Bullet The Blue Sky- Elevation Tour

[2861U2]

One of my favorite songs the past few weeks has been BTBS from the Boston DVD, and I was curious about something. At the end of the song he does that whole rant about John Lennon and Mark Chapman. Did he make that up on the spot, or does he write those things beforehand and memorize them? Likewise, on the Slane DVD he talks about the IRA. Does he have a few of those "speeches" that he memorizes and rotates?

For those who went to Elevation shows, did he do a long rant at the end of BTBS each night, and if so, were they different each night, or did he (like I said) have a few he used in rotation?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I don't remember very much about Elevation other than OMG BONO IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!!11!!

I do know that the majority of his "rants" and speeches are choreographed as part of the show and tend to be scripted, not all the time of course but generally...

 

[BVS]

I saw them twice on Elevation and the "rant" was slightly different. I think it's a combination of pre-written and ad-lib...

 

[popacrobat]

yeah, the idea and most of the"lyrics" were there, but it was slightly improvised every night too. a bit of both.

 

[corianderstem]

I love that Chapman rant, with the Patti Smith reference in there too.

 

[djerdap]

Ah, the Mark Chapman rant. Love that part, one of Bono's darker moments and easily one the highlights on that tour. Bono added those lyrics, which were mostly consistent, using them from say June till the end of the 2nd leg. Than it disappeared in the 3rd leg, together with the other best Elevation moments (Gone, The Fly).

 

[dan_smee]

The mark Chapman rant is pieced together from all the shows in Boston and from overdubs.

If you have all of the bootlegs from the Elevation Boston shows, none of them are exactly the same. From memory, night 2 is the closest, but I believe the "676,000 will go down" line is 100% studio added, because he botched the figures. Either way, bits are taken from each to make the full speech