U2 - The Fly REACTION & REVIEW! FIRST TIME HEARING!

[@UckU7777]

I really enjoy the channel and respect your opinion, BUT as a lifelong U2 fan i cannot and will not accept anything lower than an A++ for this performance.

[@MASON4DHD]

I’d be interested to see how he would react to the Zoo TV or the Sphere version. Elevation Tour “The Fly” is such a departure from the original version

[@HMANDUDE]

So true! Best rendition of this song hands down

[@ze6464]

Edge is an amazing musician, he created his own sound and has incredible solos and made U2 one of the most fantastic bands ever

[@celticwolf1896]

I would've recommended reacting to the Zoo TV Tour version of the song as it's more true to the studio version. The Fly was the first single from Achtung Baby which seen the band change their sound and image dramatically from the 80's version of the band. Achtung Baby was described as "four men chopping down The Joshua Tree" which of course was the name of their iconic album. The Fly was an alter ego that Bono created at the time which he felt gave him more freedom to say what he wanted. I think it was after hearing the band called egotistical arrogant rock stars that Bono created this character, it was kinda, if that's what you want to call us then that's what we'll be" and he took it to the extreme in full leather and wraparound shades. The shift of sound and image alienated a lot of the older fans but the band knew if they didn't go out and explore something new they would've struggled to keep playing the same style of music that they were known for throughout the 80's. Personally, the 90's were my favourite period of U2 as they experimented, took risks, loosened up and seemed to revel a bit more in the absurdity of being in a huge rock band.

[@evenbetterthantherealthing92]

I would agree 100%. Zoo TV era is by far the best for The Fly, with Elevation Tour being the weakest performances of it (the key change doesn't do the song justice imo).

[@MUSiC-world-20986]

Man, I get the goosebumps from that beautiful intro EVERY FREAKING TIME

[@Josh77600]

They purposely stripped down the stage production for this tour. They took stage production to extremes during the 90's. So for the elevation tour they wanted back to just being a rockband. And it really helps appreciating this song knowing the history of the album Achtung Baby. How they almost broke up and reinvented themselves after The Joshua Tree period. The song doesn't seem great when you hear it now and in this verion. But when you first heard the studio version coming from the 80's it sounded different than anything else you heard before. And very very different than you ever heard from U2. It was such a impressive transformation they did back then.

[@UckU7777]

Soooo glad you did this performance. Thanks Steve 😊.

[@chaaaaaaaaaarly]

Best performance ever of this song in ZooTV live from Sidney ('93)

[@ks86z]

great tune! enjoyed

[@paulyoung8108]

'Elevation' tour was wildly successful

[@viddiot]

How they treat the Fly is always a treat on every tour. I love how David is not afraid to 'audition' these bands, it's why I enjoy visiting here. U2 is all about the 'feel and sound' live; that's why you notice the rhythm section so much imo. Love this song.

[@christianreynolds9252]

David I reckon somewhere along the line you have heard this song. It was the lead single from Achtung Baby described as 4 men chopping down the Joshua Tree. The single is different, The Edge sings the chorus and the beginning is totally different. Bono played a character called the fly on the zoo tv tour. Big black fly shades leather jacket and leather trousers. Here in the U.K. it got to number 1 knocking Bryan Adams Everything I do ,I do it for you off the top spot. Brilliant review 👌

[@47imagine]

Are you sure Edge sings the chorus in the single? I think it's all Bono

[@christianreynolds9252]

@@47imagine100% edge. Edge has that high pitch BeeGee style voice that sings the chorus and Bono comes in at different points

[@47imagine]

@@christianreynolds9252 I know Edge sings that section in certain live performances and can certainly do falsetto. But I believe in the studio version, Bono does all the vocals. It clearly sounds like Bono's falsetto. In fact, I believe U2 books confirm that Bono is singing.

[@TK-592]

Definitely Bono singing the falsetto. You can really hear it when he sings “falling from the sky” on the album.

[@47imagine]

@@TK-592 Agreed!

[@patman1505]

The Edge's standard delay is a dotted 1/8 note, so prevalent is this delay that a lot manufactures include this setting on their delay units. On occasion he slows down the delay The Edge also prefers analog delays Eddie Van Halen once said " The Edge is the guitarist of the future he is 50% guitarist and 50% recording engineer"

[@touringband]

Edge uses different delay temps and sometimes multi delays per song. Dotted eighth is his pocket, but he changes it up all the time.

[@Mustaffa-Ahnus]

Off the scale EPIC!!!!!!

[@spinin1251]

I would find a way to explain it so that people understand it like the IMDB scoring system. I find it most comparable. It's a 1 to 10 score. There are some pretty good movies in the 6's and 7's. Something in the 5's might actually be decent if you are in the mood for whatever it is. And I don't think there are any movies above a 9.3 or 9.4. People get too hung up on what % a 6.5 might be or what letter grade that corresponds to and consider everything below a 6 to be "failing." Sure, IMDB is based on multiple people voting, but if I see something that got a 6.7 or a 7.3, I consider those to be good scores. Those movies aren't just barely "passing" to me. I would check them out or I would think that the word of mouth is pretty good. And if a movie I really like has one of those scores, I wouldn't consider it an insult. You basically always had that with the way you explain the scores (7 - 7.9 = really good; 5 - 5.9 = OK). Anyway, it makes sense to me.

[@zoeherriot]

A LOT of studio guitarists from the 80's cite The Edge as being a massive influence on the sound of albums of the 80's. If you couldn't use delay, you didn't work. Go listen to Tim Pierce talking about how The Edge changed the way he had to play guitar to get session work. As for the delay, he usually used a split signal with two delay units. The delay timing is usually between 150-550ms based on the tempo of the song. The two delays are usually set differently. He also used a lot of infinite sustain guitars (e-bows and Fernandez sustainers).

[@bcullen78]

He does change up delay most notably on the Pop album. However, the dotted eighth delay is the sound that built The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree and became the copied sound. Arguably, it's probably the reason why delay boxes have the dotted eighth standard. I attended all three of these Boston shows and this was tame stage set up by U2 standards!

[@MBeano]

I always appreciate your explanation and reasoning for a score, whether I agree with the final score or not. I think where there may be a disconnect/confusion is that the number rating does not match a letter grade that people in the US are familiar with (Im not sure if it remains the same now). Letter grades were consistantly: A = 90 to 100 B = 80 to 89.99 C = 70 to 79.99 D = 60 to 69.99 F = below 60 move the decimal to make it 0 to 10, same scale. So, naturally I think a lot of people will not take to the different scale, esp if the grading system is still using the same scale in schools and even work. (performance review use the same scale with different verbiage, just 0 to 10 or 0 to 5. Those are just multiples of 10, but the scale remains the same)

[@benjamindavis4974]

Original song is 4:30

[@justincredible.]

Look for "Bullet the blue sky" by U2 live in Paris

[@pmc609]

Song sounds way better when the Edge falsetto-sings the chorus. The studio, Live '93 or recent Sphere show versions would be much better.

[@BlueBoy1-v7j]

The Fly was the standout song at the Sphere imho. The roof collapsing during the Edge's solo was the most amazing special effect I've ever seen!

[@josevitorlobo517]

Hey dude, found you just earlier, from a reaction to Scalene. Could you make a reaction to a more recent song of theirs like FORTUNA, JARDIM and PENDULAR? They improved very much in quality (in my opinion), and have much better songs than the previous one that you reacted (I think that one is one of the most generic sounding ones). By the way, loved your content, and the way you break down the review of the song. Much love from Brazil

[@THEDavidHeretic]

Hey hey Jose, welcome to the channel. Just a heads up, in order to make a request, it must be made on the Patreon page as a Bronze Tier member or higher.

[@YourLoyalDeserter]

The original studio song is a lot more dynamic and weird.

[@bjornd9375]

if you reduce the edge on delay you listened to very few songs from U2 - even his delays can be very different, but he does much more than delay...

[@brucedickinson12]

Until the end of the world from zoo TV is another banger

[@abbynormal60]

Not m y favorite U2 song, but the performance alone,for me, pushes the song past a 7and a solid B / 4 star….respectively sir. 🤔

[@abbynormal60]

@@stevesmith4600 For me, U2 has a unique sound. Bono is a front man extraordinaire. There is a reason they still can sell out stadiums today. Every band borrows here and there, but when you hear U2 they are undeniably U2 and nobody else. As for the scoring, I have great respect for David. He’s going ABOVE and BEYOND to be fair and to make his followers informed and satisfied. I just still think back to school and scores in the 6-6.99 translate in MY mind, at a grade level of C on the high end ( 64% would be a D+ ). Anyway, he’s trying to spread out the scoring and avoid bunching up the scores, so he’s being tough. I get that and I’ll continue to be entertained by David.

[@mjjohansson1702]

1 to 10 is good. Maybe Bono was being a fly on the wall at the end? It's in the song.

[@Didi78180x]

Exactly !

[@nianfiedler5291]

That is what he was doing

[@fitycalibre7555]

He definitely doesn’t use delay in every song at all. Pretty sure this is one of them.

[@OscarO82]

Very different arrangement from the album and other live versions. The entire intro is not how the song is originally written.

[@stevenruvolo499]

edge usually sets his delay to a dotted 8th

[@stevesmith4600]

To my knowledge, Edge's board has different settings that allows him to easily switch between settings; however, he only uses one setting per song. ... Technically, he uses two, because he will flip the delay on and off at times. But, when it's on for a given song, it's just the one setting. Loved your reaction. I always appreciate your insights. No issues with the rating system. I just hope it doesn't change (at least for a little while) ... I have my baseline now. :) Cheers, enjoy your day!

[@victorjba]

No, he uses various settings during a song. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZPbma2PbMSpqrM Look at this about 2:10 he touches the ground control and the sound changes very clearly.

[@PJBonoVox]

Yeah that's not true at all. There are scores of songs where he uses completely different effects in the same song.

[@douglasdossantosmorais202]

Love and peace or else... It's a great song from How to desmantle an atomic bomb' album.

[@NabilBelmo-s2n]

Kite

[@hardcorechristopher9174]

Good

[@paulyoung8108]

The edge was influenced by shoegaze

[@justincredible.]

6.5, you ok?!

[@bminturn]

Earlier versions of the song, before Bono broke his arm again to the point that he can no longer play, sounded a lot fuller. This is not a top 5 live version that's out there. It's too watery with just the 1 guitar.

[@TC2290-wh5cb]

He uses hundreds of different delay settings, he has to.

[@kevinkeenan6078]

For.me its the riff...you have to watch the original version of the song...watch the video.