The legendary U2 gig Bono finds “excruciating” to watch
Earlier this year, U2 played a residency in Vegas at the Las Vegas Sphere. They were the first band to perform in the new venue, and in doing so, they showed the potential of it and exemplified how far U2 has come in their careers. Playing a range of different tracks from various points in their careers, fans of the band got to experience a gig like never before.
U2 has enjoyed a very varied career. Throughout their time as a band, they played a lot of rock music and also dived headfirst into more experimental styles such as electronic and dance. Sometimes, this music was received well, but many fans heard some of U2’s more experimental music and turned away from it.
Taylor Hawkins once found himself going off U2 went they started making more experimental music, “My brother and me used to love early U2. We used to listen to early, live U2 records like Under A Blood Red Sky,” he said, “Then we were watching MTV, and they said, ‘We’re going to world premiere the new U2 song and video today’… Then that ‘Discothéque’ song came on, and they were all doing the ‘Y.M.C.A.’ dance and shit in the video, and me and my brother were sitting there watching, going, ‘What. The fuck. Is going on?!’”
Because the band has such a varied catalogue, its gigs have taken different shapes throughout its history. Some tours have been better received than others, and as a result, the band enjoys looking back on some and would sooner forget others.
When it came to a gig that Bono can’t look back on, it had nothing to do with how the band sounded; instead, it was a bit more fickle than that. When performing at Live Aid, which was a good cause to raise money for Ethiopia, while the cause aligned with the bands and they were happy to be a part of the event, Bono looked back at the gig and cringed. Is it because of a sound issue? Because the setlist wasn’t right? Not quite.
“As for the show itself, influential though it was in the arc of our band, I confess that I find it excruciating to watch. It’s a little humbling that during one of the greatest moments of your life, you’re having a bad hair day,” he said, “Now, some people would say that I’ve had a bad hair life, but when I am forced to look at footage of U2 playing Live Aid, there is only one thing that I can see. The mullet.”
Bono has had some interesting hairstyles over the years and has worn some questionable outfits, too, but the mullet was one of his worst. He even confirmed that the good done at Live Aid, in his mind, is trumped by his odd choice of hair. Concluding, he added: “All thoughts of altruism and of righteous anger, all the right reasons that we were there, all these flee my mind, and all I see is the ultimate bad hair day.”
