This year marks the 10th anniversary of the release of
U23D. Perhaps you’ve been lying awake at nights wondering what U2 could possibly do for an official celebration.
Perhaps you haven’t.
I just returned from our weekly U2 listening party here at the Old Folks Home for U2 Fans where I live.
Old Folks Home for U2 Fans
We ended up arguing over which U2 video concert was the best. Even though most of the inhabitants at my old folks home are collectors of fan-made recordings or ...bootlegs... we tried to limit our discussion to official releases. Whatever ‘official’ means these days. Your guess is as good as mine.
All the usual suspects were discussed: Elevation from Boston, Elevation from Slane, Rattle and Hum, Popmart from Mexico, Zoo TV from Sydney, Vertigo in Chicago, the Paris show in ‘87...Red Rocks...a couple Wolfgang shows. Phew...that’s quite a group of them. Not surprisingly the Rosebowl and recent Paris shows were
not brought up once...these are old-skoolers here...
Things got ridiculous when we started arguing what were the best formats for R&H. We debated HD-DVD vs. Blu Ray versions. I had watched both formats just after they were available. There was never any difference. I had even bought the iTunes version for my iPod Classic. I thought I was old-skool. But Edna said she preferred the Beta release. It reminded her of the good old days. She still has a working Sony Betamax. She was retro before retro was retro... or current or...whatever...There’s rumors that she was filming early Sonny and Cher concerts with an 8 mm camera! I want a Blu ray of those!
Senior U2 collectors pose with nurse Ratched after their daily medication
Talks grew quite heated. There were shouts. That wasn’t unusual. One often has to shout to be heard, since most of my fellow inmates, I mean, residents, are half-deaf from too many Dead concerts in the ‘70’s...
Canes were flying. Walkers were rolled over toes. Colorful names like ‘wanker hipster’ and ‘wheelchair willy’ filled the air. Suddenly the room grew silent when I mentioned one of my favorites,
U23D.
After a couple minutes of puzzled silence someone in a sarcastic voice called out...’wah...U23D, what was that?
It’s not even in U2songs videography. Can you buy a copy somewhere? Is it streaming on Netflix? Hulu? Why am I speaking in italics?” And another voice, “Didn’t U23D play down at the Smithsonian on the mall. Who goes down there after dark? Do they even have popcorn?” Another voice rang out, “Hey Edna, do you even have teeth?” Another voice cried out, “Hey, is that
Mon Paris I smell?”
Tough crowd.
So I’ll have to resort to Wiki for an intro. In case you don’t remember that far back. Maybe you’re still in concussion protocol.
‘U2 3D is a 2007 American-produced 3D concert film featuring rock band U2 performing during the Vertigo Tour in 2006. The film contains performances of 14 songs, including tracks from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), the album supported by the tour. The concert footage includes political and social statements made during the shows. It is the band's second feature film, following their 1988 rockumentary Rattle and Hum Among several cinematic firsts, U2 3D was the first live-action digital 3D film. ‘
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_3DI saw this film 5 times at the Johnson IMAX, which was in the National Museum of Natural History on The Mall in Washington, D.C. I was there at the opening night premiere, a splendiferous affair with a packed house that included many Interference members, U2’s most knowledgeable and important fans.
And no, they didn’t have popcorn.
Attendance at this movie would drop off sharply at later shows due to some confusion over who was a
verified fan.
The Johnson IMAX had a 6-story high screen. I say ‘had’ a 6-story high screen because the Johnson Imax has been closed. It’s being torn down to make way for a cafeteria. Ah, progress.
Many camera shots in the
U23D film have you floating over the band at strange angles. It’s very otherworldly. This camerwork set a precedent for the NFL. One can see the wires and cameras hanging over the audiences at the South American shows where they did the filming. In fact, most of the actual performances used in the film might be checked out in the fan-made (bootleg) videos on Youtube, if you’re that interested. But you didn’t hear that from me.
The audio was
awesome. That’s a technical musical term meaning, ‘the sound comes at you from all directions with a bass response that might induce labor or at least enhance digestion, and a sweet caramelishy (not a real word) midrange amidst a pounding presence and salubrious soundstage with full detail and clarity. It’s never smeared or edgy’.
Full lossless surroundy sound, as we used to say in the biz.
But what do I know, I’m from the midwest.
This was 10 years ago. Since America and other consumer nations didn’t live up to their patriotic duty, this time, to buy any and every gee-gaw produced by the electronics industry, 3D for the home fizzled out and was tossed in a ditch years ago. (Along with U.S. senior citizens. Ouch.)
No one wanted to wear the glasses. Duh...
We may never see any kind of home video release for this movie.
Unless maybe in Virtual Reality...with even bulkier, heavier glasses...? ...d’oh.
