[kj] (OT) U2-3D

[T.B.]

I had today off so I caught a matinee at the IMAX theater in Irvine of the 
live U2 concert filmed in IMAX 3D.

Overall, it's really impressive as far as replicating and at times exceeding 
a typical concert experience.  The first couple of songs (Vertigo and 
Beautiful Day) simply overwhelm the senses with sight and sound really 
unlike any other 3d film I've ever seen. Yes, it's still the same kind of 3d 
experience where you wear the silly plastic dark tinted polarized glasses 
but *the way* the live footage was filmed coupled with the use of overlays, 
minor animation and dissolves definitely takes the whole 3d viewing shtick 
to a much higher level. It's really more of an artistic achievement than a 
technological one.

Yeah, once in a while you get the tacky 3d exploitation stuff like bassist 
Adam Clayton pushing his bass into the camera but it's not a big deal and 
for the most part, the band is simply in their element performing and the 
cameras just happen to be there. Early in the film when there's some shots 
of Larry playing drums, his kit looks truly three dimensional.

The concert itself is about 2/3rds of the actual show they performed that 
night with most of the fat trimmed so you basically get a U2 "greatest hits" 
show along with the core songs they played off the Vertigo album on the 
tour. About the only song that falls flat is surprisingly "The Fly," a song 
which has always been the audio/visual showcase for U2 since the ZooTV tour 
and one which would seem to be *the* song tailor made for this sort of 
thing.  Unfortunately, The Edge had guitar trouble (it sounds like the 
guitar he normally uses was in the wrong tuning) in the beginning (which is 
for the most part included in the film) and the performance and arrangement 
itself for this tour which imo, was the weakest version of the song of any 
tour they've played it. For some reason, the sound mix is kinda weak on this 
song as well.

On the other hand, the usual standards almost all sound excellent.  Even a 
burned out song like "Pride" comes across fresh and vibrant, especially in 
context with the (shortened) human rights video proceeding it. Top it off, 
they were blessed with a truly ecstatic stadium audience that is a huge plus 
to the experience.

One other thing I should mention, I have all of U2's previous home video 
releases and thankfully this film is not edited with those half-second cuts 
that make their Elevation and other Vertigo tour live dvds such a chore to 
watch.

Minor nitpicking aside, it's a fantastic showcase for U2 and I'd hope that 
more bands take advantage of the format.

T.B.