it's a musical journey...
Scaboroth ([email protected])
Sat, 16 Jan 1999 14:55:19 -0800 (PST)
Greetings friends.
Some of you I know, some I have yet to. Myself: longtime u2 fan,
recent bootleg collector. I select all of you to receieve this message
on the basis of what must be great experience and intimacy with the
music of this band, such that is required in the levels of dedication
you display. Here is my thought:
PopMart was, from the perspective of variety in the setlists,
creatively disappointing. Every last show with a very few exceptions
followed the same "program". Quite a far cry from the previous tour,
which began in standard "ZooTV" mode and evolved from there to
Zooropa/Zoomerang etc. Including a few dates that seemed somewhat
random, stylistically having little to do with the overall context of
the tour. Now, since the band is constantly evolving in and of
themselves, and practising (it makes perfect, dontcha know) it follows
that now is the best period for the band musically as performers.
Never has the music sounded as good as today. The lyrics are more
soulful and heartfelt, the bass is more ripping but still perfectly
balanced, the drums more pounding and driving, the guitar more
textured and solos elaborate. Since now is quite obviously the time to
most enjoy the performances, how is one to rationalize the lack of
variety and acquire yet another bootleg of practically the exact same
show?
The real secret is in the music, as it always has and always shall be.
The beauty is there, if you can find it. What I propose is this: an
open forum discussing and exploring the places where u2 has gone,
recently or in the past, that are musically challenging. I'm not
talking about a really meaningful performance of "One", "Pride", or
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"; with all due respect, I will love these songs
till the ends of the Earth, but I have heard them before. What truly
_fascinates_ me is when a band will take you to a different place or
spin off in a new direction, such that for just a second even you find
yourself absorbed in what is happening at that very moment (kind of
like the feeling you get, if you're REALLY listening to it, about
two-thirds of the way through "Bullet the Blue Sky"), something new or
so unexpected that you forget even what song you're listening to, much
less the one that is going to follow that one, or what the encores
will consist of that night. Do you follow me? Let me illustrate an
example or two:
One of the sections that I have paid the most attention to on PopMart
boots is the end of "Where the Streets Have No Name", after the usual
arrangement of the song ends, the band tacked an extra area of music,
which actually varied quite widely from night to night. it was how
they ended the show (before the encores began) and was always a very
powerful jam. In fact the highlight of several of the bootlegs I've
listened to.
U2 also employs some songs that are specific vehicles for their
musical meandering, such as "Exit" or "Bad" especially. Some of their
segues must have been prearranged, but one wonders how many are
actually spontaneous. One extremely specific example comes from the
8.28.93 Dublin show (commonly known as "Zoo Europa"), when "Bad"
begins to fade away and Bono sings a few lines from "The First Time",
ending with "for the first time I feel..." and then Edge kicks in with
the WWII bomber-noise that heralds "Bullet the Blue Sky" when Bono
bellows out "LOVE! LOVE! LOOOOOVE!" which was actually only the man
finishing his sentence...
A lot of the interesting or unusual territory that I'm attempting to
refer to u2 will cover by using covers. And there are certainly some
extremely unexpected covers circulating around out there. Anyone?
Anyone? How about dramatic reworkings of a well-known song ( such as
the "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" performed at
Rotterdam on 11.5.93, in which it begins with the standard lines that
the crowd can sing along with, upon which Bono goes through and
changes every single lyric, words that have never been heard with that
song before, and then ends it by going back to the chorus so that the
crowd can sing along with him. THAT was FASCINATING) ? Or perhaps any
long instrumental bridges or extended solos that aren't the usual
repertoire. You begin to understand what I'm getting at.
So for this I need your help and look to your expertise, you who have
most probably spent many hours studying your material devotedly. What
are some of the gems you have gleaned? Where should I go looking next,
because you know that I still haven't found what...
oh you know what I mean.
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2
on Sat Jan 16 1999 - 14:53:53 PST