Among those giving the 90-minute extravaganza a standing ovation were Al Gore and Robert Redford who was instrumental in it debuting as part of his annual Sundance Film Festival.
“We love playing for the people there,” says Bono of the decision to shoot the Vertigo tour movie in South America. “I really hope it communicates. Underneath there’s a narrative operating, and I think it runs through social activism. It moves through the ideas that fired up our engines over the years, taking some of those ideas about non-violence and human rights.”
Adding his ten pence worth, The Edge proffers: "Watching it gives a real perspective of being in the audience at a U2 show. So many concert films reduce the band. This one brings scale and grandeur."
The first batch of reviews have been overwhelmingly positive with the Los Angeles Times describing it as “digitally hot-rodded”; The Feed declaring it, “A fine, groundbreaking snapshot of a band that’s been on top for a long, long time, and still know how to deliver the goods”; and the Poughkeepsie Journal noting that, “The 3D technology is used tastefully, sometimes sparingly, not enough to become commonplace, overused or transparent. This cinematic effect is used just enough, so interest is not only maintained, it is anticipated and anxiously awaited.”
Providing the pre-show party music was U2’s Principle management stablemate Paddy Casey who’s on a US promotional jaunt that’s also taking him to Seattle, New York, Fort Lauderdale, Detroit, Chicago and Birmingham, Alabama.
As revealed in the current issue of Hot Press, U23D opens in Digital 3D cinemas across Ireland on February 22.