Stephen SomersU23D
May 18th 2008 12:17
Concert Films are a funny beast. Trying to capture the essence of live performance never truly works. Some concert films come close but ultimately It can only be a live album with moving pictures.
U23D is the closest to a perfect concert film that I've seen. Liking or hating U2 -and there are millions in both camps- shouldn't really come in to it. While it will undoubtadly help, even non U2 fans will appreciate the mind-blowing spectical this is.
After seeing this with a friend who is NOT a U2 fan I can safely say that, while not converted to the good church of Bono and co, he couldn't help but admire the fact that it really worked.
And you see, that's the thing. Any music fan couldn't help but be excited about seeing their favourite band in this format.
Employing 18 different camera's we're thrown on stage with the boys and invited to take part. Its the closest you can get to a live show without being there. Even the fans raised hands are in front of you when you look at the stage from ground level.
And at the centre is the band. As a long time fan I was apprehensive about this. I mean U2 can be a bit to bombastic and pretentious even for me. But they were brilliant. Considering they're all well on the way to fifty the power of their playing is something. I've seen them live a few times and have never been disappointed. But this really blew me away. They play like a band who appreciate the consequence of who they are and what they mean to so many people. I just can't imagine The Rolling Stones or REM or The Chili Peppers (seen them all live) or anyone else capturing the power in a performance that U2 do.
All the songs are familiar with trio of "love and Peace" , "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and "Bullet the Blue Sky" being the highlight for me. "Miss Sarajevo" shows that the boy Bono can really sing. While encore song "The Fly" was propably the only slightly shaky number.
All in all this was a really cool film. You can only hope that others try it in the future.
8/10
U23D is the closest to a perfect concert film that I've seen. Liking or hating U2 -and there are millions in both camps- shouldn't really come in to it. While it will undoubtadly help, even non U2 fans will appreciate the mind-blowing spectical this is.
After seeing this with a friend who is NOT a U2 fan I can safely say that, while not converted to the good church of Bono and co, he couldn't help but admire the fact that it really worked.
Employing 18 different camera's we're thrown on stage with the boys and invited to take part. Its the closest you can get to a live show without being there. Even the fans raised hands are in front of you when you look at the stage from ground level.
And at the centre is the band. As a long time fan I was apprehensive about this. I mean U2 can be a bit to bombastic and pretentious even for me. But they were brilliant. Considering they're all well on the way to fifty the power of their playing is something. I've seen them live a few times and have never been disappointed. But this really blew me away. They play like a band who appreciate the consequence of who they are and what they mean to so many people. I just can't imagine The Rolling Stones or REM or The Chili Peppers (seen them all live) or anyone else capturing the power in a performance that U2 do.
All the songs are familiar with trio of "love and Peace" , "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and "Bullet the Blue Sky" being the highlight for me. "Miss Sarajevo" shows that the boy Bono can really sing. While encore song "The Fly" was propably the only slightly shaky number.
8/10
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