What you like and dislike about the Chicago DVD
Got my deluxe copy of the DVD yesterday
What I liked:
- A really long 2hr 15min show! This comprises a "standard" Vertigo show of about 23 songs, and is especially noteworthy compared with the two Elevation Tour releases (both just 19 songs each... and that included a very short Wake Up Dead Man).
- Band seems in top form.
- Lights/effects seem great, I especially like the fact that the arena's lights were used (the red/green/yellow lights that ran around the stands).
- The DVD is well shot. I like Hamish Hamilton's work, and IMO the "birdseye view" shot from above the main stage works great. Some will complain about his frequent cutting during Veritgo and The Fly, but I feel that this adequately captures the pace/tempo of these songs.
- Mistakes and all are left in (a few missed notes by Edge in the MD and MY solos, and Bono's "frog in my throat" during Elevation). This gives the recording a less polished feel I think.
- The packaging is very nice, MUCH nicer than in the normal edition. All the artwork is perfect too.
What I didn't like as much:
- The songs seemed a bit too packed together. This is especially noticeable between Vertigo and Elevation, when Edge hands back his Telecaster in one scene, and in the very next he is beginning Elevation with his SG! It's almost as if they're trying to get all the songs in, but make the whole show as short as possible. The breaks at the start of Miracle Drug and One are, as a result, particularly refreshing.
- The track listing in the DVD menu has several small but annoying mistakes. Track 4 is called "Cry/ Electric Co." instead of "THE Cry / THE Electric Co." (with the forward slash in the middle instead of to one side). Similarly, they mention "Pride In the Name of Love" (no brackets) and "Running to Standstill" (no space between the last two words). I also think "An Cat Dubh" and "ITH" should be given separate tracks, as they are separate on the album. Finally, 40 is mentioned with no inverted commas, as in the album (which calls it "40").
- The extras are pretty poor. The documentary is good, but the surveillance cuts were very disappointing. It is basically just a repeat of four songs from the show with really bad quality! Barely any replay value. The "Sometimes" video is good, but they should definately have included more tracks to warrent paying an extra €8 for this over the normal version.
- The crowd seemed a bit flat (at certain times the ellipse seemed static, and the people in the stands didn't seem overally into it either). This is hardly the band's fault however, it was a great performance. I expect we'll see a better crowd for the Milan DVD.
Please reply with your own likes/dislikes from the film! To give an overall opinion I would say that this is definately U2's best live DVD yet, certainly better than Elevation Boston and Slane.
, the crowd sing along in Elevation, so powerfull, ...
to the girl dancing on Mysterious Ways, really at ease.
. If you listen to any live performance of Elevation without a backing track theres a clear difference in the way he sings that part (and I never said he lipped it).
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