http://dvd.ign.com/articles/742/742081p1.html 9/10
October 26, 2006 - U2 hasn't remained commercially, critically and socially relevant by accident. Sure, the band first came of age in the New Wave-studded 1980s, embodying an earnestness that seemed strangely out of place to some, all the more so because of its contrast with a big, chiming, arena-friendly sound. But frontman Bono's anecdotal grandiloquence — at once messianic and self-effacing — wouldn't have mattered, or lasted, were it not for the fact that U2 was able, from their third album onward, to craft songs that truly mattered, that grooved or moved you on an elemental level while also pulling the listener into part of something bigger than themselves.
After the massively successful reinvention that was 1991's Achtung Baby (famously described by Bono as "the sound of four guys cutting down The Joshua Tree), and setting audiences alight with its subsequent arena tour, U2 funneled all that dizzying creative energy into the creation of 1993's Zooropa, perhaps their most tossed-off, "incidental" album, certainly, but also a compelling document of quiet menace ("Dirty Day, "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car") and occasional heartrending yearning ("Stay"). It was parallel with the release of this work that the ambitious Zoo TV Tour moved outdoors to stadiums for a sold-out swing through Europe, Asia and Australia before equally packed return engagements in North America.
U2: Zoo TV Live from Sydney captures the enormity of the group's light-and-sound show, chronicling their November 27, 1993 show in Sydney. From its dazzling opening moments featuring hundreds of video monitors, Zoo TV was an elaborate multi-media show designed by Willie Williams. Inspired by the video age, vacuous cable TV banter, and the then-burgeoning blurring of entertainment and 24-hour hard news coverage, it set out to satirize the mid-'90s media overload, with Bono indulging various characters and the band showcasing a more humorous and ironic sensibility.
Directed by David Mallet, the concert was previously available only on VHS, so it's nice to get this re-tooled upgrade for the digital age. A four-minute sonic preamble — which, let's be honest, is only excitement-stoking if you're really there, in the flesh — gives way to "Zoo Station," which then segues into a brutally mesmerizing version of "The Fly," with lyrics from the song and random textual overlays like "Everyone Is a Racist Except You" and "Taste Is the Enemy of Art" flickering across the screen just as they do on the giant monitors behind the group.
"Mysterious Ways" finds Bono sparring and succumbing to belly-dancer Morleigh Steinberg (who eventually married guitarist the Edge, by the way), and the spare, spotlight-driven beauty of "One" and "Unchained Melody" explodes into the combo punch of "Until the End of the World" and "New Year's Day," during which Bono prowls an exploratory catwalk that extends deep into the audience, gives a spring-mounted camera a few nice crotch thrusts and does a gentle back roll into the crowd, who pass him around for half a verse.
The group comes further downstage for a nice mini-set of "Angel of Harlem" (an under-regarded little gem), "Stay" and a cover of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love," all of which leads up to one of my favorite underplayed U2 tracks, "Running to Stand Still," about the death-grip of heroin on a friend of the band. Here Bono stands calmly and solemnly, offering forth a plaintive psalm. As the last chords of that track fade slowly away, the signature notes of "Where the Streets Have No Name" come bubbling forth, and what follows is, as ever, an explosion of pure, unbridled joy.
A vampy encore finds an in-costume Bono calling for a taxi, and money explodes everywhere around the stage during the apex of "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car." Fabulous versions of "Without or Without You" and "Love Blindness" help close the show on an indisputable high note.
Other surprises throughout the concert include a slightly doughy Adam Clayton rocking his blonde mohawk — a brief 'do of that era — drummer Larry Mullen Jr. sporting some rare facial scruff and the group dropping a refrain from Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" into the middle of a grinding take of "Numb," performed by the Edge.
There's a paucity of direct crowd shots in Zoo TV Live from Sydney, focusing one's attention rightly on the music itself, but the unusually named Mallet also deals in stylistic directorial flourishes that sometimes come off as too affected — e.g., flashback cuts in the middle of a song or some of those aforementioned textual overlays ("Boom" reads the screen, none too subtly, at the climax of "Bullet the Blue Sky"). Still, this is an undeniably great show, superbly captured.A complete track listing for Zoo TV Live from Sydney is as follows:
"Show Opening" / "Zoo Station" / "The Fly" / "Even Better Than the Real Thing" / "Mysterious Ways" / "One" / "Unchained Melody" / "Until The End Of The World" / "New Year's Day" / "Numb" / "Angel of Harlem" / "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" / "Satellite of Love" / "Dirty Day" / "Bullet the Blue Sky" / "Running to Stand Still" / "Where the Streets Have No Name" / "Pride (In the Name of Love)" / "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" / "Lemon" / "With or Without You" / "Love Is Blindness" / "Can't Help Falling In Love"
Score: 9 out of 10
The Video
Originally filmed on analog video, Zoo TV: Live from Sydney has been transferred to a digital format with the picture re-graded and cleaned. Great care has been taken to maintain the original look of the show by simply enhancing it with an added degree of sharpness and contrast unavailable when originally filmed, and there are no problems with grain or edge enhancement. It's presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and the colors are bright and clear throughout.
Score: 9 out of 10
The Audio
Zoo TV: Live from Sydney features PCM stereo, Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound and DTS 5:1 surround sound audio tracks. U2 are notorious sticklers in the audio presentation of their shows, so it's no coincidence that they've worked with much of the same sound and road crew for years. That finely honed sense of singular purpose shows here, from Robbie Adams' superlative on-site mixing work (he also handled the stereo sound mix) to Abbey Road Studios' Peter Cobbin, who handles the particulars of the Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound mix.
There are one or two very brief mic drop-outs — one during a crucial moment of "Dirty Day" — but that's the extent of the audio hiccups.
Score: 9 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
Zoo TV: Live from Sydney comes packaged in one of those slimline, hard-shell plastic cases whose top and bottom hinges function like a CD case. I guess they call it a Super Jewel Box (that's what it reads in small print on the bottom), but to me it super sucks, because these types of cases simply beg for cracks along their backside (check!) and are additionally such a bitch to open that one wrong move renders their snap-open front cover irrevocably damaged. I'm sure they're cheaper than traditional packaging, and I don't know whose decision this was, but thumbs down on that piddling detail.
Ample extras are included on another, double-disc version of this release — including, I'm told, four bonus tracks, a fistful of behind-the-scenes documentaries and fan footage from the video confessional booths that dotted concert venues — so it's hard to knock this bare-bones, single-disc version with too straight of a face. Included here is a very nice 16-page, full-color insert booklet which features all sorts of action shots and a brief, essay by Adrian Deevoy. That's it. If you're a huge U2 fan, splurge on the two-disc version, post haste; otherwise, if important aural tour documents are your thing, this release works fine.
Score: 1 out of 10
The Bottom Line
Through a heady combination of experimentation and an underlying devotion to the sweeping emotionalism that characterizes most of the best of their canon, U2 has consistently remained at the vanguard of rock 'n' roll trends over the last two-and-a-half decades, and their live shows never fail to disappoint. Zoo TV Live from Sydney serves as ample, extravagant evidence of their overwhelming talent.
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