After all, who hasn't balked at the epic undertaking of attending a stadium rock event? The expensive tickets. The babysitter. The idiots who won't sit down. The post-apocalyptic traffic jam.
The solution? "U2 3D." State-of-the-art cameras and editing technology have made it the first live-action feature shot, produced and exhibited in digital 3-D.
It captures the band at its finest during its tour of South America in 2006. Starting with the stirring hit "Vertigo," the band takes us through 14 of their best-known songs.
Director Catherine Owens, who has collaborated with U2 on the band's elaborate concert visuals for 15 years, recalls a discussion with a colleague that "the future of entertainment would be that bands don't actually have to go on the road -- somehow they'll be holographically beamed. And we were joking around, 'Not in OUR lifetime.' But in a funny way, this film IS that."
With three-dimensional digital images and surround sound that make you feel as though you're literally poking your head into another world, this movie is NOT the next best thing to being there. In many ways, it's better: the atmospheric immersion of being with an adoring crowd, yet not stifled by it, and the intimacy of pristine, intimate images of Bono and bandmates.
All you have to do is find the nearest Imax and put on those funny glasses.
Reader comments
Click here to view or add comments on this story
Were you interviewed for this story? If so, please fill out our accuracy form