Doug Van Pelt

U23D Movie Review

Wow.
Ohmigosh, what a great experience. This high def 3-D movie (I saw it with a bunch of friends / U2 fans at an IMAX Theater) is quite spectacular and fun. After a brief announcement from the projection guy upstairs in the back, where he mentioned things like, "At the request of the band, the soundtrack will be played back at near concert volume" (We all liked hearing that), then we got our first glimpse of the 3-dimensional perspective, as the cameras focused on the empty stage.

This was another stage of the Vertigo Tour than fans in the US had heard, so the concert apparently started with the title track, instead of "City Of Blinding Lights." It was an ironic twist, of course, hearing Bono count off the intro in South America. At times it looked like Adam Clayton's bass guitar headstock might smack you in the face. It was if you could reach out from your seats and touch the players. That was the brilliant visual; but what blew me out of the water the most was the incredible audio mix. You felt like you were part of the audience, as the crowd noise mostly came from behind you. It never once smothered the music, which spanned 1983's War album all the way to the present. Early on in the set they played "New Year's Day" and it was as if they opened up that song and let it breathe. The vocals sounded so great and expansive. Like seasoned professionals, they segued from song to song. They threw out so many hits that I started to worry about it ending before I was "ready."

"Bullet The Blue Sky" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Miss Sarejevo" all made powerful statements without much between-song banter. The intro to "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" used portions of that Human Rights Manifesto. "Where The Streets Have No Name" sounded full and did justice to easily one of the best anthems ever. During "One" I got to see the coolest Les Paul I think I've ever seen. It was fun picking up things, like seeing a tall drink and a box of kleenex next to Larry Mullen's drums. And one scene featured a knock you out sonic boom with a close-up camera shot of him hitting a floor tom pretty hard.

It was like watching and listening to the future.