c4veritas said:
Like it or not, Bono's sermonizing comes with the territory going to a u2 how in this day and age. If you're not happy about it, I know about 100,000 people who'd love to go instead of you. But you can't seriously buy tickets to a u2 concert and then expect Bono to not be Bono; it's his thing, you know?
People will likely jump all the fuck over me for saying this, because we at Interference so rarely bother REALLY to think these arguments through...but I'm going ahead with it anyway.
I do agree with you that the whole endless speech drivel pretty much comes with the territory when you're attending a U2 show or, more specifically, considering Bono. That is, indeed, the way it is and I ain't gonna try to deny that. What I'm taking issue with is the fact that this is the way things are...if that makes sense. Here's where the flaming will stem from...
Hitler committed genocide. He was easily one of the five most evil people in the history of the world. He was, until his death, a recognized mass-murderer, psychopath, and general lunatic--globally, he was recognized as such. Just because that's the way he was, though, does it make it okay for him to slaughter millions of innocent people? No. If you think so, then you're a fucking idiot.
Now, Bono is no mass-murderer, he's not evil (in fact, he's CLEARLY the opposite), and I'm not trying to draw ANY parallels between these two men. What I'm trying to do is point out that your logic is inherently flawed; I mean, you can dig on Bono's sermonizing, just as can anybody else. Maybe that's just your cup of tea--I can't understand that in the least, but I can try to respect it. Simply saying that "that's how Bono is," though, doesn't make any fucking sense at all. That sort of logic, and I'm moving beyond music without leaving it behind, is terribly dangerous.
I'm not saying you're a Nazi or some stupid-ass shit like that--I'm just saying that the sort of reasoning you use does not even remotely hold up under scrutiny. I'm a Cubs fan, but I want the team NOT to suck, anymore. They do suck. They have sucked, uncannily, for quite some time. But I don't like them because "that's the way they are." I love the team because I've enjoyed a lot of their non-losing moments. I want them to be something more and STOP losing.
I hope that makes sense. I've tried my best to be objectively, and inoffensively, critical not even of anybody's opinions, but of a given logical approach. Holla.
Oh, yes. KUEF--I can only speak for myself, but I've always had a problem with the sermon thing. Especially when it's written into the show. I find the "Sunday Bloody Sunday" performance highlighted on
Rattle and Hum to be quite powerful simply because it was NOT "scripted." And, like I said earlier, the Zoo TV Sarajevo links kicked good taste in the nuts, as far as I'm concerned. Just imagine, I guess, if "Please" were to be played in its entirey on this tour--I think it'd be a lot more powerful to let an already powerful song do the talking, rather than saddle it with a bunch of burdensome, repetitive, ham-fisted rhetoric which you've already heard a million times from this guy (on the radio, in magazines, on television news, entertainment, and music programs, and even at other shows, if you've attended them) before.
It's like looking at
The Bible. If you look at the whole bloated thing, it makes a lot less sense and seems far, far less appealing than if somebody just gives you the basic tenants of Christian faith, which make a lot of sense when they're not delivered with so much internally contradictory hoo-ha all over the place.
Fuck. Now I've attacked
The Bible. I anticipate death. Just remember, again, that I'm not attacking Christian values, but rather a given mode of discourse and what I see as its shortcomings (comparable, again, what I see as the shortcomings of the soapboxing at the shows).