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  1. Originally posted by miryclay:Peter, how can you accurately determine which notes Bono has hit? How do you know for certain that he hit an A flat for example.
    Not sure how Peter does it, but it isn't terribly hard. I have a bit of absolute hearing, and usually hear these things just out of my head.

    If you play a musical instrument you can check by matching the notes on a guitar or keyboard. Another option are these tuning devices or apps that help you to determine notes..

    And if you mix that in with a little healthy obsession (like peter has) you're good to go!


  2. So Peter, since we're diving in the archives here.. Bono did hit a full-voice (no falsetto) C# note during ZooTV on another song. So a bit off-topic, but I reckon you must know when/what song that was?
  3. Originally posted by melon51:[..]
    Yeah it's interesting. My guess would be they were semi-spontaneous moments, and done when he felt he could pull it off. But the snippets in 97 were the only in A, singing the whole song in A is much harder than just a few lines. All full performances in 98 were in the key of G (I think because of that).

    Now for you other point about Popmart AIWIY.. It does seem surprising right? Especially since it's a semitone higher than the studio version.

    My theory is, and here's where it might get confusing, so brace yourself :

    AIWIY was played as a lenghty snippet/half song at the tail end of Still haven't found. So you have a stretch of songs that sequed from Pride through AIWIY (and Bad on 4 occasions), they sort of "flowed" together without a hard stop.

    Live before, Pride and STHF were in the Bes Key, and AIWIY and Bad were in Ab. It makes sense to not have to keep jumping semitones (or whole notes) in between those 3-4 songs as you'd loose the flow. So to "glue" them together they lowered Pride and STHF to A, and raised the key to A for AIWIY and Bad.

    This happened somewhere in the troubled 1st leg of Popmart. Later versions of AIWIY and Bad were lowered again, as they were "separate" songs again somewhere else in the set.. Does this make any sense?
    It definitely makes sense and you're probably spot on

    Of course singing just a couple of lines is much much different from singing to the whole song, but that doesn't detract from the irony that Bad has been performed on its original key only during Bono's weakest vocal era
  4. Originally posted by melon51:[..]


    So Peter, since we're diving in the archives here.. Bono did hit a full-voice (no falsetto) C# note during ZooTV on another song. So a bit off-topic, but I reckon you must know when/what song that was?
    That would have to be "just" a C during Wild Horses (come on now love, don't you LOOK back)?! But a C# doesn't make (tonal) sense to me.
  5. Originally posted by melon51:[..]
    Not sure how Peter does it, but it isn't terribly hard. I have a bit of absolute hearing, and usually hear these things just out of my head.

    If you play a musical instrument you can check by matching the notes on a guitar or keyboard. Another option are these tuning devices or apps that help you to determine notes..

    And if you mix that in with a little healthy obsession (like peter has) you're good to go!
    I'm not doubting Peter's abilities but l was wondering if there is a computerized sure way to tell. Hopefully a technology for us lay folk.
  6. We're ignoring Vertigo. I've always found quite impressive that they haven't detuned it a semitone and they're still playing it in standard. That "I can feel, fee-EEE-eeel" is so hard to sing and is actually a B, the same note that's so hard to sing from Pride. And he's been doing it since 2005 Still can't get my head over that.
  7. Sorry musicians who engage in one up manship, there is nothing wrong with tuning a semi tone down.
  8. Originally posted by miryclay:Peter, how can you accurately determine which notes Bono has hit? How do you know for certain that he hit an A flat for example.


    I definitly haven't absolute hearing but through the years after all analyzing I learned to recognize several notes, if I can't recognize them I ask people who have absolute hearing





    Originally posted by melon51:[..]
    So Peter, since we're diving in the archives here.. Bono did hit a full-voice (no falsetto) C# note during ZooTV on another song. So a bit off-topic, but I reckon you must know when/what song that was?


    I know in Bad in 1992 he hit C(not C#, early spring shows If I remember correctly), but there where also another time on ZooTV he manage to hit some very high note.
    Not sure that it was C#, I have to think about this and see if I can remember.....


    Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    That would have to be "just" a C during Wild Horses (come on now love, don't you LOOK back)?! But a C# doesn't make (tonal) sense to me.


    I thought about that too, I know he manage to hit the C in Stockholm and one time on either first US leg or European leg in 1992.

    Originally posted by LikeASong:We're ignoring Vertigo. I've always found quite impressive that they haven't detuned it a semitone and they're still playing it in standard. That "I can feel, fee-EEE-eeel" is so hard to sing and is actually a B, the same note that's so hard to sing from Pride. And he's been doing it since 2005 Still can't get my head over that.


    The song isnt that good anymore live due to that, last time he did the "studio" "fee-EEE-eel" was on 3rd leg of Vertigo tour. But on the 4th and 5tg leg he shaped the "fee-eeeaaaaeel-el".

    This version has the fee-EEE-eel


    "fee-eeeaaaaeel-el"
  9. Originally posted by melon51:[..]
    Yeah it's interesting. My guess would be they were semi-spontaneous moments, and done when he felt he could pull it off. But the snippets in 97 were the only in A, singing the whole song in A is much harder than just a few lines. All full performances in 98 were in the key of G (I think because of that).

    Now for you other point about Popmart AIWIY.. It does seem surprising right? Especially since it's a semitone higher than the studio version.

    My theory is, and here's where it might get confusing, so brace yourself :

    AIWIY was played as a lenghty snippet/half song at the tail end of Still haven't found. So you have a stretch of songs that sequed from Pride through AIWIY (and Bad on 4 occasions), they sort of "flowed" together without a hard stop.

    Live before, Pride and STHF were in the Bes Key, and AIWIY and Bad were in Ab. It makes sense to not have to keep jumping semitones (or whole notes) in between those 3-4 songs as you'd loose the flow. So to "glue" them together they lowered Pride and STHF to A, and raised the key to A for AIWIY and Bad.

    This happened somewhere in the troubled 1st leg of Popmart. Later versions of AIWIY and Bad were lowered again, as they were "separate" songs again somewhere else in the set.. Does this make any sense?


    Great and intressting written melon51!
  10. Originally posted by LikeASong:We're ignoring Vertigo. I've always found quite impressive that they haven't detuned it a semitone and they're still playing it in standard. That "I can feel, fee-EEE-eeel" is so hard to sing and is actually a B, the same note that's so hard to sing from Pride. And he's been doing it since 2005 Still can't get my head over that.
    about Vertigo: the thing is, and that might just be what I'm hearing, in 2015 I felt that Bono was really spot on in his vocal performance, singing in key and really "attacking" the notes whereas in 2018 I've noticed that most times Bono would just be "near the notes" rather than singing the exact correct notes. Like he sings in key of course, but at times it feels like he's circling around the notes in a more soft way rather than attacking them rocknroll way. This might make no sense haha, that's how I feel about ie & ei Vertigos. And as I've mentioned before, Vertigo in 2015 sounded amazing!
  11. Originally posted by iamcrazytonight:[..]
    about Vertigo: the thing is, and that might just be what I'm hearing, in 2015 I felt that Bono was really spot on in his vocal performance, singing in key and really "attacking" the notes whereas in 2018 I've noticed that most times Bono would just be "near the notes" rather than singing the exact correct notes. Like he sings in key of course, but at times it feels like he's circling around the notes in a more soft way rather than attacking them rocknroll way. This might make no sense haha, that's how I feel about ie & ei Vertigos. And as I've mentioned before, Vertigo in 2015 sounded amazing![/quote
    ]On the 2019 shows he is very careful, he is like you written "near the notes" or 1-2 steps down.
    Sometimes it sounds a bit lazy

    Just compare NYD(say its true") from 360
    [YouTube Video]

    to 2019
    [YouTube Video]
  12. It would be great if we carried on with this (super interesting) discussion on the Bono's voice thread