Probaly the best version of Bad

[Peterrrrr]

I understand you, we talk about 2 different things...

You talk about his voice without "staining" and I'm talking about the sound of it, regardless of how he get to that sound...

So, I guess you're right on his abilities now (better than ever) but I stick to my point that his 80's voice (straining or not) sounds better than now.

End of story....

I understand what you mean, but thats a taste thing

I agree that he is a better/smarter 'singer' but the thing about his voice now is the lack of power. He hits the notes but they sound paper thin. The "thickness" in his voice is gone.

You gotta be kidding? Thin, do you call these notes thin:

Wave in WOS
Sing In SYCMIOYO
Feel in Vertigo, Mercy
Control in OOTS
L'amoure in Miss Sarajevo
Opera snippet on 2006-12-04 - Japan - SYCMIOYO
Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu in 2006-03-02 - Buenos Aires - AIWIY
Arms in Don't Give Up on Oprah Show

Bono could never have that thick sound in his voice in the 80's and 90's.

When he sings on softer notes it sounds fragile like it will break at any moment and I think that is the difference today.

Mercy, A dying sailor to his shipmates... ADSTHS must have the most stabile deep voice ever he had sing in.

Back then Bono's "Wide Awake!!!!" parks filled the stadium better than today. Today when he does it the fans singing the part is more powerfull that when Bono does it.

Wide Awake is was thicker then ever on Vertigo tour. Especialy on the Seattle, Toronto, Boston and Tokyo. He still got the strength to scream if he want, just listen to the performence of Desire on the Union chapel performence on the "let you go", it is stronger then ever. He also showed a real power when he sang the new song NLOTH and Rock N Roll ****** snippet on Vertigo tour. But Bono is smart enough to not use that to often. Do you call the high falsetto in Highway to hell snippet on 2006-11-18 - Melbourne - Vertigo thick? It his second highest falsetto in his whole career.

 

[U2opra]

I really enjoyed that seattle version of bad. However, even when you compare the later shows to it, (song by song) he is sounding much more improved now. For example listening to One on the seattle show sounds terribly strained comapred to the One sang at melbourne in 2006.

I really don't know how, when, what he changed in his singing. But, it simply is amazing!

 

[gherman]

I understand what you mean, but thats a taste thing



You gotta be kidding? Thin, do you call these notes thin:

Wave in WOS
Sing In SYCMIOYO
Feel in Vertigo, Mercy
Control in OOTS
L'amoure in Miss Sarajevo
Opera snippet on 2006-12-04 - Japan - SYCMIOYO
Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu in 2006-03-02 - Buenos Aires - AIWIY
Arms in Don't Give Up on Oprah Show

Bono could never have that thick sound in his voice in the 80's and 90's.




Mercy, A dying sailor to his shipmates... ADSTHS must have the most stabile deep voice ever he had sing in.



Wide Awake is was thicker then ever on Vertigo tour. Especialy on the Seattle, Toronto, Boston and Tokyo. He still got the strength to scream if he want, just listen to the performence of Desire on the Union chapel performence on the "let you go", it is stronger then ever. He also showed a real power when he sang the new song NLOTH and Rock N Roll ****** snippet on Vertigo tour. But Bono is smart enough to not use that to often. Do you call the high falsetto in Highway to hell snippet on 2006-11-18 - Melbourne - Vertigo thick? It his second highest falsetto in his whole career.

Cool man. I'm glad your so excited about Bono's vocals. Its nice to hear so much optimism about it considering what so many people talk about it in a negative sense. Just to say sorry but I just don't agree. Just my opinion. My best example where I see it is whn listenting to 'Wave of Sorrow' on the remasters stuck between songs with his old vocals. I personally cringe when I listen to that song with thier older stuff. It sounds weak. the best way I can put it. Actually it makes me feel sad and nostalgic for the old Bono

Just to add on I still love his voice don't get me wrong.

Another way his voice sounds kind of shaky or a little unstable. And for some reason when I listen to him on that particular recording of "Wave" want to clear my throat. He sounds like he has phlegm on vocal chords. I can't put my finger on it but its just not the same.

 

[Rosebud]

Well I tend to agree with Peter, but the one thing that I think we all can agree on is that Bono's voice seems like its getting much better than it's been in a long time. We should all be excited about that.

 

[Rob33]

Well I tend to agree with Peter, but the one thing that I think we all can agree on is that Bono's voice seems like its getting much better than it's been in a long time. We should all be excited about that.

yeah enough comparing! bottom line is his voice is incredible right now and whether or not you prefer the 80's voice to the recent voice simply boils down to personal taste...

the critical question is...will it be EVEN BETTER on the next tour...all I can say is if this recent trend of improvement continues for Bono, we will have ourselves one hell of an album and an exciting tour ahead

 

[Peterrrrr]

Cool man. I'm glad your so excited about Bono's vocals. Its nice to hear so much optimism about it considering what so many people talk about it in a negative sense. Just to say sorry but I just don't agree. Just my opinion. My best example where I see it is whn listenting to 'Wave of Sorrow' on the remasters stuck between songs with his old vocals. I personally cringe when I listen to that song with thier older stuff. It sounds weak. the best way I can put it. Actually it makes me feel sad and nostalgic for the old Bono

Just to add on I still love his voice don't get me wrong.

Another way his voice sounds kind of shaky or a little unstable. And for some reason when I listen to him on that particular recording of "Wave" want to clear my throat. He sounds like he has phlegm on vocal chords. I can't put my finger on it but its just not the same.

The latest years on this forum I hear more that his voice is strong now then weak.

The thing with WOS is that Bono recorded that song when his voice was unstable. You can hear that he has smoke while recording it. I think he did it with purpose, just like he did with One and IALW. But still he manage to hit the high note in the song. When Bono in the 80's had a bad day he wouldnt be able to hit high notes. Did you ever heard Bono sound like on WOS on any Vertigo show? NO.

But I still can't understand how you can think that his Wide Awake's isnt thick now. His sound is much more thicker, the same with all those notes I wrote in the list.

Just listen to Kids with Kylie, ADSTHS, WITS, Mercy... Where do you hear the unstable and shaky voice?

One tour where he was shaky was LT tour, a very good example is on the night when he was as its best on that tour 1989-12-26 - Dublin. On OTH he does an amazing job, but you hear that he has difficult to sing low correct, here are some examples:

"A sun so bright it leaves NOEO SHAD O O OWS"
"only SCA ARS"
"I don't believe in PAINTEED RO SE ES"

And don't get me wrong, Im very impressed about how Bono did push his voice on UF tour and LT tour. Bono used more screaming power. Todays Bono use clean voice power, he has a much more fullier, thicker voice when he hits the high notes like Wide Awake, Wave, L'amoure. But he can still use his scream: Desire, Rock N Roll ******, NLOTH, Highway To Hell, Kidz...

Another good example is the line "Say Its True" in NYD, in the 80's it was powrful beacuase he screamed it. But on the 5th leg and some of the 4th leg shows of Vertigo tour he pushed his voice to sound more powerful in clean voice, more operatic wich took it to new levels. More powerful.

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

 

[last unicorn]

I think the thing with the recording of Wave of Sorrow is that Bono was trying (too hard maybe) to sound like his old self. That's why his voice may sound a little unstable, because he obviously couldn't decide how to sing.

The song, even though I really love it, sounds a little akward among all the other songs on the JT b-sides collection that have Bono's actual 80s voice. Not that his "new" voice is bad, it's just different, and I personally cringe whenever I hear this song among the other songs. I must say again that I really love his voice today and also his voice on Wave Of Sorrow, I just feel they shouldn't have recorded the song now and put it on the album with the other stuff, it just doesn't sound right. Maybe they should have left it for the new album.

The Union Chapel live version on the other side is really brilliant, I like this one much more than the recording.

 

[ZOOTVTOURist]

Nice stuff talking about "Wave Of Sorrow", but you lose the thread's topic, I fear ...

Returning to probably the best version of "Bad", I do have to vote against all the suggestions here until now. "Bad" for me has always been one of U2's signal tunes, not a 'Greatest Hit' at all, but it has been an all-time favourite centre-song for fans and the band alike, I guess. When played, during the different stages, the band went through, it has lifted this special evening, this special night on a whole other level – reaching a spirit, gigs without this tune in the setlist often haven't reached ...
"Bad" is an epic tune, a band jam gaining its power from the musicians playing with different verve, different loudness – all in the very same song, leading it to its unique mantra-like, hypnotic character. Above this tower of song, there is the voice, pronouncing, fuelling, pouring the soul & the words out.

So, the best version ever has not only to look, if Bono reaches a single note or high register. It's a nice observation, @Peterrrr, but you completely lose the whole horizon this song has, but concentrate only following this detail rather obsessive.
You have to look for the song on its own, as a total, as a sum of its levels and parts. The Seattle version '05 for example has a beautiful, subtle intro, a fine vocal performance – and is surely one of the nicest performances of "Bad" in the last tours.
But I don't talk about this, I don't talk about Bono reaching a high "C" or not. This can't be the only criteria for a the best "Bad" ever. I do talk about the band power in "Bad" – and if I do listen to East Rutherford's '85 epic performance on 15th April clocking around 16 minutes with a (young) Bono giving it all, really all this is it.

Peterrrr, just listen without your note-focus-mania and try to capture the moment, the feeling, the emotion. Then you will understand the difference between Bono as an elder musical statesman doing a fine job in Seattle '05 with some nice snippets being linked rather obviously together and then finally shouting out to stop it and "bring him out here" – and Bono more than 20 years ago driving the song from one highlight to the next, extending it, building it up and down and up again, interacting with the crowd and band members more loose and spontaneously, suprising with this tune and being surprised by it – and letting "Bad" fade out in majesty.

So: If there is such a thing as an ultimate version of "Bad", East Rutherford '85 (or similar performences) is it – and nothing else ...

 

[Peterrrrr]

Nice stuff talking about "Wave Of Sorrow", but you lose the thread's topic, I fear ...

Returning to probably the best version of "Bad", I do have to vote against all the suggestions here until now. "Bad" for me has always been one of U2's signal tunes, not a 'Greatest Hit' at all, but it has been an all-time favourite centre-song for fans and the band alike, I guess. When played, during the different stages, the band went through, it has lifted this special evening, this special night on a whole other level – reaching a spirit, gigs without this tune in the setlist often haven't reached ...
"Bad" is an epic tune, a band jam gaining its power from the musicians playing with different verve, different loudness – all in the very same song, leading it to its unique mantra-like, hypnotic character. Above this tower of song, there is the voice, pronouncing, fuelling, pouring the soul & the words out.

So, the best version ever has not only to look, if Bono reaches a single note or high register. It's a nice observation, @Peterrrr, but you completely lose the whole horizon this song has, but concentrate only following this detail rather obsessive.
You have to look for the song on its own, as a total, as a sum of its levels and parts. The Seattle version '05 for example has a beautiful, subtle intro, a fine vocal performance – and is surely one of the nicest performances of "Bad" in the last tours.
But I don't talk about this, I don't talk about Bono reaching a high "C" or not. This can't be the only criteria for a the best "Bad" ever. I do talk about the band power in "Bad" – and if I do listen to East Rutherford's '85 epic performance on 15th April clocking around 16 minutes with a (young) Bono giving it all, really all this is it.

Peterrrr, just listen without your note-focus-mania and try to capture the moment, the feeling, the emotion. Then you will understand the difference between Bono as an elder musical statesman doing a fine job in Seattle '05 with some nice snippets being linked rather obviously together and then finally shouting out to stop it and "bring him out here" – and Bono more than 20 years ago driving the song from one highlight to the next, extending it, building it up and down and up again, interacting with the crowd and band members more loose and spontaneously, suprising with this tune and being surprised by it – and letting "Bad" fade out in majesty.

So: If there is such a thing as an ultimate version of "Bad", East Rutherford '85 (or similar performences) is it – and nothing else ...

First of all Bono's voice iznt all on this song, but the the Wide Awakes are an very important part of the song. The songs start calm then the tempo starts to go up and then it explodes with Wide Awake.
I don't think there is an ultimate version of Bad, every tour got its own bad, the Uf energy versions, the angry Lt versions, the more slow ZooTV versions, the atmosphere Popmart versions...

 

[Rob33]

Nice stuff talking about "Wave Of Sorrow", but you lose the thread's topic, I fear ...



Peterrrr, just listen without your note-focus-mania and try to capture the moment, the feeling, the emotion. Then you will understand the difference between Bono as an elder musical statesman doing a fine job in Seattle '05 with some nice snippets being linked rather obviously together and then finally shouting out to stop it and "bring him out here" – and Bono more than 20 years ago driving the song from one highlight to the next, extending it, building it up and down and up again, interacting with the crowd and band members more loose and spontaneously, suprising with this tune and being surprised by it – and letting "Bad" fade out in majesty.

ok first of all, his "note-fucous-mania" was in reference to the argument that broke out over Bono's recent voice vs. the 80's, and is more than appropriate- after all, a major part of singing is hitting the notes....so although it may sound picky and obsessive....it is accurate and relevant to the current vs. 80's voice argument

now in regards to this comment i've quoted...

snippets being "rather obviously" linked together?????? what does that even mean? I'd say for the majority of Bad performances over U2's entire career, the snippets for Bad have been scripted and "linked together" purposefully and thoughtfully...

now..."building it up and down and up again," they do this every single time it's performed, it's in the nature of the song, Bono/U2 did this over the vertigo tour and ever since they started performing this song...I don't know what you've been listening too

"extending it" ???? umm...again, they do this pretty much every single performance...Fire in Jersey on the LT tour is a strong vocal from Bono but very abbreviated version of bad...that's the only one I can think of that isn't extended

"interacting with the crowd and band members more loose and spontaneously, suprising with this tune and being surprised by it – and letting "Bad" fade out in majesty"....oh please! I think you're over dramatizing this....U2 interacts with the crowd in one way or another on virtually every single live performance. And I think it was Axver who said he was completely taken off guard and surprised on the Vertigo tour when the intro to "Bad" sounded randomly in Boston ( I think, just going off memory) ...but anyway this song has never failed to catch people off guard, as U2 has done a good job of not over playing this song, so it sounds fresh and unreal every time....

 

[ZOOTVTOURist]

a major part of singing is hitting the notes....so it is accurate and relevant to the current vs. 80's voice argument

No, again, I don't agree. Singing is much more than hitting high notes. It is for example also whispering, shouting, having a voice like "caramel", playing with your voice – and not only: "Yes, he hit the C – great version" or "No he didnt hit it – not that great version". Such a selection is a bit weird & obsessive, friends, as explained above. Another fact, that dismantles this from my perspective a bit strange view: Bono has had in his career so many problems with his strained voice – and has delivered a top performance, because he fought for doing so. Just travel to Sarajewo in '97 ...

now..."building it up and down and up again,""extending it" ???? umm...again, they do this pretty much every single performance...

Sorry, but this ain't true at all: Though in general this is part of the song's epic nature, as I've written above, if you compare versions within tours and/or versions from one tour to the other, you get a different picture: The LOVETOWN shows in '89/'90 for example had a rather restricted version, regarding its (often completely) lacking snippets, but much more its (shortened) length.
The same has to be said about the ZOO TV versions in '92/'93 where there were nearly always 2 snippets plus the link to a snippet of U2's "All I Want Is You" or "The First Time". The versions do clock usually at round about the same time. The same can be easily said abou the 2001 and 2005/06 versions ...
In other words: In these eras you have versions, that are not clocking at the epic performances in '84/'85, when long versions were possible – but the range was much wider then. You could get shorter versions with some snippets – and you could get really long, much more extended versions with much of the "building up and down", and with the feeling the song long could have been ended – but U2 play on. "The hardest thing is to make it look spontaneous" – U2 never came closer to this slogan with "Bad" as in the tour of TUF.

Plus: Bono's voice in Seattle is nice in general, but it is far from the atmosphere he created more than 20 years ago. This in a total shows at least in my ears, where an impossible thing such as an ultimate version has to be searched, and this is not in the (great) Vertigo days ...

U2 has done a good job of not over playing this song, so it sounds fresh and unreal every time

No, not true again. You could blame U2 to actually over play this tune at times, when you understand, that the tune was performed on every tour since '84: It was played as a standard obvioulsy from 84-86, it was a regular in the whole '87 tour. Then it became an often used tune for the '89/'90 tour and got its 'every night' status back for the '92 indoor shows. Continuing with the ZOO TV gigs it maintained its status as the centre song in the set, being switched only with "Sunday Bloody Sunday", mainly for the purpose of multiple night variety. Just the very last shows saw the tune being lost and replaced by "Dirty Day", a rarity until today.
For POPMart it should have rested apart from the (lucky) guys down under and in the rest of the world, who saw the best shows in '98. Only a handful of shows, but "Bad" was back ...
During the 2001 shows, "Bad" is back again, reclaiming its status as the standard centre song (being switched less often with "All I Want Is You" ) – in its 'bridge function' very close to the ZOO TV times.

Now, with 2005/06 we arrive at the until now musical most flexible tour, U2 have performed yet. A tour with big phases & breaks. We do see "Bad" on the 1st leg as an often used 2nd night alternative in the set, now even closing shows (something that worked throughout the tour, when done so). For Europe's outdoor shows, "Bad" disappeared completely – apart from the emotional version on the 3rd night in Dublin.
In the indoor U.S. shows "Bad" was again back on the track, losing it again after the first Mexican outing and being thrown out of the set – just to be there again at the final leg of the tour as a setlist alternative juwel.

 

[last unicorn]

I listened to almost every Vertigo bootleg with Bad and I say no version was bad, no pun intended. While I agree with Peter that the last Vertigo leg was Bono's strongest in terms of vocals and that the Wide Awake part was absolutlely strong on that leg, I must say that I almost prefer the more emotional versions where Bono's voice wasn't spot-on in shows because he was tired, strained etc. I listened to the Los Angeles show from November 2005 and Bono had some problems on this leg because his voice was tired, still he was singing better than during Elevation or Popmart. I always find it amazing how he mangages to get so much out of his voice towards the end of a show. In LA they were doing a 10 minute version of Bad with Bono singing People have the Power for several minutes, I found that really amazing. You could here that he was taking his voice to the max and it was quite emotional. I think it is difficult to have a song like Bad as the show closer, especially on a night where your voice is tired and not as strong as it should be. I like any version of Bad that is performed with emotion and passion. And even if Bono's voice isn't really strong, he can pull off this song amazingly well nowadays.

 

[Addicted To Bad]

 

[the tourist]

 

[ZOOTVTOURist]

I listened to almost every Vertigo bootleg with Bad and I say no version was bad, no pun intended. While I agree with Peter that the last Vertigo leg was Bono's strongest in terms of vocals and that the Wide Awake part was absolutlely strong on that leg, I must say that I almost prefer the more emotional versions where Bono's voice wasn't spot-on in shows because he was tired, strained etc. I listened to the Los Angeles show from November 2005 and Bono had some problems on this leg because his voice was tired, still he was singing better than during Elevation or Popmart. I always find it amazing how he mangages to get so much out of his voice towards the end of a show. In LA they were doing a 10 minute version of Bad with Bono singing People have the Power for several minutes, I found that really amazing. You could here that he was taking his voice to the max and it was quite emotional. I think it is difficult to have a song like Bad as the show closer, especially on a night where your voice is tired and not as strong as it should be. I like any version of Bad that is performed with emotion and passion. And even if Bono's voice isn't really strong, he can pull off this song amazingly well nowadays.

In other words: You agree with me – fine

 

[U2opra]

There was some good wide awakes during the elevation tour, they certainly weren't sung maybe in the same calibre as the vertigo ones. But, the emotion and power forced on a few, were very good. I'll have to dig some up so you can listen.

 

[Rob33]

No, again, I don't agree. Singing is much more than hitting high notes. It is for example also whispering, shouting, having a voice like "caramel", playing with your voice – and not only: "Yes, he hit the C – great version" or "No he didnt hit it – not that great version". Such a selection is a bit weird & obsessive, friends, as explained above.

ok I agree with you, but you're missing my point...I said hitting notes is a major aspect of singing- are you going to argue that?

I don't really see your point...Bono practically always performs Bad with intense passion...and just like in the early days when he sometimes didn't hit the notes but, like you say, sang it interestingly and almost screamed the 'wide awake' parts....he still does that- he didn't hit the 'wide awake' perfectly on every single vertigo tour performance like he did in Seattle, but regardless, he sings it with passion and rage. I agree that Bono doesn't have to hit every single note perfectly to make it a solid performance, but I generally sense the same passion and rage when Bad is performed today as I did in the 80's. And I stand by what I said, that it is in the nature of the song to build up and come back down again...I mean think about it, how could it not? That's what Bad is all about.

Plus: Bono's voice in Seattle is nice in general, but it is far from the atmosphere he created more than 20 years ago. This in a total shows at least in my ears, where an impossible thing such as an ultimate version has to be searched, and this is not in the (great) Vertigo days ...

Ok, it's just personal taste. To be honest, I love all passionate versions of Bad- it's such a great song. As long as the band can deliver with the passion and rage the song deserves, I'll love it every time it is performed.

No, not true again. You could blame U2 to actually over play this tune at times, when you understand, that the tune was performed on every tour since '84: It was played as a standard obvioulsy from 84-86, it was a regular in the whole '87 tour. Then it became an often used tune for the '89/'90 tour and got its 'every night' status back for the '92 indoor shows. Continuing with the ZOO TV gigs it maintained its status as the centre song in the set, being switched only with "Sunday Bloody Sunday", mainly for the purpose of multiple night variety. Just the very last shows saw the tune being lost and replaced by "Dirty Day", a rarity until today.
For POPMart it should have rested apart from the (lucky) guys down under and in the rest of the world, who saw the best shows in '98. Only a handful of shows, but "Bad" was back ...
During the 2001 shows, "Bad" is back again, reclaiming its status as the standard centre song (being switched less often with "All I Want Is You" ) – in its 'bridge function' very close to the ZOO TV times.

Now, with 2005/06 we arrive at the until now musical most flexible tour, U2 have performed yet. A tour with big phases & breaks. We do see "Bad" on the 1st leg as an often used 2nd night alternative in the set, now even closing shows (something that worked throughout the tour, when done so). For Europe's outdoor shows, "Bad" disappeared completely – apart from the emotional version on the 3rd night in Dublin.
In the indoor U.S. shows "Bad" was again back on the track, losing it again after the first Mexican outing and being thrown out of the set – just to be there again at the final leg of the tour as a setlist alternative juwel.

Ok my fault for not being clear in my original post. When I said that they've done a good job of keeping the song fresh, I was mainly referring to the vertigo tour...obviously in the early days Bad was considered a fairly new song and thus made its way into the setlist quite often, but if we compare Bad to songs like One, BTBS, SBS, etc., I think U2 have done a good job in keeping it relatively fresh and surprising every time it is played nowadays...at least for me, maybe you're bored by it, I dunno

 

[Diemen]

Just listening to the first verses I can't see how this Seattle version could be the best. He sounds pretty tired for the first couple verses and chorus.

 

[the tourist]

The best versions are from Wide Awake In America, Rattle & Hum, and Lovetown.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I couldn't download this version because the service was at its "full capacity". Anyway, my favorite version is still the one from the R&H movie. Bono's "wide awake"s and Larry's drumming are at their absolute best! Really, really pwerfull and the Sympathy and Ruby Tuesday snippets are perfect.

The Irving Plaza (2000 I think) and the one from their last show from the Elevation Tour in Miami, Florida are pretty damn amazing too. I listen to them a lot. This one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTEOOCzWTcw is one that I really love as well. Bono's vocals are great in my opinion, I really like watching and listening to this one.

My favorite U2 song I think.

 

[last unicorn]

Just listening to the first verses I can't see how this Seattle version could be the best. He sounds pretty tired for the first couple verses and chorus.

No, the Seatlle shows were IMO among the best Vertigo shows, most of all regarding Bono's vocals. During the first Vertigo leg his vocals were fresh and strong. He sounded a bit tired when they returned to the US for the third tour and also had some problems in Europe, but over all, his voice on the whole tour was good to amazing. He can still have a powerful voice even if he's tired. Like I said before, it always amazes me how he can push his voice at the end of the show even though you can clearly hear him struggling. But the April 2005 Vertigo shows were definitly among the best and his voice in Bad is fantastic.

 

[ZOOTVTOURist]

I think U2 have done a good job in keeping it relatively fresh and surprising every time it is played nowadays...at least for me, maybe you're bored by it, I dunno

I guess, my passion in this thread shows, that I do love the tune and estimate it maybe THE essential live song by U2

 

[Addicted To Bad]

I guess, my passion in this thread shows, that I do love the tune and estimate it maybe THE essential live song by U2

I completely agree with you ....

 

[gherman]

R&H is the best for me too along with Live Aid

 

[Diemen]

No, the Seatlle shows were IMO among the best Vertigo shows, most of all regarding Bono's vocals. During the first Vertigo leg his vocals were fresh and strong. He sounded a bit tired when they returned to the US for the third tour and also had some problems in Europe, but over all, his voice on the whole tour was good to amazing. He can still have a powerful voice even if he's tired. Like I said before, it always amazes me how he can push his voice at the end of the show even though you can clearly hear him struggling. But the April 2005 Vertigo shows were definitly among the best and his voice in Bad is fantastic.

Ok. IMO he sounds tired until the second half of the song. And if I can clearly hear him struggling, then it's not one of his best performances.





IMO.

 

[65980]

My favorite 'Bad' performances are all from 1985, I think. I tend to prefer renditions of the songs when they're fresh, not when they've been overplayed or after the band has felt a self-conscious need to reinvent them. Once the UF tour got going (esp. the second American leg) 'Bad' was really powerful and, by spring 1985, 10--15 minute versions were commonplace, and his voice never sounded better.

And yes, the 'Conspiracy of Hope' version in New Jersey (summer 1986) was also phenomenal, but mainly due to his voice, not so much the band's performance.

For me there's something missing from all later tour-versions. Even as far back as The Joshua Tree tour, it didn't have the same resonance for me (I don't think the Rattle and Hum film version in Denver is one of the better ones, even of that particular tour -- his voice is way off, for example, when he sings the "wooos"). The sincerity of the song didn't seem to fit well with the whole Zoo TV package, and his voice had clearly lost some range in 1997-98. It's interesting to hear some recent renditions, and yes the Tokyo performance in 2006 was excellent vocally. (Everyone who complains about his voice lately should certainly hear that performance.)

But in any case, I love the 1985 ones best.

(I also would like to know how 'doctored' the Wide Awake in America version is -- it's supposedly from Birmingham in 1984, but I've never heard that bootleg. If anyone has it, they could compare both versions to solve this mystery.)

 

[ultraviolet92]

dont worry peterr i agree with you 99 percent although i think he has hit plenty of high c's but only for a second unlike some awesome versions and i think people are just choosing the rattle and hum version because of the kick-ass video if u just listen to the audio of rattle and hum and the audio of this version or the 1990 january 10th version you will find rattle and hum version doesnt sound as good

the video though is really awesome it shows real passion from the band but i agree that his vocals are crap on that version: the woo woo bit is really weak