U2: Zoo TV - Live From Sydney
Filed Under: Music, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review , music on dvd
By: Erik Swift
November 2006
|
U2 has a talent for reinvention. They first pulled it off by hiring producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno to shape what would become 1984’s “The Unforgettable Fire,” a vast sonic departure from their previously raw politi-punk sound. Six years later and tiring of the roots “The Joshua Tree” had grown, the quartet jettisoned the trappings of fame again. Settling in an East Berlin studio, the newly unified city provided a home for a band whose structure was cracking. Sessions were going nowhere, proven by crappy demos that were stolen and widely bootlegged. Worse, guitarist The Edge’s marriage was heading south. Besides, what tops winning Album Of The Year? Somehow, being in a city that was finding itself was the perfect place to be for a band trying to find direction. Out of this turmoil sprang “One,” a song that the band claims kept them together to create an experimental work many consider to be its finest: “Achtung, Baby!”
A noisy party that quickly turns serious, the album winds through the gritty depths of the human heart. Wrenching stops for guilt (“So Cruel”), grief and forgiveness (“One”) and sorrow (“Love Is Blindness”) are countered with giddy highs of sexuality (“Mysterious Ways”), hope (“Ultra Violet (Light My Way))” and power (“The Fly,” the first single). The personal “Achtung, Baby!” deserved an intimate tour, and combining the two wasn’t hard – U2 is that rare live band that always seems to invite a crowd back to their place for some Guinness. Equally inspired by both CNN’s incessant coverage of the first Iraq war and America’s morning zoo radio shows, they came up with Zoo TV, their biggest and most influential outing. A visual slugfest of images that predated the Internet, vocalist Bono’s trio of alter egos would escort the audience through a growing crop of new material that expanded further when the unexpected “Zooropa” was recorded and released mid-tour.
From DJ BP Fallon spinning tunes in a Trabant to soon-to-be-former president George Bush instructing crowds “We will, we will rock you,” Zoo TV was a tour not to be missed. Frequent collaborator Willie Williams revolutionized stage design by incorporating concertgoers into the production in two key ways. The first was the pioneering use of a 150-foot catwalk that extended from the main stage to a mini-stage in a venue’s center, where the band would play a brief set during the show (Everyone from Korn and Foo Fighters to the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith does this now). The second was the Zoo TV confessional, where anything could happen and usually did, courtesy of the audience. Delivering delirium daily with insane metrics (11 Trabants doubling as spotlights, a million watt sound system, a 250’ x 80’ stage and more), it had to be filmed.
After 150 shows, a second night in Sydney Australia was broadcast around the globe. Later edited and released as “Zoo TV: Live From Sydney,” many fans felt the grammy-winning VHS was substandard because of the omission of “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World.” Expectations for the complete concert on DVD were high, but Universal Music’s treatment of “Zoo TV: Live From Sydney” has not corrected this. A different version of it pops up on the deluxe version’s bonus disc, but come on. There is no excuse for that in the DVD era. At first glance, said bonus disc appears short enough to fit on the first. Yawn. Anticipated? Hardly. Is it worth it? Despite its flaws, yes.
This night on Zoo TV’s Zoomerang leg is typical - a chaotic barrage of film and video from a fleet of satellites as unpredictable as the set list isn’t. The information swirl often comes with a click of a remote control, and random philosophies flash for milliseconds (This reviewer’s favorite? “Rebellion is packaged”) Their entrance is huge: Bono, copping the comeback Elvis duds plus a pair of shades, is silhouetted against a blue and white video screen calmly smoking a cigarette only to be blown violently off-balance by Edge’s squealing eruptions of “Zoo Station” feedback. Edge brings the noise, and from his great slide on “Even Better Than The Real Thing” to the jolly riffs of “Mysterious Ways,” he’s fascinating to watch. The Fly, the first and strongest of Bono’s alter egos during the evening, is in the building and witness to an avalanche of new material that drops during the first hour. Months after the creative spurt that spawned “Zooropa,” the addition of even more new songs keeps that changing state of U2 churning. Many bands would never dare play six to eight new songs nightly before reaching back into their catalog. Wanting to see their audiences adjust with them, the jarring all-out assault of the music of the moment is not without clunkers - “Numb” is, well, numb. Better is “Stay! (Faraway, So Close),” its lyrics shining on the mini-stage while the satellites take a breather. This song is one of U2’s greatest, and a quiet but powerful rendering in the center of Sydney Football Stadium forces all to concentrate on the quartet.
Another merit of Zoo TV that made it one of the greatest and most original tours of all time is its brilliant use of film and video. On the bonus disc, The Edge calls Zoo TV’s imagery a fifth instrument; proof is during the show’s most chilling moment as a burning cross morphs into a swastika in a snaky “Bullet The Blue Sky,” enhancing the angry song. American U2 fans may be confused during the encore, having never experienced the devilish Macphisto (a good thing), Bono’s show-closing persona that sings in a Vegas croon. This absolutely sucks until Adam Clayton’s coursing bass calms him down during “With Or Without You,” a great band performance with a good encore vocal (finally) and solid drumming from Larry Mullen Jr., who must be restraining himself from steadily clocking Bono’s head instead of his drum kit. The Edge saves his best for last, and “Love Is Blindness” is among his most outstanding live moments. “Can’t Help Falling In Love” ended most Zoo TV shows, and before the worldwide audience Bono’s plea “Would it be a sin if I can’t help falling in love with you?” drags the optimistic “Blue Hawaii” smash into the schizophrenic darkness of “Achtung, Baby!” U2 are so good at reinvention, they take the King with them. Bold.
While the New York Yankees were mired in misery in the early 1990s, The House That Ruth Built hosted the only three artists to ever claim it as a tour stop: Billy Joel, Pink Floyd and in late August 1992, U2. Having attended the first night, the extra disc’s first two bonus tracks from the band’s Yankee Stadium stop are close to my heart, especially “Desire.” A great example of what happens when a song’s balls get cut off, its snarling growl vanished after this tour when it devolved into an acoustic ditty. Just once U2 should put “Desire” back in the electric chair where it belongs; some songs sound great unplugged and this isn’t one of them. Edge absolutely rips it to pieces, and Clayton and Mullen rattle and hum in a year of election while The Mirror Ball Man, Bono’s psychedelic preacher, twists away. With the aforementioned “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World,” both are taken from the November 1992 Zoo TV special, and while not being mind-blowing material, its 80 minutes could have been included here for the curious.
Of the other extras, “Even Better Than The Real Thing” from the Stop Sellafield concert can barely contain Mullen and Clayton, who jump out all over this. Junior is particularly happy when the song ends, adding a flurry to his finish and cracking a rare smile. “A Fistful of Zoo TV” is a mishmash of previously seen footage but “Trabant Land” is a cool look at what works of art these forgotten vehicles became. Understandably cut from the original VHS, the 5-minute look at the Zoo TV confessional meets the voyeuristic nature of “Achtung, Baby!” head on. Who knew a girl saying, “I’ve had romantic thoughts about George Bush” would still shock years later? After the disc ends, it’s easy to think the two-disc deluxe edition appears to be a single disc masquerading as a multi-disc set. However, a trio of Easter eggs turns things around. An absolute bitch to locate, the best is the 25-minute U2 History Mix rockumentary from the “The Videos, The Cameos and a whole lot of interference from Zoo TV” VHS. Expertly assembled and edited, it was the gem of that release and makes a case for Easter egg of the year. A time/lapse clip set to “Some Days Are Better Than Others” of the setup/teardown of a Houston Zoo TV stop isn’t bad either. Much like Zoo TV, bigger can be better – go with the deluxe edition but be careful, its discs are on top of each other. The booklet inside includes recreations of the Zoo TV stamps, stickers and ads, too.
The sole DVD document of this historic milestone of U2’s second reinvention is similar to the release of “Vertigo: Live From Chicago” in that the sound has been bolstered with Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and PCM Stereo audio. Both editions feature the concert in its original 4:3 aspect ratio. Kudos on the killer picture re-grade by Gary Curran at Street Scene; pay-per-view was a cheap alternative for bands to do for a few years, and many regret that move now (link to Pink Floyd’s Pulse). Director David Mallet had his hands full during filming - in U2 history, this performance was nearly a disaster. The previous evening’s show was their first and only one without a member, Clayton. The bass player had gotten so polluted after a bout of drinking that bass tech Stuart Morgan stepped in. Clayton looks extra-bleached at the start of the DVD and reportedly stayed sober since, using that night as incentive to keep both his act and the band together. U2 hide any tension, and no mention of the incident is made during either edition of “Zoo TV: Live From Sydney.”
In Zoo TV, U2 managed to create an unequaled interactive live experience that consistently matched its artistic vision nightly. The band funded much of this out of their own pockets and barely broke even, but the achievement of the tour is seen when people still speak of it in awe, transforming into its own entity. Bono would often say “Achtung, Baby!” was the sound of four men chopping down “The Joshua Tree.” The sight of it is here - “Zoo TV: Live From Sydney” and its television vision has never looked or sounded better.
Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!
Loading ...
Leave a Reply