dsmith2904
ONE love, blood, life
Director's Cut
You know Hamish Hamilton’s work even if you don’t know his name. He’s the man who shot U2’s ‘Elevation Tour’ in Boston in 2001 – and then the outdoor show at Slane Castle the following year. Two sensational live DVD’s within a year.
Three years later he’s been shooting the band again: indoors in Chicago in May, and outdoors in Milan in July. And last week saw the first of these, ‘Vertigo ’05: Live from Chicago’, released worldwide.
Hamish has worked with anyone who is anyone in rock’n’roll : Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Norah Jones, Madonna and Motley Crue. U2, he says, are the best band in the world and - along with Peter Gabriel, Robbie Williams and Usher - his favourite act to work with.
U2.Com tracked Hamish down to his London offices before he shot out the door shoot the MTV Europe 2005 Awards.
Members can read the complete interview here. Snippets are below.
I sat down with the band four or five times on this one. Meetings with the band are a mixture of scary, exhilarating, intimidating, challenging and exciting. These are smart guys. I’m not someone who has spent my life reading lots of books and I feel I am not great at expressing my ideas. Compared to Bono with his vocabulary and set of reference points, that can be intimidating when there is some film or literary reference which I don’t know about. But I never bluff.
I remember when we first met on the Elevation tour in Boston – and remember this man is a hero to me – he introduces himself and inside I am shaking. We shake hands and he says what the band want to do. There’s a lot of long words, I am in a right old state, having a blind rush of panic, so at that moment, I say ‘Bono, I really have to stop you there - I’m really sorry, but I don’t understand what you are talking about.’ There’s silence. Bono looks at me. I’m shaking inside. He thinks for a second and he says, ‘OK, look, what we want to do here is remake Raging Bull!’
He probably can’t even remember that! But I’ve always thought there’s no point in bullshitting U2. I give U2 projects more than any other project probably, I am a fan, they demand that of you, and it is worth it if you end up with something that is truly fantastic.
Adam is a very interesting character and he sort of sits at the back a bit and then will jump in with a few razor sharp questions that cut through everything else. You almost think sometimes he is not paying attention but then suddenly, you know he is, He has a really calm, warm spirituality about him which I like. I feel very at ease talking to Adam and I love the way he is smiling so much on this DVD.
Larry is very straightforward and forthright and coming from Blackpool, as I do, he makes me laugh. You can rely on Larry to give you an honest and direct answer. This DVD opens with Larry and ends with Larry, the guy who started it.
Talking to Edge you get the sense he is taking in every last piece of data in the moment. On this film he was really focussed on the editing actually, and we had many conversations about the cut. Edge liked the line cut from the first night - a very gut response to what was going on onstage – and he wanted to use large chunks of it for its’ energy. It surprised me that the scientist guy would say this but it was the rock’n’roll guitarist who loved the energy and spirit of it.
You know Hamish Hamilton’s work even if you don’t know his name. He’s the man who shot U2’s ‘Elevation Tour’ in Boston in 2001 – and then the outdoor show at Slane Castle the following year. Two sensational live DVD’s within a year.
Three years later he’s been shooting the band again: indoors in Chicago in May, and outdoors in Milan in July. And last week saw the first of these, ‘Vertigo ’05: Live from Chicago’, released worldwide.
Hamish has worked with anyone who is anyone in rock’n’roll : Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Norah Jones, Madonna and Motley Crue. U2, he says, are the best band in the world and - along with Peter Gabriel, Robbie Williams and Usher - his favourite act to work with.
U2.Com tracked Hamish down to his London offices before he shot out the door shoot the MTV Europe 2005 Awards.
Members can read the complete interview here. Snippets are below.
I sat down with the band four or five times on this one. Meetings with the band are a mixture of scary, exhilarating, intimidating, challenging and exciting. These are smart guys. I’m not someone who has spent my life reading lots of books and I feel I am not great at expressing my ideas. Compared to Bono with his vocabulary and set of reference points, that can be intimidating when there is some film or literary reference which I don’t know about. But I never bluff.
I remember when we first met on the Elevation tour in Boston – and remember this man is a hero to me – he introduces himself and inside I am shaking. We shake hands and he says what the band want to do. There’s a lot of long words, I am in a right old state, having a blind rush of panic, so at that moment, I say ‘Bono, I really have to stop you there - I’m really sorry, but I don’t understand what you are talking about.’ There’s silence. Bono looks at me. I’m shaking inside. He thinks for a second and he says, ‘OK, look, what we want to do here is remake Raging Bull!’
He probably can’t even remember that! But I’ve always thought there’s no point in bullshitting U2. I give U2 projects more than any other project probably, I am a fan, they demand that of you, and it is worth it if you end up with something that is truly fantastic.
Adam is a very interesting character and he sort of sits at the back a bit and then will jump in with a few razor sharp questions that cut through everything else. You almost think sometimes he is not paying attention but then suddenly, you know he is, He has a really calm, warm spirituality about him which I like. I feel very at ease talking to Adam and I love the way he is smiling so much on this DVD.
Larry is very straightforward and forthright and coming from Blackpool, as I do, he makes me laugh. You can rely on Larry to give you an honest and direct answer. This DVD opens with Larry and ends with Larry, the guy who started it.
Talking to Edge you get the sense he is taking in every last piece of data in the moment. On this film he was really focussed on the editing actually, and we had many conversations about the cut. Edge liked the line cut from the first night - a very gut response to what was going on onstage – and he wanted to use large chunks of it for its’ energy. It surprised me that the scientist guy would say this but it was the rock’n’roll guitarist who loved the energy and spirit of it.
.
