The album was "finished" even though no one felt it was. They couldn't take any free days since now they needed to rehearse and promote the album and once it was out, promote the tour.
Interviews started. Journalists were exited and looking forward the new U2 album, especially after three amazing masterpieces like Joshua tree, Achtung Baby and Zooropa one after another. So the bar was high.
Bono and Edge were the ones making almost all of them. Adam was a bit out of the spotlight and Larry was neither happy nor satisfied with the album.
Bono started getting late to rehearse or even worst, appearing totally drunk to them. He got back smoking, and quite a lot, besides sleeping almost nothing. Adam felt his mate was getting into the same situation he was a few years ago, were he had some serious trouble with alcohol and drugs. Adam, was the only member of the group that has been trough that situation, so he could recognize that if Bono didn't stop with that behavior on time, he would end in rehab, if he as lucky enough not to end up like Michael Hutchence.
He was careless about his image, his hair was long and disheveled, his beard was untidy and his clothes were dirty and old. Everything on him was a mess.
Adam helped Bono to focus on promoting the album and rehearsing. He stopped believing in love, cause as he said "Love don't believe in me anymore" He had casual encounters with women. No bonding, no relationships, no attaching. It was his way of forgetting about the past and getting all his stress out. It was easier, faster and most important, it was pain free.
Some of them were the same journalist that interviewed him about the album. He used to flirt with them during the interview and eventually take them to bed or even in the place where the interview was being done. He started enjoying and using his look and smirks to seduce girls everywhere and every time. It eventually started to be fun for him, until Edge appeared with her little girls to the studio and he realized that was the kind of life he was imaging at his age.
The album was finally out. Journalists were killing U2 with their critics saying; it was not U2, it was dance music, that they didn't know how to make dance music, that their ego was so big they screwed themselves up, that lyrics weren't powerful as the last 3 albums, that the old U2 was gone, Bono's voice was damaged and far away from the one he had on last album, etc, etc.
Bono felt like shit, as well as the other 3 members. But he felt totally guilty about his voice and the lyrics.
"Forget about them. They' weren't here; they don't know how hard you worked. We'll do the best opening tour in Vegas and shout all of their mouths. But for that you have to concentrate, take care of your voice and yourself and rehearse. We have to be fucking perfect"
Bono heard Adam and took those words as a challenge and motivation for him, but that lasted only for a few weeks
On the opening tour in Vegas, the day everyone in the world would be watching, the day journalist will be judging, Bono suddenly lost his voice at half of the show, his voice just vanished. He got nervous and forgot the lyrics. Edge, Adam and Larry tried to do their best to cover him. Edge sang louder to cover Bono until his voice was better, but it was easy to see Bono was lost.
During the intermission, Bono went backstage throwing everything he could find on his way and totally out of his mind. Doctors injected corticosteroids on him, so he could at least finish the show.
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And so he did finish it. But journalist and the whole media used the worst words they had on their dictionaries to describe the opening show. And of course they pointed to Bono for the whole situation.
"His voice is not the same anymore"
"He sang without emotion, if he sang something"
"He doesn't even know the songs he wrote himself"
"If this is what comes after ZooTV I don't want to see anything else from them"
"They sold out to dance music, but they won't sold out any show if they keep playing like last night"
"Worst opening night"
And other more hurtful words where on the news the day after the show.
After all that, the upcoming shows were a burden for him. All those words were in his head before going into the stage. He lost his confidence and started believing that those words were true.
Some shows were harder than others, to look up and see a quarter of the stadium empty was like a punch right to his face and to the others as well. But he felt as a leader, so he took the guilt totally his.
There were not sold outs, critics were killing them for that as well. "They lost their touch" "There you go, another big band that falls down fast" and other lines like that.
Those 4 months in the US were the worst for all of them, but especially for Bono.
