Inauguration Setlist Party - Part II

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Marko said:
Well for me this was maybe the worst U2 performance ever. I thought that maybe they would be able to find some passion in playing Pride for this occasion, but now I'm more sure than every that they should stop playing that song live.
And Bonos antics were really hard to look at :) At least he made up for all of that with Israeli/Palestinian thing. Someone said that it was a poor judgment to do that, but I think it was a right decision. To remind them that everyone has the same rights and that the world with US in front has some job to do, and it can't wait for celebrations to be over....

Now for something positive - even before they came on I knew that it would be a terrible performance, simply because every ones performance was pure crap :) It was the ambiance, the setting, the sound...everything was terrible and it seemd that no one could decently play or sing....

Now I'm waiting for the tour and the real thing

cheers
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I am totally mystified by the fact that you saw no evidence of passion in this performance of Pride. I found quite the opposite. The whole band seemed quite overwhelmed at being a part of this moment. Bono was positively giddy, Adam was smiling and jumping around, Edge looked ecstatic and even Larry seemed to be soaking in the moment in his own unique way. Are you confusing the slow tempo with lack of passion? Over the years Pride has been played at different tempos and I find that I always remember the song being faster than it usually is when they play it live. I believe that the tempo for it was one of the things they struggled with when writing it.

Dana
 
rihannsu said:
I am totally mystified by the fact that you saw no evidence of passion in this performance of Pride. I found quite the opposite. The whole band seemed quite overwhelmed at being a part of this moment. Bono was positively giddy, Adam was smiling and jumping around, Edge looked ecstatic and even Larry seemed to be soaking in the moment in his own unique way. Are you confusing the slow tempo with lack of passion? Over the years Pride has been played at different tempos and I find that I always remember the song being faster than it usually is when they play it live. I believe that the tempo for it was one of the things they struggled with when writing it.

Dana
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Agreed. After watching twice now, I'm convinced they were very happy to be there. As were many.
 
very exciting

Just watched repeat on HBO...agree that there were some tech/broadcasting/mixing problems that probably made the audio relatively poor. I think they it improved by COBL. i wonder what happened to "One." These guys were thrilled to be part of this moment. At the end, Bono looked like a boy in a puppy store when Obama was thanking the performers! They're baaaaack! Can't wait for the tour!!
 
rihannsu said:
I am totally mystified by the fact that you saw no evidence of passion in this performance of Pride. I found quite the opposite. The whole band seemed quite overwhelmed at being a part of this moment. Bono was positively giddy, Adam was smiling and jumping around, Edge looked ecstatic and even Larry seemed to be soaking in the moment in his own unique way. Are you confusing the slow tempo with lack of passion? Over the years Pride has been played at different tempos and I find that I always remember the song being faster than it usually is when they play it live. I believe that the tempo for it was one of the things they struggled with when writing it.

Dana
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well for me one thing is the way that they felt, but the other thing is how the songs sounded to me. Of course we are both right, we just don't agree :)
Pride sounded empty to me, Bono sang it badly and Bonos communication with public was for me really hard to watch. i felt a little bit embarrassed...

but hey, that's me...if you saw something else and different good for you

cheers
 
It was nice to see them again, especially televised

Performance-wise...it just felt so forced, too scripted, i think were all ready for the real thing
 
Marko said:
well for me one thing is the way that they felt, but the other thing is how the songs sounded to me. Of course we are both right, we just don't agree :)
Pride sounded empty to me, Bono sang it badly and Bonos communication with public was for me really hard to watch. i felt a little bit embarrassed...

but hey, that's me...if you saw something else and different good for you

cheers
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Bono's communication with the public looked awkward because 1) it wasn't a U2 crowd 2) the audience was too far away for Bono to really connect which makes him struggle. Other than a few spots where either the sound was off or the cold and overwhelming emotion was choking off his voice I thought he sounded great. Many have commented that the songs were in original tuning not a semi-tone down as he usually performs them and if anything he was singing a bit too high on Pride. But he was singing in powerful full voice which he has not done in a while. He did sound better in rehearsals last night and he probably has been talking his butt off last night and today which he really shouldn't do when he's going to be singing.

As for being a little embarrassed, if you don't feel that way after a U2 performance then Bono hasn't been Bono. :wink:

Dana
 
i was there.. and i thought the performance was very passionate.. It was just flat out amazing.. We all went nuts, our little group.

yes, the connection was tough for him because it wasn't a u2 crowd.. What do you expect when there were over 500,000 people there. You really cant expect the same kind of peformance at a event like this.
 
Marko said:
well for me one thing is the way that they felt, but the other thing is how the songs sounded to me. Of course we are both right, we just don't agree :)
Pride sounded empty to me, Bono sang it badly and Bonos communication with public was for me really hard to watch. i felt a little bit embarrassed...

but hey, that's me...if you saw something else and different good for you

cheers
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I was there in person, and thought it was one of their better, more energetic performances - better than many on the last tour. I guess you had to be there. U2 got the most applause and crowd support. There were some technical issues with the PA system for them and many other performers as well.
 
U2Fanatic4ever said:
i was there.. and i thought the performance was very passionate.. It was just flat out amazing.. We all went nuts, our little group.

yes, the connection was tough for him because it wasn't a u2 crowd.. What do you expect when there were over 500,000 people there. You really cant expect the same kind of peformance at a event like this.
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What was the whole thing like actually being there?
 
U2Fanatic4ever said:
You really cant expect the same kind of peformance at a event like this.
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Just when does U2 perform in this kind of weather. Come on people if you think it's so bad, go out there and sing in sub/freezing temps.
CNN has been running clips of Pride throughout the night. They obviously think it's worthy. Unlike some.:huh:
Not to say you should like it because of this, but geez..cut them some slack. Which I know won't happen. :wink:

(not directed to you specifically, you U2Fan. :up: )
 
I was about half way down the reflecting pool from the stage. The sound was TERRIBLE. The speakers weren't in sync from the front to the back so there was a terrible echo effect making it extremely difficult to understand what was being said by anyone, either in a reading or song. U2 also killed a speaker in the front during COBL which made it even worse with alot of feedback etc. Finally, it was pretty damn cold. So by the time U2 performed, everyone was just done. The crowd was not into it, and U2 is at its best when interacting with their audience. So while I was not impressed with their performance today, I was not impressed with ANYTHING today. Once again, DC demonstrates its complete inability to coordinate large-scale events. The sound technician needed to be FIRED.
 
dclawyer said:
I was about half way down the reflecting pool from the stage. The sound was TERRIBLE. The speakers weren't in sync from the front to the back so there was a terrible echo effect making it extremely difficult to understand what was being said by anyone, either in a reading or song.
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My feeling was that the jumbotrons and PA system were broadcasting the satellite feed, not the live audio/video directly. E.g. at the beginning, the HBO logo came up on screen. So that added to the delay. I didn't notice any cobl problem, and in the back the crowd was into it more than any other performance (except maybe the Shout thingy).
 
Can anyone confirm for sure that Pride was in original key?

It sure looked it the few times they showed Larry!
 
U2387 said:
Can anyone confirm for sure that Pride was in original key?

It sure looked it the few times they showed Larry!
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It wasn't in the original key - it is in the key of A which is how they played it for most of the popmart tour and beyond. The studio version is a full step higher, in B.
 
Dude, i love u2 but that obama performance...ooops

Maybe they should have reserved that faltering performance for 'Veteran's Day'. Was Bono drunk?
 
just caught it on youtube. pride sucked - very hollow, might have just been the mix, but meh - but cobl came through very nicely.

i did like the segue of pride -> cobl though, although it's a good song to segue into regardless of the previous song.
 
coolian2 said:
pride sucked - very hollow, might have just been the mix, but meh - but cobl came through very nicely.

i did like the segue of pride -> cobl though, although it's a good song to segue into regardless of the previous song.
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Yeah, this. But it's live Pride, so what do you expect?

Also, as fitting as it was for the occasion, I can't believe Bono's still doing the "not just an American dream" mini-speech four years after he first came up with it.
 
Pride was very weak. He was pretty much just shouting/screaming a lot of it as well. COBL was fine though.

I’ve seen a few reviews (not formal, just comments here and there around the internets) and it seems a lot of people thought U2 fell quite flat. Also a bit of shaking the fists as to what the hell they were doing there to begin with – not American and all. Was everyone else on the bill American? Quick glance, I think so?
 
Axver said:
Also, as fitting as it was for the occasion, I can't believe Bono's still doing the "not just an American dream" mini-speech four years after he first came up with it.
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I'm surprised he can remember it four years after he came up with it.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
Pride was very weak. He was pretty much just shouting/screaming a lot of it as well. COBL was fine though.

I’ve seen a few reviews (not formal, just comments here and there around the internets) and it seems a lot of people thought U2 fell quite flat. Also a bit of shaking the fists as to what the hell they were doing there to begin with – not American and all. Was everyone else on the bill American? Quick glance, I think so?
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I think the only other non-American was Shakira.

The fist-shakers can blame Obama for using COBL as one of his campaign songs. And then they can get over it and shut it.
 
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