Bono voice highligt 360 campign!

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Rob33 said:
On a positive note, I think overall Bono's voice is incredible this tour...and I'm not sure there has ever been a song so consistently incredible as Ultraviolet over the course of an entire tour...obviously this tour is far from over, but so far, I think this version of Ultraviolet is one of the great vocal performances in U2 history....really. I'll never forget unexpectedly hearing "you bury your treasure" for the first time when Barcelona I came up on youtube...so epic. :drool:
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2009-07-07 - Milan - Ultaviolet is to me ihis best performence ever, he puts so much power, energy,feeling and passion in that performence :drool:



"We set ourselves on fire Oh God, do not deny her" in this clip is increbile in this version.
Theres no way Bono could have done this in the 80s/90s
YouTube - U2 Moment Of Surrender, Paris 2009-07-11


Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioooot is incredible, 1:16 in this clip
YouTube - U2 - "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Renaka Mix)" Live @ Soldier Field; Chicago, IL


What I miss much on this tour is the operatic thing, Miss Sarajevo was incredible on Vertigo tour, he did some in Milan(4:15 in this clip). I want more of that.
YouTube - U2 Milan 2009-07-07 Magnificent
 
Rob33, these are from the shows I have attended to, of course some days are better than others, that always happens, we are all humans, and not all the recordings are in the same quality, I've tried to choose the most complete, frankly, I can't see your point, maybe I'm a very lucky girl or Bono knows when I'm among the audience :wink:

Barcelona:
Barcelona 1 is the one in my previous post
YouTube - U2 360 - WALK ON - Barcelona 2/7/2009

Dublin:

YouTube - U2 Dublin 2009-07-24 MLK / Walk On

YouTube - Walk On U2 Croke Park Dublin 25 July 2009

YouTube - U2 - Walk On - Croke Park - Dublin - Monday 27th July 2009 - Live - HD / HQ

London:

YouTube - U2 360 Tour "Walk On" Live at Wembley Stadium London 14/08/09 MOV00937

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4GvqRuZdao
 
Glasgow: this is the concert that they had the sound problem and it was during Walk On, the song is not complete in any recording.

YouTube - U2 - 360 Tour - Hampden Park, Glasgow - Walk On - Sound Problem

Sheffield:

YouTube - U2 -Walk On- Live @ Sheffield August 20th 2009

Cardiff:

YouTube - U2 Cardiff 2009-08-22 Walk On

I don't want to overwelm you with videos, it's just a question of justice for me, and I'd also like to transmit you my experience, as far as possible, so if you have a little time and you want to check them, I would like to know your opinion.
 
He seems to be in more shape then he was from the middle to the end of the 1st leg :) But the show from 2009-06-30 to 2009-07-21 is still the best ones :)
 
Yeah, Bono's voice has been great this leg. It really blew me away at Chicago 1. I think we've started to take his voice for granted... I watched Elevation Boston the other day, and was really amazed to remember how far he's come.
 
i was at the show last night and I was astounded of how good his voice sounded as I have been thinking he had declined somewhat since 06/07 but wow I take it back he was on fire last night and he knew it - his voice is much more agile then it use to be and low register sounds as good as it did in 1992/3

they need get recording and capture his current voice on SOA
 
His voice was stellar at NY1 and 2 (I think 2 was slightly better). I really can't imagine him sounding any better. Even his falsetto was very strong, and it seemed like he was using it more than usual. The power and clarity of his voice was just amazing in person (these were my first shows of the tour). Good times :)
 
After hearing the two latest shows, Bono seems to got back the energy he had back on Vertigo tour. He experment more with his voice, playing around :)
 
I agree Bono is sounding better and better as the tour progresses.
 
One thing I've noticed while browsing through the youtube videos of the 360 tour performances is that Bono this tour is holding the microphone much closer to his mouth. Now I don't know why this is (there could be a number of factors), but upon further inspection of the way his voice sounds like he could indeed have smoked a little. I could definitely hear a very typical smoker's 'breathiness' this time round during the 360 tour than the Vertigo 2005/2006 performances where his voice was in great shape. I also noticed during the times when his voice was great during the Vertigo 2005/2006 legs he was holding the microphone further away - perhaps and indicator of his voice having more power and smoking less? All I do know, is that certainly when he was younger take for example Zoo TV tour, when he was belting it out he was holding the microphone even further back.. So I imagine this might be a good indicator of power in the voice.. But not necessarily meaning power = better.

I'm not saying Bono doesn't have what it takes... I'm just saying this time round it seems his voice is slightly weaker - still good though for a rock singer his age!

Hopefully after his voice has rested a bit for next year he'll be even better.
 
I must say, I was really surprised and impressed by how awesome Bono's voice was at my show in Vancouver, the last of the year. Especially listening to the bootleg, where you can hear more clearly, his voice was really, really strong. In fact I compared songs like Ultraviolet to the versions early on (even Barcelona and Milan, which we all thought were phenomenal), and I actually thought it was better at the last show. I don't notice the voice on this song like I did at the start of the tour, just because I've heard it so many times, but in a blind comparison, I'd say they're pretty much in a dead heat. That's quite amazing if you ask me. :up:
 
U2opra said:
One thing I've noticed while browsing through the youtube videos of the 360 tour performances is that Bono this tour is holding the microphone much closer to his mouth. Now I don't know why this is (there could be a number of factors), but upon further inspection of the way his voice sounds like he could indeed have smoked a little. I could definitely hear a very typical smoker's 'breathiness' this time round during the 360 tour than the Vertigo 2005/2006 performances where his voice was in great shape. I also noticed during the times when his voice was great during the Vertigo 2005/2006 legs he was holding the microphone further away - perhaps and indicator of his voice having more power and smoking less? All I do know, is that certainly when he was younger take for example Zoo TV tour, when he was belting it out he was holding the microphone even further back.. So I imagine this might be a good indicator of power in the voice.. But not necessarily meaning power = better.

I'm not saying Bono doesn't have what it takes... I'm just saying this time round it seems his voice is slightly weaker - still good though for a rock singer his age!

Hopefully after his voice has rested a bit for next year he'll be even better.
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I think he have started smoke more again, he was hoarse alot on 360 tour, just listen to the Costello show.
 
He still has a fantastic voice for somebody who must sing atleast once a day at the top of his voice for over 30 years.

One thing that bugged me was listening to Bono 'speak' or 'talk' lyrics rather than sing them, and then he would lag behind with the beat. I heard a few fans say it almost looked like he wasn't putting any effort in. When the tour started, it looked like (from watching u2ube videos) he was just sooo fasinated with this new microphone, that he was more interested in flinging it around and spinning it.
 
Peterrrrr said:
I think he have started smoke more again, he was hoarse alot on 360 tour, just listen to the Costello show.
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I hate to admit it, but I think you're right... unfortunately for him. That being said, he has had some absolutely brilliant vocal moments on the tour. These were usually towards the beginning, but I was damn impressed with his vocal performance at Chicago 1 (my first show of the tour), and had no complaints about his Houston performance (my second show of the tour).
 
His voice was strained from over-using it on several occassions, especially towards the end of the tour (Costello show, Rose Bowl), but other than that, it was excellent. For me, no clear signs of more smoking, more the opposite, there was much more scratchiness going on during the Vertigo tour. Technically, his singing was amazing for the 360 tour. To me, it seems he's trying out more with his voice now and tries to sing better than just going for volume. On some of the boots I've heard and shows I went to I was very impressed.

Btw, his voice was great on the Costello show and absolutely perfect for the songs they performed, so I'm not complaining. Stay might have been a little shakey, but Two Shots was amazing and it really showed what a great singer he is.
 
I think that Lovetown Bono visited this version of UTEOTW in 4:19 to 4:42 :)

w w w.send space.com/file/r3gt6e

He realy belts it out like back in the LT days, not the best type of singing if you like take care of your voice, but nice to see that he still got that rawness in his voice :)
 
The costello performance was interesting because it makes a good comparison of Two Shots Of Happy performances from 1995 and 2009. You have the 1995 Bono (who was smoking a lot then) and 2009 Bono (who people say is new and improved).

Upon further inspection of the two performances I'm inclined to say that Bono seems to have significantly lost the ability or skill to sing in a low register. The 2009 Bono tries to sing the song using his lower register but it comes out shakey and with little breathing control but however manages to sing the higher notes effortlessly. The 1995 Bono (Which stands as the Bono that marked the downward decline in his voice up to 2001) finds the singing in lower register effortless and struggles a little more to hit the higher notes of the song.

So what does this tell us? This certainly tells me that Bono has learnt to sing via a different method over the past few years and concentrated on going for higher notes. Earlier Bono could hit some of the high notes but not as good as 2009 Bono but sailed through singing lower register.

Don't get me wrong it's great Bono can hit high notes now he couldn't even hit when he was younger but disregarding or ignoring the fullness and velvety spoken singing voice he used to use is a bit stupid in my opinion. I feel the lower register of Bono's voice is every bit a signature of his voice as the high note singing. Think of the softly spoken words in the beginning of With Or Without You as well as Please and Heartland. These days to sing these types of songs he just plainly talks through them or sings them completely differently (usually in higher register).

On another note, I think Bono should be resting his voice more this tour between songs. This tour he seems to going for it too much on every song which inevitably weakens his voice for others songs and other concerts. I acknowledge that 2001-2005 marked the years of him resting his voice a bit and that 2006-2009 mark the years of him going full-out to make up for that but do we really want another period of 1997 Bono? The way things are going (in that his voice is starting to thin again from lack of rest and possible care) this could happen again. This is why I was saying it is important he does more lower register singing to rest his voice from the high notes - even young Bono knew this which is why the songs of the 80's and 90's had so much variation. And actually Peterrrrr you bring up a good example with UTEOTW as this a good example of resting the voice with lower register song which only has higher notes towards the end. There needs to be more of this as these days the choice and type of songs all seem to all be about going for the higher register notes which in my opinion will wear his voice out before the end of the tour if he is not careful.
 
This is one of my bugbears about recent performances. It's briliant to see that Bono's range has improved and he's finding it easier singing in higher registers again but the flip side of this seems to be that his lower register is more inconsistent than ever.

U2opra is right, in the mid/late nineties he was much more comfortable singing in that lower register and seemed kind of intimidated by high notes. This is the main reason why Pop is probably one of the least vocally challenging albums for him, most of the songs feature a pretty subdued performance. He didn't feel comfortable going for high notes so the band worked to his strengths.

This decade has seen the reverse occur though, he's obviously pleased to have found that higher register again and seems eager to show it off at every opportunity. The songs on NLOTH feature much more demanding vocals also. The problem is he's neglecting the lower register of his voice and performances are sounding a little ragged.

This is not a difficulty Bono had throughout the 80's or early 90's, he was incredibly consistent, devoting equal commitment to both the high and low notes. Listen to anything like Pride, ISHFWILF, Bad, WOWY or Hawkmoon, he sounds superb on the low verses but just as brilliant on the high choruses. These day's he's more erratic. I sometimes think (especially with the 80's classics) that he's sung them so many times he's just going through the motions. I listen to Bad and feel he's not really into the early verses but focuses 100% on the high notes. This results in a rough-around-the edges quality.

I'd like to see him try and be more consistent throughout a performance. He had no problem doing it in the old days.
 
U2opra said:
I acknowledge that 2001-2005 marked the years of him resting his voice a bit and that 2006-2009 mark the years of him going full-out to make up for that
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I have to totally disagree there. It seemed on the elevation tour he literally used up the remainder of his voice that was left, and the 2002 super bowl performance of Beautiful Day completely shows how much his voice was effected from the elevation tour. Back in 2001 he defiantly shouted alot more, and didn't really seem to care about the state of his voice as much as he has done, as long as the performances were passionate, which they were indeed. Throughout this tour, it seems he has transformed the way he sings certain songs with a much more smoother voice, instead of totally wrecking it from shouting. But when singing smoothly it lacks that rawness and passion he used to have, he almost speaks WOWY, SBS, Pride and streets.

Im not in Bono's boots, and i dont sing one bit, so i cant really judge how a singer deals with there voice, but his voice to me atm on alot of songs seems to be way to plain, and lacks that excitement he used to create with it. I wish he would go back and look at some old performances of songs, and try and get some inspiration from them, maybe he does, but it doesn't seem to be working. He needs to do alot more experimenting, to bring songs like UTEOW, Pride, SBS back to life. Even Beautiful Day is way to plain for my liking, the final 3rd of the song just missing all the passion it had back in 2001.

I also agree about his deep voice nowadays, thats his signature for singing, so he should experiment more with that, but atm, the band or bono are defiantly going through the motions with way to many songs, and should try and re-invent old songs like SBS just to get that excitement back, because for me there are way to many plain boring performances.
 
Bono just sings the songs weird these days, at least a lot of them. Not in tune or something, im no musician but it seems to me that he rushes through sentences and it's more speaking that singing in a lot of songs.

It might just be a new way of experimenting but i don't like it a lot, he is still capable of singing well but as you said i also miss the excitement part. Please Bono do shout it out sometimes even if that means your voice might not be 100% clear the entire night.
 
SexyBootsU2 said:
I have to totally disagree there. It seemed on the elevation tour he literally used up the remainder of his voice that was left, and the 2002 super bowl performance of Beautiful Day completely shows how much his voice was effected from the elevation tour. Back in 2001 he defiantly shouted alot more, and didn't really seem to care about the state of his voice as much as he has done, as long as the performances were passionate, which they were indeed.
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Yes and no. He sang differently for a lot of songs because he also just couldn't do it and knew his voice would crack and break when he tried. Other times you are right he didn't seem to give a damn and would shout a lot without technique to give the audience remaining power of his voice. I think it's possible to consider that his voice was still raw and in the early stages of healing which is why when he did shout it didn't sound as good as it has more recently. But I still consider 2000-2005 the healing process and also why especially on ATYCLB album it represented the change in his singing technique because of the damage and thinness to his voice. There are also a number of stories from that period which talk about how Bono had great frustration in recording songs for ATYCLB with the damage he sustained from smoking and how he had to change his singing technique - I think it was mentioned in U2's book "U2 by U2" I can't fully remember.

SexyBootsU2 said:
Throughout this tour, it seems he has transformed the way he sings certain songs with a much more smoother voice, instead of totally wrecking it from shouting. But when singing smoothly it lacks that rawness and passion he used to have, he almost speaks WOWY, SBS, Pride and streets.

Im not in Bono's boots, and i dont sing one bit, so i cant really judge how a singer deals with there voice, but his voice to me atm on alot of songs seems to be way to plain, and lacks that excitement he used to create with it. I wish he would go back and look at some old performances of songs, and try and get some inspiration from them, maybe he does, but it doesn't seem to be working. He needs to do alot more experimenting, to bring songs like UTEOW, Pride, SBS back to life. Even Beautiful Day is way to plain for my liking, the final 3rd of the song just missing all the passion it had back in 2001.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know what you mean. Before from the 80's and 90's for him to hit certain notes he had to sing with a lot of energy, passion and improper technique which is part of the reason why he sustained some damage to his voice over the years. Now, when he wants to hit those notes he goes through a much safer process to achieve them and which is why I think he sounds like he has lost a certain quality to his voice in some songs. However I am in belief absolute belief that with some of his singing currently (with too much emphasis on higher notes) he is wasting that energy that could otherwise be used for other things in the performance. Therefore what I am trying to say is; he seems to be concentrating on singing a particular way rather than being spontaneous and creative in the way he used to. Plus constantly singing in higher notes as mentioned before, will undoubtedly wear his voice out.

SexyBootsU2 said:
I also agree about his deep voice nowadays, thats his signature for singing, so he should experiment more with that, but atm, the band or bono are defiantly going through the motions with way to many songs, and should try and re-invent old songs like SBS just to get that excitement back, because for me there are way to many plain boring performances.
Click to expand...

Yep, I think the band and Bono needs to realise that. His deep voice is every bit as important as his higher singing voice. High notes are great and all, but what good are they when the singer struggles to sing the build up in the lower register? It doesn't make sense and it doesn't sound right. Also experimenting with more slower lower register songs between high register songs will allow him to rest his voice and also benefit the audience in giving them some more variation in the setlists - which have been a bit bland and predictable from the tour so far.

I understand exactly what you mean about the reinvention of the older songs. They did at one point successfully do this, they did it with Pride in 2006 and they for some reason seem to have reverted back to the old version which U2 fans grew tired of many years ago. I think the main issue however again is the mere fact the technique in which Bono now sings in. There is nothing wrong with it as such because he is using a far healthier technique but the fact is the way he sings calls for such a boring uninspired manner to complete his notes, he is unable find the inspirition and passion he used to feel from singing in improper technique.
 
SexyBootsU2 said:
He needs to do alot more experimenting, to bring songs like UTEOW, Pride, SBS back to life. Even Beautiful Day is way to plain for my liking, the final 3rd of the song just missing all the passion it had back in 2001.

I also agree about his deep voice nowadays, thats his signature for singing, so he should experiment more with that, but atm, the band or bono are defiantly going through the motions with way to many songs, and should try and re-invent old songs like SBS just to get that excitement back, because for me there are way to many plain boring performances.
Click to expand...

I agree, UV from 360 tour is an great example when he sang it a bit different but it gave the song new life.
One other thing he could do is to use a more operatic tone in WOWY, would give that song a new kick.
 
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