Favorite Live DVD?

[Headache in a Suitcase]

U2 Go Home

 

[lazarus]

Oh come on.

Not one dud song, an absolute fiery performance, in one hell of a setting. It's everything I could ask of the band. 11 O'clock Tick Tock is practically why I'm on this godforsaken site.

I'll pay Rattle and Hum as truly exceptional too, Bad being one of the other two songs responsible for my presence here (Gone being the third).

It's the part where you said "better than the rest combined". Prefer whatever era you want, but to disregard the multimedia brilliance and great performances of the Sydney and Mexico videos is just...well, I guess it's just typical Axver hyperbole.

Personally I don't think any of them are so good that I can just watch that one and never have to see the others again.

 

[ImOuttaControl]

Favorite? That's a tough one...depending on the mood it could be any of them, but Elevation Boston and ZooTV would have to be the ones that made me into a mega fan.

Popmart Mexico City is great, but I prefer the performance from Popmart Santiago (bootleg DVD), which has an absolutely scorching version of Last Night on Earth -> UTEOTW, the amazing Please -> Streets and of course the Mother's of the Disappeared, perhaps one of the best ever live moments of the band. Not to mention a fantastic version of Bad.

I've become ambivalent towards 360, but I loved it when it came out and it has some great performances. Ultraviolet is phenomenal but I agree with the comment that the claw needs more screen time. I just wish they would have released one of the 2011 shows with the Achtung Baby heavy set.

The worst is probably The Joshua Tree Paris 1987. Too many songs cut from the official DVD, and no Streets.

Now when is the band going to get around to officially releasing Lovetown or TUF Tour show? I hold out hope that they will release a TJT 2017 show that includes a full 1987 Joshua Tree performance.

 

[super fly guy]

U2 Go Home

Bit harsh,tour has just started.[emoji41]

 

[Bluer White]

Elevation Boston still my go-to live disc. Hamish Hamilton on the second disc is also a gem.

 

[digitize]

I do really love the Paris IE DVD.

I need to watch 360 again, but I remember being disappointed with it because

a) Breathe relegated to bonus track;
b) wayyyy too dark;
c) not enough Claw action.

d) Even the bonus track version of Breathe did away with "ten inch cockatoo"

 

[lazarus]

Odd to see so many people mentioning Boston. It's my least favorite tour, and for one of my least favorite albums. I don't think Bono was in particularly fine form at the time, either. There's some great stuff like The Fly and Bad but overall I go back to this one the least.

Vertigo by comparison has Electric Co. and An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart (which trumps Out of Control or I Will Follow), Running to Stand Still (thankfully instead of WOWY), and both The Fly AND Zoo Station. Plus it closes with 40, unlike Boston or Slane.

 

[corianderstem]

I have a giant binder full of bootleg DVDs I've downloaded from U2 Torrents over the years. I had to get pickier when 360 came along, as the quality of the videos kept increasing over the years. But I still have a TON.

When I win the lottery, one of my plans is to watch them all. While sitting in a bathtub full of champagne, and wearing 18 pounds of diamonds.

 

[kabigon]

Based on how many times I remember watching them back in the day:

1. Zoo TV Sydney
2. Vertigo Chicago
3. Popmart Mexico
4. Elevation Slane
5. Rattle & Hum
6. Elevation Boston
7. JT Paris
8. 360 Rose Bowl
9. Red Rocks (this should be higher obviously, but I guess I usually went towards what was newer/shinier)
10. Vertigo Milan

I still have not bought I+E Paris, or watched more than a song or two from it.

 

[coleloco]

Slane/Boston from the Elevation Tour, because those are the ones I grew up watching with my dad when I was 5 or 6 years old. The AIWIY-Streets segue from Slane is my favorite 1-2 punch of any live recording.

I own all of them now, but the one I watch the least is Vertigo Chicago for some reason. Maybe because that tour's version of Streets was pretty awful.

 

[prbiker15]

1 - Boston
2 - Slane
3 - Zoo TV
4 - Popmart
5 - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE
6 - Red Rocks
7 - U2360°
8 - Joshua Tree
9 - Vertigo Chicago

 

[Axver]

It's the part where you said "better than the rest combined". Prefer whatever era you want, but to disregard the multimedia brilliance and great performances of the Sydney and Mexico videos is just...well, I guess it's just typical Axver hyperbole.

Personally I don't think any of them are so good that I can just watch that one and never have to see the others again.

Eh, back when I actually watched a lot of live U2 videos, most of the others didn't really stick out to me. Popmart Mexico and ZooTV Sydney are fun for the spectacle, sure, but if I wanted to watch something from those tours there were bootlegs I enjoyed more.

Under a Blood Red Sky was really the only official video that ever stayed in the mix alongside the bootleg videos for me. Rattle and Hum is, I guess, a distinctive beast and hard to compare to a straight concert video.

 

[cobl04]

Odd to see so many people mentioning Boston. It's my least favorite tour, and for one of my least favorite albums. I don't think Bono was in particularly fine form at the time, either. There's some great stuff like The Fly and Bad but overall I go back to this one the least.

That's the version of The Fly with that fucking awesome minute-long intro that was only ever done once, right? "Lights go down, sports hall, it's a whole different scene... light and motion light and motion"

Cos that alone makes the purchase worth it, although I don't think I've ever even watched it. I just ripped the audio so I can have that version of The Fly

R&H will always hold a special place in my heart. The non-concert stuff is nowhere near as engaging as U2 fans have always pretended it is, but the live performances are spellbinding. I fucking love the Schindler's List-type effect when colour is finally used for Streets, the SBS performance is obviously second to none, Bad is amazing and has the best snippets they've ever done for that song in the two Stones tracks (maybe aside from "Heroes" on JT30), and that performance of WOWY is in part responsible for me being the fan I am.

Slane also holds a special spot in my heart. Haven't watched it for years and the setlist is fucking awful but the performances are top-notch, the stage banter is funny, Ireland winning some soccer game just before and all the fans making three-people towers... but it's the masterful way it's shot, with all the sweeping moving shots, that makes me love it so much (and obviously the setting helps a lot with that!)

 

[bono_212]

Lights up the motion and the sound (sic?)

 

[labell]

I am loving all the responses in here - discovering there were some I didn't know - like Paris IE.

I have always loved Boston a bit. Watching ZooTV right now because I feel like that is the one I've watched the least.

R&H is always comforting to me.

RoseBowl 360 has fun memories for me, Live, because me and a good friend stayed up late (east coast) to watch it live streaming and messaging each other. It'll always bee a good concert for me. 360 was also the first tour I got to see them on in my teens.

 

[bono_212]

I think it's crazy to hear the opinion that Bono isn't on on Boston. He's so emotional and raw on it. I love it.

 

[kabigon]

I wouldn't say the setlist for slane is fucking awful either. Atyclb tracks on their debut tour. UTEOTW, NYD, Out of Control, All I want is you. Good versions of Mysterious Ways and Bullet.

 

[dudeman]

I’m gonna add to the love for Red Rocks up in here.
I have the most history w that one - somewhere is a battered up VHS tape of the show I got around 1987 or 88 when I was 12 or 13.

I also love both Elevation shows. Great performances, and I watched them a fair bit.

 

[cobl04]

I wouldn't say the setlist for slane is fucking awful either. Atyclb tracks on their debut tour. UTEOTW, NYD, Out of Control, All I want is you. Good versions of Mysterious Ways and Bullet.

It is. Compared with the rest of the tour especially. 20-song set, with one song, a belter of a performance of Mysterious Ways, inexplicably relegated to the bonus features. They'd dropped all the good Pop stuff, with only ho-hum acoustic performances of Wake up Dead Man and Staring at the Sun. Only five ATYCLB songs, including the four most popular by a mile, and one of them which would be better by the length of the Flemington straight on the next tour. And then, outside of AIWIY, all the other tracks have pretty much been regulars at some point since.

And all that said, it's still a shit hot show. That AIWIY-Streets segue was my favourite until I heard the RTSS and Please segues. Kite is emotional as hell for obvious reasons. One had Hear Us Coming.

 

[superchuk5]

It is. Compared with the rest of the tour especially. 20-song set, with one song, a belter of a performance of Mysterious Ways, inexplicably relegated to the bonus features. They'd dropped all the good Pop stuff, with only ho-hum acoustic performances of Wake up Dead Man and Staring at the Sun. Only five ATYCLB songs, including the four most popular by a mile, and one of them which would be better by the length of the Flemington straight on the next tour. And then, outside of AIWIY, all the other tracks have pretty much been regulars at some point since.

And all that said, it's still a shit hot show. That AIWIY-Streets segue was my favourite until I heard the RTSS and Please segues. Kite is emotional as hell for obvious reasons. One had Hear Us Coming.

On paper, the setlist isn’t great. But good God the performance is next level. They talk about god walking into the room during recording, and He definitley walked in that gig.

 

[hasin73]

I do really love the Paris IE DVD.

I need to watch 360 again, but I remember being disappointed with it because

a) Breathe relegated to bonus track;
b) wayyyy too dark;
c) not enough Claw action.

 

[Axver]

That AIWIY-Streets segue was my favourite until I heard the RTSS and Please segues.

Do you take Bad/40 over AIWIY?

RTSS, Please, Bad/40, and AIWIY are all incredible segues.

Every subsequent segue has been absolute junk.

 

[lazarus]

I think it's crazy to hear the opinion that Bono isn't on on Boston. He's so emotional and raw on it. I love it.

I'm just talking about pure vocal power. ATYCLB was one of his weakest in that regard and it seemed like he didn't get it back until the next album and tour. Obviously he could still turn in an emotional, committed performance.

 

[digitize]

Do you take Bad/40 over AIWIY?



RTSS, Please, Bad/40, and AIWIY are all incredible segues.



Every subsequent segue has been absolute junk.

Bullet-Zooropa-Streets is junk?

 

[bono_212]

I'm just talking about pure vocal power. ATYCLB was one of his weakest in that regard and it seemed like he didn't get it back until the next album and tour. Obviously he could still turn in an emotional, committed performance.

Got you. Yeah, this is undeniable.

 

[corianderstem]

Any time I watch PopMart, I love the first part and then get bored halfway through. I loved the show I was at (it was only the second time I'd seen them, and I had a great seat), but there's something about that tour that makes me never want to listen to/watch even the best bootlegs.

Some great performances of individual songs, and the Pop Muzik/Mofo intro is AMAZING, but as a whole, I find myself being very meh about Popmart in hindsight.

 

[brooklynmike]

Anybody who talks shit about the Elevation tour didn’t see it live. Those shows were fucking great.

 

[corianderstem]

It's the one tour I've missed since being old enough to go see concerts. Still kicking myself.

 

[ChurchBay]

Zoo TV Live. That opening and Zoo Station, the hard hitting punches of Until The End Of The World and then New Year's Day. And then Running to Stand Still and that segue into Where The Streets Have No Name. Oh God, I could go on but it is nigh on perfect! I had been seriously exploring U2's back catalogue in the months prior to buying that DVD and from all that I had heard I knew they were fantastic but I never knew just how great they were until seeing that recording. I re watched it not that long ago and it still as superb as I first remember it refreshing my memory of how brilliant lesser played songs like Dirty Day and Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Trashed Car were. If I were to show a U2 sceptic evidence of what makes them great I'd show them clips of that gig. At the very peak of their powers and one of only two true musical 'epiphanies' (along with seeing Bruce Springsteen live at Hampden Park) I've ever had.

Honourable mention to U2 Go Home: Live at Slane. It struck me just how intimate and personal that show felt despite being performed in front of nearly hundreds of thousands. In Ireland, not long after Bono's dad died - all makes sense. Some really primal, heartfelt moments in that show - definitely their most personal.

 

[RoKKeR]

I'm quite partial to the Boston Elevation DVD. I cant' help myself, I'm just really nostalgically attached to it, seeings as I watched the crap out of it when I was 14 and first getting into the band.

It will always be this for me.