Bono's Vocal Range

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Well, I agree about Streets. I still think it is amazing and really does not sound flat to me, but in between Vertigo and now, I was really hoping that he experimented with the deep voice verse/chorus Streets once again. I thought the last leg Vertigo performances had the outline of those JT versions so to speak, and I was hoping for a return to the lower register for the verses.

Have a look at Tokyo 2006 Streets for example. It sounded great and he actually changed the tone of his voice throughout.

Tokyo 2006 sounded pretty good actually.

Full credit for trying to incorporate the slane style intro in steets at Rose Bowl, but it made be cringe at points when he just couldnt hold it
YouTube - U2 Where The Streets Have No Name Live At Slane Castle
In terms of the key and spectacular intro..
Slane > Rose Bowl.
 
Just have, sounds really brilliant. I wish they recorded a DVD on that leg of the Vertigo Tour. Its annoying not having something decent to remember one of Bono's best vocal legs in a tour. His voice just sounded so fresh, raw and powerful. Maybe we will get the same on the 3rd leg though, remember he has had quite a long break now to rest his voice. He hasnt performed at the Brits nor Grammys so his voice should be in sparkling condition, hopefully he will take advantage of that and really bring the power back to Streets, Pride, SBS, WOWY and even bring back some power to Beautiful Day. When you compare BD back to 2001 it really has gone down hill. I used to love that " The Goal is soal " he used to sing really passionate and powerful. I reckon Elevation should be dropped, it only worked as an Opener imo, it looses its power when played half way through the set. So yes, on a positive note, we could another Vertigo 5th leg Bono voice in this 360 third leg.

We'll stay tuned! I have high hopes as well. He's been great, and I think he'll be even better with the rest in between.

Agree 100% on Elevation, give that a rest for some Pop rockers!!
 
Rattle and Hum was on one of our local HD channels, hadn't seen it in a long time.

Regardless of whether Bono is hitting a low 'A', a middle 'B', a high 'C' or a 'Z' flat, he SOUNDED better back then.

Each to their own.

Argue it until the cows home, but no amount of analysis will convince me the mediocrity I saw at the Rose Bowl comes close to what I was seeing and hearing from 84 to 93
 
I dont know what shows on 360 people visited, but I cant agree with you, I think it is his best tour ever and let this video speek

YouTube - Bono, vocal highlights from 360 tour era




You call this good? He cant sing here, all he do is straning his voice and fails to hit the notes right.





Watch the video is posted above :)
I don't care, the emotion he puts in it is much more important to me than great techniques or whatever.
 
Sure but that is a matter of taste, isn't it? Just like me liking Edge's guitar sound better than the sound of the guitar player in my friends band.

Of course it is.

His vocal range may or may not be 'better'.

He may or may not be a 'better' singer.

Ultimately it's all down to personal preference, and trying to convince people one version of any song such as WOWY or UV is better now than then is pointless. If it doesn't sound as good it isn't better.
 
Ultimately it's all down to personal preference, and trying to convince people one version of any song such as WOWY or UV is better now than then is pointless.

I agree.

I've heard songs on this tour that I think is much better than before, but also the other way around. For me his voice has always been great, but after POP and maybe during some of the Elevation Tour (there were some highlights back then also, like All I Want is You), I felt he was struggling. But during Vertigo he was back on track.
 
I agree.

I've heard songs on this tour that I think is much better than before, but also the other way around. For me his voice has always been great, but after POP and maybe during some of the Elevation Tour (there were some highlights back then also, like All I Want is You), I felt he was struggling. But during Vertigo he was back on track.

It's much more of a "your mileage may vary" in recent years, I thought he was crap on the 1st Vertigo leg much better on the 3rd. And while some may wax lyrical about he has been on 360, the only performance I saw in person, Rose Bowl, was not up to par.
 
I dont know what shows on 360 people visited, but I cant agree with you, I think it is his best tour ever and let this video speek

YouTube - Bono, vocal highlights from 360 tour era

The irony of this is palpable. People bitch about Bono doing nothing but shouting from 1987-1990, yet half of this video is Bono shouting/straining. The truth we can extract from this is that vocal strength is inherently a good thing. Based on this, and the fact that his objective "highlights" from the past two legs of 360 exhibit it on a lesser scale, I think we can surmise that Bono's Lovetown voice was, in fact, extremely good, considering he sounded like this every night, and less geriatric in doing so.
 
yet half of this video is Bono shouting/straining

I added that in the video to proof that he still got it, but he only sometimes. On Lovwtown he scream and strained all the time wich went tedious, often becuse wasnt able to hit notes without doing it.

On 360 he does it sometimes, the reason is to take care of the voice. Wich result that the screaming feels more special instead of make it tedious. On 360 he can choose if he want to hit note clean and correct(wich was very hard for him on LT) or choose to scream it.

I dont know why people are impressed with the LT tour, because it isnt hard to sing like that(screaming/straining), but to hit a note correct is harder and why it is more impressing to listen to him now. On 360 he has both the technique and the raw power.(just listen to the first song in my clip UTEOTW, it sounds just like LT days).

YouTube - Bono, vocal highlights from 360 tour era
 
Technicalities or otherwise, Bono still isn't even that good of a singer.

I listened to the video, and LeMel is spot on. He's still straining constantly, and you'd be deaf not to notice that. I don't deny that he's had his moments on this tour, but they're much more few and far between than on Lovetown.
 
Technicalities or otherwise, Bono still isn't even that good of a singer.

I don't think I'd say that he isn't "that good of a singer," but in a recent interview, Steve Lilywhite said Bono isn't the most talented singer he's ever worked with, but that he works hard and is committed to being the best he can be. Also, I'm not sure if you'd find anyone that emotes better than he does, and that makes up for a hell of a lot. I'd rather listen to a somewhat flawed voice with the right degree of emotion, than to a technically perfect but generic singer any day.
 
I don't think I'd say that he isn't "that good of a singer," but in a recent interview, Steve Lilywhite said Bono isn't the most talented singer he's ever worked with, but that he works hard and is committed to being the best he can be. Also, I'm not sure if you'd find anyone that emotes better than he does, and that makes up for a hell of a lot. I'd rather listen to a somewhat flawed voice with the right degree of emotion, than to a technically perfect but generic singer any day.

OH I agree completely on the emotion, but people in this thread seem to think he's a gottdamn concert hall soloist.
 
I don't think I'd say that he isn't "that good of a singer," but in a recent interview, Steve Lilywhite said Bono isn't the most talented singer he's ever worked with, but that he works hard and is committed to being the best he can be. Also, I'm not sure if you'd find anyone that emotes better than he does, and that makes up for a hell of a lot.

Maybe I put that the wrong way. I'm a big fan of how he emotes in song, and always have been. But he's incredibly unconventional as far as technicality goes, and it just seems odd to put him on a pedestal for that.

His opera's pretty good, though. He should do that more often.
 
OH I agree completely on the emotion, but people in this thread seem to think he's a gottdamn concert hall soloist.

Maybe I put that the wrong way. I'm a big fan of how he emotes in song, and always have been. But he's incredibly unconventional as far as technicality goes, and it just seems odd to put him on a pedestal for that.

His opera's pretty good, though. He should do that more often.

:up:
 
Now, that Love Rescue Me at the end of one of Peterrrrrrrrrrr's clips - if Bono sang like that all the time, I don't think many of us would be arguing.
 
I just wanted to add that the way I see it is some things he does better now, some things worse. I don't think anyone can unequivocally say that one era is better than the other. They're just different, and it's a matter of taste. Personally, I'm genuinely impressed with his voice this tour (although I know there are flaws, too), and I still maintain that I think his current performances of UV blow all other eras away. I think the bottom line is, love his current voice or hate it, you'd be hard pressed to find any other rock vocalist 30 years into a steady, active career who has maintained as much ability as he has, and that in itself is impressive.
 
Its alright slamming now and then performances where his voice has actually been good in a 10 minute video, but as a tour overall, he is way to inconsistent. Thats the problem.
 
The irony of this is palpable. People bitch about Bono doing nothing but shouting from 1987-1990, yet half of this video is Bono shouting/straining. The truth we can extract from this is that vocal strength is inherently a good thing. Based on this, and the fact that his objective "highlights" from the past two legs of 360 exhibit it on a lesser scale, I think we can surmise that Bono's Lovetown voice was, in fact, extremely good, considering he sounded like this every night, and less geriatric in doing so.

Well...he was 20 years younger on Lovetown. It's a tad easier to scream on a nightly basis, which does sum up the 80's for Bono. The current voice gets moaned about for being weak - but it's only a consequence for screaming for 20 years and being a smoker. The *power* that gets so much praise nearly destroyed his career by the end of Lovetown.

Shot voice shows ? Can happen anytime. And he hasn't been consistent since Zoo TV, if we're talking about that criteria.

The difference is that it the big notes now won't cause him to drop shows and being told by a doctor to stop pushing it. There won't be a huge drop as seen from 1995-2001 (in face there'a resurgence ever since Electrical Storm). He doesn't strain as much now (the benefit of actually knowing what he's doing in terms of singing) or he'd have to cancel shows a lot more frequently than the 80's, given he still goes for those same screams only this time with a 2 decade mileage.
 
Now, that Love Rescue Me at the end of one of Peterrrrrrrrrrr's clips - if Bono sang like that all the time, I don't think many of us would be arguing.

I'd be arguing if he sang Love Rescue Me all the time, one of the worst......
 
YouTube - Bono, vocal highlights from 360 tour era




You call this good? He cant sing here, all he do is straning his voice and fails to hit the notes right.




can't disagree more Peter, to me this version of Bad (I meant Point Depot 89) is 10 times better than any performance of this song of the last 15 years. And I'm talking about his voice only (not counting the fact that Larry is hitting harder and the band is at its best)
 
Thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin. That's his voice now. He can hit some high notes, but anything lower than a high C or whatever the fuck we call it just sounds thin.

I don't give a tuppenny fuck about the technical aspects of his voice. I'll take his Hawkmoon 269 vocals any day over his Moment of Surrender vocals.
 
There is one side of this argument, no matter how subjective this is supposed to be, that has been wrong since Interference has existed.

It doesn't take much to know. You don't have to know dick about notes or ranges or any technicalities to hear it. If you hear it, just be glad that your ears do not deceive you.

I think he is a better singer now, technically, but to be fair he does hit the notes in the video you are referring to.

What good does it do to be more technically proficient at making pizzas than you used to be, when your pizza sauce tastes a lot shittier than it used to?

I'd rather have a simply good fucking sloppy ass pizza. :wave:
 
You call this good? He cant sing here, all he do is straning his voice and fails to hit the notes right.

I think Peter knows some stuff about singing and Bono's voice in particular.

But those of you who want to believe that Bono was a better singer back in the 80s just don't want to accept it.

I listened to the 1987 Paris show yesterday, by accident, because it was played on the radio and I just thought: Oh wow, he was screaming so much, no matter his voice suffered.

I prefer Bono as a singer as he is today becasue I want him to sing and not to scream. I prefer him to have more control over his voice and some technical skills. It's almost painful to me to listen to some of the performances of the 80s because he's screaming so much.

And everyone saying he wasn't straining back then is simply in denial. He was straining so much, it damaged his voice. He just hadn't learned how to sing properly.
 
I personally wouldn't consider the JT tour anywhere near Lovetown, Conspiracy of Hope or UF. But I'd still take the barrel chested screams over the strangled pigeon he utilises now.
 
I personally wouldn't consider the JT tour anywhere near Lovetown, Conspiracy of Hope or UF. But I'd still take the barrel chested screams over the strangled pigeon he utilises now.

Sad Punk, I completely agree with you. Bono's voice sounded MUCH better, cooler, sexier, more rock'n'roll, more authoritative, in the late 80s.

His apologists can go on all they want about how it's "technically" better now (when did this ever matter in rock music?), but IT JUST DOESN'T SOUND AS GOOD. The strangled puppy yelps off the top of "Moment of Surrender" and the absurd falsetto in "Crazy Tonight" are the first times I have ever laughed out loud at Bono's studio vocals.

Now, however... Sad Punk, I would ask you to consider featuring a better-looking ball player in your avatar. This one has much too large of a chin. Take Philly'sFans avatar, for instance -- he's much more attractive.
 
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