Question for those with the Vertigo DVD

[Rafiennes]

I was at the Virgin Megastore last night and they were playing the Vertigo Chicago DVD up on the big monitors. From what I saw, it looked great. Not as MTV-esque as I’d read.

I couldn’t hear it, but I’ve already listened to mp3s of the DVD. From what I’ve heard, yeah Bono sounds a little rough and the mix is a little wonky.

What’s your opinion? Why do you like it? Why do you hate it?

I’ve still yet to buy this DVD. Is the Deluxe edition worth getting?

 

[Rachel D.]

I ordered the Deluxe Edition from Amazon.com almost three weeks ago and it's still not here. Apparantly they had to special-order it. (Is it that hard to find?) They must be brining it on a covered wagon or something. But I've got a good feeling that it's coming today, so I'll get back to you on that.

Oh, by the way, if you have DirecTV, they're showing part of the DVD on the FreeView Channel about twice a day.

 

[hcbiggs2002]

I personally liked the Vertigo DVD but then again I'm easy to please as far as U2 is concerned!! But it's interesting to see the indoor version of the tour. I have the deluxe edition and I enyoy the interviews with the U2 fans and seeing Bono eating his birthday cake. To be honest I'd pay to see Bono doing just about anything!!!. Okay I'm now going off to Pleba!!

 

[babyman]

I like the dvd, you know, there are always some "scientists" who never get satisfied with nothing. Always criticians who suppose to be able to make everything better. The setlists are too short, too bad, that song missed, that one missed, the dvd is crap, Hamish Hamilton doesn't understand nothing of his job and so on and so on.
I own the deluxe version, I gave away 10 euro more to have it. It's a behind the scenes, with interviews and fans comments, I think it's pretty interesting to have it, too, even though you wont watch it too many times after you've seen it the first time. But it's a likeable dvd, I would buy it again.

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

I don't really have many problems with the DVD. I also got the deluxe edition, and I think it was worth it. I think the alternate SYCMIOYO video is great. It's somewhat more emotional than the original video. The documentary is fun too, though Gavin Friday scares me.
As for the show itself. I enjoyed it. I liked that there were some quite unplolished bits, like the "frog in my throat" moment. I think the encore was my favourite part, but that's probably because I'm all like !OMGZOOSTATIONILOVEYOU! and am totally Achtung Baby obsessed. Yahweh was beautiful.
Really, I think the worst part of the whole thing was the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd, and that's hardly the band's fault, or Hamish's fault.

 

[LMP]

Get the single copy of the DVD, not the deluxe version

I've had the mp3s for a month and I still can't stop listening to:

Electric Co. (edge's solo )
COBL
Miracle Drug
Original
Sometimes
An Cat Dubh
Streets
The Fly
Zoo Station
All Because of You
Love and Peace...

it's a very good concert, I say buy it, it's only 13 dollars on Amazon.com now

 

[mucho traffico]

get the delux, whats a couple extra $. didnt you have it on ya xmas list? i have to get anything u2 the 1st day its out. i dont care about reviews ill decide myself. its ok not as good as slane, on par with boston id say. its still worth getting.

 

[trabantland]

Really, I think the worst part of the whole thing was the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd, and that's hardly the band's fault, or Hamish's fault.

Hey DreamOutLoud, what section of the crowd were you in at that concert?

 

[mikal]

i think it's great, though i'm a glass is half full kind of guy, so i don't try to look for negatives everytime U2 releases something.

 

[U2One]

I agree with most people here. I really like the DVD. There's not much that U2 does that I don't like. And the fact that I was there at the Chicago shows (and can briefly see myself on the DVD) helps also. But really though, I love the DVD. Great setlist, great performance. Like I said, I pretty much love everything that this band does.

 

[Aygo]

The Vertigo DVD is very good... Is better than the Boston one, and footages are great.
The only thing I dislike (ok, not dislike)... I could see that Vertigo Tour in arenas was nothing in comparison with the stadiums European Vertigo... that was a show!!!

 

[chocky]

I think this is one of the best U2 films.

The crowd noise level is too low for some fans but I think it's perfect, especially if you want rip the audio to listen on CD.

I think it sounds better than the Slane DVD (both Bono's vocal performance and the sound mix) and looks pretty good too. The set list is great and the editing between nights is much more seamless than Boston.

The bonus disk has a 2nd version of the SYCMIOYO video which is well worth viewing. Bono sings "live" in the street for the whole video (with the studio track behind him) effectively giving you a Bono/Bono duet version!

The surveillance video is crap but the audio for those 5 songs is NOT from Chicago so you get extra bonus soundboard live recordings. And then there's the documentary... Get the deluxe version.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I like the DVD, as people have said above, there are always going to be people who don't like it or want to criticize whatever gets put out, but overall, it's a good DVD. As for the deluxe version, it was a little disappointing for me. I couldn't believe the entire 2nd disc was a documentary, the awful surveillance videos, and the Sometimes video. It does look better next to the other concert DVDs though. I suppose it all depends on what you're after.

 

[God Part III]

The Electric Co. is amazing and that alone is 13 dollars worth.

It's also a great version of "40", and a very nice Streets, especially the Bono/Adam thingy is great to watch. I like Pride and Zoo Station as well, and the Stories For Boys snippet in Vertigo is incredible.

I don't like the war trilogy. Compared to what I saw live, the both Bullet and Sunday Bloody Sunday (especially the latter) sound very flat. Boring performances. All Because of You is also very uninteresting. I don't like the fly that much either.
Running To Stand Still was also a disappointment.

It's a good DVD, but Slane is much better.

 

[got2k9s]

The bonus disk has a 2nd version of the SYCMIOYO video which is well worth viewing. Bono sings "live" in the street for the whole video (with the studio track behind him) effectively giving you a Bono/Bono duet version!

The surveillance video is crap but the audio for those 5 songs is NOT from Chicago so you get extra bonus soundboard live recordings.

Which, by the way, the "Sometimes" video makes an AMAZING audio rip to listen to on cd as well!!!!!


RE: the surveillance video songs not being from the Chicago show - - - Really? They're not?

Where is that 5-song audio from, then? I didn't realize that.

 

[got2k9s]

Originally posted by DreamOutLoud13

The documentary is fun too, though Gavin Friday scares me.

It's so true.

At one point, I actually said out loud, "creepy."

 

[cjboog]

The DVD is great, I really like it. The crowd energy is a little low, but it doesn't have a very negative effect on the overall feel of the concert. Bono has a lot of energy and the highlights for me are:

City Of Blinding Lights
Elevation (great version despite "frog in throat")
Beautiful Day
Sunday Bloodly Sunday
Where The Streets Have No Name
Zoo Station
Yaweh (Don't like the song but it's good live acoustic)

Overall I thought Bono sounded fine and overall the Chicago DVD is very good and worth buying. I like how they didn't edit out all of the mistakes it makes the album more "human". In the slow I believe in you part of Elevation, Bono says "Won't you tell me something true, I believe in you, and help me, I've got a frog in my throat!". Little things like this make the concert more believeable and I think its a nice touch to show that even rock legends aren't perfect.

 

[Carek1230]

I was at the Virgin Megastore last night and they were playing the Vertigo Chicago DVD up on the big monitors. From what I saw, it looked great. Not as MTV-esque as I’d read.

I couldn’t hear it, but I’ve already listened to mp3s of the DVD. From what I’ve heard, yeah Bono sounds a little rough and the mix is a little wonky.

What’s your opinion? Why do you like it? Why do you hate it?

I’ve still yet to buy this DVD. Is the Deluxe edition worth getting?

I highly recommend the Deluxe version, don't bother with the single dvd version. The documentary is very good, we learned some new little quirks about the tour and the band that was kind of cool. Gavin Friday is funny (I swear he is the voice of the Everyone Everyone! EveryONE! EVERY ONE! just before the show starts!) He introduced Kanye West at the Portland show. I liked this Chicago Vertigo dvd better than the Boston dvd. The lights on the Vertigo tour were awesome and this video is really the best way to see them all. Very entertaining...of course the music speaks for itself and the setlist was good for this show. I especially enjoyed the dedication of OOTS to Jordan and when Bono was saying "it's her birthday too" and he says at the end of the song "Happy Birthday JoJo". Very cute how they bring friends and family in on the shows. I can attest that a couple of the pics from the deluxe version booklet are NOT from the Chicago show because someone I know who is in 2 pics was NOT at the Chicago shows! And the additional songs, I don't know whether they were really from thhe Chicago show or not......I will say I agree with the fact the crowd did not seem as in to the concert as other crowds have been. All in all it's a well put together video, and I'd recommend the few extra bucks to invest in the deluxe.

 

[chocky]

RE: the surveillance video songs not being from the Chicago show - - - Really? They're not?

They're certainly different performances to those on disk 1 so they're not from May 10th (where most of disk 1 came from).

The "Cry" part of Electric Co is totally different, An Cat Dubh is a minute shorter and the overall sound is very different (more bass, less crowd noise).

Also, there is the claim that the band never knew these surveillance performances were being recorded. Since all Chicago shows were filmed for the DVD, I guess the surveillance videos weren't from Chicago.

 

[gareth brown]

just don't buy the DVD full stop. it's nice as a little tour memento but other than that it's appalling. the performance is shabby, the sound is bloody catastrophic and i personally ended up feeling cheated. the audience sound silent most of the time and [as usual with u2 concert videos] they suddenly turn them up when the chorus comes so instead of hearing the band play, you hear everyone cheering over them. why do they insist on doing this every single time?

on a lighter note it has the best performance of 'Vertigo' I've heard in quite a while.

 

[00Kevin]

I thought it was great. Any live u2 performances are worth having

 

[MacHat]

It's a great DVD

 

[cypress]

It's good but not great. It is more realistic than the Boston dvd since it has all but one song from the concert. I may be the only one, but I prefer the Boston dvd as a viewing experience over this one. The Elevation Boston concert dvd is tighter and Bono sounds a lot better, IMO. Plus I thought they nailed Bad/Streets beautifully in that dvd and I liked the ending better than Yahweh/40.

The 16:9 aspect ratio is a big deal for those of us with widescreen TV's. Kudos for them filming the Chicago concerts in widescreen. The Boston dvd was in regular 4:3 ratio.

Gripes for Chicago Vertigo dvd (not many at all):

- I get somewhat irritated at the lack of wide shots on the chicago dvd during some songs, but I understand that is Hamish's style. To be fair he nails a lot of great shots, especially with Adam strangely enough.

- Bono's voice is shot early on and he has real problems during certain songs. Nothing they can do about it since filming date is set way in advance.

- I thought the whole Africa speech was too long in the first leg. You can skip it easily though. I also kind of think the short Africa speech segue into Streets seemed to suck the life out of the crowd for some reason right before the Great Song started.

- Under-utilization of the curtain of lights in Leg 1. JMO, but when you have something that cool, you have to use it on more than just a handful of songs.

The song highlights for me are:

- COBL/Vertigo. I know a lot of people seem to dislike Vertigo, but it's a great concert song and COBL is an awesome opener and they hit it very well that night.

- Electric Co. Just an awesome awesome version of that song!

- New Years Day. Love the toned down efficiency with Adam prancing around the ellipse.. "Adam Clayton.. bass.. guitar".

- Love and Peace. The band really nailed this one as well.. Bono at his best smashing those drums.

- Bullet the Blue Sky with the cool Edge blues solo and distorted jet flying behind them on the curtain of lights.

- Running to Stand Still. Great to have this rare gem from the tour on dvd!

- Zoo Station/ The Fly if for nothing else than the fullest possible utilization of the lighting, stage and curtain of lights during those two songs.. man can they make those lights around the stage sparkle! This is where I had my biggest beef with the shortage of wide shots on the dvd.

- Mysterious Ways.. just an awesome performance of that song.. really cool. Too bad they didn't use the curtain of lights backdrop for that song like they did in Leg 3.

- OOTS was excellent as well and I believe it was the version of the song used in the Ipod commercial which is cool.


I am anxiously awaiting the Milan dvd! I preferred Boston over Slane.. I just think that when all the people are closer to the stage in an indoor arena it kind of adds something to the show. Also the lighting is better indoors. And there aren't people a mile away squinting to see the stage like there were in Slane. I felt sorry for some of those folks.

 

[U2FanPeter]

For anyone interested, some video footage is different for the several songs aired on US TV back in May. I think only Vertigo uses an alternate audio performance of the song.

u2fp

 

[amerrydeath]

I bought it because I'm a sucker and have to get it--anyway, I'd say it's worth the money, but no more than that. I'd rate it below all the other DVDs, because I feel the crowd is a huge part of the show and the fact that you can't hear them really bothers me, it just sounds like a soundcheck. I would prefer a lower-quality bootleg with more audience sound. I don't like the shots of the band from above (I got enough of that in the nosebleeds ) because they don't add anything to the feeling (which is severely lacking throughout the show, as all you can see are silhouettes of the audience's hands.

In Slane, at the beginning of Elevation, they pan the camera across the front row of GA and that's one of the best moments of the whole film. In Boston they did the same thing with the audience, showing their faces, but in Chicago you get no personalities from the audience. It gets better as the DVD goes on (and it's hit or miss for every individual song ), but IMO the first half is wanting for emotion. I did enjoy the documentary, but it doesn't do anything for my dislike of Paul McGuinness.

 

[Michael1974]

I bought the deluxe version, but I wasn't all that impressed with the bonus disc. There wasn't anything on it that really did anything for me.

As for the actual concert DVD...it is average at best. I love U2 just as much as anybody else, but I'm not going to gush over a DVD that really isn't that good--just because it's a U2 concert. I agree that the Boston DVD is a much better viewing experience. This Chicago DVD was fine, but I get sick of the spastic edits.....and the lack of crowd noise drastically hurts the overall feel of the concert. I didn't feel any connection with the crowd, like I did with the Boston show. I also don't understand Hamish's need to over-edit and cut between shots with warp speed. Doesn't this bother anyone else??? U2 is the greatest band in the world, and they don't need any over-the-top flashy editing to enhance their presence on stage. Some of his abstract camera angles/focuses are overdone and just don't do anything but hurt the show. I'd love to see someone else direct a Vertigo show besides Hamish.