U2: Vertigo 2005 - Live From Chicago (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)

This DVD carries Elevation's same stylistic approach further, and, in doing so, has exacerbated its cinematic faults, too. In some cases, the even more hurried camera editing to please hipsters with low attention spans is troubling, if not downright annoying. In 1988, director Phil Joanou's work on "Rattle and Hum" showed how camera moves and editing could be dynamic and graceful without losing a sense of the band's stage presence. However, on this DVD, director Hamish Hamilton loses such naturalness by switching camera perspectives every few seconds with dizzying effect. For example, instead of simply letting the band's delivery and physicality suffice for entertainment, an otherwise nice performance of the fast-paced "The Fly" is ruined by a quick juggling of images. Still, Mr. Hamilton has chosen a welcome use of footage from above the performers' heads, so you can see Larry playing on his drum kit and The Edge switching pedals in all their skilled musical glory.

Yet, what really hurts this DVD -- in addtion to the, at best, decent film directing -- are the performances. While some are quite nicely carried out musically, Bono's vocals stop short from reaching their full potential. Fans have already had to accept the singer's tragic loss of his falsetto range due to smoking and the effect that has had on his performing vocally-challenging songs from the '90s. Yet even the newly released "City of Blinding Lights" and especially "Miracle Drug" aren't given the power and emotional urgency they have on the studio album and at least deserve for a DVD-worthy concert performance. Although a few performances are fairly good, given Bono's new limitations, the overall concert is not quite representative of how great U2 can be live. Therefore, if this is not how great the band can be, then why would anyone want to watch it multiple times.

Many fans on www.atu2.com forums have commented that, in the first leg of the tour from which this DVD is taken, U2 did not fulfill the potential it showed when it returned on the third leg with much more practice under its belt; some who even went to the concerts filmed here were much more captivated (which is not to say they were dissatisfied in the first place) when the band returned months later. Similar comments were made about the first leg of U2's Elevation Tour in 2001 being quite lacklustre compared to later shows when the band returned to North America and helped cheer up post-9/11 audiences. Yet, even for that tour, U2 chose to record evidence of Bono's less than elastic vocal range, and the band was said to exhibit a restraint in the face of self-consciousness from being recorded. In this 2005 release, the same problem seems to repeat itself. It's not that the band isn't doing all it can to give a good show -- and it's quite good -- it's just that there's no reason for such an early release when a later one might have been, by many fan accounts, better. Unfortunately, this won't happen since no third leg shows are being filmed for commerical release.

However, U2 did film its outdoors concert in Milan this summer, and it was supposed to have been quite good. I expect the associated DVD release next year to be superior, since the Slane DVD from the 2001 second leg in Europe was so much better than Elevation; in it, Bono's voice just seems more alive and more powerful, and the band's chemistry with the crowd is considerably more fun.

The Extras:
There is little reason to buy this 2-disc version if it's going to cost you more, unless you're a completist. The 30-minute tour documentary is essentially about the embarrassing praise of fans, which no one needs to see -- not even fellow fans like myself.

The alternative video of "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" by Phil Joanou just seems like the original but with one take of Bono singing and walking. You can hear Bono singing over the recorded version, which just makes this irritating.

The major selling point of this second disc is the real disappointment, however. The surveillance edits of four songs are like something Radiohead would put out to self-conscoiusly not seem commercial. There's no art here. It's just a lot of black and white, grainy, fuzzy images of The Edge's legs or Bono's face as footage of awkward camera angles is assembled from performances of songs found on the first disc anyway; the sound is fine, but the video leaves much to be desired.

I only bought this edition because of the comparatively nicer packaging, and because it was actually the same price as the single-disc version at "Sam the Record Man" in Toronto at the bargain price of $19.99.

This brings me to one last complaint: the packaging. There seems to be a new trend this year with DVDs being packaged so they overlap one another. I can't stand this, since, in order to listen to Disc 2, you have to take Disc 1 out first. It just seems a cheap way to save on plastic. The Elevation DVD had much nicer packaging.

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