I started listening to U2 at the age of 17. I had heard them before, but I mean I started really listening at that age. I was working my first job as a busboy and occasional fry cook at a Bonanza restaurant in my hometown. When I would get off after clean-up around midnight, I was always totally exhausted and reeking of grease, but I usually found time to catch some TV before a shower and bed. It was during this time that the last song on U2's Rattle and Hum album, "All I Want Is You," was released as a single, and a music video to the song was constantly being played on MTV late at night. It was an odd video, shot in black and white with an unusual cinematic approach centered on the story of a dwarf in a traveling circus who falls in love with a trapeze artist, one of whom apparently dies toward the end. For several weeks I would see this video after work at least once or twice a week, and it made a lasting impression on me. My uncle was the only person I knew who had a good stereo system, with a CD player and Klipsch speakers, and I began listening to the album regularly, turning it up as loud as I could get away with. That's still the way I like to listen to U2 -- loud -- and the symphonic crescendo of strings and electric guitar toward the end of that song still gets to me. That song was the culmination of Rattle and Hum and of the musical phase it marked the end of for the band.
My admiration for U2's music has only broadened and increased over the years, and I never tire of it, although I find that my preference for particular songs changes from time to time. I'm a skeptical person and not one to be fanatical about much of anything, but the band's music has meant so much to me over the years that I find myself wanting them to do well and making excuses for them on those few occasions where a performance, for whatever reason, isn't quite up to par. But all these years later, U2 still surprise me from time to time. The most recent example happened when I watched "Under a Blood Red Sky," the new DVD release of their classic June 5, 1983, concert at Red Rocks amphitheatre near Denver, the one that introduced many to Red Rocks and that brought America's attention to U2.
I was amazed at the audio quality of the DVD, but I was more amazed at the performance. This was U2 still in their early 20s, before their collaboration with Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, before their huge success with The Joshua Tree, before the self-parody of Achtung Baby. Here they were as idealistic, optimistic, and, yes, cocky young performers who wanted to change the world. They have always been a fundamentally live band, and that has never been more evident than in this early performance, featuring material from their first three albums, Boy, October, and the then-recently-released War. Absent are the Eno-inspired atmospherics of later albums. Instead, the listener is treated to the raw, unadulterated, New Wave, post-punk rock that had already made U2 famous in Europe and that was beginning to have ripples across the sea.
For those who don't know the backstory to this concert, read this link to a May 23, 2008 Denver Post article that describes it well. The concert almost didn't happen. The weather was terrible, cold and wet, and the amphitheatre was intermittently shrouded in mist and drizzle. But at the band's insistence the show went on for the four or five thousand dedicated fans who showed up to brave the elements. The dreary weather, the large flaming torches at the top of the cliffs, the excited crowd, and the equally excited band combined to create a dramatic atmosphere for the concert video, and it comes off well on DVD, so much so that I would venture to say that even those not particularly fond of the band's more well-known music would enjoy the film.
There is no shortage of memorable moments -- Bono falling backwards into the crowd for an impromptu moment of body-surfing, Bono pulling a girl up on stage to dance with during "Party Girl," another girl crashing the stage, only to be pulled off by security, and an overzealous fan trying to pull the microphone from Bono's hand as he stands near the edge of the stage. The performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" stands out as a classic, with Bono marching to the edge of the stage to plant a white flag of truce in the crowd as a statement against the violence in Northern Ireland. The music is as stirring and energetic as I've heard from the band, and it's clear they truly enjoyed this performance and this audience.
Now in their late 40s, the band are currently wrapping up work on their twelfth studio album, to be released sometime in early 2009, to be followed by another world tour. The buzz is that this will be another departure album, much like Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby were before it. It will be interesting to see if the new album succeeds in capturing the hearts and minds (and pocketbooks) of younger listeners or if this will turn out to be another example of pre-release hype that the album is unable to live up to. As they say, only time will tell. In the meantime, fan's of U2's live performances will do themselves a favor to add this DVD to their collection. It could be my bias in favor of this remarkable band that leads me to say you won't regret it...but I don't think so.
-Richie Graham
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