We put it on again last night, hoping to check out some of the
"extras" on the disk.
I saw one option called "Another Perspective," and clicked
on it.
What I got was so goddamn exciting, my words can't do it justice.
The DVD offers three different audio mixes and three different
camera perspectives.
Option One was the normal video with normal, mixing board
sound.
Option Two was a camera in the crowd, like you'd see if
you were there.
You hear what the crowd was hearing from the band's speakers.
Option Three was what blew me away.
Option Three was the sound and video from inside the
control booth
Sidebar reminder:
NBC was in the middle of a basketball game,
(the NBA All Star Game?)
They went live to Boston during half-time
to let U2 play a couple of songs.
It was probably the biggest audience U2
had ever had, not counting
Live Aid 16 years earlier.
So here we are watching something very new and unusual,
a different perspective of something we'd seen 40-50 times. It
was all new.
There were 5-6 people in the tiny control booth, with about 20
TV screens with different
camera angles for the director to choose from. The director was
barking orders:
"Two - get in closer, Nine and
Twelve - give me faces, Six - stay on Bono."
The whole time, the lighting director was counting out the beats.
From what I deduced, the spotlight operators have an "up next"
color to go to,
and whenever the light lady got to "One," they'd switch to the
next color.
For reasons I can't explain, (I get a lot of that) her constant
counting added to the drama.
She would count in 4/4, then switch to 1/4 for the last measure.
(I made that up, probably)
The video director and lighting director seemed to be talking
to the band, but that's not possible.
I guess they were talking to the TV the way you and I do.
During the opening number, "Elevation," the director couldn't
help but dance and
wave his arms as he barked the orders to his crew. He was always
commenting,
"The boys are hot - C'mon, c'mon, give
me more - more - Two get closer, closer...
I want more drama!
Give me drama!"
As time went by, they got to the point in the program where they
were about to go live to NBC.
Both directors told their people to be extra-sharp and ready
to go. They knew they'd only get
one shot at getting it right, and they also had to hope the band
didn't screw up, too. (chortle)
Click Here
to read Bart's live write-up of that moment on NBC.
(Trust me)
Eventually, you hear someone off-camera say, "OK,
we're live to America," as The Edge
started the spooky and chilling scales that begin "Where the
Streets Have No Name."
The director is barking orders like crazy.
"Three - give me The Edge's hands. One
- I want the whole crowd, all the way back!
Five, stay on Bono - follow him
- wherever he goes, you stay on him."
By now, Bono is praying, the tension is building, the light lady
keeps reminding her people that they're
about to flood the whole place with The Sun and then they hold
their breath...waiting for Bono to deliver.
Wow, what a moment, especially in the booth. The entire
booth erupted like St Louis did when
McGwire hit Number 70. Everything worked perfectly, the
crowd was on fire, Bono was touching
the face of God and they caught everything, the video, the audio,
perfectly,
just the way they wanted.
The director is screaming, "Fucking beautiful!
Fucking beautiful! Four - I wanna see Bono's face!
Eight - give me more crowd reaction,
Give it to me, give me more! Eleven and twelve - get ready,
Bono's going to start his run.
Seven - show me The Edge's hands, Nine - give me full body Bono!"
The director seemed to be having more fun than anybody.
"This is epic! Epic! Three - closer
to Bono! Five - frame Bono with Larry and Adam!
More drama! Oh, this is epic!
Give me more! More! Oh, it's fucking beautiful! "
The best part was, I'm screaming with the director. When
I see something this good, there's generally
a lot of words shouted that begin with "f," and some of the Lord's
name being taken in vain.
And there was so much more to go.
They did about 8 songs this way, and just when you think it can't
get any better, when they got to
"With or Without You," Bono pulled a hot babe from the
audience and the two of them lay down on
the stage, staring straight up at the ceiling. Bono put his arms
around her and sang - just to her.
Apparently this wasn't in the script. The directors were very
impressed.
Bono, master of drama, is the best showman in the business
- who could argue with that?
The young lady seemed to be in a state on ongoing and continuous
orgasm as Bono looked
into her eyes from inches away and sang this beautiful song of
tortured love to her.
The director starts screaming again.
"One - get closer - no, closer. Get
close, but don't touch. that's what the song is about - reaching out
but not touching. Give me that. That's
what the song's about. Reaching, but not quite touching.
Six - give me a two-shot of their faces.
Nine - get in closer - show me more emotion. More!
Twelve - closer on the girl."
Just then, the lighting director says softly, "She's crying."
The director yells "Give
me tears! One - Seven - Nine, Give me tears!
Twelve - more of the girl!
Closer, get right in there, but don't touch!"
As the song ends, the lighting director
whispers, "She just had the best night of
her life."
(Bart gets a cool cloth to put on his forehead...)
Funny, we went to the DVD to avoid the ubiquitous
hell that splashed across every
TV channel known to man last night, and
I ended up with tears in my eyes, anyway.
Go figure.
I'm not sure why great music affects me
the way it does.
I wouldn't pay thousands to watch the Rams
win a Super Bowl.
I wouldn't pay thousands to see the Cardinals
win the World Series.
I wouldn't pay thousands to witness Pacino
recreate his "Then ...I'll kill 'em both"
speech
from Godfather One.
But I would pay (and have paid) thousands
to see a dramatic performance by a talent like Jimmy Page,
Bono and The Edge or Shirley Manson.
It's hard to explain, but for me, the memory of some great live music
is like a digital file. I can put
on a tape, CD or DVD and go back to that moment and call up that file and
re-live
that moment and get an indescribably fine
wave of emotion from it. It must be a a form of mind control.
I like it.
Of course, my limited vocabulary and lack
of writing skills prevented you from getting
all that this story could've been, but
if you halfway like U2, you should get this CD and
settle in for an evening "inside the band"
and watch as they go thru a really, really good night.