Bono's Vocal Range

[Peterrrrr]

come on, he doesn't sing it the same way, not because he couldn't back then (92-93) but because he didn't want to sing it in a higher key.
During 360, the 1st verse is the same as ZooTV, it's from the 2nd verse that he goes higher and push his voice, it's a choice (change in the song), but it's not because he couldn't in 92-93.

The thing is that he wasnt able to hit a note like that back in ZooTV, the clean sound he had int the 2009-07-07 version was impossible for him. Just listen to the Wikde Awakes from Bad on ZooTV either he used falsetto to hit them or
strained his voice to hit it:
YouTube - U2 - Bad - Washington DC - 1992-08-16

On ZooTV his falsetto and low deep voice was amazing, but not his high register.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Peterrrr, have you ever sat down and thought, maybe, just maybe, there might be more to life than Bono's voice?

Yes? Oh, okay.

 

[digitize]

there are more things that are better about the 360 version than just that one line....

I'd say they're about equal...the 7/7/09 Milan version and the Washington ZooTV being my favorites

Exactly... why does it really matter, anyway?

 

[Peterrrrr]

Peterrrr, have you ever sat down and thought, maybe, just maybe, there might be more to life than Bono's voice?

Yes? Oh, okay.

Yes, my wife and bonos hairstyle

 

[The Sad Punk]

Oh, that's just grand to hear. How is Bono's hairstyle going these days, anyway?

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

The thing is that he wasnt able to hit a note like that back in ZooTV, the clean sound he had int the 2009-07-07 version was impossible for him. Just listen to the Wikde Awakes from Bad on ZooTV either he used falsetto to hit them or
strained his voice to hit it:
YouTube - ** - Bad - Washington DC - 1992-08-16

On ZooTV his falsetto and low deep voice was amazing, but not his high register.

you chose a really bad night..... of course on that performance I agree he couldn't hit anything high..... have a look at a good night (don't have time right now) (I guess even R&H video is better than any 360 version)

 

[monsieur fly]

The thing is that he wasnt able to hit a note like that back in ZooTV, the clean sound he had int the 2009-07-07 version was impossible for him. Just listen to the Wikde Awakes from Bad on ZooTV either he used falsetto to hit them or
strained his voice to hit it:
YouTube - U2 - Bad - Washington DC - 1992-08-16

On ZooTV his falsetto and low deep voice was amazing, but not his high register.

Well it depends on what you what from Bono's voice. For me, his Zoo TV voice offered more, even if he struggled more with the high notes. I didn't mind him resorting to falsetto at times.

 

[monsieur fly]

As for the UV debate, posters suggest Bono could not have sung the second verse in the "360 style" back in 92/3. This may have been the case (though I think he could have managed on some nights). Nevertheless, could Bono sing the outro in 2010 like he did in 92/3? I doubt it. Some people will therefore conclude that the versions were simply different with no clear winner but it depends on what you want to hear. For those who like Bono hitting high notes, the 360 version is more pleasing, for those (like me) who find his crooning lower register more appealing, the Zoo Tv version will always be superior.

 

[doctorwho]

Peterrrr, have you ever sat down and thought, maybe, just maybe, there might be more to life than Bono's voice?

Yes? Oh, okay.

This question is illogical. What else is there?

 

[nielsgov]

For me the U2 360 UV wins but like monsieur fly said it depends what you like. I also like Bono's low register but I think the second verse sounds better and more emotional the way Bono sings it now.

 

[Peterrrrr]

you chose a really bad night..... of course on that performance I agree he couldn't hit anything high..... have a look at a good night (don't have time right now) (I guess even R&H video is better than any 360 version)

I have listend to almost every version of Bad from ZooTV and I havent heard any Wide Awake hit propaly.

 

[U2girl]

The difference is that his voice has thinned significantly with age. End of story. Every vocal performance from 1983-1993 is better than every performance since, simply because of that.

Stronger voice? Yes.

Better singer ? No. End of story.

There's a reason why Ultraviolet is one of the highlights of 360 and on the other hand it's just another song on Zoo TV.

 

[U2girl]

Every vocal performance from 1983-1993 is better than every performance since False.

Ultraviolet 2009 and Electric co 2005 (all of the Boy oldies on Vertigo tour for that matter)

 

[toscano]

Every vocal performance from 1983-1993 is better than every performance since False.

Ultraviolet 2009 and Electric co 2005 (all of the Boy oldies on Vertigo tour for that matter)

It's neither False nor True, it's what each one of us likes.

I'll take a 93 UV over the 360 version any time.

 

[BVS]

Anybody else like

?

I love it, it's my favorite.

 

[digitize]

Stronger voice? Yes.

Better singer ? No. End of story.

There's a reason why Ultraviolet is one of the highlights of 360 and on the other hand it's just another song on Zoo TV.

That's really subjective... Ultraviolet is one of the two or three biggest highlights of ZooTV for me (it has this distinction for 360 too, of course).

 

[digitize]

I have listend to almost every version of Bad from ZooTV and I havent heard any Wide Awake hit propaly.

Dublin is strained, but he hits it in full voice for the second set of wide awakes (the first set is falsetto).

 

[Peterrrrr]

Dublin is strained, but he hits it in full voice for the second set of wide awakes (the first set is falsetto).

He strains his voice in the dublin version.

 

[doctorwho]

Stronger voice? Yes.

Better singer ? No. End of story.

There's a reason why Ultraviolet is one of the highlights of 360 and on the other hand it's just another song on Zoo TV.

See, I would flip this.

Stronger voice? No.

Better singer? Yes.

Bono might not have the power and richness he once had, but he often paid a price for that voice (including canceled shows).

Age, smoking, drinking, past vocal problems, vocal lessons, etc., have all led to his current voice. It's clear he can have that richness (and Peter has shown tons of examples), and IMO, there is a far less whispery quality to his voice (ala Slane) or outright breakdown (ala Super Bowl). This tour is the best I've heard him sound (although last tour was pretty strong too, especially the last leg). And I think this is mostly because he has learned HOW to sing, thus making him a better singer.

So if you love that Lovetown era, while it may show peaks here and there, in order for him to tour around the world now at 50, that voice is mostly not used. His vocal technique is better now. Plus, let's not forget the famous "Kermit" voice (operatic falsetto) that Bono often used during JT and Lovetown tours to hit some notes.

 

[U2girl]

See, I would flip this.

Stronger voice? No.

Better singer? Yes.

Bono might not have the power and richness he once had, but he often paid a price for that voice (including canceled shows).

Age, smoking, drinking, past vocal problems, vocal lessons, etc., have all led to his current voice. It's clear he can have that richness (and Peter has shown tons of examples), and IMO, there is a far less whispery quality to his voice (ala Slane) or outright breakdown (ala Super Bowl). This tour is the best I've heard him sound (although last tour was pretty strong too, especially the last leg). And I think this is mostly because he has learned HOW to sing, thus making him a better singer.

So if you love that Lovetown era, while it may show peaks here and there, in order for him to tour around the world now at 50, that voice is mostly not used. His vocal technique is better now. Plus, let's not forget the famous "Kermit" voice (operatic falsetto) that Bono often used during JT and Lovetown tours to hit some notes.

You misunderstood.

I meant he had a stronger voice back then, but he's a better singer now. Consider the 5 year stretch in between Bomb/Vertigo tour and NLOTH/360 and how little his voice changed compared to the sadly irreversible change of the 5 years between Zoo TV and Pop/mart.

 

[doctorwho]

You misunderstood.

I meant he had a stronger voice back then, but he's a better singer now. Consider the 5 year stretch in between Bomb/Vertigo tour and NLOTH/360 and how little his voice changed compared to the sadly irreversible change of the 5 years between Zoo TV and Pop/mart.

Gotcha! Then we are in full agreement!


I also agree that sometime after ZOO TV is when his voice really started to go. I would cringe hearing him sing in the mid to late 90's. In the past, hearing Bono perform was a highlight. It started to return with Elevation, but still hit or miss. Now, it's almost always solid (like the 5 nights on Letterman).

And I can understand Peter's obsession because as much as I love Edge's effects filled unique sound, and Adam and Larry's astounding beats, it was Bono's passionate singing that turned me into a fan.

 

[SBU2]

Simple question, if he is a better singer now, then why is he talking through songs like Streets, Pride, WOWY and loads more? We all know he is a brilliant singer, but for someone watching the Rose Bowl show for example, on first opinion they'd probably say he is an average singer, because most of the performances were average. He doesnt add any flare to half the songs nowadays, he just sings the lyrics without any thought, and it sounds poor imo. He should really work on experimenting with his vocals on the older songs, because as you see, with fresh songs like UV and TUF he's making sure his voice sounds brilliant and he is taking more thought into it.

 

[U2387]

Simple question, if he is a better singer now, then why is he talking through songs like Streets, Pride, WOWY and loads more? We all know he is a brilliant singer, but for someone watching the Rose Bowl show for example, on first opinion they'd probably say he is an average singer, because most of the performances were average. He doesnt add any flare to half the songs nowadays, he just sings the lyrics without any thought, and it sounds poor imo. He should really work on experimenting with his vocals on the older songs, because as you see, with fresh songs like UV and TUF he's making sure his voice sounds brilliant and he is taking more thought into it.

He certainly didn't talk his way through Streets on 360, far from it. The performances of Streets on this tour were only a notch below 5th leg Vertigo performances.

Pride I would say sounded better than it did on Vertigo, when it made a pretty good comeback. He held the chorus a lot longer in the 360 Barcelona opening for example. The last performance of Pride at Chicago 1 was even better.

He talks his way through WOWY and One, but you read enough/post enough in here to know that we have been discussing this for ages and have never been able to come up with anything more than speculation and guess work as to why.

Overall, if you look at how he is singing throughout the shows, Moment of Surrender, Ultraviolet, Unforgettable Fire, Sunday Bloody Sunday, No Line On The Horizon, etc it is clear his voice is still quite good.

Again, I would love to know more than anyone what is wrong with One and WOWY, but whatever it is, its not a capability issue on the part of Bono.

 

[Peterrrrr]

I dont know what shows on 360 people visited, but I cant agree with you, I think it is his best tour ever and let this video speek

YouTube - Bono, vocal highlights from 360 tour era

YouTube - U2 - Bad (Live from the Point Depot)

You call this good? He cant sing here, all he do is straning his voice and fails to hit the notes right.

I dont really see anything unique about his voice at the moment. The thing that has made Bono's voice unique in his singing career is the deep emotional style or, the passionate shouting style. At the moment, on 50% of the songs, he isn't do either, he's almost talking, not singing. Its as if he's singing the lyrics without actually thinking of a certain technique to make the song shine. Most of U2's songs require you to shout, to make them up tempo and passionate, songs like Elevation, Beautiful Day. He did shout and make them passionate back in 2001, but now, its just a simple sing along which sounds horribly flat.

Watch the video is posted above

 

[SBU2]

He certainly didn't talk his way through Streets on 360, far from it. The performances of Streets on this tour were only a notch below 5th leg Vertigo performances.

Pride I would say sounded better than it did on Vertigo, when it made a pretty good comeback. He held the chorus a lot longer in the 360 Barcelona opening for example.

I agree about Pride, he improved the chorus's but overall it still sounded flat and plain, like streets does. Full credit for trying to incorporate the slane style intro in steets at Rose Bowl, but it made be cringe at points when he just couldnt hold it. Also the verses sound uninspiring and drained out. I know its easy for me to say, but if you were Bono right now on that stage singing streets, wouldn't you on parts of the verses go in a deep tone, then a shouting tone and then a calm tone, instead of just an entire calm and plain tone. I understand he's been performing it on hundreds of occasions now, so maybe its difficult to get inspired again, but he should really consider experimenting more with his voice on songs.

Watch the video is posted above

Its not loading atm, my nets been slow all day, ill try and have another look later.

 

[U2387]

Well, that's just dandy. There are over fifty lines of lyric in Ultraviolet and 360 has ONE cornered. It's like someone on one of those crappy early 90s online groups said Bono didn't hit enough high Cs, so he took it upon himself to rectify this. 16 years, 250 glasses of raw eggs, 547594574764764694647674976 slurred sentences and five training sequences later, he fucking nails ONE line.

Never say that U2 doesn't care about their fans.

I used one line as an example.

Not trying to argue that one line of 360 is all that was superior and the rest is crap. They are both great, just different, like I said numerous times.

What we have to stop doing here is saying all of this stuff is a matter of opinion. Yes, whether Ultraviolet was more enjoyable to you in 92 or 09 is an opinion. For me, it depends on the day.

Lets not confuse opinion though, with the argument that is being posed by some in this thread: "that every vocal performance since 1993 has not matched vocal performances from before 1993(in terms of quality)." Whether I like 1992 better than 2009 or not is irrelevant- that is an objectively false statement.

It is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact that the argument is not true, regardless of which version fans of diverse tastes prefer.

Important Distinction if there ever was one.

 

[U2387]

I agree about Pride, he improved the chorus's but overall it still sounded flat and plain, like streets does. Full credit for trying to incorporate the slane style intro in steets at Rose Bowl, but it made be cringe at points when he just couldnt hold it. Also the verses sound uninspiring and drained out. I know its easy for me to say, but if you were Bono right now on that stage singing streets, wouldn't you on parts of the verses go in a deep tone, then a shouting tone and then a calm tone, instead of just an entire calm and plain tone. I understand he's been performing it on hundreds of occasions now, so maybe its difficult to get inspired again, but he should really consider experimenting more with his voice on songs.

Well, I agree about Streets. I still think it is amazing and really does not sound flat to me, but in between Vertigo and now, I was really hoping that he experimented with the deep voice verse/chorus Streets once again. I thought the last leg Vertigo performances had the outline of those JT versions so to speak, and I was hoping for a return to the lower register for the verses.

Have a look at Tokyo 2006 Streets for example. It sounded great and he actually changed the tone of his voice throughout.

 

[zoopop]

Bono voices for NLOTH & 360 have been nothing but amazing.

NLTOH
MAG
MOS
Crazy
Breathe
White As Snow (Bridge)

Are hard songs to sing. For him to sing (except Crazy) live during the 360 show takes quite a bit. I would say NLOTH is Bono's best vocal album since UF. During Zoo he showed the falsetto but now he shows unbelievable range.

There were some shows he sounded rough, Vegas & the Rose Bowl, but everything else guy was a highlight of the show. I thought Vertigo was awesome but to sing:

NLOTH
Magnificent
UF (Sounded beautiful)
Breathe
Beautiful Day (Chorus)
Ultraviolet
Moment of Surrender (Last song of the night every show)

pretty much every single show I think Bono deserves some breathers in between.

 

[SBU2]

Well, I agree about Streets. I still think it is amazing and really does not sound flat to me, but in between Vertigo and now, I was really hoping that he experimented with the deep voice verse/chorus Streets once again. I thought the last leg Vertigo performances had the outline of those JT versions so to speak, and I was hoping for a return to the lower register for the verses.

Have a look at Tokyo 2006 Streets for example. It sounded great and he actually changed the tone of his voice throughout.

Just have, sounds really brilliant. I wish they recorded a DVD on that leg of the Vertigo Tour. Its annoying not having something decent to remember one of Bono's best vocal legs in a tour. His voice just sounded so fresh, raw and powerful. Maybe we will get the same on the 3rd leg though, remember he has had quite a long break now to rest his voice. He hasnt performed at the Brits nor Grammys so his voice should be in sparkling condition, hopefully he will take advantage of that and really bring the power back to Streets, Pride, SBS, WOWY and even bring back some power to Beautiful Day. When you compare BD back to 2001 it really has gone down hill. I used to love that " The Goal is soal " he used to sing really passionate and powerful. I reckon Elevation should be dropped, it only worked as an Opener imo, it looses its power when played half way through the set. So yes, on a positive note, we could another Vertigo 5th leg Bono voice in this 360 third leg.

 

[Peterrrrr]

I dont know what shows on 360 people visited, but I cant agree with you, I think it is his best tour ever and let this video speek

YouTube - Bono, vocal highlights from 360 tour era

I post this one again! So no one miss it