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Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-04-01
The Show That Restored My Faith in Rock
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!
Rating: 
Date: 2007-09-29
This is Why I Still Own a VCR!
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? Rating:
Date: 2007-08-03
Incredible performance
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!!!! Rating:
Date: 2007-08-02
Awesome show
If you want to see how U2 interacted with their audience--very literally--before they became so huge and multi-media driven in their live shows... this is a very intimate view of that relationship. The music is grand, the audience honestly swept off their feet... A great moment in time, this show, that came to define U2's live presence as much as further personified the Red Rocks experience, itself. Rating:
Date: 2007-06-28
U2 at their prime of rock music!
This is still a great concert to watch after 24 years! However, I think the filmakers should have chosen a better day, weather-wise, to videotape this show, because the camera shows many picture imperfections due to the weather at the time. Throughout the video, there are thick streaking black lines across the picture that I can only describe as images that look like branches (no joke!). It seems evident from one particular camera on stage with the band, almost as if there's something on the lens.
When and if they release this show on DVD, it needs to be cleaned up considerably. But for now, this being all that's available, it's still a classic U2 concert, before the band sold out to their '90's "pop" image! |
