U2 Go 3D in Sundance

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Irish Voice Entertainment

U2 Go 3D in Sundance

January 23, 2008

The film – and, yes, it was produced with the latest 3D technology – is based on concert footage of the band’s last tour and was shot in South America. It made its bow at the star-studded Sundance Film Festival last weekend, and all four band members donned their winter woolies to shill for the project.

Who was on hand for the premiere? Notables such as former VP Al Gore and Sundance founder Robert Redford managed to snag a couple of scarce tickets, as the screening was the hottest event in a town that’s right now full of them.

“I was really hoping we weren’t crap after all these years. Luckily we weren’t,” said the Edge after the performance. “We’re excited because we’ve always been interested in new technologies.”

Bono’s thoughts weren’t far from home. “There’s a lot of love and Irish whiskey in the air,” he said. “If this festival were in Dublin, it would be Raindance.”

The concert film/documentary, which opens in Imax theaters across the country this week, with wider distribution next month, is also a neat way, Bono feels, to introduce younger fans to the band’s unique brand of music.

“U2 tickets can be a bit expensive,” he told MTV. “We fight to keep them reasonably priced, but you know how it goes. And people who are going to high school or college don’t always have the cash. So my hope for people who are thinking, ‘Well, I’m kind of into that band,’ is that they’ll give us a shot and see what we’ve got.”

The project came together via an idea from a long-time U2 friend and collaborator, Catherine Owens. When she came up with the notion to do a 3D film Bono was immediately receptive, she recalled.

“He said, ‘Well, you’ve never directed and we don’t know anything about 3D … so it’s bound to be fabulous.’”

The critics seem to agree, so far. Audience members lucky enough to catch the film at Sundance were singing and clapping along to the band’s iconic songs, always a good sign, and trade paper The Hollywood Reporter was also pleased with the end result.

“This feature-length feast for the eyes and ears … re-creates the U2 live experience without interruptions by the intrusive, talky backstage filler that seems to have become obligatory in the recorded ‘live’ genre. Instead, the docu serves up prime U2 in a startlingly rendered, state-of-the-art arena that truly raises the bar for headache-free 3-D technology,” stated the paper.

That’s undoubtedly the case, but one of the four stars of the show still has a minor complaint – or, rather, a kind of large one. Bono was asked what it was like seeing himself on such a huge screen for the first time.

“It’s kind of horrific. It’s bad enough on the small screen. You think, ‘Oh, God. Now, you get to see that lard arse 40 feet tall.’”

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