U2 added eight new dates in December for their upcoming Las Vegas shows, so the anticipation is real. While we’re all waiting for the band to light up the stage, their long-time friend and producer, Steve Lillywhite, spilled some tea about the band’s sound in a chat with Guitar Player. According to his words, Bono once told the Edge to crank up the Mick Jones vibe in his guitar playing.
When looking back on the past days, the producer recalled:
“I had seen them on the ‘October’ tour, and to my ears, it seemed as if the songs live were getting very brash and almost hard rock – not quite heavy metal, but definitely harsh. I wasn’t sure that was the band’s strength. It had to harken back to the band’s roots, which were in punk rock. It had to be more Clash-like.
[Bono would say the guitarist] ‘Stop sounding like The Edge. Sound like Mick Jones!‘ [Laughs] Now, Edge was always going to sound like Edge, but without Bono pushing him, he might have been ‘dreamy Edge,’ not ‘rocky Edge.'”
But U2 didn’t just want to mimic the Clash. The Edge was all in for channeling the spirit of other punk bands like Television:
“They were an immensely important band to us, particularly on the first album, ‘Marquee Moon,’ because of its uniqueness and creativity. We’d never heard the guitar played in that way before. They were making instruments that, to our ears, had such a clear identity and sounded completely new. That was a big throwdown for us.”
Fast-forward to this year, U2 dropped a new album, ‘Songs Of Surrender,’ where they’ve reimagined 40 of their biggest hits for the modern era. Meanwhile, there’s another LP, ‘Songs Of Ascent,’ and a guitar-based album that they’ve been teasing us with on the way.
