I just want to share my happiness with some musical people.
Today I got tickets to see U2 at Giants Stadium, which will be my 7th U2 show.
That's it, I'm just happy about it.
Thats awesome! :D Enjoy the show!
Happy for you , Brian. Enjoy the show. U2 are on my list of "Bands to see before I die"....pretty near the top.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Woo Hoo! Hope you enjoy. I shall butcher one of their songs tonight in your honor. :mrgreen:
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Enjoy the show! 8)
Dan
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
more joy!!! i picked up tix to the 2nd Giants Stadium show. 2 U2 shows in 2 days....I call that heaven.
more joy!!! i picked up tix to the 2nd Giants Stadium show. 2 U2 shows in 2 days....I call that heaven.
Well, in that case I shall butcher two of their songs in your honor tonight. Let's see. "Red Hill Mining Town" and "One" will do.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
wow red hill mining town. great choice, sir. i will butcher sunday bloody sunday and staring at the sun in honor of your butchering red hill and one.
wow red hill mining town. great choice, sir. i will butcher sunday bloody sunday and staring at the sun in honor of your butchering red hill and one.
D'OH! You caught me with a hole in my U2 collection. Don't have Pop. Just youtubed it. Nice song.
I never understood why Red Hill Mining Town never got big. Just wiki'd it and came up with this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hill_Mining_Town No idea if it's all true or not. :?:
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Pop is an interesting album, very underrated. It gets a lot of criticism as having gone too far into the electronica-inspired sounds that Achtung Baby and Zooropa created. But, it was basically an unfinished album because the band booked all this tour time, and kept recording through their rehearsal time. Next thing you know, they were forced to put it out anyway rather than cancel a stadium tour. The early days of Popmart were horrendous as a result. They "finished" most of the songs...like Please, Staring, Gone, Discotheque, If God will Send His Angels and Last Night on Earth...and released them as singles or on the Best Of series. I prefer to listen to the album with the new tracks in place of the old ones. It's cleaner and more fluid. Gone is one of my favorite U2 songs ever.
And they're right about Red Hill never being performed. There are a few good ones they've never touched because they can never figure out how to play them live and still keep the energy of the recorded version. Many times Bono just can't recreate the vocal. Acrobat comes to mind (from Achtung Baby). btw, the Red Hill video is terrible. they were embarassed by it and I'm surprised they released it on the Joshua Tree reissues.
That's odd. A 20 year band can't pull enough weight to delay an album?
I still remember when they were a hit in the underground college scene. I think it was them, the B-52s and Devo. R.E.M the next year.
Do they ever use other musicians in their shows? I can't remember if I heard it about them or someone else that it's always them and no one else except for an occasional big name guest. Red Hill Mining Town needs two guitar parts, but Bono can play some, right? I find it hard to believe that he couldn't do that song justice with his vocals in a live setting. Must be though.
I do some easy version I found online. It's not in my U2 books. I pick the opening like Edge, and then do some bits of rhythm during the vocals to go with the poor singing. :oops: Not a full strum like a camp fire, but enough to make up for being just me on a guitar. Sounds like a tight fuzz or drive pedal would do the trick though if I had to do it like the song.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
well the main problem with delaying the Pop album wasn't so much the actual delay, but the fact that there was already an entire, massive stadium tour booked and ready to go before the album was even close to being finished. Not a good idea. Even a band with as much pull as they have is going to have trouble rearranging football stadium concerts around the world. Even so, they had already delayed the album for about 3 or 4 months at that point and the label pushed them into just getting the thing out on the shelves.
As for the musicians, yeah there have been other musicians used. Daniel Lanois is credited with some guitar on the All That You Can't Leave Behind album (and a few others, I'm sure). Plus Lanois and Brian Eno are actually credited as songwriters on No Line on the Horizon. As far as live performance goes, yes Bono plays guitar, but honestly he's kind of crap. If you ever watch some of the live DVDs, and you see him playing, often you can barely pick his guitar out of the mix. Sometimes I'm convinced they just dial him out. They also have a live keyboardist who plays under the stage for certain songs. His name is Terry Lawless. Sometimes they bring him out at the end of the show and he plays on stage with them. They also use sequencers to bring in other guitar parts played by the Edge in a concert, although on the Vertigo tour they tended to simply rearrange the songs to accomodate one guitar and some keys.
U2 are also known for a bit of studio trickery, which is why they find it hard to play some songs live. More time is spent on a U2 album producing it and melding the sounds together that it becomes hard to replicate. I read recently that there are one or two songs from the new album that they're not sure they'll be able to play in a live setting. It's especially true when it comes to older songs and Bono's voice. Sometime after the Pop album he supposedly had a throat cancer scare and had to have surgery which altered his voice. It's not as deep as it used to be, not as dynamic, and the range is more limited. Red Hill particularly has some difficult notes that I'm not surprised he's unable to hit anymore. My wife has a really good singing voice and a good ear for pitches (mine is useless, I can barely tell when my guitar's in tune) and she often remarks how hard it is to hit the notes in that song. But hey, maybe in the end he's just self-conscious and a little too critical of himself...aren't we all sometimes? :wink: That's a whole other discussion.
Side note: This whole thread has made me realize how obsessed I am.
Well, I didn't score any tickets yet. Have to see how ear surgery goes. However, I did just have a minor yard sale find. "All That You Can't Leave Behind", "Pop" and "The Unforgettable Fire" for 50 cents each. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Only got one hole left in my "collection".
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
what hole is left now?
btw, pop, very good album. very underrated.
Got a LOT of holes in my collection - all I've got is a couple of greatest hits (1980 - 1990, and 1990 - 2000 & B-sides) How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and (the third copy - worn two out!) The Joshua Tree. Oh, and Rattle and Hum on an old Videotape.
Just picked up a TV guide today and happened to notice there's a documentary on the making of The Joshua Tree on this week - now that I'll have to see. One of those albums I never, ever tire of listening to.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
