Rating: Summary: Skating on the brink of perfection Review: From the off this felt as though I was reliving the U2 live experience of recent times....Sound, picture and extras all fantastic. My only disappointment was for some unknown reason my favourite track "One" is nowhere to be found on the recording!!! I thought this song was probably the highlight of both show's I had attended and thought it very strange that it was omitted.......
Rating: Summary: Great Direction - Poor DVD Review: Ugh - what can I say about this disc. This is my favorite band in the world so it is going get some stars for that fact. I went twice to the Elevation tour when it was in the states. I can honestly say that the director really captures the essence of being there. It reminds me a lot of the live concert, so a job well done on that front, and U2 of course is amazing in this Boston show.But 4:3? What the heck? This is 2001 nearing 2002 people! The fact that this is not letterboxed is a joke. When we are in an era where some commercials and TV shows are letterboxed, the fact that U2 presents their first full length concert in standard square TV format is simply weird. On top of that, the transfer is garbage. You may not see it on a regular set, but if you have an HDTV the diagonal jaggezies are going to drive you crazy... and I have a set that tries to fix those. My other discs don't do this so I know this is the U2 DVD. Great musc, great direction, but BOO to the transfer folks. I still can't believe U2 would release a double disc DVD and not do a better job (16x9 and transfer quality).
Rating: Summary: Incredible... the next best thing to being there. Must buy! Review: I went to two shows on the Elevation tour, once in the first leg and again in their most recent trip over. Both times I saw the show from the floor, once inside the heart and once just outside at the tip. Both were incredible experiences. This DVD will show you what it's like to be at the show, from the floor, from the seats, and anywhere in the stadium. There is even a 'bono-cam' taken from the sunglasses he was wearing. Absolutely incredible. If you haven't been to one of the shows, this is a must buy. If you did, this is even more so. It will give you perspectives from all over the arena, close-ups not otherwise possible. And the sound quality is excellent. I don't normally buy concert DVDs and usually find them underwhelming, but this really does capture the atmosphere of the show. The camera work really enhances aspects of the performance. If you saw the NBA-halftime performance of 'Where the Streets have no name' then you get a small sample of what's on this disc. The menu setups and the packaging are all top quality. I can't say enough about this DVD, even if you're a casual fan you'll likely enjoy this, with all the documentaries and alternate angles available.
Rating: Summary: Relive the Elevation Review: I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this DVD ever since I experienced Elevation 2001 live at London Earl's Court in August of this year. While I had seen U2 live before, in Zooropa 93, Elevation was a vastly superior show, and one which has much greater resonance in my memory. So, while this is a five-star DVD - great sound, picture, good tracklisting (but sadly no "One"), and lots of extra features - it doesn't even come close to capturing the experience of seeing this band live on their most recent tour. That obviously sounds like a cliche - when does a concert video ever replicate the experience of a concert? But I think it is especially true in this case. I have seen videos of tours that I have attended, and have often thought that they captured the atmosphere pretty well. But Elevation 2001 was on a wholly different plane for me - it reached pinnacles of ecstasy and emotion, and was a genuinely spiritual experience. No concert video could ever match that. Having said that, the DVD is one of the few ways I have of reliving the experience, and there is no doubt that U2 has power even on the small screen. So to all of those who see the DVD and think that it looks amazing, you're right - this is a great DVD. But believe me, it's nothing compared to the real thing.
Rating: Summary: Instant Classic! Review: I highly recommend this DVD to anyone that is a U2 fan. Having recently seen them on the Elevation tour in Los Angeles, I was eager for more and this DVD more than satisfied that need. Since this was filmed earlier in the year, while Bono's father was dying, you can clearly see the sadness in Bono's eye when he sings "Kite" and it is carried through through out the DVD. It really is very touching and quite an amazing thing. This DVD is very much worth your money.
Rating: Summary: Great show, iffy production Review: If you caught any of the shows on U2's "Elevation" tour, this DVD is a great souvenir. It contains nearly the entire show I saw in Atlanta (minus their killer performance of "Mysterious Ways" - did they not play it in Boston?). The sound quality is excellent, the color/B&W cinematography is generally crisp (though not always - see below), and the band is as good as they've ever been live. What really comes across here, as it did in the shows themselves, is how the band strived to be as "one" with their audience as they could, tearing down the artiface that threatened the "Zoo TV" and "Pop" tours. It's become a cliche', but this tour really did seem to be about the music first. So why is this DVD knocked down one star? Because of some occasionally shoddy camerawork that deadens the emotional impact many of these songs had live. There are numerous out of focus shots, angles of the band totally blocked by zealous fans, signs, etc. There is also the use of annoying "Bono-cam" (my term) shots that are meant to show his perspective of the show, but are totally disorienting and unneccessary (think "Blair Witch"). Do we really have that short of attention spans? What's wrong with just watching the show? If you think I'm being hyper-sensitive about the camerawork, just watch when they perform "Stuck In A Moment..." There is a lingering, out of focus shot that seems to stretch on forever - and this is not the only time. I saw this song on VH1, and almost didn't buy the DVD because of it. It's one thing to be "arty," but another to be sloppy. With all U2's resources and the dozens of cameras around the arena, there's no excuse for this. But for the most part, the "Elevation" DVD documents a powerful, emotional and joyous performance that is thankfully free of the heavy-handed posturing that marred "Rattle and Hum" and other live videos. And if the camerawork occasionally bothers you as it did me, you can always burn a CD of the performance, and you've got a killer live recording.
Rating: Summary: U2 Elevation 2001 Live from Boston - Get elevated at home! Review: Please note that this is a review of the region 2 disc (...) This DVD contains one concert of U2's Elevation 2001 tour, filmed in Boston on June 6th, 2001 at the Fleetcenter, Boston, Massachusetts. It does not contain the entire concert; the tracks "Mysterious Ways", "People Get Ready", "Pride", and "One" are missing (...). The concert is shot in 4:3 aspect ratio (so no widescreen unfortunately) and the video quality is quite good. Of course, audio quality is more important for a concert registration. As written above, audio is either PCM or DD5.1 on my disc. Both tracks sound very good altough there is mainly only audience to be heard in the rear channels. Even without the missing tracks, DTS audio, and widescreen video, it is a great registration of the Elevation 2001 tour. A chance to re-experience the concerts you have been to, or should have been to (altough it does differ a bit from the three concerts in Arnhem, the Netherlands). Some of the highlights of this particular show: Bono & the Edge duelling during UTEOTW, Edge kicking his guitar after Gone, a very touching version of Stay, the flashing lights during WTSHNN, Bono giving a girl the day of her life during WOWY, and the visually superb ending of the Fly. (...) NBC-TV has aired WHTSHNN live and Elevation on tape during their NBA Finals coverage, so if you have seen that, you have a pretty good idea of what this DVD is like. This is a must-have DVD for all U2 fans owning a DVD player and a reason to buy one for those who don't. I always thought that Rattle & Hum was worth buying, even if only for the great version of WOWY (containing the extra verse). That's still true, but the same holds for this DVD. This version of WOWY does not contain the extra verse, but it is very very emotional. You have to see and hear this for yourself! I would like to finish with Danny Eccleston's (Editor, Q Magazine) words in the booklet of this DVD: "U2's music lifts you up. It's big enough to do that. And in this turbulent year - where Hate has hit the headlines and Hope is in the small print - we've really needed it. Needed it all over the world. Enjoy U2's Boston show. It is a good thing, and right now we need all the good things we can get.".
Rating: Summary: Full show? No way!!! Review: Sorry folks. I was at the show when they filmed this. Several tunes have been omitted: Mysterious Ways, Pride and One. Come on... If they're gonna do it, they should do it right. Aside from it being incomplete, the audio/video quality is amazing. Great concert DVD, albeit incomplete.
Rating: Summary: Every U2 fan must have this! Review: This is a great concert DVD even though it's not a complete concert. Though listed as filmed on June 6, it's actually a combination of footage filmed from June 5 and 6. In addition, not all the songs from the June 6 concert were included, most notably "One", "New Year's Day", and "Mysterious Ways". There have been rumours of why some songs were left off, but no definitive answers. Still, with the extra stuff like different views and angles of the concert and extra live material from elsewhere, it's a must have!
Rating: Summary: One of the best concert vids ever! Review: (...) Having seen U2 on this tour only makes this excellent concert video even better. This time the emphasis is on the music, not on giant lemons and on-stage TV studios. Simply put, it's U2 doing what they do best, and showing why they really are the best band in the world. Mesmerizing performances and electrifying versions of songs from throughout their entire career make this a real concert experience, right in your living room! Disc two gives you the opportunity to view the concert from A.) a fan's videotaped point-of-view from down on the floor near the stage, or B.) to view the show from inside the control booth where the film's director was stationed - unfortunately, both versions are only partial-screen, but a cool addendum nevertheless. Other goodies like the "making-of" were informative, as well. While this will never top their "U2 at Red Rocks" video, it definitely surpasses their previous two ("Popmart in Mexico" and "ZOOTV Downunder"). You won't be disappointed!
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