Eimear Ryan: Are some evergreen athletes immune to burnout?
OUTRAGEOUS ATLETICISM: Sarah Rowe of the Victory (R) in action during the round nine A-League Women's match between Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Australia. Pic: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
I am that most tragic of individuals: a sincere U2 fan. Not an ironic U2 fan or even an apologetic U2 fan: a genuine one. Having said this, I was more than a little sceptical when the band announced their upcoming album last week: Songs of Surrender, a 40-track remake spanning their entire back catalogue. The first single, a lacklustre acoustic version of ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’, didn’t bode well for the project. At 62, Bono’s voice can’t hit the heights it once did, and why the band would want to overwrite his vocal virtuosity on the 1984 recording of ‘Pride’ is beyond me.
Maybe I’m too quick to judge, however. The band has a habit of successfully reinventing themselves. "We have to go away and dream it all up again," Bono famously told the crowd at the Point Depot in 1989, just before they went to Berlin and recorded Achtung Baby, a significant departure in their sound. It’s a line I’ve always loved, useful motivation when you’re stuck, uninspired, or in need of reinvention. It sounds like, right now, they need to take their own advice.
