Why U2 aren't the Beatles...


Elizabeth Platt ([email protected])
Thu, 3 Dec 1998 18:16:18 -0800 (PST)


On Thu, 3 Dec 1998 "God of Wire" <[email protected]> wrote:

[Was Re: comparing U2 to ...........the Beatles?????]

>>and although this is a bit abstract to what Bono meant, if you
>>listen to the Springhill Disaster Concert in Chicago (1987-88) Bono
>>clearly states, "I'm not in the Beatles, this is U2." Now, Bono may be
>>giving credit to the Beatles (and I will too, because although i dont
>>like their music as much, I will say they had a big impact)
>
>what the. . .?! where did this come from, this had absolutely nothing to
>do with the rest of the sentence preceding it. . .wow, even you are
>usually a bit more coherent than this. and he was giving them credit,
>IMO, implying "no need to be crazy about us, it's not like we're a really
>great band like the beatles"

No, actually, he was just telling the screamers to put a sock in it.

It's been _years_ since I've heard any bootlegs from the '87 tour, but I
do recall that the band added "Springhill Mining Disaster" to their
setlist at one of the San Francisco shows I attended. They tried to
perform it in other cities, but the girls in the audience kept
screeeeeeeming all the way through it, which really kind of blows the
whole mood, you know? It's a bit more "lo-fi" than, say, "New Year's
Day", and the screams were pretty annoying. No small wonder that Bono got
testy, and if I recall rightly, what he says is, "shut up, shut up...we're
not the Beatles!" ;-) (The Beatles, of course, were plagued by the
fact that their fans shrieked their way through the concerts...which had
no small part in the Beatles' decision to give up performing live.)

Bono's chiding doesn't seemed to have worked, though, and U2 dropped
"Springhill" from the set.

By the way, the '87 show at the Cow Palace--second night, correct?--is to
my knowledge the only "unscreamed" version of "Springhill" by U2 to be
found, other than their "Late Late Show" appearance that I mentioned in
another post. So it's the only "in-concert" version that you can find
without Bono trying to get the screamers to cool down...

Slan,

Elizabeth Platt
[email protected]



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