I haven’t been to see the band since they played Earls Court in 2001, but when I saw that they’d announced a Joshua Tree tour – at which they’d play the album in full – I couldn’t resist. I gave up defending Bono to the many naysayers and moved on. Besides, there was a whole other world of music out there to discover. They’d also given up on any sort of experimentalism in favour of trying to retread past glories and sounds after getting burned by the actually-really-good-but-quite-out-there Pop ‘only’ selling 4 million copies in 1997. Bono was just insufferable, spouting nonsense in every interview, and constantly getting involved in the politics of stuff you suspected he didn’t really understand. There came a point though – I think it was around 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb – when I realised the love affair was over. It’s hard to believe now, but most people thought Bono was alright back in the ‘90s. Their rhythm section was rock solid, the Edge was a truly distinctive and inventive guitar player, Bono was an incredible frontman and they’d clearly blown the entire budget on making the set as amazing as possible.īono had put a few people’s backs up with the whole white-flag waving, grand political gesture stuff in the ‘80s, but Achtung Baby and Zooropa had kind of put that to bed with people admiring the fact they’d decided to poke fun at themselves and be sonically adventurous – whilst also writing some undeniable tunes in the process. It still looks sensational watching it now, it was like something beamed in from space back in 1993. To this day, I’m convinced it’s the greatest live show ever staged. It was a good time to be a U2 fan their most recent album was Zooropa – an album which confused the hell out of me when I first got it, but turned out to be the peak of their experimentalism, while I remember watching the video of their Zoo TV tour for the first time and having my tiny mind absolutely blown. Off I took it upstairs and repeatedly listened to it, before saving up pocket money to invest in the band’s back catalogue. I discovered U2 at the tender age of about 11, when I heard ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ playing at a family gathering and investigated further, eventually discovering that my dad owned the LP. I used to defend Bono, until he became indefensible.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |