Most annoying U2 thing?

[RademR]

Really, compare the "Fuck the Revolution" rant on Rattle And Hum to any of Bono's speeches before Miracle Drug or One this tour. The contrast is massive.

mmm hmmm....good point.

even though ZOOTV was my favorite cause bono basically no preaching (ya, the Sarajevo link thing but that was interesting), back in the JT days it was powerful and emotional.

Now it seems boring and rehearsed.

ok ya "do you have a cell phone?"
"their powerful things"
"put mankind back on earth"

I actually enjoy the speech before Miracle Drug on the Chicago DVD, not political and about the band.

 

[ntalwar]

It isn't the internet that has lead us to realise U2 use static setlists. When I was buying bootlegs back in the 80's it became pretty clear then that U2 are a static setlist band.

We all love bootlegs, but the definition of the word has "illegally" in it. I think of bootlegs and going to multiple shows as luxuries personally, and complaining about luxuries is, well sort of - meh.

 

[Yahweh]

The African Issue is also much bigger then anything that he was politically talking about in the past. It takes repeating something over and over again because people these days have very short attention spans whether they are U2 fans or not in general.

 

[Bluer White]

*super long album titles
*Mary J Blige
*releasing a bonus track on UK albums and not in America

 

[Axver]

The African Issue is also much bigger then anything that he was politically talking about in the past. It takes repeating something over and over again because people these days have very short attention spans whether they are U2 fans or not in general.

And because it's so important, Bono shouldn't be boring people with long-winded, rambling speeches that just make them lose interest and tune out to his message. If he stuck with just a couple of well-chosen sentences to grab people's attention, I think he would be far more effective. Save the long talks for his speaking dates.

 

[BVS]

*releasing a bonus track on UK albums and not in America

That's a music industry thing, not a U2 thing.

 

[susanp6]

The way that some U2 fans aren't as caring&sympathetic as they make themsleves out be

 

[JCOSTER]

Too many identical setlists

Bono using a teleprompter and still forgetting lyrics

Same girls onstage dancing with the B-man

Yeah pick some new girls like us!!!!

 

[JCOSTER]

the fact that they don't play all of their songs live.......

explain please?

 

[JCOSTER]

Self righteous fans have to be the worst part of this band for sure no doubt about it.

don't forget proud.

 

[Axver]

explain please?

Well, the poster said that U2 don't play all of their songs live, and that is true; nearly 20 album tracks have not been performed live.

They are: Stranger In A Strange Land, Is That All?, Drowning Man, The Refugee, Red Light, Promenade, 4th Of July, Elvis Presley And America, Red Hill Mining Town, Heartland, Acrobat, Some Days Are Better Than Others, The Playboy Mansion, When I Look At The World, Grace, A Man And A Woman, One Step Closer, and whether Peace On Earth was merely a snippet or constituted a full performance in a few cases is debatable.

Plus, Electrical Storm and quite a considerable number of b-sides have never been performed live. I'm actually working on an article on this very topic for U2-Vertigo-Tour.com right now.

I should also note that while Is That All? has not been performed or lyrically snippeted, it is musically based on the mini-song The Cry that has regularly preceded live performances of The Electric Co.

 

[Bono's Betty]

- Mary J.Blige

I agree, i like her but not with U2 killing i mean singing One.

Same girls onstage dancing with the B-man

 

[cobl04]

Bono in between songs. The 'also an african dream' speech wrecked the intro of Streets. And then there was One, and Pride, and Miracle Drug, and the 1001 references to Chicago...

And the repeat of songs that really need to be rested.

"fuck the revolution" vs "jesus, jew, mohammed, it's true"

I'm not a religious kinda person, but even if I was, I think I would take the revolution speech. That had passion, whereas the 'Bonigo' version was just uninspired.

As if there wouldn't be fans who would sacrifice not-so-great performances of songs like BtBS, SBS, NYD, etc for songs like RHMT, Acrobat, Like a Song......

 

[amerrydeath]

Definitely the rehearsed feeling to all of Bono's speeches. The "safe" track they now seem to be taking, the way they cater to the fans who are all for "FORGETTING ABOUT POP AND ZOOROPA", I think that makes me the maddest. The way Bono never seems to be entirely there during concerts nowadays (forgetting lyrics, saying the same things over and over).

I have to say, one thing I appreciate more than ever these days is Mr. The Edge. He's unbelieveable.

 

[nurse chrissi]

The overuse of the word “extraordinary”

The fact that the bullets sparkle instead of twinkle in the live version of Vertigo (why?)

 

[Axver]

The overuse of the word “extraordinary”

How about Bono's overuse of the word "wow"?

Wow x3 snippets.

 

[LemonMelon]

Really, compare the "Fuck the Revolution" rant on Rattle And Hum to any of Bono's speeches before Miracle Drug or One this tour. The contrast is massive.

Or how about his best speech of all time...

"Hey, he's talking about waste management...that effects the whole damn planet."

 

[Axver]

Or how about his best speech of all time...

"Hey, he's talking about waste management...that effects the whole damn planet."

"Let's go have a pint at Moe's."
"Can I come?"
"... no."
"Wankers."

 

[LemonMelon]

"Let's go have a pint at Moe's."
"Can I come?"
"... no."
"Wankers."

...And that speech took, what? 45 seconds?

 

[u2fan628]

Whatever happened to,"Am I bugging you?...I don't mean to bug you".

 

[U2girl]

The African Issue is also much bigger then anything that he was politically talking about in the past. It takes repeating something over and over again because people these days have very short attention spans whether they are U2 fans or not in general.

Exactly. This is arguably - no, definitely - his biggest cause yet so it's appropriate he talks about it more. Yes, he is admiteddly taking "hostages" at U2 shows, but then again, this is his most natural given platform/audience. I think this activism is very much in line with the activist Bono/U2 from the 80s.

The Rattle and Hum speech isn't really comparable to MD and One speeches on the DVD; different situation, different time period, and a 27 year old vs 45 year old man.

 

[Sken]

Time is almost up for them, they need to increase their output. An album every two years should be their goal from here on in, cut it out with this four years crap.

Lose all the kiss asses when producing a record. They need a fresh producer so they are challenged in the studio, the old producers while great most likely have a set formula when producing a U2 record, we need someone to shake things up a bit.

Also, they need to release dvd's of the periods that they were most popular and what brought them to stardom. Red Rocks, Joshua Tree tour, Lovetown, ZooTV, Zooropa and Popmart. For such a mega band they havent their best stuff on dvd.

U2 need to be honest with themselves. Tell us what you really think about the African situation in the songwriting, there is plenty of time to be political when visiting the president, the songs should be rallying the troops, not having longwinded speaches boring them to tears.

Bono needs to clean up his image, lose some weight, look respectable, he really looks like an old rockstar trying to look young.

Apart from that all is good. Did I mention they need to play Ultraviolet live again?

 

[socceroo]

There's been some unfair things said. Like U2 hasn't released enough live albums. There has been heaps of live VHS & DVD's released & these are better than a CD. Their setlists vary enough & are quite thoughtful IMHO. The time between releases is fine for a older band & there is always merchandise like live DVD's popping up in between releases.

Personally I don't like the annoying thing to "follow the trend" which is kind of how they "went wrong" (if they did). What I mean is that it kind of started around Joshua Tree/ Rattle & Hum when they tried their hand at established forms of music like blues & ballads. In the early 80's they had sounded very original, & had a guitar-drum- bass sound when mostly everyone in the charts became synth-pop. That WAS their strength - sounding home-grown & naive, if you like. They really made an important album with Actung Baby though, which showed they could still be ahead of the times & could use electronica. But Zooropa followed the times with mostly quirky electronica & quirkier, uncharacteristic lyrics. I thought Pop was another great original album. ATYCLB disturbed me by the use of R&B stylings & too many ballads - again with their latest one. But at least they didn't do an album like Monster by REM (trying too hard to be grunge) or Some Kind of Monster by Metallica (trying too had to be Nu-Metal). But some of Atomic Bomb's rock songs are too light-hearted & there's another thing - cheesey humour I don't overly like in any band. They are ultimately best when emotionally honest.
The last thing is that they leave cool singles off their albums. The Beatles did this. If Electrical Storm was added to their latest album it woul've made it cooler - no doubt.

 

[DPrinceNY]

Funny how this thread has turned into a good old fashion Bono-bashing.

 

[CTU2fan]

Hamish Hamilton (can't believe that took 6 pages)

Not taking a stand one way or the other re: taping - saying they're cool with taping, but not making that "official" so people still have to sneak gear in

Not releasing the "unreleased & rare" stuff as real cd's

Fans for sure - the "Pop & Zooropa rule, everything else sucks" crowd, and the "why do we have to have KANYE WEST as an opener" crowd, and the ones overdoing the Bono-hate

That Edge doesn't sing more (shit, play Van Diemen's Land ONCE)

Bono's new politics - I mean, GWBush & Jesse freaking Helms? Say it ain't so

The way they over-edit their live releases, both audio & video

 

[Total U2 Nut]

It cannot take four years of solid work to make an album, I think they produced some of their best work under pressure and with a far smaller time-scale (ie Pop)

They need to completely change the set-list of the songs they play live, so many songs are played which IMO are distinctly average. They need to make it more exciting, play some stuff they wouldn't usually consider.

 

[doctorwho]

some of their fans

In fact, I think U2's fans are perhaps THE most annoying thing about U2. Endless comments about Bono (his actions, his vocals, his lyrics, his outside U2 activities, his hair, his clothes, his glasses, etc.) and, to a lesser extent, Edge (his beanie, his facial hair, his guitar playing, his use of the delay, etc.), the mixing of songs, the wait between albums, the order of songs on an album, the hatred of some albums, the over-praise of others, the whining about the tours (even from those who get primo spots), the cost of the tickets, the lack of songs from a certain era, the most static setlist, etc.

What probably turned me off of U2 fans forever was when a certain group sat down in the heart during the filming of the Elevation concert video. These fans had seen countless shows. These fans had been at the front of the heart each and every time. For one show, U2 wanted to mix things up. These fans still got into the heart - but it wasn't good enough for them. To show their appreciation for U2, they sat down and almost ruined the beginning of the show. Self-absorbed people like that don't deserve U2.

 

[Zoots]

In fact, I think U2's fans are perhaps THE most annoying thing about U2. Endless comments about Bono (his actions, his vocals, his lyrics, his outside U2 activities, his hair, his clothes, his glasses, etc.) and, to a lesser extent, Edge (his beanie, his facial hair, his guitar playing, his use of the delay, etc.), the mixing of songs, the wait between albums, the order of songs on an album, the hatred of some albums, the over-praise of others, the whining about the tours (even from those who get primo spots), the cost of the tickets, the lack of songs from a certain era, the most static setlist, etc.

So everyone that posts here is supposed to worship the band and everything about it? There are certain things I love about U2 and will always do and there are certain things that annoy me.

 

[roy]

So everyone that posts here is supposed to worship the band and everything about it? There are certain things I love about U2 and will always do and there are certain things that annoy me.

But the question is why do you take great pleasure describing, over and over, the things about U2 that annoy you?

 

[pgv]

What probably turned me off of U2 fans forever was when a certain group sat down in the heart during the filming of the Elevation concert video. These fans had seen countless shows. These fans had been at the front of the heart each and every time. For one show, U2 wanted to mix things up. These fans still got into the heart - but it wasn't good enough for them. To show their appreciation for U2, they sat down and almost ruined the beginning of the show. Self-absorbed people like that don't deserve U2.

I've never heard about this before..geez call themselves fans?