U2 3D on Imax - a review

Cafe Society
1

Took the kids (ages 10 and 7) and a couple of friends. I have never seen U2 in concert other than plenty of video clips. Overall it was really very good - not life-changingly great, but a great way to introduce kids to the spectacle and sensory overload of a rock concert without incurring crowd risk. A few observations:

  • The 3D effect was solid - it seemed truly 3D and so that was fun. At various points, each guy is in your face, and throughout, there are clips of the crowd that make you feel like folks are right in front of you. My daughter spent her time reaching out in front of her, waving her hands in the spaces where her eyes were telling her a crowd was.

  • I didn’t think they used 3D tricks that much - the credits hover between you and the screen and there are a few other things like that, but contrary to some reviews I have read, they don’t spend a lot of time doing 3D tricks other than the close-ups I mention above.

  • It was loud-ish and the sound system was good - but it could have been MUCH louder without hurting anyone’s ears.

  • Fundamentally, the U2 concert was about the songs and Bono. Larry Mullen, Jr. might as well be a robot (no slam on him, he just does his job playing drums and nothing more - at one point he brings out a single tom tom to the stage and that’s pretty cool). Adam Clayton strikes rock-star poses playing bass. The Edge switches guitars, plays piano a couple of times and sings backup, but never really runs around or engages the crowd. Which leaves the entire burden of the show on Mr. Hewson - and of course he does a great job, but I would’ve expected the other guys to do a bit more. My 10-year-old said “their lead singer is religious” - not the most rock n’ roll of statements, but basically true.

  • The songs are great versions of their hits. I would prefer a bit more variance from the CD versions, but that is a lot to ask when the production is that immense…

Overall worth seeing and fun.

2

I really, really enjoyed it. I thought the set list was bland but to be expected in something like this where the goal is to reach out to casual fans or people who aren’t that familiar with their music. That said, the fact they included Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own and Miss Sarajevo was fantastic–Mr. Hewson singing opera shouldn’t be missed.

The two highlights for me were the crowd reaction to Pride–20,000 people or so jumping up and down is pretty damn impressive.

And The Fly alone was worth the price of admission–sensory overload…

3

I’ve seen U2 live twice, and I thought this was a good (if short) approximation of the live experience, if you had the most completely awesome tickets imaginable, and the ability to fly. I thought the 3D effects were outstanding, the best I’ve ever seen, but not gimmicky or overdone (not too many objects poking you in the face for no reason). I took my 15-year old brother and (almost) 14-year-old sister with me. Neither of them has been to a rock concert yet, but they are familiar with some of U2’s music, so this really blew them away. Now they want to see them on their next tour, which might be happening in the next year or so.