U2: Vertigo---Live in Chicago...and how it was a shot of adrenaline

[Danospano]

Man, I haven't posted a serious post in ages.

So, what the hell could compell me to write something of substance after...a year or so...?

I just watched "U2 Vertigo: Live from Chicago" last night. OMG! That show was incredible! Due to finances and other reasons I wasn't able to see the show in person, so it was a new experience for me. What an experience. Like becoming a born again Christian, I suppose.

Even after they released HTDAAB I never achieved the love and excitment I'd felt back in the late-1990's, but watching them perform brought back those feelings I once possessed. The feelings that made me want to take on the world, "cock-sure" as Bono was said.

Seeing Mr. Bono bang on the drugs during Love and Peace... and Sunday Bloody Sunday made me want to run a mile (okay, I kinda outta shape ).

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

when did a drum become a drug?

 

[Bonochick]

when did a drum become a drug?

I took a break from my constant stream of Seinfeld DVDs over the weekend to put in the Chicago DVD. The only problem is that it is far too distracting...I was trying to get some cleaning done around the house, but I kept pausing at the TV.

 

[ewings]

I was at the Chicago show, when the dvd was filmed. It was my first U2 concert, and I'm hooked for life! It was a life changing experience

 

[RademR]

i was dissapointed in the release, i mean, its still u2 and its great but i have still yet to sit down and watch the whole thing.

 

[XHendrix24]

i was dissapointed in the release, i mean, its still u2 and its great but i have still yet to sit down and watch the whole thing.

Maybe if you actually bothered to watch the whole thing, you wouldn't be so disappointed.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

still love it, and still feel it dosent deserve half of the critisisim it recived/recieves here.

but all imo

 

[Roland of Gilead]

I compare it to Boston Elevation, which was also an US indoor first leg, and Chicago Vertigo is quite a better show.

 

[vaz02]

omg the whole thign sucks , even my highlight from the manchester shows was ruined ( love and peace or else into sudnay bloody sunday).

if anything this tour has made me even more anti religious.

thanks u2

 

[Rafiennes]

Seeing Mr. Bono bang on the drugs during Love and Peace... and Sunday Bloody Sunday made me want to run a mile (okay, I kinda outta shape ).

Miracle Drum

 

[last unicorn]

I still feel they need to release a stadium concert, Milan or whatever. And more action from the audience. But a concert DVD could never replace a real show. Just bring back fond memories. And it does, at least for me. I can only watch the DVDs when the mood is right. It's giving me chills.

 

[ponkine]

I think Vertigo Chicago DVD is one of the worst DVD concerts I've ever seen . The performance is unexciting, flat, kinda-by. Bono's voice is far from being decent , raspy, rough and quite annoying, strained and thin all the way. The song selection is unbalanced, the crowd is easily one of the top 10 worst audiences ever , etc, etc.

The whole trick is very cheap: another filming from the MTV school style (as a fan posted, is really eMpTyV) with as many cameras changes as the director could done, trying to make an artificial euphoria. Totally crap, that kind of filming is now dated, tiring and overused. Fans (including me) from most bands are tired of standing 10 changes per second, like a showcase of how many cameras the director had to choose from rather than filming the band. And for worse, sometimes the DVD is out of synch, that's simply unforgivable

Vertigo Chicago DVD is easily the worst DVD mistake released by U2, even worse than Elevation Boston.

I really hope next time the guys show some good taste and choose a decent director and a decent performance as well

 

[xaviMF22]

I think Vertigo Chicago DVD is one of the worst DVD concerts I've ever seen . The performance is unexciting, flat, kinda-by. Bono's voice is far from being decent , raspy, rough and quite annoying, strained and thin all the way. The song selection is unbalanced, the crowd is easily one of the top 10 worst audiences ever , etc, etc.

The whole trick is very cheap: another filming from the MTV school style (as a fan posted, is really eMpTyV) with as many cameras changes as the director could done, trying to make an artificial euphoria. Totally crap, that kind of filming is now dated, tiring and overused. Fans (including me) from most bands are tired of standing 10 changes per second, like a showcase of how many cameras the director had to choose from rather than filming the band. And for worse, sometimes the DVD is out of synch, that's simply unforgivable

Vertigo Chicago DVD is easily the worst DVD mistake released by U2, even worse than Elevation Boston.

I really hope next time the guys show some good taste and choose a decent director and a decent performance as well

agreed

 

[cypress]

The performance was less than what I had hoped but it is not THAT bad.. geez. What disappointed me the most was the core songs - One, Pride, Streets which simply were flat and Zoo Station and The Fly were also kinda flat. But the opening half of the concert was beautiful, energetic and inspired. It is definately worth watching.. I have no idea why people continue to slam it unless it is the Euro crowd that bash anything U2 films in the USA. Elevation-Boston always comes to mind. It was an awesome performance yet gets slammed here repeatedly.

 

[U2girl]

Better than Boston, slightly below Slane as far as Hamish Hamilton's U2 directions.

 

[gherman]

I love the DVD but I downloaded the torrent for the Sao Palo Brazil sho and it was insane!!! The fans were going crazy during City of Blinding Lights. I can't wait for the stadium DVD.

 

[dazzledbylight]

Re: Re: U2: Vertigo---Live in Chicago...and how it was a shot of adrenaline

Miracle Drum

 

[INDY500]

Running to Stand Still is perfect.

 

[ntalwar]

I love the DVD but I downloaded the torrent for the Sao Palo Brazil sho and it was insane!!! The fans were going crazy during City of Blinding Lights. I can't wait for the stadium DVD.

I prefer the single DVD version of Buenos Aires, which was cut from the master TV tape. If you don't have it, I recommend that one.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

It's the only U2 DVD/Video I've bought, put in the player and proceeded to fast forward mostly through. The new songs just aren't inspiring, the old songs come across flat, even live favourites of mine like The Fly are just really dull. Stage presense is close to none (by U2 standards). Crowd isn't anything special. Elevation & Slane are far better. Hope Milan is released because I've heard and seen some wicked individual stuff from the Vertigo tour, but this DVD is, in a word, boring. They can do way better.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I thought it was pretty good, but the fans were shit...
I think the opposite is true of the slane dvd.

 

[trayzee]

Live in Chicago was the worst ever it sucked big time!!, do yourselves a favour and watch Zoo TV now "THATS A ROCK SHOW!!




"Ill give you everything you want except the thing that you want"

 

[mofo82]

I thought it was pretty good, but the fans were shit...I think the opposite is true of the slane dvd.

I was at the Vertigo Chicago Show last year for the DVD taping and I can tell you first hand, having been 15 feet outside the ellipse that THE CROWD WAS NOT SHIT.

Were you there to judge us? We were jumping around, singing and cheering every song. The problem is THE DIRECTOR- they didn't capture any of the crowd's energy and the biggest evidence of that is the multiple cameras used so f*ckin much. It KILLS me when people say Chicago SUCKED. I was there and know what I saw. Really, if you weren't in the audience, don't say such blanket statements like that. Say the freakin DVD sucked, and put the blame where it deserves to be- in the director's lap.

I am actually watching the Vertigo DVD right now and it's such a poor way for me to remember the same exact show I was at. I wish they would have filmed it more as a concert than a movie or film. If I want camera drama, let me go watch Momento or Saw for god's sake. I've never seen a camera have a seizure like in this show.

I understand where people get off saying the DVD sucks cus I'm really dissappointed in it to. Imagine, a U2 concert filmed in your hometown like it was for many Chicagoans like me and it was chopped to pieces. But please, dont tell me Chicago fans sucked. Don't. Chicagoans are great people and we'd never say something like 'London's fans suck' based on a bad video. Come on... Just have some respect

Whew

 

[mofo82]

Another point I wanted to add- a huge difference in the Vertigo DVD versus any other U2 concert release was the lack of close up on crowd members. The only moment you see any emotion from the fans in Chicago is when Bono pulls the young boy on the ellipse during 'Into the Heart'. Where else do you see fans singing or cameras scanning the crowd? There's why 'the crowd was shit'- you never saw us in the DVD (not talking about the documentary)

Any other tour video gives you moments that you remember the show through fan experiences, i.e. Zoo TV when Bono dances with the woman to 'Love is Blindness'; when he lays down on the heart singing 'With or Without You' to the lady at Elevation Boston- I can recall when she got the lump in her throat as they laid next to each other. Shit, I was hyped when Bono jumped into the crowd during 'The Fly' then ran around the heart! Those are moments that make the concert special, and HAMish missed out on those completely, or didn't keep the camera on them long enough. Not to mention, the band didn't have a whole lot of movement- they stayed on the main stage 90% of the show. I'm sure those moments could have been caught- the girl who played 'Party Girl' on stage but was edited out - the crowd reaction to that was AMAZING.

There's a few reasons why I think the Vertigo DVD is so forgettable- not a complete loss- sweet to listen to, but still...

 

[theu2fly]

The Chicago DVD was rushed... they started filming after 8 shows or so... I think they started too soon...

And Chicago of all places? New York had 8 shows, they could have pulled a better show from that instead. The audience didn't even sing along to some of the songs which sucked.

 

[theu2fly]

Chicago's saving point could have been Party Girl. COULD HAVE.

 

[U2Girl1978]

I was at this concert. I watched the DVD up until RTSS and I stopped watching. I didn't like how they did it. The Boston Elevation and Slane DVD were so much better.

 

[topplehatU2]

It was definitely the director's fault and I am dissapointed that he is working on the next one. I don't want to see a giant music video full of closeups of Bono's face and 3000 cameras switching shots every 2 seconds at an abnormal angle. Is it that hard to just sit still?

 

[Peter]

There are too much close ups, I don't like that kind of images; pixels are way too big at some moments...

 

[last unicorn]

Not that I mind the closups of Bono, but .... these are really not such a great idea if you want to create a concert atmosphere in a video, and in my humble opinion, the director simply failed to do so with that. I think it's sad because the Vertigo shows are great and you can spoil it all with bad directing. There should have been much more shots of the audience, more audience contact and action going on. The editing really isn't that good, but that's a problem with most concert videos. I don't think you can expect something like a live atmosphere from watching a DVD. Still I don't understand why they have never officially released a Europe outdoor concert, this would be so great! Hopefully Milan isn't directed the same way and there will be more atmosphere.