UberBeaver
Breakdancing Soul Pilgrim
I had no idea you were such a masochist Beav...
I'm no masochist. I'm an American. Obama is a masochist, all taxing my soda and shit. ROCK. FLAG. EAGLE. BAM.
I had no idea you were such a masochist Beav...
like the price of potatoes and whiskey?
That was exactly my thought.
Sorry, but he's the stereotypical way people here see Americans. This forum made it clear to me that yes, there are many of you that are actually very intelligent and well raised, but the majority of the Americans I knew and had heard about before I came to this forum were all like narrow minded Plato's cave people like the OP.
he thinks U2 shows changed for people NOT IN AMERICA after 9/11? Uh, certainly didn't change for me.
If you don't like what U2 live shows have become, it's very simple. BUY THE FUCKING DVD AND SKIP THE POLITICS.
Why always the pointless arguments? Holds no water and makes no sense. You are in the MINORITY. Stop trying to make it seem like there are many people supporting you, because I can assure you that 99% of this forum does NOT.
like the price of potatoes and whiskey?
My family left Ireland during the "Hunger Years." People starving to death, is no joke.
I'm sure it wasn’t but if you can't keep a sense of humor about things you are just as bad as someone who doesn't care at all as far as I'm concerned. There has to be a middle ground.
Between the famine on my Irish side and the British starving my ancestors to death on the Acadian side, an obscenely high percentage of my family perished in the 17-1800s. Most of my Irish side couldn't leave. I didn't take elfa's joke to be dismissive of that history at all. I thought he was joking about the current state of Ireland, that being relatively cool/prosperous, as compared to it's history and everything else that is currently going on elsewhere in the world.
i was refering actually to why nobody can pour a good pint of guinness in the states anymore.
i was refering actually to why nobody can pour a good pint of guinness in the states anymore.
Bono's best rants are the spontaneous one-offs. Fuck The Revolution is so good because you could tell he really, really meant it, and it didn't get watered down through nightly re-telling.
Even if you've only gone to one gig and haven't followed the tour online, it's pretty obvious what speeches are scripted and told all the time, and when that's a lengthy ramble, that hurts Bono's point. I've always maintained that a couple of well-chosen sentences will beat a lengthy ramble any time, and make Bono's points far more effectively. Doesn't matter if he uses the same well-chosen sentences each night; it neutralises the complaints about time-wasting, the crowd doesn't get restless, and it cuts through the muck straight to the point to give people food for thought.
I expect politics at a U2 gig, and I like it; I just think the style and presentation could be improved. Credit to the band for this tour's version of SBS - gets the Iran point across without wasting valuable time on a longwinded spiel, and the point's all the more effective because it's a part of the music.
I'm sorry but what is more off-putting at a concert?
Bono making a couple of speeches before songs or them stopping the concert altogether so they can have a live conversation with people in a basement in Sarajevo who basically accuse the audience of not doing anything while a genocide is going on.
I'm an American and respect, Bono's political views. It makes U2 different from the rest. But, I have to say. There is no stereotypical American. Nor, British, German, Spanish and etc. How can there be, in any country that has a population of more than ten or so, people?
Approximately 300 million people call the U.S. Their home. With over 80 different ethnic groups. Multi-religions, or lack there of. But, the vast majority of us are informed, intelligent and do care about what happens, outside our borders.
No disrespect to anyone here. But, stereotypes hurt.
In regards to the debate.....should politics be in a U2 concert? Yes, they should. Bono has the freedom to say what's on his mind. The same freedom, I enjoy. And finally, if it isn't your cup of tea. Then, maybe at that point during the concert. You could go get a cold beverage or take a bathroom break.
It was one thing in 2001 when it was about 9/11. That was moving, memorable, and appropriate. Something that obviously hit home with all of us. No one who ever saw that tour post 9/11 will ever forget it.
U2 in the 90s also really proved Larry's statement from the early 80s true about being more interested in the "politics of people" than politics. Those albums were about society, but they were, most importantly, about people.
Here is why I love Achtung Baby. It is an album about fame. It is an album about Berlin. It is an optimistic album about two halves of Berlin coming together. It is a pessimistic album about two halves of Berlin coming together. It is an optimistic glance into the future of Europe. It is a pissed-off rant against globalization that embraces globalization wholeheartedly, both sarcastically and seriously. It is the trials and tribulations of lovers throughout life. It is an album about Bono's internal struggles. It is an album about the band's internal struggles; it is a more sophisticated version of Quadrophenia in that sense. It is playful. It is serious. It is ironic. It is earnest. It makes fun of society. It makes fun of U2's role in society. It pretends to be teeny-bopper, but only when necessary, because it is about people, and people have their teeny-bopper moments. It is teeny-bopper, because we all have those moments within us, U2 being no exception. It embraces society. It says that we are all one. It says that we are not the same. It is an album that is pissed that we must be together as humans. It is an album that rejects that notion entirely. It is an album that embraces that notion. It, on the surface, ditches God entirely. But it embraces God, and spirituality, as it becomes more desperate. The twenty-first century began in 1991.
And it fucking evolved. Achtung Baby gained more meaning through ZooTV and Zooropa. And I think it still gains new meaning today... for me, for the world, and for U2. Ultraviolet, for example, came back this tour with a whole new attitude, one that relates back to its old ZooTV attitude, but builds on it, and ends up changing it totally.
No other album can do this.
I love U2 of the 90s, and I especially love Achtung Baby. 90s U2 were social, and political, and spiritual, but they were mainly amazing because they were humans, and their music was about humanity.
Funny, I thought 9/11 and the whole middle-east problem were somehow related, therefor pointing out the possible changes in Iran should be a good thing, but hey maybe Iran is just to far away....
You need to go to some Irish Pubs on the East Coast!
Try $11 glasses of Bud here. On the upside, it's brewed in Canada so it's marginally better than thewaterBud they call beer in the US
Just because someone doesn't want to hear lectures during a concert doesn't mean they are ignorant
just another note for some people on here about some replies to the original poster. Some people here think they are so open minded, but savagely attack someone else's opinion just because it differs from their own, look at yourselves in the mirror next time. Although I don't fully agree with the opinion of the original post, he/she has the right not to want their favorite band to talk politics too much during a concert and kill the vibe. Just because someone doesn't want to hear lectures during a concert doesn't mean they are ignorant, in the northeast US it's often the opposite, they know the subject so well that they don't need to pay 50-250 dollars to hear it again from Bono.