Live at Red Rocks [Remastered]

So, after 25 years, U2 finally releases Red Rocks on DVD. News comes that we'll even get the full performance and everyone gets excited. My copy comes in the mail on release day. I pop it in and as I'm reading the liner notes I see that I Fall Down is not included because of a "camera malfunction." OK, I can live with that.

I come to my favorite song in the show, Electric Co., and I am apalled that the song has been butchered during the "Send in the Clowns" portion. Long-time fans will remember that the original VHS release included the entire song as Bono climbs to the top of a building adjacent to the stage and crouches in the iconic image from the cover of the CD and sings a snippet of Send in the Clowns by Judy Collins. Subsequent VHS releases of Red Rocks edited this segment to remove the lyrical snippet to avoid paying royalties on it. The new DVD version ENTIRELY removes not only the snippet, but Bono's climb to the top of the side building, so the scene makes no sense when Bono is suddenly absent from the stage for an extended period.

U2, with all their money, chose not offer the complete original song to avoid paying royalties again?!?! After 25 years and remastering and the chance to finally release this classic on DVD for old and new fans, they butcher it. Totally and completely lame.

As for the previous review, there is grain on the DVD, but remember, this was shot on video, not film and it is 25 years old. I think in terms of image quality, the remastering is adequate. After all, this isn't high-def here. The colors are washed out, but I don't think any of us expected perfection with this release.

If you don't care that it is an incomplete show, not in widescreen format, and that the band chose to maim Electric Co., then this will probably satisfy you. However, the band should have done better by their long time fans.

Ok, i won't get into the famous u2 red rocks performance , we all know its great. But this review focuses on the dvd release itself.. First off, the sound mix is great. but the picture is another story. It claims to be remastred and regraded picture, but its not that great. First off its got the one thing i hate about bad remastering dvds (GRAIN).. and its really bad on the sections that are from the original, but the added songs which are mostly in the beginning look better. Out of control , twilight, two hearts and into the heart.. look fine. but you can tell a diffrence in picture on these songs compared to the rest... I just really hate grain.... surprised they didnt notice this. oh well, at least its on dvd.... and the colors are a tad washed out...

I wasn't at the well-known Concert at Red Rocks, where U2 played on June 5, 1983, which was, coincidentally, my 23rd birthday.

I was at the show about a week later, in Dallas, where U2 played to an unsold-out 1200 seat theater, located inside -- get this -- a bowling alley. (Dallas had a really small "underground" rock scene then, and I saw REM, The Pretenders, and even Talking Heads at this unlikely venue. "The Bronco Bowl" was small and intimate and had great sound). The Irish Rockers had never been to Dallas, and had never even had any commercial radio-play there. If you were a North Texan who didn't have MTV, and a lot of people didn't, it was very likely that you'd still never have heard of U2 at all. Not me, though, having recently been in college in Rochester, NY, I was very aware of U2, and a very big fan by this point. I had all three of their LPs, including the newly released "War". I would have seen them play at Rochester Institute of Technology in '82 if it hadn't been for a huge exam I had to study for the next day.

So here was my first chance to see them live, on The War Tour, with 800 other hard-core believers.

Let me say they did not disappoint. In fact, Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam proceeded to perform the greatest rock concert I have ever seen, before or since. And I have seen everybody (including U2 in later years)! The kids ripped my head clean off! The energy was incredible. The sound, the songs, the stage itself, were all ablaze. Bono went as far to the back of the stage as he could get, and ran, full speed ahead, taking a leaping header into the crowd. That's right; head first, arms out, like diving in to a pool, landing on the shoulders of astonished fans. I kept blinking my eyes, wondering if I had actually just seen it, or had hallucinated the dive. (On the Red Rocks video, by contrast, he carefully falls backwards in to the crowd). Bono had not yet achieved the God-like and masterful showmanship he would very soon have. At this point, he was flying high on his own energy, like a kid with a brand new rocket-ship. He was always right on the edge of control, at times literally staggering and swaggering, like he was drunk with his power. (By the time I saw them again in 1985, in a 20,000 seat arena, he had learned to channel and control that spirit like a Shaman). In Dallas in `83, it was already clear that Bono was an incredible performer and would-be Superstar.

Speaking of The Edge, his guitar-playing, all shimmery and fluid and surrounding and drony and dreamy, was a total rock revelation for me, myself a young guitarist. I soon went out and bought an analog delay like the one he used.

The girl I took with me was one of those people who had never even heard of U2 before that night. On the way out of the show, she thanked me profusely for introducing her to the astonishing Irish Band. Haven't seen her since that night, but, I'll bet all these years later, she's still telling people, "I saw U2 before they were famous!"

So, why do I post this review of "Under a Blood Red Sky", being that I was not at Red Rocks? Well, it's very fortunate for the world of rock music, and U2 fans, that it was filmed. I was really excited when I heard it was coming out, and that indeed it was shot within days of the show I saw, because it captures U2 on the rise to stardom, and why they deservedly became among the greatest bands in history. Of course I bought the 12" record and the VHS video as soon as they came out.

Is Red Rocks as good as the Dallas show I saw? No. It's actually tamer by comparison. (Too bad they didn't film THAT one!). But will Red Rocks mesmerize you? Will it blow your mind?

Might it be the best rock show you've ever seen?

Oh yeah....

Now, PLEEEZE, release this film on DVD!

I count myself very fortunate to have purchased this tape from Amazon when I did, since they no longer carry it except via third-party sellers. And every time I start feel old, I remind myself that it's because of my age that I'm lucky enough to have witnessed U2's rise to highest pinnacle of superstardom, with this performance as a major highlight. I have seen them perform live three times - once when they were touring to support "The Unforgettable Fire", and twice during the ZooTV tour. And even though I wasn't at Red Rocks in 1983, I feel as though this performance is as close to my heart as any of the three I personally attended.

If you own this tape, don't get rid of it, and keep your VCR in working order! Because of ownership rights to the film, who knows how long until it's available on DVD?

This is such an energetic set, all the great early songs, why isn't this on DVD? The song that was played on MTV as a video "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is truly my favorite version of the song. They're such a great live band, and even though it's raining, the crowd is going crazy, singing along, etc. Release it on DVD already!!!!