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  1. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:His vocals on 360 were so insane that it honestly crossed my mind that he'd partaken in some voodoo magic. It was just weird how GREAT he sounded at the time.
    Yep, bar a few particular performances here and there he was consistently amazing. Exactly the opposite as post-2011, where bar a few exceptional good performances here and there he's been consistely mediocre.
  2. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    Yep, bar a few particular performances here and there he was consistently amazing. Exactly the opposite as post-2011, where bar a few exceptional good performances here and there he's been consistely mediocre.
    Man's gettin' old, man - he can't be singing that way forever, especially since when he's not touring he's flying around the world drinking and smoking etc.

    Okay maybe not smoking anymore, but he used to and that DEFINITELY affected his voice.
  3. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]
    Man's gettin' old, man - he can't be singing that way forever, especially since when he's not touring he's flying around the world drinking and smoking etc.

    Okay maybe not smoking anymore, but he used to and that DEFINITELY affected his voice.
    From the 90's I assume

    "When I started managing the band, Adam and I smoked but none of the other three did. Now they all smoke except for Adam and me. Bono came to tobacco late in life. I remember saying to him, 'I can't believe you've started something. Aren't you worried that you'll damage your voice?' He said, 'That's the problem, I like what it's doing to my voice.'" - Paul McGuiness
  4. Originally posted by Welsh_Edge:[..]
    From the 90's I assume

    "When I started managing the band, Adam and I smoked but none of the other three did. Now they all smoke except for Adam and me. Bono came to tobacco late in life. I remember saying to him, 'I can't believe you've started something. Aren't you worried that you'll damage your voice?' He said, 'That's the problem, I like what it's doing to my voice.'" - Paul McGuiness
    Yep - straight from U2byU2, right?

    Who knows what exactly it might've done for his voice - I mean his voice was certainly a little more "gravelly" in the early 90s, but then his voice just became straight damaged by the time they were recording Pop.
  5. Damn what a dark thing to say but at the same time it’s kinda cool hahaha
  6. All those cigarillos
  7. Has anyone's favorite band member changed over the years? The Edge was my hands down favorite in the 80s and 90s. Now it's Bono with Adam a close second. Bono looks a bit rough but he is having a blast living life to the fullest!
  8. I think whatever happened to Bonos voice in the early 90’s that he liked because it made him more gravely was not so much related to the smoking, but to whatever the condition was that made his voice so “bad” in the late 90’s early 00’s. That was just the beginning. His voice was definitely weaker in 1993 than it was in 87 or 89. He was relying more on falsetto and other different techniques to mask the fact that he simply had less POWER.

    Then Popmart his voice was pretty unpredictable. He had some very good nights and some very bad nights on that tour.

    Elevation I’d say was more bad than good, honestly. He was truly struggling, despite his great singing on ATYCLB. Then from HTDAAB thru SOI era he seemed to really hit his stride, somehow. His falsetto wasn’t there, his low register was pretty gravely, and his speaking voice sounded awful. BUT... he was nailing those big notes night after night.

    Now I think he still sounds good, better than during elevation, but aging is starting to do its job. Still, listen to 57 year old Bono belt out WOWY, while 35 year old Chris Martin can barely squeak out the words while trying to sing that song.
  9. Originally posted by podiumboy:I think whatever happened to Bonos voice in the early 90’s that he liked because it made him more gravely was not so much related to the smoking, but to whatever the condition was that made his voice so “bad” in the late 90’s early 00’s. That was just the beginning. His voice was definitely weaker in 1993 than it was in 87 or 89. He was relying more on falsetto and other different techniques to mask the fact that he simply had less POWER.

    Then Popmart his voice was pretty unpredictable. He had some very good nights and some very bad nights on that tour.

    Elevation I’d say was more bad than good, honestly. He was truly struggling, despite his great singing on ATYCLB. Then from HTDAAB thru SOI era he seemed to really hit his stride, somehow. His falsetto wasn’t there, his low register was pretty gravely, and his speaking voice sounded awful. BUT... he was nailing those big notes night after night.

    Now I think he still sounds good, better than during elevation, but aging is starting to do its job. Still, listen to 57 year old Bono belt out WOWY, while 35 year old Chris Martin can barely squeak out the words while trying to sing that song.
    His voice on ZooTV is overrated in some things., don't get me wrong; it was great.
    But just listen to WOWY, ISHFWILF, Bad, Pride... and compare them to UF, COH, JT and LT versions.
    ZooTV Bono sounded like a LT Bono with a more hoarse, deeper voice and a buit unstable.
    The most intressting things is what happend from 1990 to 1991.
    Just listen to Night And Day/1990 Rotterdam shows and then the AB songs, it is such a huge difference.
    The overuse of his voice durning LT and a lot of smoking/drinkin must had done a lot of damage.


    Popmart was very mixed, the intressting thing with Popmart is that his the only tour where he hit the High C#, several times also.

    Elevation strenght was the passion in his voice.

    On SOI album verison his voice is one of his best ever, he finally sings more with his low voice and it sounds really good.


    To me the highlight years in his voice is 1986(COH), 1989(1989-12-26 - Dublin), 1992, 1995, 2006, 2009(early of the tour), 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
  10. I actually really like his voice now. I do miss the falsetto sometimes but I think it's remarkable that his voice is more powerful than it was during the whole of the 90s. Most singers seem to tone it down as they age whereas Bono seems to have gathered power.
    Having been at every tour from Popmart I can honestly say I've enjoyed Bono's singing best 2015 till now.
  11. I think he was pretty great for the European leg of JT 2017.

    Will never forget Bad at London 1.
  12. Yea, it was my first U2 concert. When Bad started, I started to cry.