Singers' question

[U2girl]

We have all heard the comeback of Bono's voice on Bomb and Vertigo tour.

So, my question is: just how much has he really improved? In terms of %, how far away is he from his JT/Lovetown/Zoo TV days? Are there parts of his voice where he has equaled or bettered those times - falsetto, high notes, low voice?
(also, how much of a range does Bono have? Which particular tour/album was his voice the most capable?)

 

[phillyfan26]

I can't give you exacts, but I've noticed this trend:

From Boy to October to War to UF, you can hear a distinct difference in his voice as it matures.

Boy 70%
October 75%
War 80%
UF 90% (listen to UF song and Bad)

His voice was not at its peak until ZooTV in my opinion, because he tried a little to much with the wail during Joshua Tree and LoveTown. For sheer passion on LoveTown it may have been 110%, but for actual sound, not much better than UF.

JT 91%
LT 92%
ZooTV 100%

His voice had its most range on ZooTV (deep for The Fly, falsetto on Lemon).

POPMart 90%

His voice gave out too much on this tour, but at points it was almost as good as ZooTV.

Elevation had bright spots, but it was definitely a decline, with more weak spots.

Elevation 75%

I was surprised that it got better on Vertigo, but it was welcome. See Miss Sarajevo to hear how good it could be.

Vertigo 90%

That's my estimate.

 

[U2girl]

I did notice his voice gets "wider" on UF if you know what I mean, it's kind of like he got out of puberty.

The second change I noticed was the smoky voice on Zoo TV, and the added falsetto.

The third is how on last tour he got some of the high notes back, and overall being better than previous two tours, possibly his best since Zoo TV.

 

[discothequeLP]

i don't think ZooTV was better than Lovetown -- 'Bad' on ZooTV for example: Bono hits the high note ("wiiiddeee awake") with the falsetto, i dont know if that was on purpose, but on Lovetown he hit that full throat.

 

[tpsglick2424]

i don't think ZooTV was better than Lovetown -- 'Bad' on ZooTV for example: Bono hits the high note ("wiiiddeee awake") with the falsetto, i dont know if that was on purpose, but on Lovetown he hit that full throat.

Ok I do agree with Bad but i hink zoo tv was overally better..

 

[discothequeLP]

Ok I do agree with Bad but i hink zoo tv was overally better..

let's take Streets from ZooTV Sydney, and Streets from 12-26-89 . . . given, the Point Depot version is the best version of Streets ever, but i just think that Bono's voice was stronger and had more presence on the Lovetown tour. it had that certain cadence to it, especially when he hit the big notes, that ZooTV doesn't match.

 

[phillyfan26]

let's take Streets from ZooTV Sydney, and Streets from 12-26-89 . . . given, the Point Depot version is the best version of Streets ever, but i just think that Bono's voice was stronger and had more presence on the Lovetown tour. it had that certain cadence to it, especially when he hit the big notes, that ZooTV doesn't match.

I think Bono had more range and more of a feel for it during ZooTV. During JT/LT he'd sometimes slip into that strange wailing voice. During ZooTV he was more steady, and had more range. My example would be Mysterious Ways to show most of what he could do, but he also had the deeper voice mastered on The Fly.

 

[discothequeLP]

alright, i think i know what you mean. but i love the wail

 

[Ellay]

I've been listening to Under a Blood Red Sky a lot this week, and the amount that both he, and the rest of the band has improved over the years is evident.

 

[macfesto]

using a falsetto isn't a bad thing. Singing shouldn't be painful and Bono is just trying to be sing smarter...

Falsetto is often confused with head voice too... Either way It sounds good...but screaming and belting out notes forever will cause the vocal drain that B-man has gone through...

I still love him though //