Why is u2s guitarist called the edge

In December they performed their first concerts outside Ireland, in London, and in began extensive touring across the British Isles, developing a following. Their debut album Boy was released in In , leading up to the October Tour, Evans came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he decided to stay.

Evans married his secondary school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July In , he began dating Morleigh Steinberg, an American professional dancer and choreographer whom he had met whilst she was employed as a dancer during the band's Zoo TV Tour. They have a daughter, Sian born , and a son, Levi born 25 October The couple were married in Evans has been criticised for his efforts to build five luxury mansions on a acre As a guitar player, The Edge has a sound typified by a low-key playing style, a chiming, shimmering sound thanks in part to the sound of Vox AC30s that he achieves with extensive use of delay effects and reverb.

In 's The Joshua Tree , The Edge often contributes just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present delay. For example, the introduction to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated six-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. The Edge has said that he views musical notes as "expensive", in that he prefers to play as few notes as possible. He said in of his style,. I like a nice ringing sound on guitar, and most of my chords I find two strings and make them ring the same note, so it's almost like a string sound.

It works very well with the Gibson Explorer. It's funny because the bass end of the Explorer was so awful that I used to stay away from the low strings, and a lot of the chords I played were very trebly, on the first four, or even three strings. I discovered that through using this one area of the fretboard I was developing a very stylized way of doing something that someone else would play in a normal way.

His first guitar was an old acoustic guitar that his mother bought him at a local flea market for a few pounds; he was nine at the time. He and his brother Dik Evans both experimented with this instrument. That was my first instrument. It was an acoustic guitar and me and my elder brother Dik both played it, plonking away, all very rudimentary stuff, open chords and all that.

This is especially true from the Achtung Baby era onwards, although much of the band's s material made heavy use of echos. The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2. U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are sometimes in the form of a repeated cry; examples of songs that use this approach include "Beautiful Day", "New Year's Day" and "Stay Faraway, So Close!

The Edge sings the lead vocal on "Van Diemen's Land" and "Numb", the first half of the song "Seconds", dual vocals with Bono in "Discotheque", and the bridge in the song "Miracle Drug". A solo acoustic version of the song "Love is Blindness", that is featured in the documentary film From the Sky Down , is sung by him as well.

In most live versions of "Original of the Species," piano is the only instrument played during the song. Although The Edge is the band's lead guitarist, he occasionally plays bass guitar, including the live performances of the song "40" where The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton switch instruments.

The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois collaborator Michael Brook the creator of the infinite guitar, which he regularly uses , working with him on the score to the film Captive He also created the theme song for season one and two of The Batman. The Edge, along with Bono, composed a musical adaptation of Spider-Man. On 29 April , the Edge performed in the Sistine Chapel as part of a conference for the Angiogensis Foundation, making him the first rock artist to stage a concert at the site.

The Edge plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar on "40" and "Race Against Time" and lap steel guitar. Key to his signature sound are the use of modulated delays, namely a Korg SDD delay unit made in the early 80's, as well as a special Herdim guitar pick, which Edge holds upside down to expose the "dimples" when hitting the guitar strings to achieve a raspier chime.

On leaving school, Edge was torn between pursuing his career with the band and going to university to become a doctor. However, medicine's loss was music's gain, and Edge's career with U2 was settled. Having said that, he also struggled with the conflict between his Christian beliefs and the lifestyle that tends to come with success in a rock band.

He seriously considered leaving the band at one point early in their career but fortunately, Bono talked him round. They took their faith seriously and there was a real possibility that the band could have split because of it. The couple separated in though, and were legally divorced 6 years later.

Much of the lyrical content of Achtung Baby related to Edge and the break up of his marriage at that time. Edge's divorce has often been cited as one of the reasons why the recording of that album was so diffucult. In he began dating Morleigh Steinberg, who had been chosen as the belly dancer and choreographer for part of the ZooTV tour, and in October they had a daughter, Sian. Just 2 years later, a son named Levi was born. In June Edge and Morleigh married, first in a civil ceremony in Dublin on the 18th, then at a Jewish service in Eze-sur-Mer in the south of France on the 23rd.

You can see a photo of the day here. The pair also bought a new home in Killiney next door to Bono and Ali for 10 million Euros. I guess I must love it, because I keep doing it — and Bono particularly so. But we all do, to different extents. I think taking the easy way out, the soft option, is not how we — any of us — are built.

I do find that I get into things in a major way Where do you stand on the Repeal the Eighth Amendment issue? Well, I always — as in a general rule — am pro-choice. I think it should be their decision. When was the last time you cried? I think a lot of our fans are very moved at our shows — but what they might not realise is that the band are, too. Does that always happen? So I immediately just get my head back into it. So, the answer is, really rarely. When it happens, you probably see or hear it very fast.

But the version of it that blows me away is the acoustic one you did on Jools Holland. Would you ever consider doing a live unplugged album? Yeah, I could see that happening. In fact, Bono and myself did a couple of shows over the years, special guest kind of things. Just a guitar or piano and voice. I think I played electric for a couple of things. So, real stripped-down arrangements of our songs do work.

One of these days, I would not be surprised if we did some kind of an unplugged thing. Any special guests lined up for the Dublin shows? The Dublin shows are in many ways the most work offstage. Do you do that anywhere else for any other cause? We want to make those Dublin shows very special. You have houses in Dublin, the south of France and in Malibu. Where do you call home? The place I feel like is home is Dublin. My sister lives there, so definitely Dublin.

There is a bit of a gypsy in me. I do love travel as well as finding new places, exploring places. Where are you off to next? The Glasgow audience are great. They and the Dublin audience, I think, are the two that are the most energetic of all our audiences in this part of the world.

South America is great. But Dublin and Glasgow, the audiences are just amazing. We're wishing a massive happy 58th birthday to The Edge! On this day in , U2 guitarist The Edge was born in England.

Share This Article:. Music 20 Oct 21 On this day in U2 released their debut album Boy.