Jan van den Berg

j11g.com

Tag: u2

  • Bono on Bono – Michka Assayas

    I have a soft spot for Bono. The megalomaniac lead singer of probably the world’s most commercial band (“the only band with their own iPod”). The Irish humanitarian multi-millionaire. Yes, I get all the criticism. Still, few singers can belt it out like Bono can. And I will forever stand by that.

    On May 10th this year, Bono turned 60. So I thought it would be a good time to (re)read his 2005 biography.

    I got this book, with a bunch of others, in 2006 at an HMV in Manchester. Good times.

    Bono on Bono – Michka Assayas (2005) – 368 pages

    It sort of took me back a bit when I realised that most of this book was written in 2003 and 2004, when Bono was only a couple years older than I am now😲. By then he was of course already a very well established and very famous person. The book is written somewhere between two U2 albums: All That You Can’t Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. So it finds Bono in a sort of musical lull, but with VERY high energy on issues like humanitarian aid en debt-relief causes.

    Banter

    The book is written as a dialogue, which is a very interesting concept! But I don’t think the chemistry between this Irishman and Frenchman works all the time. Or, I just don’t get their banter, because it’s cringy at times and the questions often go in directions I don’t want them to go (I would have asked different things!). It is also strange that there seems to be an effort to put everything down verbatim (with inserts like “Bono laughs” or “pauses reflectively”) while clearly this book and the interviews have been edited. Which is fine! But why the emphasis on this fake realness?

    I am also not sure of the reason for this biography, other than to emphasize Bono’s humanitarian efforts. This biography therefore also suffers what so many biographies suffer from: high on current events, low on what actually made the subject into the person they are now (Neil Young’s biography is the worst example of this).

    Granted, Bono is very vulnerable in discussing his youth and parents. This was probably the most revealing and most interesting part. Also because these are few of the actual biographical parts of this biography. I also enjoyed how Bono talked about his religious beliefs. You don’t always get this from the music. But the tête-à-têtes Bono had with Bush and Clinton were probably very on topic in 2005, but they seem like something from another lifetime in 2020 and less relevant.

    So I get this is not a book about U2 but about Bono, but I would have expected a little bit more stories about music. And this is not like Keith Richards or Bruce Springsteen‘s tremendous biographies, which were written when they were much older and are much more about the music.

    So now that I am done complaining, I could just say that this book is less of a book than more of a collection of what could be magazine interviews, but HOWEVER: I still liked it!

    I mean, it’s about Bono. And he definitively is one of a kind. How could you not like it!

  • U2 – 11 O’Clock Tick Tock live at Red Rocks

    U2 – 11 O’Clock Tick Tock live at Red Rocks

    If there is one song from the already incredible U2 Red Rocks’ set that stands out for me it is definitely 11 O’Clock Tick Tock. You will never hear a better live song by 22 year old kids who are completely killing it.

    When I was already a fan for life this otherwise non-studio-album song cemented that belief even further. I clearly remember where I was when I first heard it. It hit me like a hammer.

    I will never not like this performance. From the cardboard box sounding first guitar notes which drop into the drony teenage angst ridden riff that accompany Bono trough the song while backed by the tightest and most attention demanding rhythm section the 80s had to offer. There is just so much there.

    It was only til much later I found out it was produced by Martin Hannett. That should explain part of the magic of the song. But being a live performance what stands out here first and foremost are Bono’s vocals which are ridiculously strong. Just insane. The sheer control the band — 22 year old kids — seem to command on stage makes this performance a forebode of things to come. Namely, that this band will go on to be the biggest band of that decade and the one thereafter.

    The performance also bares the first marks of things that would go on and define U2. This is the first song on which Edge uses the ‘Memory Man’ echo effect and you can see a sweaty and lingering Bono pick out a girl from the audience. And he continues to dance with her, while the music seems to slow down a bit before the dead simple guitar riff comes back to hammer the dagger right in there. Both a sound and image that were already hallmarks for fans at the time, but with this live recording the rest of the world would also know and understand. Bono demonstrates he is the absolute ringleader, while not singing but almost screaming this song and throwing in parts of the song Drowning Man.

    Yeah, it is intense.

    The only bad thing about this song is that my volume doesn’t go to 11.

  • The Joshua Tree Tour 2017

    The Joshua Tree Tour 2017

    When the Joshua Tree came out in 1987 it catapulted U2 from a great rock band to the greatest rock n roll band in the world. Critically and commercially there was no way around them anymore. With four albums under their belt and a dedicated fan base as a result of a half decade of relentless touring these 25 and 26 year olds had retreated and successively knocked it out of the park with their greatest work yet.

    What you hear on the Joshua Tree is a band that’s at the peak of their creative ability and is exactly at the right place in time. This combined with razor sharp focus and complete dedication results in nothing short of a force of nature.

    From the opening generation defining guitar riff to a part gospel where Bono actually screams the entire song from the top of his lungs without you noticing to one of the greatest love songs ever written to the hidden brutal honesty of Running to Stand Still and to the dark bass song that is Exit. There are no fillers. (A feat they only topped once in the rest of their career). This point is underlined by the incredible B-sides that accompanied the albums’ singles. These B-sides would count as any others’ band greatest work. Like this next song. I’ve always loved the line: “He said he was an artist. But he really painted billboards. In large capital letters.”

    Recorded in the 80s, the Joshua Tree is completely a product of that era while at the same time it wears absolutely no marks of that era. A timeless piece of music.

    I was of course too young when they first toured the album. But I have a very clear memory of the Where the Streets Have No Name video. And when I was sixteen I read a U2 bio that had been published around the time the Joshua Tree came out and it made me a fan for life. The Joshua Tree was the first album I bought after reading it, and I know exactly where I was and how I felt when I played it for the first time.

    So, I must be pretty excited for the new tour? Well. Sort of. (And of course I’m going).

    This band playing the songs they created 30 years ago, is not the same band that created these songs. This is not U2’s fault, this how things go in music and life. Just like you will never be able to experience the Arctic Monkeys live again around the time their first album came out. Time moves on. Things change. Energy changes. The four guys on stage at the core will be the same people but that specific moment in time has passed. The world and their world in which they created the songs has changed. They have made other music since, they have done other things in life,  and they have played these songs literally 100s of time. That’s fundamentally different from a band that goes out on tour with new fresh songs, that nobody knows yet, to try and get them in the collective mindset of their fan base.

    Having a tour where you celebrate the 30 year anniversary of your most commercially successful album, with the same 4 people is something no other band has done. So, yes it is special. And I am curious to see how they will handle it. I don’t think U2 will play the role of a glorified tribute band to their own 80s self. They will try to add something new.

    And this last part is what bothers me a bit. Where is the new music? Is this tour a cheap cop-out, an easy way to make money? Let’s be honest, if you’re a U2 fan you are so mostly because of the music they made in the 80s and 90s. Except, the last album had some really killer tracks on it. Some of their best work this century!  Particularly Every Breaking Wave. This is one of the best U2 songs. Because it works as a rolling rock song with a thumping base, but it also works as an almost acappella song just carried by Bono’s voice (just give it a listen). It is something else. Or how about Ordinary Love, which was a non-album song for the 2013 Mandela movie. Tremendous song. So I would like to hear more new music! Are they still evolving as a band or were these one-offs? Apparently there will be a new album after this tour, yes please! Or maybe we can expect a Achtung Baby anniversary tour? I am all for that!