What Should U2 4.0 Look Like?

A recent question posted for the U2 Tour Fans community asked what direction U2 should go next?  My response was that I wanted the angry U2 back.  Not Bono's interpretation of Edge's mood in studio on a song that doesn't seem angry at all.  The real 'fuck the world' anger that comes from seeing the wrongs and abuses that surround us.  That's me.​

I really wanted to expand on the question.  We are an ageless bunch here in U2 Loveland.  Fans from 6 to 69 and beyond.  We all grew up in different eras of their music.  But there is a common love of the​ heart and the heat.  The passion that is U2.

My love of U2 grew out of the anger of youth.  And though I started paying attention to the band before, War was my trigger to obsession.  The primal screams of Seconds to the angst of New Year's Day​.  That scar that was ripped off to let that music out was where the infection for me came out.

So I guess the question of the day is asking which of all the various phases of U2 is your favourite?  We are all part of camp U2 but which of their many faces haunts you and makes you want a new world version of that next?  The anger of early U2 brought me in and maintains a presence at my core that I want to see again in the new century U2.  I want to hear Bono and the boys rail against the abuses, scream at the sky over the money-changers, lash out at the war machines around the world.​

So what does that mean for you?  Do you want the earnest sensibility ​of the early and mid-80's (U2 1.0)?  Do you want the dark irony of the 90's (U2 2.0)?  Do you want the light and love of the 2000s (U2 3.0)?  Or is there something else you'd love to hear?  Tell us your story and where your U2 heart lies.  Where does that come from and where should it go?

I Just Saw Bono Walking By...

We all have these fantasies.  Meeting some famous person we love on the street and striking up a conversation that leads to a drink, dinner and lifetime friendship.  And backstage passes.  And being in the studio during recording.  And having them all over to the house for a barbeque.​

​Yeah.

We all know reality.  We might not want to but we do.​  There are a ton of us who have never met the boys in U2.  And never will.  Some of us have tried.  Others have demands that just make the camp-outs and hang-a bouts beyond the possible.  Some of us have been lucky enough to get a picture or an autograph.  Most of us have this as a passing wish.

So what would you do?  There's Bono walking down the street with his wife and kids.​  Looking in shop windows and having a grand old time.

Do you run up and say hello?  Do you ask for autographs and pictures.  It is the price of fame, right?  They have to expect it.​

I can honestly say that, as excited as I would be to see him up close, I would not engage him in any way.  And begs the question, would you?​

If he was alone I would consider it more.​  Even then, knowing how consumed their lives are and how much they have their privacy invaded, I would really question doing anything.  I mean alone and he made eye contact I might say a quick hello and thanks for the music.  if the family was there or anyone else, that would be off the table for me.

I often wonder how they live with that inability to walk around.  Do all the millions make up for that loss?  In some ways, I'm sure.  But that is such a huge loss and a huge inconvenience I'm not sure I could handle it.  It is something that have to accept or they would go mad.  But what a difficult thing to deal with.​

Anyone?  What would you do?  Would you just run up?  Curious what everyone thinks about this...​

The Es'scents' of U2

​Larry Lootsteen - Conestogo, Ontario, Canada

I am not generally given to the flights of fancy of 'hanging with the boys'.  I know that won't happen.  But I do periodically have a small tumour that asks the most ridiculous questions.  Today my fertile brain spewed out this nonsensical question:​

'If U2 were a scent, what would it smell like'?​

​Now, I can fully imagine any number of women (and probably more than a few men) wanting to be doused  in the scent of one or more members of the band.  Particularly if it came from physical contact.

I usually expect Bono would be splashing himself with Bvlgari or some similar pricey cologne.  Larry I expect wears nothing but Old Spice.  Adam, in all likelihood, wears nothing and relies on his pheromones and legendary 'member' when out and about.  Edge is easy going and likes the humour of washing with Irish Spring. ​

Still, one could imagine this band and their prowess for marketing to consider an aftershave.  I would expect nothing else other than the name U2 on the bottle.  A shimmering silver and glass, cut short, like Bono.  The wool-cap-adorned lid, a shining orb of silver-blue.  Remove the lid and get a short soundbite eminating the drum and bass at the beginning of Magnificent (also the subtitled name of this ingenious odour in tiny crisp letters spelled 'Magnifiscent').  The beauty of the sub-name implies there will be more releases to come!​

As the scent first wafts from the bottle, you are cascaded away to a seascape.  As it envelopes you, the merest hint of Middle Eastern spices, gradually overtaken by wood-grain fragrances of acoustic and electric guitar​ and finishing quite naturally with just a 'soupcon' of Lemon.

So, I had to get that out of my system!  Anyone else care to take a crack at what they think U2 would smell like?  Perhaps I am not the only one to consider this!  I am not holding my breath on that one!​