Q. about Bono's guitar playing

[marik]

it seems as if elevation bono spends more time running around the heart, posing for pics, all in all, being more of a showman.
compared to say, Joshua Tree bono, where he was more musician, less showman.

My question is as such. does anyone know which tour, or which era of bono, did he play guitar the most during their shows? I know it depends on the arrangements of the songs, but i'm wondering at what point was bono the most involved in adding the rythem guitar during their live shows. cuz on the elevation tour he only plays on maybe 4 songs. (One, Walk oN, Gone, Kite)

 

[U2girl]

I think he started to play guitar on the Joshua Tree tour - I'm not sure which tour had him play the most guitar - maybe Zoo TV?
He played the Fly, Angel of Harlem (on the early parts of the tour), I still haven't found.... (also early bits of the tour), One and Can't help falling in love and I think he also played the acoustic guitar on Stay when they started to play it on that tour.

 

[JOFO]

If you took out all of his guitar playing you wouldn't notice a difference.

 

[Phalanx]

Interesting piece of trivia: Bono tried out as the guitarist when the band first formed.

 

[U2girl]

"I mean to play the guitar badly, and I do play the guitar badly".-Bono

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure he played I still... acoustic on Zoo TV.

On JT tour I think he played only WOWY, maybe People get ready (until a fan was brought up to play it, that is) - other than that, I don't think so - at least it's not evident on the bootlegs. On Popmart, it was Gone, Last night on Earth, and One (I'm not sure about Staring at the Sun and Desire), and on Elevation it was I will follow (or not, depends on various reports lol), Gone, Kite, One, Walk on. (I'm not sure on People get ready though)

So it would be a tie between Zoo TV (if you include the cover Can't help falling in love) and Elevation tour.

*edit* I imagine he often uses an acoustic guitar when he writes songs when they record the albums, so it's probably not like he doesn't have a clue about playing. IMO, playing guitar on stage may look cool but limits him as a singer/performer.

 

[Stories for Boys]

i was watching rattle and hum last night and it seems to me like he played guitar on far more songs jt than elevation. just off the top of my head: wowy, in god's country, exit, rtss, angel of harlem...and i know i'm missing other things...

 

[Chizip]

does he really play them or just hold them, and if he plays is the guitar even plugged in?

like in the wowy video, for some reason he just has a guitar the entire time which he doesnt play during the whole song, why have a guitar if you dont play it

i think his guitar in those days were like his sunglasses of today, just to "look cool"

 

[Stories for Boys]

true true, , but you can at one point in rattle and hum definatively hear bono's guitar. all 6 or 7 strums....during running to stand still....

 

[gragravar]

He plays guitar on at least one or two of the songs on UABRS, possibly A Day Without Me or something like that. Maybe he played it earlier than that but this is something I will leave to someone else to find out. His guitar playing is generally mixed low to virtually inaudible (good example of that would be The Fly on the Sydney show, but it can clearly be heard, just very low), and even his most enthusiastic admireres would have to admit that his playing is not of the highest standard in terms of raw technical ability, but then that's never what U2's been about. He has however moved on from basic background chords (such as The Fly) to the twiddly bit at the start of Walk On which I always assumed was done by Edge until I saw them play it on the Elevation tour.

 

[JOFO]

. He has however moved on from basic background chords (such as The Fly) to the twiddly bit at the start of Walk On which I always assumed was done by Edge until I saw them play it on the Elevation tour.

I have an issue with that, and I've mentioned it before.

Every other live performance of Walk On has Edge playing the riff before the first verse, but in Boston, Bono has his fingers up there as if he's playing it. However, he never even looks at the frets, and it's a part that is intricate enough that he would have to look. I don't know what happened there, but I think Dallas was playing it backstage, not Bono. Can't prove it, and it really doesn't matter...it's just one of those musican things where I sit there going

 

[gragravar]

Hmmm... I see your point, however I am positive I saw Bono play it in Toronto. Perhaps Dallas was doing his off-stage thing there too of course...

 

[JOFO]

the funny thing is, on the Slane DVD and their appearance on the 2002 grammies as well as their appearance on the tonight show with jay leno, edge is obviously playing the riff. actually, on the tonight show version, edge messes up once or twice, not with wrong notes, but changes to the last part of the riff (on the E chord) too soon. maybe he had some trouble with it for a while. I know as a musician that a part that gives you trouble once can become a head game afterwards.

whatever; it's a beutiful riff and I know edge wrote it, and thats all that counts.

 

[victor_f]

If you took out all of his guitar playing you wouldn't notice a difference.

I notice...

I prefer "With or Without You" when Bono plays some notes on his guitar...

 

[sthomas]

"I prefer "With or Without You" when Bono plays some notes on his guitar..."

I completely agree. It's a petty thing, but I was really disappointed when he stopped playing guitar on that song on tour.

As for albums, though, I suspect he does a lot more playing than on tour. On Achtung Baby, for example, it sounds like he could be playing rhythm on One, So Cruel, Ultraviolet and maybe Who's Gonna Ride. I don't think he actually played on the album version of the Fly, though. Who knows. Not me.

 

[flameandthefire]

I think he started to play guitar on the Joshua Tree tour

Not true. I just saw a video of a U2 gig recorded in 1981. Bono was strumming his guitar on it. He's played guitar since the beginning.

 

[flameandthefire]

If you took out all of his guitar playing you wouldn't notice a difference.

You wouldn't? I definitely would. On Joshua Tree tour his guitar playing was most significant. On Zoo-TV tour it was also a major part of the show. On POP tour he played a really nice intro for acoustic version of Staring At The Sun while Edge was just strumming chords. On the latest tour his guitar playing played a major role on Kite.

On some songs he's not playing much and the song would sound pretty much the same without his playing, but like Elvis, I think Bono needs the guitar to be able to perform some songs properly.

 

[silenus]

Ofcourse he plays ...
He's not that technically good as Edge but he sure plays some good inventive stuff.
If you listen to "the Achtung Baby Outtakes" you can hear his input.
Hey, the guy is in rock'n'roll for more then
25 years...he can play some groovy riffs and in most of the songs he plays in I would def. miss his input

 

[gabriele1971]

guys, here's the lowdown:

war tour: bono plays el. guitar on I fall down and day without me

unfire tour: bono plays el. guitar on 11 o'clock and southern man, acoustic guitar on knockin on heavens door

jt tour: plays electric on exit, gods country, acoustic on running, without you, found; people get ready is sometimes ac/sometimes el

lovetown tour: same as joshua, plus: electric on all I want/watchtower/hawkmoon/angel/lovetown/love rescue/slow dancing/11 o'clock
acoustic on she's a mistery to me

zoo tv: electric on the fly/one/dirty day/still havent found
acoustic on with or without you (until summer 1992) and most acoustic songs (angel/lovetown/all I want/found/redemption song/wil horses/dancing queen...NOT on satellite of love and cant help falling in love)

popmart:electric on gone/last night on earth/one/rain
acoustic on acoustic set

elevation: acoustic on kite
electric on gone/follow/11 o'clock/one/walk on

of course, bono also plays guitar on most "snippets" (unchained melody after one, etc...)

sorry if I forgot some, but that's pretty much it. don't know on tours before war.
btw: bono's guitar is perfectly audible on all of the above songs.

 

[jkid]

gabriele1971 is right. It should also be noted that Bono plays guitar on some of the records as well. A good example of this is "Exit." Around 1:56 to 2:06 you can hear a second guitar come in. It sounds like Bono's plugging it in and out.

 

[gareth brown]

where's Boy/October tours on the above list?

 

[Ladera Heights]

the funny thing is, on the Slane DVD and their appearance on the 2002 grammies as well as their appearance on the tonight show with jay leno, edge is obviously playing the riff. actually, on the tonight show version, edge messes up once or twice, not with wrong notes, but changes to the last part of the riff (on the E chord) too soon. maybe he had some trouble with it for a while. I know as a musician that a part that gives you trouble once can become a head game afterwards.

whatever; it's a beutiful riff and I know edge wrote it, and thats all that counts.

Not this argument again JOFO...you're wrong.

Get ahold of the bootleg Anaheim 4/24/01 DVD, even the Boston DVD, and BONO DOES PLAY THE LEAD RIFF on the first leg of the tour.

For some reason, they switched it up for subsequent legs. You can hear the difference. Edge's lead sound is classic Edge (very chimey), while Bono's lead sound is simple Vox AC30 overdrive.

 

[JOFO]

ok, that's cool; I'd feel better knowing he was actually playing it.

 

[U2jer]

In the short Unforgettable Fire documentary that comes as a bonus with the Slane DVD, Bono is briefly shown playing acoustic guitar, and a pretty rigorous chord pattern too. On the other hand in Walk On from the concert portion, Bono breaks a string and his tech takes the Gretsch away and there isn't a noticable difference.. unless it was edited for the release.

 

[thrillme]

I saw a video of "Exit" and "In God's Country" off a T.V. show called "Whistle Test" something like that, and Bono's guitar is very audible.

Adam said Bono plays a nice, solo I think, in Dancing Barefoot.

 

[Only Alive]

In the short Unforgettable Fire documentary that comes as a bonus with the Slane DVD, Bono is briefly shown playing acoustic guitar, and a pretty rigorous chord pattern too. On the other hand in Walk On from the concert portion, Bono breaks a string and his tech takes the Gretsch away and there isn't a noticable difference.. unless it was edited for the release.

He also plays bass in the UF Documentary.
I can actually hear the difference in Walk On after he gives his guitar to the tech. It's not real noticalbe, because all he was realy doing was strumming once on the D, A, G, and Em(or E sometimes). He actually breaks into rhythm a bit during the Hallaluja ending.

-Nick

 

[jumpmanst]

Bono solo's on "one" during some elevation tour bootlegs, i.e. irving plaza

 

[-macphisto-]

Why dont they turn his guitar up, he has 25+ years experence, he should be capable of strumming chords and singng at the same time by now.

 

[discothequeLP]

Why dont they turn his guitar up, he has 25+ years experence, he should be capable of strumming chords and singng at the same time by now.

umm. . . do you have the Irving Plaza gig on video? check out Desire


but i do really really like Bono's guitar on the Vertigo Tour, for RTSS and The Fly, especially

 

[youtooellen]

he played the guitar good for 'Kite' for Slane..

well i thought it was good because the guitar was actually.. heard. and he was actually playing it the whole time

 

[-macphisto-]

umm. . . do you have the Irving Plaza gig on video? check out Desire


but i do really really like Bono's guitar on the Vertigo Tour, for RTSS and The Fly, especially

No i dont have the irving plaza gig on video, I have gone to 4 shows on this tour and yes I can hear Bono's guitar, but it is so soft, you can barley hear it, I know he just plays rythm, and they dont want Bono's guitar to oversound the Edge's but it needs to be louder. Im just thinking how much cooler some songs would be live, with Bono playing all the fills loud-