A friend and I have been discussing the dark & eerie aspects of this tour. The discussion first came about when he thought that An Cat Dubh on the Chicago DVD is pretty chilling. I think the darkness is best emphasized in the eerie BTBS performance, and that the tour was originally going to have more of an 'edge' to it. Here's what I wrote my friend....I'd love to hear what y'all think:
<<<I definitely agree that the feel on the Vertigo Tour is much different than the last tour. The Africa/savetheworld/good feeling stuff can overpower the darker stuff, but if you really look at it, you can see that the darker edge stands out. The blindfold/on-the-knees-with-hands-in-the-air part in Bullet is the best example. The feel wasn't as strong from our seats the second night as it was the first night on the floor looking straight on, plus I think he sang less of the "Johnny comes marching home again, hoorah, hoorah" part than the did the first night. But that whole portion on the first night we saw them was chillingly eerie----he really sang the "Johnny comes marching home again, hoorah, hoorah" part in this eerie voice, and he really dramatized the on the knees part and the blind walking to the microphone. The picture of that for the cover of the Chicago DVD is a strong, almost chilling image if you look at it long enough. I really believe that this tour & this album were meant to be much darker, but then the G8 & Live8 stuff came in. Some of the reviews for the album talked about how ATYCLB was a renewal of innocence, while HTDAAB is like looking back on the age of innocence now with an older, experienced, almost sad viewpoint. Their attempt to emphasize that on tour is evidenced by the resurgence of the Boy songs. I think that starting off the shows with the Boy songs and then building up to their rage songs--LAPOE, SBS, BTBS--and adding the "this is your song now" preface to SBS and the blindfold part to BTBS, it's kind of like they're making a "there once was innocence, but now the world is changed" statement. It's also interesting to point out which Boy songs they've been doing----not counting Out of Control (which they did last tour) and I Will Follow (the two pretty innocent songs), they've got An Cat Dubh--a fairly dark song--and Electric Co., another dark song, especially when Bono adds in the "people I don't know are trying to kill me" part. I've been fascinated all along with the t-shirts they've had on u2.com since the album came out. One says "We win, we lose, it's perfect." Another says something like "All war is based on deception." One has a bunch of bombs on it (though that fits with the album title). And the craziest one is this skewed picture of this demon-dog head that says "Fear the Enemy," with "Enemy" capitalized. Crazy shit! I really do believe that there was a much darker political, philosophical edge designed for this tour, but that Edge's kid's illness & G8/Live8 put a damper on it. I have a feeling that we may see an edgier, darker album with the next one they put out, depending on what happens in the band's lives between now and then.
<<<I definitely agree that the feel on the Vertigo Tour is much different than the last tour. The Africa/savetheworld/good feeling stuff can overpower the darker stuff, but if you really look at it, you can see that the darker edge stands out. The blindfold/on-the-knees-with-hands-in-the-air part in Bullet is the best example. The feel wasn't as strong from our seats the second night as it was the first night on the floor looking straight on, plus I think he sang less of the "Johnny comes marching home again, hoorah, hoorah" part than the did the first night. But that whole portion on the first night we saw them was chillingly eerie----he really sang the "Johnny comes marching home again, hoorah, hoorah" part in this eerie voice, and he really dramatized the on the knees part and the blind walking to the microphone. The picture of that for the cover of the Chicago DVD is a strong, almost chilling image if you look at it long enough. I really believe that this tour & this album were meant to be much darker, but then the G8 & Live8 stuff came in. Some of the reviews for the album talked about how ATYCLB was a renewal of innocence, while HTDAAB is like looking back on the age of innocence now with an older, experienced, almost sad viewpoint. Their attempt to emphasize that on tour is evidenced by the resurgence of the Boy songs. I think that starting off the shows with the Boy songs and then building up to their rage songs--LAPOE, SBS, BTBS--and adding the "this is your song now" preface to SBS and the blindfold part to BTBS, it's kind of like they're making a "there once was innocence, but now the world is changed" statement. It's also interesting to point out which Boy songs they've been doing----not counting Out of Control (which they did last tour) and I Will Follow (the two pretty innocent songs), they've got An Cat Dubh--a fairly dark song--and Electric Co., another dark song, especially when Bono adds in the "people I don't know are trying to kill me" part. I've been fascinated all along with the t-shirts they've had on u2.com since the album came out. One says "We win, we lose, it's perfect." Another says something like "All war is based on deception." One has a bunch of bombs on it (though that fits with the album title). And the craziest one is this skewed picture of this demon-dog head that says "Fear the Enemy," with "Enemy" capitalized. Crazy shit! I really do believe that there was a much darker political, philosophical edge designed for this tour, but that Edge's kid's illness & G8/Live8 put a damper on it. I have a feeling that we may see an edgier, darker album with the next one they put out, depending on what happens in the band's lives between now and then.
just a pun.
Is it true or not? I've noticed the ring turned out also.
