Review Summary: A solid release that is not a good as it should be
U2 – 360 live at the rose bowl
Overview: U2 360 live is the new video release by the Dublin giants. This concert was taken from the youtube live stream of the rose bowl concert last year. Does this release is as good at it could be???No, but it’s still a good live release.
Setlist:
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent,
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
No Line On The Horizon
Elevation
In A Little While
Unknown Caller
Until the End of the World
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name
Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
With Or Without You
Moment Of Surrender.
Breathe(bonus)
Performance
Entertaining is the words that describes the best this concert. The stage is HUGE, there’s awesome lightning, and the band is energetic. In fact the technical aspect of the show is near perfect. Everything is perfect. My only complaint would be that Bono’s voice is getting old. He’s still a good singer and got an awesome stage presence. His voice seems to get tired really quickly. He also likes to change his singing in some songs and he completely destroyed them. With or Without You was a huge disappointment in my opinion. His voice is not there and they now have to play it a half-step down. The Edge saves his ass vocally on lots of song like With or Without You.
The Edge gives the best performance in this release. His playing is flawless and his voice is really good. He’s also having a blast playing on this stage. He’s moving a lot and taking a lot of attention. He really shines on Ultraviolet and Stuck In A Moment.
Adam Clayton is equal as himself. He’s a ghost. He just stay there smiling and walking around the stage.
Larry Mullen Jr. Plays a good show. He’s pretty solid and he also adds some nice back vocals. I also like is job on the tribal like version of I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight. He does a solid job there.
Overall the performance of the band is really good with some flaws here and here. The setlist is really good and includes songs that haven’t been played for a while (Ultraviolet, MLK, and The Unforgettable Fire). They also give great tribute to Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi. The Crowd is also really good. They sing really loud. In fact, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m looking for is the best song of the night because of the magic between the band and the crowd. They also end this song by singing Stand by Me. During the encore, Bono wears a laser-embedded suit and sings with a microphone embedded into a glowing steering wheel that hangs from above which is really awesome.
Video
The Video quality is somewhat disappointing for a blu-ray release. At some moments, it’s near perfect and at some moments the picture looks grainy. It’s not bad at all, it’s a blu-ray! But I’ve seen well. The camera work is good. You got some nice angles and the effects added are well edited.
Sound
The sound aspect is top notch. I haven’t watched it on a 5.1 surround sound system yet but it’s still sounding awesome on my 42 inch plasma TV. My only complaint would be that the bass drum sound is a bit low in some songs.
Bonus
The bonus features includes a half-hour documentary about the creation of the 360 degree tour. It’s interesting to see how they had this idea. There’s also some tour clips, a bonus song and the videos from No Line on the Horizon.
Overall
360 Live is a really good release but I don’t think it match the hugeness of their tour. I think it could be a bit better. Of course the band is getting older and it affects their performance but I hope Bono will take care of his voice because it’s worrying. I recommend this to anybody who wants to get in U2 or any die-hard fans. The setlist is really good but I would taken one more song (The Fly ).
Highlights
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
No Line On The Horizon
Where The Streets Have No Name
Pros:
Good Performance
Sound
Awesome Stage and Effets
Cons:
Bono having a hard time with his voice
Picture looks grainy at some point