as pre-1993 Bono.
 
I was just having a conversation about this with my dad yesterday. I know some of you may rake me over the coals for this but I don't care...

So obviously, we can't expect to hear the same vocal strength out of a 57 year old man as we heard 24-30 years ago. He's had vocal struggles on stage for years. Zoo TV/Zooropa is the only Tour I can think of that he didn't lose his voice for a show. Ironic, as he was constantly smoking back then which I'm sure led to his vocal issues during Popmart. Listen to any popmart show when he sings "Mo-Fo!" at the show's opening. He sounds tired & vocally weak. Then, he mustered up some serious strength/energy for the Mexico City show & belted out a nice, passionate, higher range "Mo-Fo!". But then listen to his voice crack during WOWY. I think the smoking during the 90s really took a toll on the voice of a guy who already struggled with vocal issues. Regardless, I loved 90s U2. I felt that the energy & excitement was still there even when his voice wasn't. Elevation had some rough spots vocally but again, very passionate. Vertigo was pretty good vocally. Of course, he had the help of pre-recorded vocals for the higher/harder to hit notes for both of these tours. Don't believe me, listen to some of the IEM recordings of Elevation - the "ooo-oo's" are most definitely a recording. He may be singing over it to double it but trust me, it is recorded. Then listen to Crumbs from your table from 2005-10-04 in Boston. "You speak" & "I need" are recordings. He really let that out of the bag when he sang the wrong part at the wrong time & the backing track kept playing. A funny moment, I'd say. Shows his human-ness. Regardless, I don't think there's anything wrong with using those kind of tools. Some say it's cheating, I say it's a helpful tool. It's not like Milli Vanilli who's whole career was a farce. Anyway, fast forward to 360... a phenomenal tour. Before his surgery, bonos voice was struggling that tour. Listen to "No Line" at the breakdown, for example. But again, the excitement was there. Awesome setlist with surprises on occasion & lots of NLOTH material. Reminded me a bit of Zoo TV. After surgery, his voice was stronger. I read somewhere that he really worked on his voice during that period after surgery. The implementation of Hold Me, Thrill Me & Zooropa about made me piss myself with excitement. Watching him swing around with that dangling microphone... this was the Bono I knew & loved.

I&E was a good tour. However, The energy didn't seem to be there like it was before. I didn't even see that tour. I planned to drive 10 hours to New York and after hearing some of the recordings, I just didn't feel that same excitement as I had before. In other years, I would listen to the recordings and this would give me all excited for whatever show I had tickets to. Honestly, I ended up selling my tickets. It just didn't seem very appealing and honestly, I don't regret selling my tickets. Then came the announcement of this current tour and I was excited about it so I bought tickets on the fan club presale. I ended up not going. I don't know – maybe I'm just getting older and don't have the same sense of adventure as I used to but The idea of spending a ton of extra money on parking, food, drinks, hotel, gas just didn't sound fun. And after listening to the recordings, Bono just isn't bringing it this time for me. He's getting older, yes, and his voice most likely won't get better with age but I just feel like the energy isn't there. Yes, he's 57 and I don't expect him to run all over the place like he used to but I feel like, from what I've listened to, that he's bored with some of those songs and doesn't put any kind of energy into them. Listen to "pride" now.listen to the opening line of "with or without you". He's been singing it that way since the 360° tour. It just sounds like "here we go again – I'm really getting tired of singing these songs!"which, quite frankly, I would be tired of it too. Singing the same songs night after night, year after year would get pretty old. But, that's what happens when you have hit songs. People want to hear that stuff so give it some passion! It just feels like this is a quick make the money and be done tour. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing the Joshua tree from front to back but with the other songs aside from the Joshua tree set, we might as well be listening to U218. I get it – the Joshua tree was their biggest album and if people have only one U2 album in their collection, it's probably the Joshua tree. So even the casual fans associate U2 with the Joshua tree and therefore, probably only want to hear other songs like elevation, vertigo, beautiful day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, etc... you know, the mainstream tunes. Which, if saying was a little more passion, can be excellent! Anyway, I just feel like the level of passion for performing isn't there anymore for Bono. He's 57 and maybe tired, yes. But look at the Rolling Stones – they look dead on stage and yet the energy is still there. And I'm not a stones fan, myself. But they definitely have the energy and those guys are in their 70s! Anyway, not to bash Bono. I know some of you out there can't handle reading a negative word about Bono. I used to be the same way. So please don't hate on me. I'm just sharing my thoughts and feelings.


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Wow – that was long! I didn't realize how long it was until I posted it! Sorry to read a book to you all!


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
Wow – that was long! I didn't realize how long it was until I posted it! Sorry to read a book to you all!


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference



So the iE Tour was the first one I saw and felt it lacked serious energy and felt "off" for me. However, that is almost definitely due to his bike accident vs his age (perhaps a bit of age included).

He was more energetic during the JT tour but still not as much as the 360 tour and perhaps he will never be the same.

As for his voice, since PopMart he has had struggles here and there with songs. To your point, With or Without you Mexico City...his voice didn't crack, it shattered.

However, fast forward 20 years to his performance of Every Breaking Wave at the European MTV awards and it was incredible! Heck, his performance of Song for Someone on Graham Norton was really good too.

I wish he would lose those God awful glasses and the sports coat he rocks...makes him look 70 vs 57!
 
Must be a tale of two shows. I thought the band seemed much more energetic on I&E than they were on 360 for sure. That was such a good show.
 
So the iE Tour was the first one I saw and felt it lacked serious energy and felt "off" for me.

Guess it depends on the night. Saw them for iE in Phoenix second night and Bono and the band was fired up.

I mean, when I think about it . . . U2 is always more active than other acts . . . . I've seen Blink 182 twice in the past year and all they do is stand in one place and play their music.

Perhaps Bono set the bar too high back when he was crowd diving and climbing scaffolds.
 
Yeah, I would say I&E had more energy than the JT shows I sae this year. And I see people say the opposite. Interesting to see such varied perceptions.
 
Guess it depends on the night. Saw them for iE in Phoenix second night and Bono and the band was fired up.

I mean, when I think about it . . . U2 is always more active than other acts . . . . I've seen Blink 182 twice in the past year and all they do is stand in one place and play their music.

Perhaps Bono set the bar too high back when he was crowd diving and climbing scaffolds.


I was at both Phoenix shows for IE and was :hyper: for the energy level. Those first 4 songs on both nights was the most hyped up beginning for a U2 show I've seen since Zoo or Popmart.
 
If I wanted to hear Bono sing, I would just download from u2start.
Plus, the vocal performance of ASOH in Chicago 2, was precise as balls.
 
fuck you people need to get a life. he sounds fine.

Nah man, you just need to be patient that some people, might not be able to state their argument as accurately as possible/ they would like, on a fan forum.
 
Must be a tale of two shows. I thought the band seemed much more energetic on I&E than they were on 360 for sure. That was such a good show.

This is just exactly it right here!

A lot of posters just on these 2 pages of the thread so far have been painting in broad strokes with these tours. As others have pointed out, unless you're talking 1983-1986- consistently great or 1997-2002- consistently weak, you can't just say one tour was better than the other. There was and remains substantial variation within tours and eras.

Take 360. As One Cool Dude mentioned, he sounded much, much better after his back surgery. Vocally and in terms of band energy. I remember seeing the 2 Foxboro shows in 2009 and while Bono sang pretty well, the whole vibe felt way off. In my opinion, even the good NLOTH songs didn't take off live- with the notable exception of MOS. I remember watching Bono run around the ellipse in Turin in August 2010 as Edge did the Stingray riff and thinking "I've got my band back." I saw 2 shows in person on the 2011 NA leg of 360- Montreal 1 and Philadelphia. Both were unbelievably good. Strong, consistent and very clear, full vocals from Bono. The energy on that leg of 360 was very special.

So you have all that variation within just one tour.

I&E Boston 1 2015 was both the best U2 show I've ever witnessed and the best I've heard Bono sound. I thought the energy level was up a notch from 2011 360 and way up from 2009 360. On I&E overall, he seemed more hit and miss than 360, but the highs were a little higher. JT 30 has been much the same experience from the 4 shows I've seen so far. Maybe a bit more consistent than I&E actually. We're so used to them playing the entire JT album now that it's kind of getting overlooked, but there is not one song on there that he's not singing extremely well and with passion every night. The same goes for the short early 80s mini set before JT. Bad and Pride are a bit night to night, but when the hell weren't they? Even in the mid 80s. The important thing to remember is both continue to sound far better since 360 than they did on Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo.

To paint with the broadest brush possible, I would say his voice hasn't changed any in terms of ability since 360. What has changed, to my ears, is he's a little less consistent. More 80s like actually- on the nights he's on, he blows you away and still has this explosive power that seems to come out of nowhere. Off nights aren't anywhere near as noticeable as they were on Elevation, Popmart, Lovetown and JT 87.

I'm not explaining this well, it's a nuanced picture. However, overall, since 360, we're looking basically at a consistent voice that is holding up remarkably well and has even improved in some respects.

Does he sound exactly like he did 1984-1986? Or 1992-1993? Of course not and he can't be expected to. Is it still clear that it's the same person, same voice and does it still do the songs justice? Absolutely.
 
Yeah, I would say I&E had more energy than the JT shows I sae this year. And I see people say the opposite. Interesting to see such varied perceptions.

Both can be right. Could've seen a show on IE where Bono was energetic and 100% on, and then saw a more tired Bono on JT, or vise versa.

Anyway, to the dude with the long post - I wouldn't make a decision based on a recording whether or not to sell my tickets. I guess if I had to drive 10 hours and commit time and whatnot, maybe it would be different? I don't know.
 
It's been hit and miss for me recent years. IE difference between first two and final Amsterdam night was night and day, Bono putting so much more into the final night. Same during JT tour actually, night 1 he phoned it in, night 2 was superb, although ASOH was a bit lazy, Berlin and Brussels were amazing too with a great Bad in Brussels. I thought he sang much much weaker during the 360 tour.

Now I just want some more Achtung baby/pop songs in 3 years with a similar sort of tour, all lower range songs ought to be amazing at this stage, since it does sound more full again.
 
Damn! That's amazing!

I do a lot of watching of footage but I missed that.

Nice to hear he's still able to sing with that raw power.

The extent to which his baseline reliability has improved while moments like you posted here have become more frequent is really special.

I know that this isnt from 2017, its from 2015 but you need to hear this(from 6m10s and forward):
https://youtu.be/_rSo5tXvtBs?t=6m10s
 
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Lot's of fantastic comments in this thread, to add to them. Listening to SOE it's a fantastic vocal display from Bono from start to finish, i'd say its one of his best albums vocally.

Realistically, how much longer do we think he can continue performing on these big tours and on studio albums. His voice changes from tour to tour, how much longer can he realistically sing at this level for?
 
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