Cool... very cool!

I've already mentioned how much I love U2's concert video of Under a Blood Red Sky and how I enjoy watching it occasionally. Before I had that one, though, I had to content myself with watching Rattle and Hum over and over again (with a similar reaction from my wife, of course).

Rattle and Hum is not exactly a concert video, but it's not really a documentary either. I've only seen a few concert videos and they're usually of a single edited concert, and largely limited to a handful of cameras and angles. In contrast, this one shows a series of different concerts around the US during their Joshua Tree tour with incredible camera angles that put you right on the stage. But it goes beyond that and shows rehersals and recording sessions for some of the new songs, backstage shots, and a few brief interviews, but not to the point where you would really call it a "documentary." The Edge puts it best when he says (about the film), "it's about music."

Most of the film is in black & white, which comes across very cool. The exception is the color footage from Sun Devil Stadium in Arizona, and the sudden contrast more than half-way through adds to the coolness factor. There are quite a few notable songs in B&W on the DVD such as "Exit," "Bad," and an emotional "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"; and "With or Without You," "Running to Stand Still," and "Bullet the Blue Sky" in color (just to name a few!). Also excellent are the parts with BB King on "When Love Comes to Town" and with a Harlen gospel choir on "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." And in my opinion, most of the versions on the DVD are better than the recorded versions or what was included on the CD (especially "Silver and Gold"). Ahhh, who am I kidding... I think the whole thing's cool!