Which city is the one that appears in U2's Unforgettable Fire video?

[breno]

I've heard it could be either Chicago or Vancouver, but I don't seem to find a conclusive answwer

 

[digitize]

I feel like I heard Minneapolis at some point, but I don't know. I could be completely hallucinating that up.

 

[LadySpinHead]

I didn't study the whole thing, but at about :42 it does look like Minneapolis of 25 years ago, possibly. I'll maybe watch the whole thing a little closer later if I have time. Seems like the IDS Center is prominent in the shot, but it could be anything, I guess- tall building with lights on the top

 

[Globo14]

Is this on YouTube? I've never seen this video, but I could help identify if it's Minneapolis.

 

[LadySpinHead]

If you're a member of U2.com, they have all of the videos on the website- not sure if they're accessible to non members, they might be.

 

[Globo14]

Found it on U2.com, albeit the first 45 seconds.

The building with the arrow does look a lot like the IDS Center.

 

[LadySpinHead]

Ok I watched the whole video, and the more I look at your screenshot, the more I'm convinced it is Minneapolis- I think the Foshay Tower might be on the left side of the picture- about halfway between IDS and the edge of the shot.

Also they're walking across a snowy frozen lake at the end. Could be anywhere, but strengthens the Mpls connection. And, the carnival shots could have been taken somewhere else, but maybe the St Paul Winter Carnival used to have a midway- don't know.

Another thought is that they could have used stock video from several different cities, although for some reason I doubt that. I don't think stock video was as easy to access back then.

 

[digitize]

I can't find it on YouTube, but:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnagg_u2-the-unforgettable-fire_music

 

[breno]

Found a thread in atu2.com where Minneapolis is mentioned

I googled for Unforgettable Fire video and Minneapolis and came up with a four year old thread in atu2.com [1] where they discussed about the location place. Several comments about it being filmed in Sweden (correct, for some of the scenes) and Tokyo (which I'm pretty sure is wrong).

One guy mentions Minneapolis:

"The stock footage of the city isn't Tokyo -- it's Minneapolis. Trust me. That's our arse-ugly sports dome"

[1] Unforgettable Fire Video

 

[digitize]

I'm pretty sure that the city scenes are not Tokyo.

 

[breno]

City scenes definitely are not Tokyo. So far Minneapolis sounds like the correct answer. They did mention that Bono's scenes by the windows were shot in Tokyo, though that might be a lot harder to prove ;-)

 

[LadySpinHead]

Minneapolis= city scenes
Tokyo= window scenes
Sweden= outdoor snow scenes
???= carnival scenes

 

[breno]

According to that thread both the carnival and the snow scenes were shot in Sweden.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

I can't recall where I saw it, but this whole video was shot in Sweden. The debate about this stadium comes up every now and then. U2 had yet to make music video for a song (not concert video) in America until the Joshua Tree. The 84-85 U2 weren't quite yet at a level of $ to be making music videos for songs by shooting it all over the world.

 

[LadySpinHead]

Still fairly confident it is Mpls- unless there is a very similar city in Sweden. Like I mentioned before, it could have been stock video of Mpls, not shot specifically for the video. Likely since it is generic footage.

 

[Nick66]

I can officially confirm that it's Minneapolis.

 

[breno]

Thanks guys! I asked around in Quora, silly me, it was obvious I'd get the answer here in Interference ;-)

 

[breno]

Found it on U2.com, albeit the first 45 seconds.

The building with the arrow does look a lot like the IDS Center.

I think this present day shot of the Minneapolis Skyline, next to the vidcap you posted, practically confirms it:

Minneapolis, Minnesota Skyline | Stock Photo | iStock

 

[Nick66]

Thanks guys! I asked around in Quora, silly me, it was obvious I'd get the answer here in Interference ;-)

You're quite welcome.

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Certain scenes were inspired by this video:

Jean Luc Ponty - Individual Choice 102283 Arie Crown Theater Chicago - YouTube

 

[GopherMacPhisto]

Found it on U2.com, albeit the first 45 seconds.

The building with the arrow does look a lot like the IDS Center.

Yes, that is the 3rd Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River, looking downtown from Old Nordeast.

 

[Edge425]

U2 - The unforgettable fire [Subtitles Italian] - YouTube

The video in question.

 

[mad1]

Class to know now, its such a haunting 80s video, that vibes so much nostalgia for me. I always thought it was all just in Russia or Japan or somewhere European.

 

[silkensky]

Class to know now, its such a haunting 80s video, that vibes so much nostalgia for me. I always thought it was all just in Russia or Japan or somewhere European.

Agreed, when I first saw the video, I'd say that Minneapolis would've been one of the last places I'd expect for such a memorable opening shot.

 

[Muldfeld]

Gosh, I remember watching this over and over when I recorded the video from TV in my early teens. I thought Larry looked like a cool tough guy (or was it Adam?) going down the stairs during the song's bridge. God, I loved this song. It always confused me how Bono pronounced the first word "ice" as "ife", but it sounded cool 'cause it was Bono! I revered him.

I miss being that young. I hated school at the time, though. Very bad time, but I'd just listen to U2 all the time.

 

[corianderstem]

Ha - it totally sounds like "ife."

I also maintain that "painted" sounds like "fancy" in the album version of One Tree Hill.

 

[HomerSaurus]

Interesting topic. I've lived in Mpls for 20+ years. I remember seeing the vid years ago and thinking that a few shots looked like Mpls. I recently saw it again which is why I started digging and found this. It appears that there's several cities' skylines in the vid. I'm fairly certain they're not all Mpls but I'm pretty sure the ones pointed out here are. Albeit, the skyline from the early to mid 80s is pretty different than it is now, but you can still tell.

GopherMacPhisto is correct on the location. I used to spend a lot of time in that area myself and went across that bridge all the time. I found a photo from a while back from the same angle that seems to confirm it (although the photo was taken before the vid because it looks like its missing a building). The pic on the left is the vid cap. I also included a new one for the heck of it. The brightness of the Wells Fargo building really drowns out the IDS, but you can still kind of see it.

 

[Phantom Dreamer]

The Metrodome, which appeared in the video, had its roof deflated earlier today.

 

[b_digg]

Its a great song, i said it the first day it was release its their best single in a decade. Hopefully it turns into something big as well...

 

[david]

Ha - it totally sounds like "ife."

I also maintain that "painted" sounds like "fancy" in the album version of One Tree Hill.

Which is why for the longest time I always thought he was singing "Life, your only rivers run cold."