So, while I got what turned out to be the totally wrong router today, I also picked up U2's Slane Castle DVD. This, given my level of U2 fanaticism, might be thought of as a Good Thing, and you'd be right. Because it's good.
But before I get into the details of why it's good, a word on DVD players first.
It turns out that somehow I managed to totally screw up the DVD player in the living room while watching Band of Brothers the other night. Don't ask me how, but it's not recognizing any disc I put in there. That's bad. So there's always my desktop. Unfortunately, the DVD player in there is 6 years old and apparently doesn't work anymore. Well, ok. So I'll just use the laptop. No, the laptop says, you are denied. So there's the one in Mom and Dad's room, but I'm thinking no to that one. Same with the one in the RV. So I end up going downstairs and using that one. Yes, we have a lot of DVD players. No, as of two or three years ago, we had no DVD players. Go figure. We also have an entire mound of VCRs from as far back as the 80s that don't work, as well as maybe two that do. Movies are our friends.
But anyway. Slane Castle and the goodness thereof.
It's sort of hard to know where to begin. I mean, as video, it's sort of a shrug. Four guys jumping up and down on stage, except for the obligatory War-style flag draping and the bit where Bono is like "Look Edge! A beach ball!" and kicks it into the audience, isn't all that exciting. The music, on the other hand...wow. And if you've ever seen anybody live, or heard recordings of same, you'll get what I'm saying. There are a good number of songs on this DVD that I'm not particularly fond of, including pretty much all the singles from AYCLB that I hate, and those were still good. Elevation? Good as usual. Beautiful Day? Good as usual. Stuck In a Moment and Walk On? Still decent. And I REALLY don't like those two.
But we want to hear about the great songs, not just the good ones.
The first of them was a mere three tracks in. Until the End of the World was...damn. Electrifying, perhaps. Dunno. But it was probably the best part of the whole DVD, except for Wake Up Dead Man. You'll understand that Wake Up Dead Man is perhaps my favorite song on Pop, and one of my all time favorite U2 songs.
It is a pale reflection of the emotional awesomeness of the Slane version. Very pale. I'm listening to it while writing this, and I'm like "Enh." Eeeeeeeee. Worth price of admission, right there.
Kite was about as good as Kite can get. The same can be said of Where the Streets Have No Name, and Bullet the Blue Sky was...better than I thought Bullet the Blue Sky could be. I'm a big fan of the Rattle and Hum version, and this one is, say, ten times better.
And let us also mention the greatness of the Mysterious Ways bonus track. And while it's about the same as any other Elevation tour Mysterious Ways I've heard, that's ok, because I really really like said version.
Anyway. U2 fans, to the store. And sorry about the puddle of virtual drool.
And can it be November and the new album a bit faster, please?
Posted by Dwip at September 3, 2004 9:05 PMSo it's like watching Geek USA at the end of Vieuphoria is what you're saying?
Posted by: Whir at September 4, 2004 3:06 AMI wouldn't know, never having seen Vieuphoria. Which now that I think about it seems like a bad error on my part, considering where I was for that month.
You may, however, think of Wake Up Dead Man as the difference between the non-live and live versions of Hurt. Except an even bigger difference.
Posted by: Dwip at September 4, 2004 9:57 AMI don't have the DVD anymore. I left it in Eric's X-Box and he never gave it back to me after he moved. I went to buy it yesterday, but they didn't have it, so I ended up with an APC and Bjork DVD instead.
Posted by: Whir at September 5, 2004 4:53 AM