U2 Album: “360° at the Rose Bowl [Blu-Ray]”

I was at that concert, and it was a typical U2 extravaganza. Exceptionally well done, and the energy, look and feel of the Rose Bowl audience and environment and U2's interaction with it was a part of its success. Afterwards, I really really enjoyed the Youtube broadcast of it that was available online for a couple of weeks before they yanked it.

Regarding the DVD, I am disappointed because I felt the editing didn't do justice to the entire concert environment in a way that was accessible. No shot was on the screen for much longer than 7 seconds, and most between 3 and 5 seconds. I have amazingly quick vision (I make my living drawing people and things really fast) yet I felt I never had a chance to focus on any one scene before another was quickly flashed, faded into, etc. There were few views that gave a sense of the hugeness of the concert. It was like blinking my eyes and another view. I'm pretty good at connecting the dots, and even though I was at that concert, the DVD never gave much of a feeling of the whole.

While the camera work and sound, etc., were very well done, I felt there was too much being thrown at the viewer, too fast. Frankly, I thought the Youtube live broadcast provided a better feel of the concert and visual experience of it, which was after all, a "world event".

ok, this is my first video review on one of the products that I've bought from amazon.I hope you like it, please rate it and enjoy it as I enjoy making the video!!...don't be so rude on the comments... Thanks!!

Whether you find them legendary or musically limited, U2 for nearly 20 years has been the most trendsetting touring group from inspiring the widespread use of the intimate "b-stage" to the use of cutting-edge technology to bring theatrical presentations of music to another level. The 360° tour is U2's latest outing in support of their 2009 album

. For their previously YouTube-broadcasted live performance in Pasadena, California, the band employed director Tom Krueger after three DVD releases (

,

and

) with Hamish Hamilton. In comparison to Hamilton's work with the band, Krueger takes on a much larger project and approaches it accordingly. Krueger gives the cinematography a purposeful touch of dark contrast of colors inside of a monstrous stage making it seem like a night out on a space station. Eschewing any of the MTV-styled editing or pointless views of fans doing whatever pops into their temporarily unsound minds, Krueger focuses only the band and the environment they've created for themselves.

Musically, the band gives consistent performances of their classics in spite of what may seem like a sloppy set list of songs from drastically different eras or styles played behind each other (the danceable "Mysterious Ways" next to spiritual "Beautiful Day," the rocking "Elevation" next to the ballad "In a Little While," or glowing "City of Blinding Lights" next to the thunderous "Vertigo"). But whether they're tackling the techno-punk of "Get on Your Boots" or the gospel of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," U2 pull off an incredibly spirited performance in which Bono's voice resonates better than some of U2's previous DVDs and his three compadres are more interactive than ever before. And even for a band that has played their material endlessly, they still are a band that can perform live versions as good as if not better than their studio versions. Songs such as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" sound better here than any other previous live DVDs. Even the snippets of classic songs added to their own songs such as "Stand by Me" with "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" are amazingly appropriate, graceful and cozy in their new environments. Newer songs such as "Magnificent," "No Line on the Horizon" and "Unknown Caller" lend credence to the oxymoron of a "new classic" while the return of songs like "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)" are sorely appreciated.

The manner in which the band releases this DVD is also rather inventive and customer-friendly as they have editions to appeal to the casual listener (

), a more interested fan (2 discs) or a die-hard (

]). The bonus material found the special editions are worth every cent as you see a documentary of how this innovative tour is created; see a share of clips from the tour, a few music videos, alternate openings of the live show and a bonus live track ("Breathe"). In the end, this set doesn't just document U2's recent tour but demonstrates why they will go down in history as one of the greatest touring groups of all time.

I guess the most gratifying aspect of this entire DVD is that it made reevaluate No Line on the Horizon, which I dismissed as half-good. After this, I'm listening to "Moment of Surrender," "Magnificent" and "Breathe" in a whole different way.

I attended the U2 360 Tour concert at Fed Ex field last September. Trying to describe the experience to someone who wasn't there is almost impossible. The HUGE "Claw" stage setup was an amazing sight - like something out of a Godzilla movie! But if you couldn't be there, this DVD is the next best thing. Although the Rose Bowl set list is slightly different than the one I saw, watching this DVD still brought back some great memories. 95 percent of this concert is the same as what I saw in DC. It was like going back to the concert again, but this time from different ever changing seat locations. The sound quality is excellent and the presentation of the concert is top notch! So for those that missed the 360 tour, heres your chance to finally see it. And for those of you that did go, this is the ultimate 360 concert souvenir. Enjoy!

Ok, first the positives:

The sound on this DVD is amazing. Playing this on my home theater system made me feel like I was back at the concert, which in the case of U2 is always a good thing. The video is also extremely sharp and clear.

Now, the negatives:

Ugh. I really hate to criticize this DVD because U2 is my favorite band in the world that still tours and makes music. However, I was at this show and it just doesn't capture what it was like to be there. I know that is an extremely difficult thing to do for a concert video, but U2 has done that before for their concert recordings. If you want proof, look at the ZooTV recording from Australia. Now, I wasn't there for that show, but I did see the outdoor performances in Los Angeles and in Oakland. Watching the ZooTV concert, even though the setlist had changed a little by the time the show reached Australia, felt like I was reliving the shows I'd seen. I was able to turn that video on and show friends what I had been raving about for months. There was a 'this is what it was like' feel to the camera work for that concert and you were able to get an idea of the magnitude of what the ZooTV experience was like. This is SORELY lacking in the 360 DVD. Again, I realize that because the claw was so huge, the DVD only watching crowd would never fully be able to experience what it was like to be in the presence of the claw. But if the editing had just lingered on the claw from distance for more than 2-3 seconds, if there had been a few audience level shots from different points of view from the stadium that maybe lasted 10 seconds or so, then maybe, just maybe, people would have gotten a feel for what it was like to be there. Bombastically over-the-top though the claw was, and rightly or wrongly, many have said the claw detracted from the intimacy of a U2 show, it was a technological marvel to witness and should have been given its 'time in the sun' for this recording. To be completely honest, the worldwide youtube broadcast of the Rose Bowl show was a much better indicator of what it was like to be there. I guess they figured they couldn't just clean up the audio and release that on DVD, but I would much rather own that than this DVD.

Secondly, no Breathe to open the concert? Seriously? Look, always one of the the greatest moments in a U2 show is the dramatic buildup to the opening song. The salvo fired across the bow of the U2 fan that begins a U2 show is crucial. Any U2 fan worth his salt can tell you the opening song of the various U2 tours, it sets the tone for the whole show. Not including Breathe on the setlist except as, essentially, a 'deleted scene' section on disk 2 of the product is completely ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that the reason this was done was stupendously stupid to begin with, the tension created, the way the band was introduced during Breathe, plus the fact that Breathe is simply a kickass song...I don't know, it just boggles the mind.

Thirdly, I brought this up before a little, but the editing, YIKES! Watching this DVD makes me want to kill Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, you know those guys. The idiots who brought you Armageddon, Con-Air, the Transformers movies, etc. These cinematic delinquents have nearly ruined movie going with the quick-cut editing style that seems to be the formula for big-budget action movies. This editing style makes you worried that you'll start having an epileptic seizure in the movie because the scene changes so quickly. Well, U2 360 is not as bad as some of those movies, but almost. Sometimes the cuts are so quick between Bono, the Edge, Adam and Larry that you start to think maybe they are only one person and not four. Throw the Ang San Suu Kyi masks into the mix and you seriously might think you are losing your mind.

In the end, would I recommend this 360 DVD to others? It's a hard case to make. If you are a U2 fan that wants to be complete and own the visual record of each tour available, then yes. If you didn't get to see 360 and want to get an idea of what 360 was like, i'd say rent it. As for me, I've had this since 2 days after it came out and have only watched it once and I doubt I'll watch it many more times. I'd watch ZooTV, Slane Castle, Red Rocks, heck even U2 in Chicago over watching this, and as a diehard U2 fan, that's tough to say.