Compared to Bono, do you think the others remember better?

[theu2fly]

Edge
Adam
Larry

When they perform an older song, while Bono struggles with lyrics at times, do you think Edge/Adam/Larry don't struggle? They remember much better? Like "Oh, he's going into this song, this is how it's performed this way, hope Bono remembers the words"

Like if Bono snippeted "Heartland" and sang a few more lines of the song, do you think, without rehearsal, the band could pick up and play it as if no big deal?

 

[BVS]

Well don't you think it's easier to remember patterns than it is words?

3 chords for the verse, 2 chords for the chorus, same 3 chords for the verse, same 2 chords for the chorus, and maybe one extra chord thrown in to make a bridge.

Now compare that to remembering 14 different lines with only the chorus repeating...

Which do you think is easier?

 

[Galeongirl]

When Willie suggested Scarlet, Adam played the riff from the top of his head right there.

 

[Marien]

Well don't you think it's easier to remember patterns than it is words?

3 chords for the verse, 2 chords for the chorus, same 3 chords for the verse, same 2 chords for the chorus, and maybe one extra chord thrown in to make a bridge.

Now compare that to remembering 14 different lines with only the chorus repeating...

Which do you think is easier?

And not only that, try to remember these 14 different lines in their correct position with the correct melody for the around 150 songs they've published along 31 years, try to remember them when it is 20 years since you last sang some of them
or simply try to write a song today, keep it in an envelope and try to sing it in a week without having looked at it in all that time, then you'll realise how difficult it is.

The rest of the band also make mistakes (not so often maybe), but many times few people notice them because they aren't musicians.

 

[mikal]

i've never respected the notion that they simply don't remember a song. if you were to ask me to learn any U2 song on the guitar, i would go online and look at the tabs, and be set within 2 hours tops. i think they're just lazy, to be honest.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

i've never respected the notion that they simply don't remember a song. if you were to ask me to learn any U2 song on the guitar, i would go online and look at the tabs, and be set within 2 hours tops. i think they're just lazy, to be honest.

can you play 500 songs off the top of your head? And not just the riff, but the entire thing, from top to bottom?

Furthermore, could you do it if it's a song you haven't played in years? Of course they could spend a few hours rehearsing a song, but you don't honestly expect them to be able to whip out any old song when prompted?

 

[mikal]

can you play 500 songs off the top of your head? And not just the riff, but the entire thing, from top to bottom?

Furthermore, could you do it if it's a song you haven't played in years? Of course they could spend a few hours rehearsing a song, but you don't honestly expect them to be able to whip out any old song when prompted?

no i can't play 500 songs off the top of my head, but with rehearsal time, i'd have no problem. and The Edge is more talented than i am, so it should never be an issue.

 

[Swan269]

I do remember Willy or Sam Sullivan saying that Larry doesn't really need to rehearse old songs...he just remembers. I think the comment was in reference to playing Ultraviolet or HMTMKMKM for the tour.

I think its harder for Bono to remember because during the recording process he changes around the lyric so much he may forget long term when he tries to put it together. Remember, he has said he hates to rehearse so its not really a surprise he isn't as sharp as he could be for performing. he would rather read the lyrics off of a sheet of paper!

 

[theedgeu2]

Well 500 songs is a lot but you'll be surprised at how many songs a musician can remember right off the top of their head. In fact our band brought back a song we hadn't played in a LOOONG time and we nailed it, with the exception of missing one chorus. It's almost like that once you learn something you can't really forget it. Works that way for me anyway. Vocalists I'd imagine have a tougher time with remembering their lyrics as there is way more to it. Now if a guitar player is playing individual notes, as opposed to chords, it might be tougher. All of it depends on the type of singer, guitar player, bassist, drummer, etc...

 

[lemonfly]

I'm not a musician, but I strongly believe in the principle of "muscle memory". The idea is when you learn to do something physical well, it's not that hard to relearn it after a proloned period time. This goes for playing guitars and drums, so it's probably not that difficult for Edge, Larry and Adam to play dozens of songs over the course of a tour.
Bono has to use a different type of memory to recall lyrics and melody, and it's probably harder for him. All in all, I think a guitarist or drummer has an easier time recalling a song than a singer does.

 

[Axver]

I've always thought it hilariously sad that Bono has the easiest job of the lot (as much as BVS et al. may disagree) and seems to have the greatest trouble doing it. Out of all the musicians I know personally, and out of all the musicians whose careers I have followed as a fan, Bono is the only singer I can think of who can't remember his own bloody songs, even those he has performed within recent months. I've heard more than one songwriter remark that you don't forget your own songs, and that if you get the first lyric, the rest follows. Hell, last year, I saw Neil Finn and Crowded House respond to a request for a song they hadn't played in about 23 or 24 years - and they nailed it. Meanwhile, let's go ask Bono if he can remember Electrical Storm or Your Blue Room or Unknown Caller, all played on the current tour. Bet you he can't do it.

It's fairly well known that Bono isn't too keen on rehearsals, and he's so pre-occupied with this or that distraction from his day job that it's little wonder that he sometimes can't remember the fucking chorus while Edge can pull out rarely played or long-abandoned songs and nail it, solo and all. That most recent performance of One Tree Hill proves my point. But let's be honest, Bono got into a band because he thought it'd be cool, not because he's a particularly passionate musician, so why are we surprised?

Anyway, I'll go put on my flame suit ...

 

[Swan269]

Hell, last year, I saw Neil Finn and Crowded House respond to a request for a song they hadn't played in about 23 or 24 years - and they nailed it. Meanwhile, let's go ask Bono if he can remember Electrical Storm or Your Blue Room or Unknown Caller, all played on the current tour. Bet you he can't do it.

Totally agreed, I have seen Glen Phillips and Fran Healy over the last couple of years and people request some rare stuff and they can remember the songs.

also, very funny point he probably couldn't remember unknown caller.

I was at the NY show when he botched Stay really bad, and he claims that is one of the songs he is most proud of.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

no i can't play 500 songs off the top of my head, but with rehearsal time, i'd have no problem. and The Edge is more talented than i am, so it should never be an issue.

My bad, I was more under the notion that we were talking about on-the-spot playing of any given song.

 

[edge-evans]

Maybe Bono just gets easily distracted on stage in front of 60,000 people. He is feeling so much energy that he spaces out get lost in himself and effs up.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

But let's be honest, Bono got into a band because he thought it'd be cool, not because he's a particularly passionate musician, so why are we surprised?

Anyway, I'll go put on my flame suit ...

Ive read some ridiculous crap on this website over the years, but this really takes the cake. Maybe Bono got into a band because he thought it would be cool, not because he was dealing with a lot of shit after losing his mother and feeling isolated growing up in the house with his father and brother with whom he didn't connect.

Though i doubt that. I suspect music was an escape from reality for him, and despite wanting to be cool or "thinking it'd be cool", he didn't fit in anywhere else. No school, no group of friends, whatever. I think all of his friends might have been in some kind of band anyway, who knows.

But the last part of what you wrote there, Bono not a particularly passionate musician? WTF? Are you high or something?

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Ive read some ridiculous crap on this website over the years, but this really takes the cake. Maybe Bono got into a band because he thought it would be cool, not because he was dealing with a lot of shit after losing his mother and feeling isolated growing up in the house with his father and brother with whom he didn't connect.

Though i doubt that. I suspect music was an escape from reality for him, and despite wanting to be cool or "thinking it'd be cool", he didn't fit in anywhere else. No school, no group of friends, whatever. I think all of his friends might have been in some kind of band anyway, who knows.

But the last part of what you wrote there, Bono not a particularly passionate musician? WTF? Are you high or something?

Or the fact that they were all pretty bad musicians when they made a band at the age of 14/16. And they've admitted so themselves.

 

[MikeyJB]

^ It doesn't matter if you are a terrible musician, you can still be a passionate one. Look at the Sex Pistols or any of those punk artists or people involved in experimental music, they were passionate but were hardly likely to win any prizes for musicianship.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I never said you couldn't? Go back and read what was initially written.

 

[U2girl]

LOL @ the claims Bono has the easiest job. It gets funnier each time it's repeated.

And frankly none of them are that great at digging up oldies.

 

[Rachel D.]

In my first two years of high school, I had to memorize poems and then either recite them from memory or write them out with exact punctuation and everything. That was nine years ago and I could probably say a few lines of some of them, but I would need to look at them again to refresh my memory. And I learned that no matter how much you study something, when you're put on the spot and someone says, "All right, GO!" and you have to recite it correctly on the spot, it's still really hard to do that under pressure and in front of an audience. And then sometimes my mind went blank when I tried to think of what the first line was! I've always figured that singers go through the same thing when they sing. Plus, creative people can be really scatterbrained.

 

[Tommy WM]

I think Bono just gets wasted before shows these days. 3 out of 4 shows I saw in 2010 I swear he was drunk. I will admit One Tree Hill in Santiago was pretty awful...to hype up the song and then stuff up the intro is pretty bad. Not only was that singer not that great but Bono said her name wrong also. Bless him

 

[BVS]

Why do you think he was drunk? How was the one show different when he was "sober"?

 

[Galeongirl]

That's awesome. Drunk Bono on stage. yeah he's totally pulling Eddie Vedders now.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

That's awesome. Drunk Bono on stage. yeah he's totally pulling Eddie Vedders now.

if i lost 65 million on spiderman id be drunk too (just like McGuinness)

someone get that man a ukulele

 

[theedgeu2]

McGuinness getting drunk, having his IEMs arrive, and pissing us U2 fans off by claiming an album will be released in May when it really will not.

 

[Tommy WM]

Why do you think he was drunk? How was the one show different when he was "sober"?

I saw both Melbourne and Sydney shows and he simply looked and sounded like he had a few. The after party of the first Melbourne show was at Crown Casino and was apparently massive.

 

[Galeongirl]

if i lost 65 million on spiderman id be drunk too (just like McGuinness)

someone get that man a ukulele

Then the people who paid for that musial should be drunk non stop. I seriously doubt Bono lost any money over that.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Ive read some ridiculous crap on this website over the years, but this really takes the cake. Maybe Bono got into a band because he thought it would be cool, not because he was dealing with a lot of shit after losing his mother and feeling isolated growing up in the house with his father and brother with whom he didn't connect.

Though i doubt that. I suspect music was an escape from reality for him, and despite wanting to be cool or "thinking it'd be cool", he didn't fit in anywhere else. No school, no group of friends, whatever. I think all of his friends might have been in some kind of band anyway, who knows.

But the last part of what you wrote there, Bono not a particularly passionate musician? WTF? Are you high or something?

Wholeheartedly agree. Come on, Ax, you're better than that.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

That's awesome. Drunk Bono on stage. yeah he's totally pulling Eddie Vedders now.

The irony of that statement is brilliant.

Perhaps if bono took a few bottles of red on stage with him every night the way eddie does he'd be able to remember all the words to an ever changing setlist that features rarely played, obscure songs regularly. Oh, and play guitar on at least half the songs.


I think it's sad that u2 can't break out songs without rehearsing them heavily first. It really takes away from the live experience. And they're still great live despite this. If they could do this? Wow...

 

[Joey788]

I never really had a problem with Bono forgetting song lyrics until I was at their New York show in 2009 and he messed up Streets. He started singing the chorus instead of the next verse. That mainly bothered me because Streets is such an experiential song and I felt it took a lot of people out of the moment.

As for who has the easiest job, I think it varies song to song. I'm sure Bono would have had an easier time recalling "Scarlet" then Edge since he sings one word in it. But if you asked him to sing something like "Heartland" or "A Sort of Homecoming," I doubt he'd do as well.