Weird Popmart performances of One (especially in south america)

[DU2]

I was noticing, while listening to some popmart shows, that One has seen a lot of crappy performances in that era. Morumbi 1998 and Santiago Chile from the same year are the worst, with Bono messing up even with the lyrics in a very embarassing way. Then we have Mexico 1997, with Bono's voice really struggling to hit those notes.
No need to mention Sarajevo and other occasions.
Do you agree?

 

[Galeongirl]

One had a shitload of shitty performances between 1997 and 2006... Pretty much almost all of them were dead and spiritless, or the lyrics were fucked up or the vocals were shite. Same with WOWY.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

It's what happens when you play the damn song at every damn show.

 

[lemonfly]

When a band are bored as fuck of playing some of their old warhorses, it's difficult to disguise it. One, Pride, WOWY...tbh I don't think any of those songs have been played consistently with any real gusto since frickin Zoo TV.

 

[digitize]

I love PopMart One performances. Mexico City and Sarajevo are two of my favorite ones, not in spite of Bono's vocals, but because of them.

 

[Vlaco]

Mexico City is great. Bono's really struggling, probably because of Michael Hutchence's death. It makes the song more emotional.

 

[schnumi]

I actually love the mexico Popmart performance.

 

[BVS]

Can we really call One a "warhorse" during popmart? It was only one tour old...

 

[Axver]

Popmart Sarajevo is pretty much the only version of One that I even really appreciate on any level, studio or live, since Bono is so passionate even if his voice is shot.

But yeah, by the end of Popmart there were some pretty shitty performances of it and it's only got worse since. Ditching the Hear Us Coming verse at most shows in recent years has done the song no favours live.

 

[Globo14]

I love the song, and the ZooTV versions are generally great. But the only version I really like post-1993 would be Slane Castle.

 

[The_acrobat]

One, With or without you and Pride really need to take a time out next tour. These 3 songs have been so very STALE the past few tours.

I'd also say the same for SBS, Streets, and BD, but they aren't as bad. PLUS, here you have their 6 biggest hits, and they aren't going to ditch all of them.

 

[digitize]

One I think was pretty good on 360, especially considering that Bono had a reasonably high frequency of singing Hear Us Coming. Also, I really loved some of the transitions that he came up with. Especially Hallelujah.

With or Without you... yeah, that was often stale. But I love the song enough to have a hard time letting it bothering me. And there were some good performances.

Pride took a long break on 360, but it was getting very stale. I don't think it's a very good live song anyway.

I thought that 360 SBS was awesome.

Streets is Streets. Beautiful Day isn't going anywhere.

 

[Vlaco]

With Or Without You should be dropped. It's almost an insult (to the beauty of the song), the way it has been played over the last couple of tours.

 

[cobl04]

I enjoyed WOWY a great deal on 360 I thought the way Bono changed the rhythm of the lyrics was really good.

If anything needs a rest it's Sunday Bloody Sunday and Beautiful Day. Both were pretty flat on 360 in my opinion. The latter in particular was a horrible opener.

 

[LemonMelon]

360 WOWY is the worst ever. A complete waste of a slot, really. I think only Bullet on Vertigo was more embarrassing.

I actually didn't mind One on Popmart. It was OK, and occasionally still extremely emotional (Mexico City, Sarajevo). Somewhere after or around the time of the MJB version, I grew disillusioned with that song live. It sounds like a damn jingle every time they play it, complete with PSA. It's ass.

Of course, songs with real guts like EBTTRT, Electric Co, NLOTH, etc. get a leg or two at max.

 

[Vlaco]

360 WOWY is the worst ever. A complete waste of a slot, really. I think only Bullet on Vertigo was more embarrassing.

I actually didn't mind One on Popmart. It was OK, and occasionally still extremely emotional (Mexico City, Sarajevo). Somewhere after or around the time of the MJB version, I grew disillusioned with that song live. It sounds like a damn jingle every time they play it, complete with PSA. It's ass.

Of course, songs with real guts like EBTTRT, Electric Co, NLOTH, etc. get a leg or two at max.

I agree with all of this.

 

[U2387]

As others have pointed out, PopMart One made up in emotion what it lacked in vocal quality.

I, for one, thought they were still putting plenty of effort into it on Elevation. Someone mentioned Slane Castle, that was actually pretty representative of the era in terms of performance. Plus, all the post 9/11 versions in America were incredible, all kinds of passion and emotion.

The only time One sucked was on the Vertigo Tour. It was, as was already mentioned, a flat PSA.

360 was great. Legs 1 and 2 had a lot of "Hear Us Coming" and the 2010/11 versions had great transitions and the falsetto nailed at the end. Throughout, either the whole song or most of it was sung brilliantly. Even on Legs 1 and 2, when it was a bit flat in the first verses, it always seemed to take off at "love is a temple....."

Nothing wrong with 360 One.

WOWY was crap in 2009, spectacular in 2010 and mediocre in 2011.

Pride 360 was the best it's been since Zoo TV, and in some cases, was better than Zoo TV. The rest they gave it was certainly good.

SBS 360 was easily the best since the JT Tour.

None of these classics have consistently sucked. They just need to rotate and rest them on the next tour, much like they did with Pride on 360.

 

[The_acrobat]

I think that on a nightly basis, U2 should do more of what they did a little of on 360, rotating the warhorses. For example,

Pride / SBS
NYD / IWF
ISHFWILF / AIWIY

I think One, Streets and BD are never leaving any U2 show from here on out.

Why doesn't anybody tell Bono that he sounds like shit during WOWY? He obviously can't hear it for himself, otherwise he'd have changed by now. It's like he purposely sings off rhythm, and just kinda half talks his way through it. I really can't enjoy it live because of this.

 

[BVS]

Why doesn't anybody tell Bono that he sounds like shit during WOWY? He obviously can't hear it for himself, otherwise he'd have changed by now. It's like he purposely sings off rhythm, and just kinda half talks his way through it. I really can't enjoy it live because of this.

We can thank macphisto for that. That's when Bono started butchering wowy, that's when he started the whole half talk approach to the song and for some unexplainable reason it stuck.

 

[djerdap]

I don't buy this blaming it on Macphisto for a second. To think that this short-term character was such an influence on Bono singing the song for 20 years after the fact is quite a stretch. Plus there were great versions of With or Without You in 1993. Even the late ones like on the Sydney DVD have more emotion vocal-wise (namely in the ending) than most of what came afterwards.

 

[corianderstem]

I came back around to liking WOWY again in 2011, but I certainly wouldn't miss it if they decided to give it a break.

 

[Galeongirl]

I also liked last year's version, finally some passion back.

The vertigo versions were particularly dreadful. As if a Dementor has come to visit and sucked all the joy out of it(yes I'm watching Harry Potter 3 atm )

 

[BVS]

I don't buy this blaming it on Macphisto for a second. To think that this short-term character was such an influence on Bono singing the song for 20 years after the fact is quite a stretch.

But that's exactly when it started. He didn't "talk" the verses until the end of that tour when he introduced Mac, and he never really returned to fully singing it after that. I'm not saying this character influenced Bono, I think it's a combination of a lot of things; it being a warhorse of a song, it's usually towards the end of a show so I think that has to do with it, and I think he learned during Zoo that he can rest a little if he "talked" the verses.

 

[marshall faulk]

I think BD worked pretty well on 360, just not as an opener.

Generally I thought WOWY completely stunk on 360. The spoken verses, no coda at the end most of the time, even Edge seemed to abbreviate his guitar parts. Terrible. That said, I was shocked at the quality of the U22 recording - it was a pleasant surprise and proved to me Bono can still make that song work if he wants to.

Maybe by 2015 I'll be ready for Pride to return.

 

[DU2]

They can make any song work if they want to, but they just need to take a break from some classics that we have already mentioned. Damn, we have plenty of songs that weren't on the last 3/4 tours that, put together, could make an entire show. For example, think of the quantity of songs from records like Pop that haven't been played for more than a decade now (why the heck did they ditch Gone? it sounded just awesome on the elevation tour) or even songs from No Line (such as Stand Up Comedy, Cedars, White As Snow, Fez) that haven't been chosen for 360.
Let's face it, U2 have a huge mass of songs that could be played to have different setlists every night on a tour, and that would be just amazing, but they're lazy asses lying in the ''comfort zone'' since ZooTV playing their warhorses again and again.
Which we enjoy, of course, but we're all getting a bit bored after 25 years of With or Without You while Gone or Exit lie forgotten and unplayed.

 

[djerdap]

But that's exactly when it started. He didn't "talk" the verses until the end of that tour when he introduced Mac, and he never really returned to fully singing it after that. I'm not saying this character influenced Bono, I think it's a combination of a lot of things; it being a warhorse of a song, it's usually towards the end of a show so I think that has to do with it, and I think he learned during Zoo that he can rest a little if he "talked" the verses.

http://www.u2interference.com/forum...one-especially-in-south-america-214902-2.html

Lazier than the versions on the JT tour? Sure, it's not as majestic as some of those arrangements. But there's still more motivation and emotion in Bono's voice than most of what came from Popmart onwards. I don't hear that lazy "talking" here that I hear now. I simply hear next to no similarities between his vocal performance here and what came on the last tour.

One of those Interference myths that Macphisto "ruined" With or Without You. Some of those 1993 versions were still amazing. The band got sick of the song, Bono's voice deteriorated seriously after 1995 and these are the two reasons why that song should probably never be played live again IMO.

 

[BVS]

One of those Interference myths that Macphisto "ruined" With or Without You. Some of those 1993 versions were still amazing. The band got sick of the song, Bono's voice deteriorated seriously after 1995 and these are the two reasons why that song should probably never be played live again IMO.

Really? I didn't realize anyone else had this thought.

I saw them in 92 and wowy was killer! Then I remember buying Sydney on VHS the day of its release and watching it, the only song that disappointed me was wowy, it wasn't comparable to what I got earlier in the tour and it was a shadow of a version compared to the previous tour. So I saw how it got dumbed down right before my eyes and why I'll always blame that leg of the tour for the version we get today.

 

[AndrewCowley]

The ending to the Sydney Zoo TV version is monumental. More than makes up for the first part which is mediocre.

 

[trevgreg]

I think that on a nightly basis, U2 should do more of what they did a little of on 360, rotating the warhorses. For example,

Pride / SBS
NYD / IWF
ISHFWILF / AIWIY

I think One, Streets and BD are never leaving any U2 show from here on out.

I agree with the songs you say are going to stay put in shows from now on. And while the idea of alternating some songs each night seems reasonable, the problem that would come up for people there is when their song isn't played at the show they're attending. While that's not anything new when it comes to fans going to shows, I'm not sure how it would help the great set list debate in the end. To be fair though, would anything? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

They can make any song work if they want to, but they just need to take a break from some classics that we have already mentioned. Damn, we have plenty of songs that weren't on the last 3/4 tours that, put together, could make an entire show. For example, think of the quantity of songs from records like Pop that haven't been played for more than a decade now (why the heck did they ditch Gone? it sounded just awesome on the elevation tour) or even songs from No Line (such as Stand Up Comedy, Cedars, White As Snow, Fez) that haven't been chosen for 360.
Let's face it, U2 have a huge mass of songs that could be played to have different setlists every night on a tour, and that would be just amazing, but they're lazy asses lying in the ''comfort zone'' since ZooTV playing their warhorses again and again.
Which we enjoy, of course, but we're all getting a bit bored after 25 years of With or Without You while Gone or Exit lie forgotten and unplayed.

I agree that there's a few songs they could pull out for variety (most notably Gone, as you mentioned). But I think they did play all the NLOTH songs that they could pull off live though without boring the crowd to tears. I didn't mind them going into more of the Achtung material last year on their final leg, mostly since I hadn't seen those songs live before and since they worked very well in a live setting. They hadn't released new material for two years at that point, and even if they had kept stuff like Breathe or the title track in (which I enjoyed live), people would still be complaining about how they don't play this or that and why they're still playing songs they were performing two years before. So again, it's really a non-win situation there.

 

[Von Schloopen]

It's funny how much passion comes out when a thread is about how shite U2 are.