from universal australia

U2’s first concert video, Live At Red Rocks, will be released on DVD on September 27, along with the accompanying live album, Under a Blood Red Sky. 

Recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on June 5, 1983, Live at Red Rocks will be available for the first time on DVD, and will include 5 previously unreleased songs, a director’s commentary, digitally re-graded pictures and a 5.1 mix.

The remastered Under a Blood Red Sky album was originally released in November 1983, and consists of live recordings from three shows on the band’s War Tour through Europe and America.  

A deluxe version featuring the Under a Blood Red Sky CD and the Live At Red Rocks DVD will be available, as well as single disc formats of the CD and DVD.  An LP version of Under a Blood Red Sky pressed on 180gm virgin vinyl will also be released.  

Full tracklisting as below:

UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY: Gloria / 11 O’Clock Tick Tock / I Will Follow / Party Girl / Sunday Bloody Sunday / The Electric Co. / New Year’s Day / “40″ 

LIVE AT RED ROCKS: Out Of Control / Twilight / An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart / Surrender / Two Hearts Beat As One / Seconds / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Cry/The Electric Co. / October / New Year’s Day / I Threw A Brick Through A Window / A Day Without Me / Gloria / Party Girl / 11 O’Clock Tick Tock / I Will Follow / “40″ 

U2

All Three Formats Released September 27

Live At Red Rocks DVD

Under A Blood Red Sky CD

Deluxe Version - Under A Blood Red Sky CD & The Live At Red Rocks DVD

HMV had No Line on the Horizon listed as the name of the new album. That product is now gone and there is a new listing which just reads,

U2- New Album Coming Soon

Someone at Universal obviously made a mistake!

For a moment we thought U2 had a new song called “F*ck Off Live Rocker”..no, tis only Edge describing one of the tracks on the upcoming album. Edge is claiming it to have one of his best ever riffs. Woo to the guitar man!

Read the article here.

Are we back?

Maybe…but right now U2 mania is climbing once again which means that we are getting excited again.

Have you checked out the latest on U2.com? Videos galore, many of which share snippets of the band in studio playing new tracks for the album.

So many rumours out there about the album name…it is listed on HMV as No Line on the Horizon and many say that that video of Larry drumming is for the single called “Sexy Boots”. I think U2 have finally woken up to the power of the internet and are slowly working in little teasers of information to help build the hype.

Now Bono has a very long history of doing stupid things with unreleased band material, but playing the new album very loudly out his window may not be Bono being Bono. I think its Bono being clever and realising the marketing value behind a little internet slip. What amazes me about the leaks is that the guy who was genius enough to record the songs on his phone decided to have a conversation through the middle of it all.

As reported over at @u2, Steve Lillywhite has stated that the new album is finished. He says its their greatest work. And Edge is on fire and Bono’s never felt more alive. Time shall tell, kids.

It seems that the weekend of July 19 is the Aussie release date for the Boy, October and War remasters. Sanity has the standard formats available for preorder for $29.99 and the 2CD releases for $64.99 with a shipping date of July 19. In what is far better value, JB Hi FI is offering the 2CD releases for $54.99 with a ship date of July 18. If ordered online you will also get a free album badge.

While Bono spreads the word on Africa to the Japanese and the G8 Summit and hams it up a little…

we seem to be no closer to the new album- it can’t be finished, can it?

In some good album related news, U2.com have finally announced details of the July remastered releases of Boy, October, and War. We all know the track listing for the albums, but here are the details of the bonus material on the deluxe versions of the releases:

Boy Tracklisting:
1. I Will Follow (Previously Unreleased Mix) 2. 11 O’Clock Tick Tock 3.
Touch 4. Speed Of Life (Previously Unreleased Track) 5. Saturday Night
(Previously Unreleased Track) 6. Things To Make And Do 7. Out Of Control
8. Boy-Girl 9. Stories For Boys 10. Another Day 11. Twilight 12.
Boy-Girl (Live at The Marquee, London) 13. 11 O’Clock Tick Tock (Live at
The Marquee, London - Previously Unreleased Version) 14. Cartoon World
(Live at The National Stadium, Dublin - Previously Unreleased Track).

A 16 page booklet features unseen photos, lyrics and liner notes from Paul Morley. Edge,
who has overseen the re-mastering of the album, has contributed notes on
the bonus material.

October Tracklisting:

1. Gloria (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 2. I Fall Down (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 3. I Threw A Brick Through A Window (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 4. Fire (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 5. October (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 6. With A Shout (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 7. Scarlet (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 8. I Threw A Brick Through A Window (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 9. A Celebration 10. J. Swallo 11. Trash, Trampoline And The Party Girl 12. I Will Follow (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 13. The Ocean (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 14. The Cry/Electric Co. (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 15. 11 O’Clock Tick Tock (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 16. I Will Follow (Live From Hattem, Netherlands) 17. Tomorrow (Bono & Adam Clayton, Common Ground Remix).

Also includes a 32 page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Neil McCormick, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by The Edge.

War Tracklisting:

1. Endless Deep 2. Angels Too Tied To The Ground (Previously Unreleased Track) 3. New Year’s Day (7” single edit) 4. New Year’s Day (USA Remix) 5. New Year’s Day (Ferry Corsten Extended Vocal Mix) 6. New Year’s Day (Ferry Corsten Vocal Radio Mix) 7. Two Hearts Beat As One (Long Mix) 8. Two Hearts Beat As One (USA Remix) 9. Two Hearts Beat As One (Club Version) 10. Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete The Chop).

Also includes a 32 page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Niall Stokes, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by The Edge.

From the ABC

A small flick went from refugee camp to red carpet as Sean Penn, backed by rock star Bono and filmmaker Michael Moore, brought an Australian aid worker’s tsunami film to the Cannes Film Festival overnight.

The politically-minded Penn won special agreement from the Cannes festival organisers for a special one-off red carpet screening of The Third Wave - a film he told the crowd was “as provocative and inspiring as anything I’ve ever seen.”

“In lieu of the fact that governments don’t seem to be able to help, this film gives an indication of how you can help yourself,” he said.

The Oscar-winning actor saw the film by Sydney-born Alison Thompson six months ago, but said that given the disasters currently unfolding in China and Burma, the film is “even more important now.”

Shot in 2004 in Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami that left some 170,000 people dead across Asia, The Third Wave recounts how Thompson and her partner Oscar Gubernati took off from New York with little more than a handful of dollars to try to help the victims.

Picking up a couple of extra pairs of hands, they headed for the coast with a van of supplies and stopped in the village of Peraliya, where 2,500 people had died, including hundreds travelling on a smashed train.

Thompson, who had basic first aid training, took care of the wounded as the team helped stunned survivors to begin clearing the chaos.

“People were too lethargic to clean up, doing a little bit kept people motivated,” one of the team said.

Week by week they dug toilets, collected corpses, played with children, built shelters, found food, got the school going and tried to restore morale.

By the third week, the volunteers numbered 10 as other Westerners signed on.

By week seven they were 40, including voluntary doctors.

The group was never financed, getting help from time to time from organised aid associations, who donated medicine or food, or from passers-by who left what cash they could.

“It was giving hope and reintroducing normalcy”, one volunteer in the film said.

By the time the group left after several months, 520 homes had been rebuilt with no organised outside financial help.

Penn saw the film on the behest of Czech model Petra Nemcova, who was in Thailand on holidays when the tsunami struck and survived by clinging to a tree as her fiance was swept to his death.

Funds raised by the film would go to Sri Lanka, Nemcova said.

Thompson, who was present at the screening, said she was hoping to go to Burma to help in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

“If anyone wants to come, you can come and see me,” she said.

Former Australian Army engineer Donny Paterson was also in the first group of volunteer helpers.

“It’s easy to do … You don’t need great skills, only your heart.”

Penn heads the Cannes jury that will award this year’s coveted Palme d’Or prize for best film, and on day three of the world’s biggest film fest critics are already tipping the trophy could go to a film with a conscience.

From the Herald Sun

U23D, a full-length concert by the Irish musicians shot entirely in three dimensions, makes it cool to go to a rock concert in a pair of glasses.

Midway through U23D there is a stunning shot of Bono standing on a small stage in front of a sea of people holding aloft mobile phones.

The crowd stretches into the distance and spotlights beam down on the U2 frontman from an angle, with the impression of depth magnified by smoke drifting through the shafts of light.

It’s the perfect illustration of how 3D can turn an ordinary concert film into something spectacular. Co-director Catherine Owens, whose day job is being U2’s art director, says it’s one of her favourite moments in the film.

‘‘There’s also this fantastic shot where you’re zooming over Larry’s (Mullen Jr) drum kit and you get this incredible depth and then the camera pulls down and you can see the crowd in front of him,” Owens says.

‘‘And of course there’s the shot of Bono where he reaches out and it looks like he’s touching you.”

U23D is billed as the world’s first digital 3D live action movie — it was made before the recent Hannah Montana concert film — and was filmed during the South American leg of the Vertigo world tour in 2006.

Though it looks and feels very much like a single concert, U23D was actually made during seven dates with the close-ups filmed during a run-through of the concert played to an empty stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Owens says the band was determined to minimise the disruption for the fans who had shelled out their hard-earned cash for the concerts. ‘‘They don’t like to come the whole way to a country and have fans pay for tickets and have to look at the backs of cameras,” she says, adding that the concert run-through wasn’t actually played to no one.

‘‘U2’s rather large crew are there and then outside the stadium walls are all the kids who’ve been camped out for days on end, so we got some wonderful reactions from them out there in the dark.” Of the 24 songs that were shot, 14 made it into the finished film. They include newer hits Vertigo and Beautiful Day alongside classic U2 moments Sunday Bloody Sunday, One and Where the Streets Have No Name.

Though some songs were cut for technical reasons, Owens says the band was particularly ruthless in ditching songs in which they felt their performance wasn’t up to par.

‘‘Mysterious Ways, which we really, really wanted to include in our set list, the band never felt the performance was believable. With Bono it’s all about: ‘Do you believe these people? Do I believe that guy? Do I believe that drummer?’

‘‘We even lost the opening song of the tour, City of Blinding Lights, based on the fact the band felt the song just wasn’t taking off.”

Having toured with the band since 1992, Owens says if she could pick any U2 tour to film in 3D, she would have picked 1997’s PopMart. ‘‘It was such a holy extravaganza,” she says. ‘‘But in saying that, musically where U2 were at in Vertigo really lends itself incredibly well to film.”

As spectacular as some of the visuals are in U23D, Owen believes it’s only the prototype for a new wave of cinema. ‘‘We have just opened a tiny hatch in a very big door,” she says.

‘‘We’re hoping that we’ve given a really good sample of what’s possible for 3D and we’ve crafted it very diligently, but at the same time we’re hoping that people will pick up from where we’ve left off.” U23D opens today.

From the Brisbane Times

As Norma Desmond and King Kong would tell you, size does matter. Imax has been making pictures big again for 37 years now, but this is said to be the world’s first digital 3D multi-camera production of a live event, a concert by the Irish superband U2.

Which of those qualifiers is the more significant could be debated, but I’m here to tell you that watching it on the biggest Imax screen in the world (here in Sydney) is quite overwhelming.

There have been a lot of great concert films, of the greatest bands, but it’s astonishing to see something this big, this loud and this close. There’s also the surpassing strangeness of being in a huge theatre full of people wearing silly glasses, watching Bono - a man who has made silly glasses his trademark - pontificating and prancing through 85 minutes of concert footage.

If you love U2 - and millions do - the film will probably rock your world. Even if you’re an agnostic about them, as I am, there are moments in this film of the purest rock’n'roll intensity, where the band reaches the transcendent heights for which it has always aimed. The 3D cameras are so close to The Edge’s guitar head that you have to duck when he moves. I could read the fine print on Larry Mullen’s snare-drum head. You feel you could reach out with both hands and touch the hem of Bono’s garment. Or if, like me, you’re irritated by the man’s pomposity, you can fantasise about reaching out and slapping him.

I would have paid money just for the crowd shots. Most of the concert was filmed at the River Plate stadium shows in Buenos Aires last year, but different shots are from different parts of their Latin American tour. The digital 3D camera rigs are so expensive and unwieldy, they filmed medium shots in Mexico City and mid-distance shots in Sao Paulo, etcetera. But it’s so well put together and so tight a show that it looks like one concert, in which everyone in the crowd is absolutely going off.

The 3D effect adds a beautiful dimensionality to the field of faces. At one point, they all seem to start moving as a whole, rippling and flowing like an ocean. It’s beautiful to watch so many people having so much fun, so connected. And most of them look to be under 30, which means they weren’t born when this band first picked up their instruments in Dublin in 1976. You have to hand it to U2: they have rewritten the rock’n'roll handbook in a lot of ways - not just longevity, but musical relevance and an ability to appeal to new audiences. And, of course, they were one of the first bands to ditch the sex and drugs image of rock and replace it with an interfaith message of love, peace and understanding.

This can be a problem for cynics such as I. I don’t object to their Christianity, but the combination of so much ego and earnest self-belief tends to make their music a tad self-important - like going to a really hip church, with Bono as chief happy clapper, whipping up the crowd to cheap ecstasy. Seeing the film made me revise my opinion - of their music, if not Bono.

I now concede that the ecstasy isn’t cheap. This band works hard at making the music soar and taking the crowd with them. And in a couple of points in the film, when The Edge’s guitar playing climbs to that high wide plateau of rock’n'roll exaltation where few are chosen, I too became a believer. The man is a genius with a Fender, and, in his church, I would happily dwell while he makes that guitar sing.

I was reminded of two other scenes from musical movies: the James Brown gospel number in the black church in The Blues Brothers, and the scene in The Commitments where Jimmy Rabbitte, the manager, explains to the band why they have a right to sing soul, because “the Irish are the blacks of Europe”.

To my ears, U2 does a kind of white neo-gospel music, and while Bono ain’t no James Brown, he’s no slouch at working a crowd either. Their ecstatic shows are a bit like an old-time revivalist tent show, without the tent. The 3D format fits them perfectly. If the old-style rock concert was the water, then U23D turns it into wine. This technology might well be the future of rock concerts on film (or hard drive, to be precise).