macphisto/Mirror ball man

[mackemlad]

Is there any one else out there who doesn't get the whole Mirror Ball man and Macphisto portion of Zoo Tv.

I can sort of understand where Mirror Ball man came from.The link with TV Evanaglism and how that fitted with the whole Zoo Tv theme.

"I have a vision! Television Television" etc

I also understand how this might have been lost on European audiences hence the shift to macphisto for Zooropa.

I watch Zoo Tv and always feel a little let down at the end.
I hate the Macphisto thing (Love is Blindness apart) and feel it dsitracts from an otherwise excelent show.

I saw Zooropa in 1993 and was left feeling a little down at the end at the way the show just sort of fizzled out with the "I cant help falling in love" ending. I bought the Zoo Tv video when it very fisrt came out and I would be lucky if I have watched the ending a couple of times.

I now have the Dvd and still feel the show is spoiled at the end.
For me the show ends with Pride (as slow and ponderous as that is) then a flick to watch Love is Blindness

Any one out there feel the same?

 

[RademR]

nope...thought it was genius

 

[Rochelle D]

i loved the ending

 

[An Cat Gav]

MacPhisto was amazing, only wish they'd used him more. Far more interesting than the mirrorball man.

 

[tpsglick2424]

I felt the same way about Pride...That song just wasn't worth watching for me...

 

[vaz02]

The DVD is great , its a strange setlist.

Love the macphisto bit , very oH shala

 

[RademR]

I felt the same way about Pride...That song just wasn't worth watching for me...

wow...always thought it was one of the best performances of PRIDE.

 

[vaz02]

wow...always thought it was one of the best performances of PRIDE.

There has been a good performance of pride ?

 

[RademR]

i believe so

before it became the most repetitive and boring thing on the u2 setlist next to BTBS, there were actually some good performances of it.

 

[Canadiens1131]

There has been a good performance of pride ?

Fuck yeah! Beat me to it

 

[neutral]

There has been a good performance of pride ?

 

[petecsy]

Excellent ending to the show if you ask me

 

[OpperGoeroe]

Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car was awesome, all the lights at the end, all the Zoo money and MacPhisto shouting "Daddy's gonna pay!", I love it.

Lemon is great too, the MacPhisto dancing thing is too funny to watch, Bono's face expressions are great when he's MacPhisto, really hilarious. WOWY is kind of disappointing but the rest is great.

 

[petecsy]

I thouhg WOWY was fantastic. The way Lemon ends and goes into WOWY is tremendous.

 

[RademR]

yup, love how it goes into WOWY. only thing bad was the cut the ending short.

 

[J_NP]

Like I said once , my final encore watching will be :

Lemon
WOWY
M Ways
One
Pride

That end with LIB / elvis is a funeral at the end of the show

No rock'n roll shows should end like that

 

[Chizip]

youre crazy, LIB was the best closer they ever did

 

[Utoo]

Is there any one else out there who doesn't get the whole Mirror Ball man and Macphisto portion of Zoo Tv.

Read "U2 at the End of the World" by Bill Flanagan & it'll all make beautiful, brilliant, perfect sense.


For a Cliff's Notes version, here's a wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPhisto
Read the part "Bono's Stage Personas."


Essentially, MacPhisto is The Fly---the penultimate rock star---after he's essentially sold his soul to the devil for the life he leads. But there are so many more complexities in the character...you really could write pages upon pages on him.

Such a beautiful, intelligent, poignant character. IMO, among the more brilliant characters created in our lifetime.

 

[vaz02]

Yeah he is a amazing character , real depth to him.

 

[dietcokeofevil]

Macphisto was a great gimmick

 

[randy5554]

MacPhisto creeps me out! His makeup and mannerisms are so weird.

 

[cobl04]

There has been a good performance of pride ?

Gotta agree with that. I am still yet to find a version of Pride which doesn't sound cliched, dated and predictable.

Rattle & Hum's version is the best I have found so far.

 

[mackemlad]

youre crazy, LIB was the best closer they ever did

A closer is the song that closes the show. Obviously!

In this case "I cant help falling in love" is the closer

And from my own experience I found it one huge let down.

Bono walking up the catwalk mumbling his way through the song and then the words "ladies & Gentleman Elvis has left the building" coming over the PA. Then the lights came on.

I can remember thinking what's all that about?

I guess seeing the ending of the Sydney show just brings back the dissapointment I felt at the time.

 

[david]

Macphisto was the tired rock star.

Singing an Elvis song was so tongue in cheek and spot on. It was perfect for the character.

 

[U2girl]

Also, I remember reading Bono got the idea of Zoo TV while watching Elvis's Hawaii comeback TV special so another nod to the King.

 

[beau99]

Other than the fact that Love Is Blindness fucking bores me, that ending was brilliant.

 

[randy5554]

Can't Help Falling in Love had awesome vocals by Bono.

 

[Zoocoustic]

Think about how the ending of the ZooTV shows started - with LOB. The early shows were the AB concept album with a few classic U2 songs thrown in there to keep the shows a decent length and to keep the 80's fans from completely abandoning the band.

Really though, LOB is the end of the "story" that AB tells. The character ultimately ends up resigning himself to the fact that his true love is the only means of survival he can find - no matter how painful that is for him to accept (at least, that's my take on it). So I can see how that ends the show and fits the AB "story" if you will.

Now as the tour goes on you get MacPhisto and the Elvis tune is quite the statement. Bono said that MacPhisto was the fly when he was "old and fat and living in Las Vegas". The tired rock star whose appearance and persona exemplify the results of a life filled with all the excesses of stardom. Why not end with a very dark, introspective version of a song by the King himself...the greatest REAL story of that very path to self-destruction?

True, it is NOT a happy ending. But isn't the message of ZooTV really just a mirror showing us the excesses of life and their results? The Fly, the media overload, MacPhisto, Mirrorball Man - all were a way of showing us point blank just how over the top we all were - albiet perhaps tongue-in-cheek. In my mind, the best way to end such an effort is with the once "glorious" MacPhisto fading in the spotlight walking offstage into an unknown future.