The Panther
Refugee
No, this is not an "I hate U2 thread." I love U2 and still enjoy their new songs and recordings. I thought Songs of Innocence was quite good, and I appreciate it as a very solid recording this late into their career. (I thought No Line on the Horizon was the biggest turkey of their career -- with an amazing number of cringe-worthy moments -- but hey, everybody who's been around for 30 years deserves a mulligan.) No, I still think U2 write (mostly) great songs and are a fine studio band. I'm still excited to hear new recordings by them.
Rather, what I can't stand about them anymore is their public image, and, more particularly, their live stage-show.
The first time I was turned off (along with most North Americans) was the PopMart tour. They started using corporate sponsorship then, and the reasoning seemed to be that previous tours had barely broken even, so now we're going to get corporate sponsorship in order to justify spending the GNP of mid-sized nations on our nightly stage show. Why they thought walking out of giant lemon was worth spending 10 million bucks a night, I'll never know. Okay, so with PopMart they got the nudge-nudge, wink-wink ironic posing out of their systems.
Then, came the grand commercial/American comeback years of 2000-2005. Having not listened to them for several years, I personally got back into them in a big way circa 2001 to 2005. Although I recognized flaws with their recording approach then (basically, "make it as commercial-sound as possible to compete on the charts with Britney Spears"), I still enjoyed those two records and there was certainly a plethora of great songs written and released, in various forms, in those periods. I don't really have any issue with the 2000-2001 tour. Maybe Bono's voice wasn't quite as its best, and maybe there was a bit too much grand-standing for my tastes, but they looked cool, sounded pretty good, and were standing tall, having got the mass-acceptance that they craved back.
I think where they started to "jump the live shark" for me, was the 2005+ period. Here we now have Bono doing 20-minute introductions to "One", a 15-year-old song. The concerts essentially became a backdrop for Bono's humanitarian work. At certain stages of the tour (in the US, at least), Bono donned a ridiculous headband that looked idiotic, while he gyrated around, looking more fat than passionate. His grandstanding was worse than ever in this period. At least the music mostly sounded good, and the stage-show wasn't too exorbitant.
In 2009, all hell broke loose with 'The Claw' or whatever it was called. Not content with having had the biggest stage-shows ever, U2 now felt the need to leave the world's biggest concert carbon-footprint behind after every show. The abomination known as 'the claw' was the most hideous-looking concert venue I've ever seen, the band now seemingly oblivious to how prog-rock and 70s-excess they'd become, a billion-miles away from their no-frills 80s' live value-system, by which they made their names and earned a fanbase. This period was not helped by the weak new songs and Bono's evident tendency to oversing, covering every Edge solo or rhythmic break with "ooh-ooh-oohs!" or "oh-oh-ohs!".
So, then fast-forward to the more recent Glastonbury disappointment, the Apple/iPhone P.R. disaster, the charges of overseas tax-havens, etc. At least they put out a decent (well-produced, at least) album that's true to their roots, I thought. Perhaps this will lead them back to a no-frills, honest, stripped-down live approach that more suits their age, and perhaps they'll give up the hard-sell that accompanies every tour, and just let themselves be themselves again.
Then I heard about TJT retro-tour (gag!). Then I watched some of one of the shows.
Good grief... Did I really see Bono donning the 80's-era hat while singing 80s' songs?
Did I really see Bono and Edge doing the Rattle-and-Hum movie strobe-light re-enactment?
Did I really hear Bono attempting -- and brutally failing -- to hit the (already transposed down) notes of 'Red Hill Mining Town', a song he couldn't handle live when he was 27?
Most bizarrely, did I really see Bono with Donald Trump's hair?
U2 have always been dorks, which was part of their appeal, and I suppose expecting them to be cool at this point is asking too much. But damn, do they have to shoot themselves in the foot every time by making themselves look so stupid?
Anyway, sorry if this comes off as a rant. I am still interested in the group, and I'm always eager to hear their new music.
I just cannot take their public image or their stage-show.
Rather, what I can't stand about them anymore is their public image, and, more particularly, their live stage-show.
The first time I was turned off (along with most North Americans) was the PopMart tour. They started using corporate sponsorship then, and the reasoning seemed to be that previous tours had barely broken even, so now we're going to get corporate sponsorship in order to justify spending the GNP of mid-sized nations on our nightly stage show. Why they thought walking out of giant lemon was worth spending 10 million bucks a night, I'll never know. Okay, so with PopMart they got the nudge-nudge, wink-wink ironic posing out of their systems.
Then, came the grand commercial/American comeback years of 2000-2005. Having not listened to them for several years, I personally got back into them in a big way circa 2001 to 2005. Although I recognized flaws with their recording approach then (basically, "make it as commercial-sound as possible to compete on the charts with Britney Spears"), I still enjoyed those two records and there was certainly a plethora of great songs written and released, in various forms, in those periods. I don't really have any issue with the 2000-2001 tour. Maybe Bono's voice wasn't quite as its best, and maybe there was a bit too much grand-standing for my tastes, but they looked cool, sounded pretty good, and were standing tall, having got the mass-acceptance that they craved back.
I think where they started to "jump the live shark" for me, was the 2005+ period. Here we now have Bono doing 20-minute introductions to "One", a 15-year-old song. The concerts essentially became a backdrop for Bono's humanitarian work. At certain stages of the tour (in the US, at least), Bono donned a ridiculous headband that looked idiotic, while he gyrated around, looking more fat than passionate. His grandstanding was worse than ever in this period. At least the music mostly sounded good, and the stage-show wasn't too exorbitant.
In 2009, all hell broke loose with 'The Claw' or whatever it was called. Not content with having had the biggest stage-shows ever, U2 now felt the need to leave the world's biggest concert carbon-footprint behind after every show. The abomination known as 'the claw' was the most hideous-looking concert venue I've ever seen, the band now seemingly oblivious to how prog-rock and 70s-excess they'd become, a billion-miles away from their no-frills 80s' live value-system, by which they made their names and earned a fanbase. This period was not helped by the weak new songs and Bono's evident tendency to oversing, covering every Edge solo or rhythmic break with "ooh-ooh-oohs!" or "oh-oh-ohs!".
So, then fast-forward to the more recent Glastonbury disappointment, the Apple/iPhone P.R. disaster, the charges of overseas tax-havens, etc. At least they put out a decent (well-produced, at least) album that's true to their roots, I thought. Perhaps this will lead them back to a no-frills, honest, stripped-down live approach that more suits their age, and perhaps they'll give up the hard-sell that accompanies every tour, and just let themselves be themselves again.
Then I heard about TJT retro-tour (gag!). Then I watched some of one of the shows.
Good grief... Did I really see Bono donning the 80's-era hat while singing 80s' songs?
Did I really see Bono and Edge doing the Rattle-and-Hum movie strobe-light re-enactment?
Did I really hear Bono attempting -- and brutally failing -- to hit the (already transposed down) notes of 'Red Hill Mining Town', a song he couldn't handle live when he was 27?
Most bizarrely, did I really see Bono with Donald Trump's hair?
U2 have always been dorks, which was part of their appeal, and I suppose expecting them to be cool at this point is asking too much. But damn, do they have to shoot themselves in the foot every time by making themselves look so stupid?
Anyway, sorry if this comes off as a rant. I am still interested in the group, and I'm always eager to hear their new music.
I just cannot take their public image or their stage-show.