Elevation - Boston DVD

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Cask

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While many would argue that the performance in this DVD is not one of the best from the band, does anyone else love that recording??

I think the following aspects are great:
  1. Sound quality: In my opinion, this the live official release with the best sound quality. Drums are loud and in your face, unlike any other live recording. Same goes with the bass. With a decent sound systems, you really feel like you are in a live show. Salen, Vertigo Chicago, Milan, or U2 360 from Rose Bowl don't even get close in Sound Quality to this. The Sunday Bloody Sunday drum intro never sounded as powerful.
  2. Performance Gems: While the overall performance is average, there are some gems in this recording. Sunday Bloody Sunday like mentioned above sound very poweful, however I don't know how much this is due to the quality of the recording or the actual performance. Kite, Gone are also awesome. The Bad - Streets transtion is great, and they pull some of the best versions of those 2 songs.
    The Fly: The best absolute version. In your face, powerful, great rework of the some. The Elevation version in my opinion is the best, and in this performance they truly nailed it. Do you like this version, what are your thoughts?

    And in all I really like this DVD, and in my opinion, its strongest point if the great mix and sound quality, something that even the most recent releases have not been able to match. What are your thoughts?
 
Not that special to me. Sound quality is pretty meh, and I have a good system.

I liked Gone but it sucks that it's from 2 different nights, and I absolutely despise this version of The Fly. It rips the song of all that it used to be. So glad they brought it back the way it should be on Vertigo and 360!

Bad>Streets was nice though.
 
It's the show that made me a fan. I had already known about the band, but my dad taped the show when it first was getting shown on cable and it took my appreciation of the band to another level. There have been hundreds of superior performances, but that show will always mean a lot to me.

Elevation was great live. When I finally heard the studio version, I was crushed.
 
It's hard for me to love it because it's right in the same period as Slane, which is the show that made me a fan again. So while it's great and I like it, it's always going to be "not Slane".
 
Personally I've always found Slane to have the best sound quality of any of their releases. I watched Vertigo Chicago the other night and noticed straight away the sound and video lacking.
Boston has its highlights but I find Bono's sub-par vocals sometimes drags it down a bit.
 
Wow, seems that I am the only one who really loves the sound quality. The Fly really steals it in my opinion.
 
I think The Fly from Elevation is easily the best performance of the song. I didn't much care as much for Vertigo's, or even ZooTV's versions.

Kite, In A Little While, BTBS, I Will Follow, WOWY, Beautiful Day, Bad- a lot of killer performances. Significantly better than Slane overall.
 
^^Bono's voice was significantly better @ Slane, but Boston's setlist is better.
 
I'm watching again out of curiosity. Does it seem to anyone else that the camera work is not equal to the Slane DVD?
 
The Bad- Streets transition is transcendent. The Fly was electrifying, UTEOTW was powerful as always. IALW was also outstanding.

As far as actually sound goes, it's not great. Maybe it's me, but 85% of anything they've put out- Live DVD or Album has average or below average sound.
 
jeevey said:
I'm watching again out of curiosity. Does it seem to anyone else that the camera work is not equal to the Slane DVD?
Click to expand...

I think Hamish Hamilton was brought in to do the camera work for Boston, as they thought he did a great job at the Brits. Slane was not supposed to be an official release. (I'm sure someone here can clean this up for me if it's not completely accurate).
 
Seems like to focus wanders or even fails to resolve pretty often. Slane has a rougher look, a kind of grittiness to the picture to it that makes it look intentional, but in the Boston one it seems more like just missteps. But then, you already know that I'm biased. Thoughts?
 
When this DVD first came out, I remember people being upset that the whole show wasn't represented, that Mysterious Ways, Pride, and One were absent. And a lot of debate about why Edge was so pissed at the end of Gone.

Anyway, I like the DVD a lot, I feel like it does a good job of capturing the vibe of those first leg Elevation shows.
 
Cask, I'm also a huge fan of this DVD. I'm with you about the great audio quality. Slane was fantastic too but I think a huge reason why I play this DVD over Slane or any other U2 DVD is:

1) It was my first U2 DVD release as a fan & I obsessed over it. I never saw full video live performances of the band until then & I had no clue how much they could win over an audience (like when the lights go on at beginning of Streets the crowd looks awesome even in a smaller setting)

2) They sound really powerful with songs like UTEOTW, Gone, The Fly, SBS, & in my opinion a blazing version of Bullet.

3) Great setlist order for my taste. The show feels like a series of waves & each song flows in & out really nicely from one to the next.

4) Bono seemed like he was in a genuinely good mood getting his voice back from some of those rough shows prior to Boston, poured it all in.

5) The Elevation stage was a nice return to basics & I feel like there's a lot more video attention on the performance & not as much on the stage design or crowd ala Vertigo Chicago (so many out of focus artsy shots & quick cutaways) & 360 Rose Bowl (lots of Claw shots, aerial shots). Boston DVD stays on the band a very good portion.


Cask said:
While many would argue that the performance in this DVD is not one of the best from the band, does anyone else love that recording??

I think the following aspects are great:
  1. Sound quality: In my opinion, this the live official release with the best sound quality. Drums are loud and in your face, unlike any other live recording. Same goes with the bass. With a decent sound systems, you really feel like you are in a live show. Salen, Vertigo Chicago, Milan, or U2 360 from Rose Bowl don't even get close in Sound Quality to this. The Sunday Bloody Sunday drum intro never sounded as powerful.
  2. Performance Gems: While the overall performance is average, there are some gems in this recording. Sunday Bloody Sunday like mentioned above sound very poweful, however I don't know how much this is due to the quality of the recording or the actual performance. Kite, Gone are also awesome. The Bad - Streets transtion is great, and they pull some of the best versions of those 2 songs.
    The Fly: The best absolute version. In your face, powerful, great rework of the some. The Elevation version in my opinion is the best, and in this performance they truly nailed it. Do you like this version, what are your thoughts?

    And in all I really like this DVD, and in my opinion, its strongest point if the great mix and sound quality, something that even the most recent releases have not been able to match. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
I forgot that it wasn't the complete show. They left out Mysterious Ways, One, and People get ready. I can see leaving out the cover, and it probably wasn't very good anyway, just kind of a goof with a fan onstage. Why were One and MW cut, though? 2 big hits, and you'd think between the 2 shows they recorded they could come up with one good version of each song.

Also, I love the editing during Gone. On June 5th, Edge is playing the Red Sunburst Rickenbacker, which is the one he smashes. As a result, the next night he is playing a Black Rickenbacker, which is seen for the majority of the song. But occasionally it cuts to a shot of him playing the red one.
 
I was just wondering about that. From a quick look on U2torrents it seems that they used the audio track from the 5th, (the supposedly shitty performance that made Edge so unhappy-- though I think it sounds great) but almost all video from the 6th. If they were using the audio of a 'bad' performance why not the video too? And does there exist any audience video recording of Gone from the 5th?
 
BTBS from the Boston show is the best version of thos song, mostly the end os out of this world.

The Fly is also incredible

Kite and Gone are great, so are Bad and Sreets.

I prefer Boston over Slane
 
Slane doesn't even really feel like the Elevation Tour. It's more like a one off (two off?) greatest hits festival set. Several key Elevation Tour songs were not played, like New York, IALW, Gone, The Fly, Bad. Would be nice to have a good live version of Sweetest Thing as well, with Bono on piano.

Boston is more representative of what the Elevation tour was truly like, or at least the 1st 2 legs. During the post 9/11 shows, it really did feel like another tour. I was at the 10/10/01 South Bend show, and it was exponentially different from the 2 shows I saw earlier in the spring. I must say, that South Bend show is at the bottom of the 10 U2 shows I have seen since 1997. Was a little to somber to enjoy, which I know was the point, but I just didn't enjoy it as well.
 
jeevey said:
I was just wondering about that. From a quick look on U2torrents it seems that they used the audio track from the 5th, (the supposedly shitty performance that made Edge so unhappy-- though I think it sounds great) but almost all video from the 6th. If they were using the audio of a 'bad' performance why not the video too?
Click to expand...

From what I can remember (maybe from the documentary on the DVD) the video footage of the first night was not of good quality. I believe the lighting was off (too much light???). So the reason why not much video of the first night was used had nothing to do with the performances of the songs, but how it looked.

nesquick said:
Edge angry during gone is pure acting, for the show...
Click to expand...

I don't think that was acting at all. Edge is not someone to destroy a guitar, though he is every inch a perfectionist.
 
The Boston DVD was also my first genuine look at U2. I'd know about them and my mum used to play "One" a hell of a lot when I was younger (5 years old when AB came out) but Boston made me a U2 fan.

We payed some ridiculous price to watch it on Pay-Per-View only to realise it was released on DVD around the same time...but this was back in the days when everyone was still on VHS...I recorded it off the broadcast and wore out the tape within a month.

Paid (my parents) a ridiculous price for the DVD and yeah, I was pretty much converted. so I have a pretty strong connection I suppose with that show.

Yes it's a crime it's only half the bloody show and there are some moments of horrible editing (not as bad as Chicago 05 though), I still hope someday they release the complete show in some sort of box set when the band have all stopped.

If you haven't listened to the audience bootleg from the 6/6/01 show, check it out...the FULL show is pretty great (and it's a fairly long one)
 
Popmartijn said:
From what I can remember (maybe from the documentary on the DVD) the video footage of the first night was not of good quality. I believe the lighting was off (too much light???). So the reason why not much video of the first night was used had nothing to do with the performances of the songs, but how it looked.

I don't think that was acting at all. Edge is not someone to destroy a guitar, though he is every inch a perfectionist.
Click to expand...

Come on... He carefully just let it slide... This is comedy!
 
I enjoy the Boston show because it feels tense, like the band are really working. There's conflict - the crowd is sort of lame, Edge has his little tantrum, Bono struggles on some songs. That moment on Streets on the Hamish cam or whatever is pretty fun viewing.

The Slane show is probably better on a lot of levels, but the crowd is completely on their side and it feels too effortless to me.
 
The_acrobat said:
I forgot that it wasn't the complete show. They left out Mysterious Ways, One, and People get ready. I can see leaving out the cover, and it probably wasn't very good anyway, just kind of a goof with a fan onstage. Why were One and MW cut, though? 2 big hits, and you'd think between the 2 shows they recorded they could come up with one good version of each song.
Click to expand...

I seem to remember hearing that the extra songs were cut because the band wished for the lossless audio track to be included on the DVD, and that it would only fit if some songs were sacrificed. But I could be making something up.
 
I remember when they broadcasted the show on NBC, prior to it being released on DVD. I had known of U2 before that, but this DVD was the one to get me hooked. The combo of Stay, Bad and Streets is one of my favorite moments on the DVD. Other standouts for me - The Fly, Kite, Walk On and Gone.

It's actually one of the only U2 DVDs that I play from start to finish, without skipping. It will always be a favorite of mine, no doubt. :heart:
 
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