The official U2 topic

My opinions on U2 have changed quite a bit in the past few weeks. They've got some brilliant tracks, namely New Year's Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, One, Where the Streets Have No Name, Beautiful Day, and Crazy Tonight. One is one of the greatest songs of all time in my opinion.

I've also realized that The Edge isn't too great a guitar player. All he is is a delay pedal. Richie is SOOOO much better, it's crazy. But The Edge's style fits U2, it IS U2.

Just out of curiousity, what was the reaction to Bon Jovi covering Vertigo? I don't read the U2 boards, but I know that the general opinion of Bon Jovi among U2 fans is that they are absolutely awful.

I checked a few days after on one of the busier forums and there was nothing said of the cover.

U2 fans are generally very snobbish, they would almost certainly hate it.

Well only months after I said I disliked this band, they've pretty much taken over as my favorite. Achtung Baby is probably the best album ever released, alongside Keep the Faith. Both Bon Jovi and U2 have some great songs, and some not-so-great songs. And one thing, U2 doesn't disappoing with their live releases. There's an official DVD/CD from EVERY TOUR since the late 80's. Bon Jovi have THREE full concert DVD's. Bon Jovi should take a page out of the U2 business book on that behalf.

And live, both Jovi and U2 can be great, but U2 puts more passion in nightly than Bon Jovi ever have, IMO. Check the link below to see what I mean.

I'm glad you've taken the path to enlightenment, it's a shame so many people shrug U2 off as crap stating reasons such as "Bono is a prick" or "The Edge can't play guitar"

They (like Bruce Springsteen) can transcend a mere live event into a spiritual experience. I love U2 when they play to their strengths, sadly they've reverted back to the old ways of style over substance recently ala the Popmart shows.

The live from Chicago DVD is the band at the peak of their powers -
Some of the transitions from song to song are amazing.

I am still sure that seeing U2 live was better than any Bon Jovi show I've seen. While the best Bon Jovi shows had energy, fun and excitement, U2 does that plus Bono still gives a crap about songs they wrote 12 years ago like Walk On. Or songs they wrote almost 30 years ago like Sunday Bloody Sunday. So much passion, fire and energy goes into these shows by Bono. While he may have bipolar vocals like Jon does, (sometimes REALLY bad and sometimes REALLY good) he still gives his all no matter what the situation.

Gotta say, Walk On is probably tied for my favorite song by them, along with The Fly. Every perfomance I've listened to of the song has been uplifting. It seems that on this last tour, and especially on the 2011 legs of it, the preaching took a backseat to the music. Bono's preaching was really mainly on the 05/06 Vertigo Tour.

I think the Slane Castle DVD is their best. They're playing their home crowd, and the raw emotion and power in most of the songs is so powerful. Apparently Bono had lost his father only days before the concert, so the performances are especially raw.

You can't really compare Bon Jovi and U2, they're totally different bands. It's just coincidental how they both hit it huge in 1987, had huge comeback singles in 2000, and continue to have massive tours decades after forming.

I've always felt U2 were great but over-rated by the critics. Must say though I was very impressed with the Gllastonbury show which was shown again here last night. Legends, no doubt about that.

I really enjoy the Glastonbury show. It's considerably better than the Rose Bowl DVD, IMO.

Right, I saw the new U2 documentary From The Sky Down last night.

It's one of the best musical docs I've ever seen, the band are so honest and it's a real insight into the dynamic of the group. It's a thing of beauty.

It's mainly focused on the making of Achtung Baby and how the band were struggling to keep it together while trying to produce an album capable of shaking the Joshua Tree off their backs.

Highly recommended, even if you're not a fan of U2.

It's on the iPlayer for any UK folk - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._the_Sky_Down/

Trailer -