Did U2 Really Rip Off the Bunnymen?

[Voodoo Billy]

Anyone see the Irish Mother Teresa and his band performing at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (last night?)?

[zabird]

Anyone see the Irish Mother Teresa and his band performing at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (last night?)?

Nope, but apparently there was a barrier put up to keep out the lookey lous. Oh, the irony!

Outrage over wall blocking free U2 Berlin concert
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER (AP) – 21 hours ago

BERLIN — Irish rockers U2 returned to Berlin for a free mini-concert Thursday in front of the Brandenburg Gate, playing its classic singles and a duet with Jay-Z even as the show was obscured from public view by a nearly 6-1/2-foot (two-meter) high metal barrier.

Bono greeted the crowd with the German words "Berlin, Du bist wunderbar!" (Berlin, you are wonderful!) and the band played a 30-minute, six-song set that featured "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "One" and "Beautiful Day."

Rapper Jay-Z appeared as a surprise guest and performed Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" with Bono.

The show, which was free to 10,000 ticket holders who snapped up the tickets online last week in just three hours, drew some controversy because of the barrier surrounding the gig.

Both Berliners and tourists alike saw the irony in building a wall around a concert dedicated to the wall that already has come down.

"It's completely ridiculous that they are blocking the view," said Louis-Pierre Boily, 23, who came to Berlin even though he failed to get U2 tickets. "I thought it's a free show, but MTV probably wants people to watch it on TV to get their ratings up."

Boily, from Quebec City, was among several hundred people who gathered earlier in the day against the new fence, which was draped with a white tarp that blocked the view of the stage from the street. Some fans already were trying to tear down the tarp before the concert.

The music network MTV, which organized the concert, said it worked with the local promoter, the city and Berlin police to install a temporary fence "around the site to ensure the safety and security of the attendees at the event as well as residents and businesses in the area."

U2's publicist RMP refused comment about the barrier.

Parts of U2's performance were later televised as part of MTV's European Music Awards. The band also picked up the show's award for best live act.

The Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989, ending almost 30 years of Cold War division between the communist East and the democratic West. Throughout those decades, the Brandenburg Gate stood just inside East Berlin.

In 1988, musicians such as Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson performed in a three-day "Berlin Rock Marathon" on the western side of the concrete barrier, with the landmark as a backdrop.

Concertgoers in the West hurled bottles and firebombs at the wall, while some 2,000 youths gathered on the eastern side to listen, many shouting "The wall must go!"

[withahip]

I think we covered this on the previous page.

[withahip]

Picked up the remaster. For ten bucks (I think that is six pwnce none the richer in the UK or a couple of Euros) why not?

Remasters usually add clarity at the least and a lot more punch if you're lucky. Heaven Up Here has to be one of the best I have ever gotten - clearer and Pete and Les shine through.

Well, this. Part of it is listening I just feel guilty once having been such a fan. Bono is kind of a dork. But looking past that, the opening track - A Sort Of Homecoming - reveals something interesting. It is poorly recorded. Even remastered it sounds muddy. Considering HUH came out prior and Robin Guthrie was doing the swirling guitar so well it is disappointing.

Pride- I never liked that song.
Wire and Indian Summer Sky benefit the most. The drums shine through and the bass is clear. The title track is also amazing. Sort of Homecoming sounds like a demo for it.

The rest sounds good and maybe it is a credit that the band did not simply compress the shit out of the tapes. And it may sound a bit dated because it ended up becoming influential mainstream, whereas HUH sounds brand new because few mainstream bands had the sum of EATB's parts.

It is also nice to see Harold Budd get mentioned by Eno in the liner notes.

[zabird]

Picked up the remaster. For ten bucks (I think that is six pwnce none the richer in the UK or a couple of Euros) why not?

Remasters usually add clarity at the least and a lot more punch if you're lucky. Heaven Up Here has to be one of the best I have ever gotten - clearer and Pete and Les shine through.

Well, this. Part of it is listening I just feel guilty once having been such a fan. Bono is kind of a dork. But looking past that, the opening track - A Sort Of Homecoming - reveals something interesting. It is poorly recorded. Even remastered it sounds muddy. Considering HUH came out prior and Robin Guthrie was doing the swirling guitar so well it is disappointing.

Pride- I never liked that song.
Wire and Indian Summer Sky benefit the most. The drums shine through and the bass is clear. The title track is also amazing. Sort of Homecoming sounds like a demo for it.

The rest sounds good and maybe it is a credit that the band did not simply compress the shit out of the tapes. And it may sound a bit dated because it ended up becoming influential mainstream, whereas HUH sounds brand new because few mainstream bands had the sum of EATB's parts.

It is also nice to see Harold Budd get mentioned by Eno in the liner notes.

I listened to it last night ... the original cd, not the remaster ... one thing that struck me was that U2 sounded a lot more adventurous then than they do now. I was also surprised at how dated some of those tracks sound now ... esp. the ones that had that sorta galloping/marching rhythm to them. and then watching some of the videos from back then ... perhaps it should be called "The Unforgettable Mullet"

[withahip]

Well - they knew the Sunday Bllody Sunday march was selling - definitely adventurous - and had not yet gotten to root note Clayton mode and Simile lov' Bono.

Like I said, makes the first four EATB feel even more timeless.

That video I posted of Wire above - you don;t want to see the soundcheck version - Bono doing his tippy toe dance.

[zabird]

Well - they knew the Sunday Bllody Sunday march was selling - definitely adventurous - and had not yet gotten to root note Clayton mode and Simile lov' Bono.

Like I said, makes the first four EATB feel even more timeless.

That video I posted of Wire above - you don;t want to see the soundcheck version - Bono doing his tippy toe dance.

I listen to the first four EATB albums in my car all the time, along with a couple of JAMC tapes, and they do sound timeless. I wonder what other old fave albums from that era withstand the test of time, and which ones fail?

For a true taste of that mid-'80s marchy sound, listen to Do They Know It's Christmas.

On those old U2 videos, I always like to check out the state of Adam Clayton's hair/glasses and look at the Edge when he had a full head of hair. Lots of Bono tippy-toeness, and one live video I watched last night -- can't remember which one, unfortunately -- he was imitating Ian Curtis' hand gestures.

[withahip]

JAMC - even Automatic with the damn drum machine - wonderful Sad about Throned & Dethroned.

The 80s sound is an established sound now the way the 50s Rock-a-billy is. Well, I think it is.

[shadows on the trees]

South Park got it right, as usual- Bono is the world's biggest turd.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/1 ... number+two

[DivaDiana77]

The irony of MTV putting up a wall around a FREE concert that was staged to celebrate The Wall coming down. The stupidity of some people! It doesn't matter who the artist is, that someone in the Kraut world didn't see the bitterness that would create is absolutely beyond me. Doesn't Mac have a one-liner for this somewhere?

[DivaDiana77]

South Park got it right, as usual- Bono is the world's biggest turd.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/1 ... number+two

the world's biggest turd who [o]can sing just as well as in his youth [/o]must be at least doing something right.[/o]

[withahip]

The irony of MTV putting up a wall around a FREE concert that was staged to celebrate The Wall coming down. The stupidity of some people! It doesn't matter who the artist is, that someone in the Kraut world didn't see the bitterness that would create is absolutely beyond me. Doesn't Mac have a one-liner for this somewhere?

You would be a lot angrier and say some people were really stupid if a couple dozen people were crushed to death.

The tickets were given away for free. Just because something is ironic doesn't make it wrong or stupid.

Here is a crowd under control. The people in front could easily be crushed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAxNnFW2n18&feature=related[/youtube]

[kook]

Just because something is ironic doesn't make it wrong or stupid.

It's not even ironic, FFS.

[withahip]

It's not even ironic, FFS.

I don't get it. So no wall would be better?
Human crush of people? Or just the cliche hatred of U2?

[kook]

None of the above.

Calling a crowd-control barrier which is erected for a few hours, a wall, just because it's in Berlin, in order to make a very tenuous connection with the iron curtain reminds me of Though for the Day: A religious person makes comparisons between any random thing and Jesus' life. "Jesus too was a Microsoft programmer", cue boring ramblings trying to crowbar two incomparable things into a comparison.

I fail to see any irony.