We're all entitled to our opinions.
WOWY for example has sucked canal water for years vocally. No, I'm not a self-proclaimed expert on his voice, but it really is very easy to cherry pick shows, make sweeping statements, etc. See, I just did it. Now, maybe someone will convince me I'm full of it and WOWY is being sung "Technically better" than ever, but chances are they won't.
Of course we are all entitled to our opinions. Whether we prefer 80s or now Bono matters not, the point that Peterr and others are trying to get across is he is different, but objectively, he has not lost it. Me, I can not decide on what era I like better, depends on the day.
I don't think you can find a defense of WOWY as it is sung these days on interference, never mind in this thread. You are picking the weakest example out of all and then accusing the videos of being non representative?? Dubious.
No one has ever mentioned WOWY as proof of Bono being technically better now, it is overall we are talking about. Technical is of course not the main issue, the issue is does he still sound good, is he still unique, can he still hit the notes and portray the emotion? Of course he can. WOWY stands out precisely because it is an exception.
None of this is truly provable, unless we have similar quality recordings from every show. I've heard U2 recording of shows I was actually at where Bono sounds better than what I was hearing at the time, much of that is due to where people are sitting in any given arena.
So, unless the analyses are being done by someone academically qualified who is listening to similarly recorded shows, preferably directly from a soundboard (i.e, untreated in any way) I'm just not buying into it.
Very true, all bootlegs are not created equal, most are crap, etc. We know this. In this day and age, with the status of U2 as a worldwide super act and the technology and fan base, U2 still has plenty of material out there from live performances that is of good enough quality to be able to make some general conclusions on each era. The Pop and Elevation struggles are widely known, as is the resurgence since 2003.
Peterr has an extensive list of voice highlights from Bono these days and they range across multiple songs and multiple shows. He even points out 80s performances to listen to so we can see what he is talking about. He and I agree, the best versions of Bad were in 86 on COH, but JT, LT and Zoo TV/Elevation came nowhere near 5th leg Vertigo renditions of Bad.
Bottom line, the burden of proof is on the people who think the range and ability are gone to show that what Peterr posts is the exception to the rule of crap vocal performances.
The overwhelming consensus from fans and critics who have seen all kinds of different shows this tour is that Bono sounds great.
Does he have his not so great moments, of course, but no one will ever convince me that those are more frequent now than they were at any time in the past.
No disrespect intended to anyone, but cherry picking shows and comparing bad bootlegs, recordings etc is just no way to "prove" anything imho.
Peace.
And no disrespect taken.
No one is trying to "prove" that Bono is "better" or "worse" today, we all know he is just different. What the videos do, I think, is rebut the people who like to claim it has been a straight path downward since Zoo Tv and that there were no issues in the 80s.
There were issues in each era, and what one ultimately prefers is a matter of personal preference.
Bottom line, eye on the ball, purpose of the thread take away statement is Bono, going by the widely accepted measurements of range, ability to hit notes, etc has lost little or nothing.
