U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's hard to believe it's been over 20 years since "Blood Red Sky" was filmed. As a couple of other people have posted who were there, it was an amazing event. It felt historic even at the time.
Although the weather is exactly why it's so dramatic with the fog and steam, the entire show was very nearly cancelled because of the conditions. Like one guy mentioned, it was about 35 degrees out at Red Rocks that night, after a full day of cold drizzling rain.
I was the music editor of the local alt.weekly paper at the time, and had been in on some meetings announcing the filming. Barry Fey, the concert's promoter, had been a very early supporter of U2 and booked them into a small 1400-seat theater in Denver when they first toured the US for "Boy." So they liked Fey and wanted to work with him for this Red Rocks gig.
Unfortunately it got cold in the days before the concert. They actually did officially cancel it -- both The Alarm and U2 agreed to play a second, make-up concert the next day in a local arena (DU, I think, or maybe Regis University). But they decided to do the Red Rocks performance anyway because they'd invested so many thousands of dollars for the shoot -- the pyrotchnics (there are normally no fires atop the dramatic sandstone rocks around the stage!), the camera equipment, the technicians.
I'm sure if the filming hadn't been planned, the performance would have been cancelled in a second. I don't remember if the show as sold out (I kind of doubt it), but in the 9,000-seat amphitheater, only about 3,000 people showed up for the filming. The movie does a great job of making it seem like a full house.
It's to Bono and U2's credit that they came out roaring, and to all music fans' benefit that this performance was caught on camera.
I alternated between the 5th row in the middle and the 2nd row over to stage left, and was in awe of what was going on on the stage. U2 simply took it over and made it their own showcase gig, as if they were playing an audition for entrance into heaven. Everything was (I'm sure) unscripted, including the bit with the flag and bringing the girl on stage. It was all natural, just like the setting.
This was just at the point, as some writers have mentioned, where the band was evolving from cult status to superstardom, and they were just hitting their stride.
One thing, though: their performance was hot, but not hot enough to help you forget the cold -- I froze my butt off that night!
As for why no DVD, I wonder how much of it is because of licensing and ownership rights. I don't even know if TTS, the Denver-based production company that managed the shoot, exists anymore. So I wonder who owns the rights to the film.
Perhaps U2, and maybe they don't want it on DVD ultimately because of the made-for-TV audio and video quality.
I happened to stumble on this series of reviews and I'm glad I stopped to read everyone's comments. It brought back a lot of memories, and made me want to root around my basement for my promotional copy of the film from TTS!

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