One of the scariest things I've ever done, that's for sure.
The Self Aid show is awesome. Bono's voice was just amazing back then, hitting the notes he did and the beautiful tone of it. Even now, it has a nice sound to it - not massively strong, but just smooth and sweet.
Even at the end of Vertigo (third leg) also, it was getting much better then something happened in South America. Buenos Aires as an example, All I Want Is You. But when they hit Australia, and then the live Kite version on the Window In The Skies single (I love that song so much, loved it then, love it now) is just mindblowing.
Sure did. I think the near-four years rest after Vertigo did him well. Usually right towards the end of the tour is when the voice starts getting a lot better, because it's a break between legs and gives him (and the band) rest on whatever it is what they're doing.
On 360 his voice reached its peak on the Euro 2010 leg and then stayed up there. He lost the falsetto a bit towards the end though. His falsetto was extraordinary on Euro 2010.
But to be able to keep your voice like that, even at 50 nearly like it was 20 years prior, is incredible.
Very rarely do many singers still have the same tone they did 20 years ago (almost) is amazing. They'd all have good vocal coaches surely. Steven Tyler can still scream as good as he did in 1990, and better than he did at any time in the 70s. Incredible. After all those drugs, the drinking, the screaming since the mid-60s; shouldn't be able to.
Combined with Bono having toured so much. He's improved in some areas nowadays compared to 20 years ago, he's better at holding notes, has opera, can hit high notes in a wholly different way...
I remember reading an article a long time ago about how his voice was wrecked after Popmart (was it ever good on that tour?) and then he came in to the studio, started on the 'I'm a man, not a child' part in Kite and knocked everyone over with how suddenly amazing he'd got again.
I think Bono's voice reached it's peak in beauty on Popmart.
I think that Kite thing was good marketing... if he was so amazing, who does that exact line have so much production on it on the studio version. Then, on the tour it was tuned down a 1/2 step, and it sounded very raw.
The entire ATYCLB album is overproduced to stupidity. They're simple songs, why overproduce them so much. In ways, Pop was less produced than that bloody thing.
That's what I love at a live show. Leave the crap behind, just get the core instruments (have a keyboard if you have to) and play. This is what pissed me off with Guns N Roses (or whatever you'd call them these days!) at the show. The old songs had just drums, bass, three guitars - because you need to, obviously - and vocals, stuff like Don't Cry, Whole Lotta Rosie, Welcome To The Jungle, Sweet Child Of Mine etc.
Then you had the new songs, and if you could have extras, by god they'd be there. Keyboards, backing tracks (because the new songs are piled to hell with bits and pieces), strings, pre-recorded stuff and everything. That's what I hated about it and what annoyed me most about 360. Just sing and forget the extra bits and pieces and if it doesn't sound like the studio version, so be it. Surprise me!
However, at a Orbison tribute show last June I think it was, they had drums, bass, one guitar and vocals plus keyboards. Now that was stripped back and it was amazing.