U2
ZooTV Live From Sydney

THE REVIEW

Cowboy hats, boots, jeans, and "three chords and the truth." That was U2 in the '80s: a mix of pretentiousness, idealism (who knows...), and a seriousness that, on the one hand, could lead to poetic and dreamy albums like "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree" (in addition to "Boy," all melancholy and youthful ardor) but on the other could make them seem like a group of preachers capable only of delivering sermons and shouting appeals for peace. In the '90s, U2 simply tried to have fun, to be ironic, defiant, decadent: "Achtung Baby," with its distortions and atmospheres full of paranoia and loneliness, erased that rigid and uncomfortable image.

The change was radical, and it can be perfectly admired in this explosive and colorful DVD: a stage that looks frightening just by looking at it, giant screens spewing slogans ("Rebellion is packaged," for example), images, and colors in full throttle, Adam looking like a street thug and Bono wreaking havoc with his costumes, between leather pants, golden lamé outfits, and Cuban cigars. Three chords and the truth, they said.

Instead, no: after an absolutely crazy intro (clips of Nazi propaganda films, fragments of trashy B-grade horror films, soccer matches, and more) Bono appears on stage all dressed in black plastic with huge "fly-eye" goggles: "Zoo Station" is the first song, and you realize how strange things have become: Bono's poses are exaggerated, lascivious, defiant: in short, it seems he has killed the old bard of peace and religion, or at least hidden him well inside himself, and it seems he has learned something from old pranksters like Mick Jagger and David Bowie. The crowd is delirious: the band is electrified with riffs and melodies and Bono, as just mentioned, is now a showman. No less than seven songs from "Achtung Baby" follow before "New Year's Day," among the best a noisy and jubilant "Mysterious Ways" (featuring the appearance of The Edge's future wife Morleigh Steinberg as a dancer) and "Until The End Of The World" (with an obsessive and very noisy finale) while "One" is as beautiful as ever even though it's strange to hear it so early in the setlist. Before "Even Better Than The Real Thing" Bono indulges in some acting: he asks questions to the audience, enjoys changing channels on the large screens behind Larry's drum set (who, with that beard, looks very hirsute) and asks: "you didn't come all the way here to watch TV, or am I wrong?". In short, everything is over-the-top, fun, and total madness. Bono and company have elaborated on the supposed satirical motivations for such a display of means (it would all be an attack on a society manipulated by the media, where the Gulf War is confused with action films and pornography is fine even at noon) but as far as I'm concerned, things are just fine as they appear: colors, noise, and "attitude" was just what the band needed.

The group even indulges in some covers, the sweet "Unchained Melody," guitar and voice, and Reed's "Satellite Of Love" (better than the original in my opinion, with even an appearance by old Lou on the giant screens, which reminded me of Dixie from "Neuromancer") while the screen displays slogans, numbers (some "666" in defiance of faith along with absolutely absurd dates and figures) and surreal aphorisms like "Mock the devil and he will flee from thee" (a Miltonian quote, if I remember correctly). Among revivals of their dusty past ("Angel Of Harlem" all confidence and fun but without the brass, the desperate "Running To Stand Still" complete with a finale of smoke and colored lights, the evergreen "With or without you" with Bono dressed as Macphisto) plunges into their latest material (the duo "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car" / "Lemon", with the band dressed as soldiers from planet Zooropa except for Bono, who flaunts an ostentatious and almost ridiculous golden lamé outfit, white makeup and devil horns) the band delivers a couple of winning moves: the one-two between "Dirty Day" (very dark and fierce, terribly underrated) and "Bullet The Blue Sky" (malevolent as usual, with The Edge even more Page-like than usual) and the final cover of "Can't Help Falling In Love", right after that sort of requiem that is "Love Is Blindness": the band leaves the stage while the credits start to appear on the screen and the audience seems to have fallen into a state of stupor and anticipation. But the band has already left, and the lights have gone out. Curtain.

In short, it is a concert that leaves you amazed and not a little: U2 has left behind their old image and replaced it with something that isn't even related to their old style. The band, then, seems perfectly at ease with such an endeavor: Bono's voice is at its peak (rarely have I heard him so unwavering in live videos) and the band demonstrates knowing how to handle the new sounds perfectly, with an approach full of confidence and assurance. Brave, certainly, but also shrewd: a bit of one and a bit of the other, opportunism and enterprise go hand in hand. Anyway, fun is guaranteed. The entire concert is filmed in a "realistic" style (i.e., devoid of overly slick and clean sequences) in 4:3, while for audio you have the options of PCM stereo, Dolby Surround 5.1, and DTS Surround 5.1 (what are they? I admit: I don't know). A real highlight is the inclusion of the second DVD available in the package: three documentaries about the making of the tour, with interviews with the band and Paul McGuinness, the hilarious "confessional" segments (where a guy candidly admits to having a friend who, although having AIDS, continues to casually sleep around) a karaoke version of "Numb" (which I just can't keep up with) and some bonus tracks like "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World" and "The Fly" from the concert at Yankee Stadium during the same tour.

In short, a real whirl of colors, madness, and poses: while waiting for the new DVD version of the Live in Mexico City from the PopMart Tour (whose release has been postponed just in these days to an unspecified date in July) I invite you to enjoy this noisy and fascinating cauldron. And who knows, you might even set aside, every now and then, those three chords and the truth.