Overall, it's really impressive as far as replicating and at times exceeding a typical concert experience. The first couple of songs (Vertigo and Beautiful Day) simply overwhelm the senses with sight and sound really unlike any other 3d film I've ever seen. Yes, it's still the same kind of 3d experience where you wear the silly plastic dark tinted polarized glasses but *the way* the live footage was filmed coupled with the use of overlays, minor animation and dissolves definitely takes the whole 3d viewing shtick to a much higher level. It's really more of an artistic achievement than a technological one.

Yeah, once in a while you get the tacky 3d exploitation stuff like bassist Adam Clayton pushing his bass into the camera that reminded me of something out of the old "House of Wax" 3D film, but it's not a big deal and for the most part, the band is simply in their element performing and the cameras just happen to be there. Early in the film when there's some shots of Larry playing drums, his kit looks truly three dimensional and the image in just incredibly detailed and sharp.

The concert itself is about 2/3rds of the actual show they performed that night with some material cobbled from the other night at this stadium with most of the perceived fat (lesser songs) removed so you basically get a U2 "greatest hits" show along with the core songs they played off the Vertigo album on this tour. About the only song that falls flat is surprisingly "The Fly," a song which has always been the audio/visual showcase for U2 since the ZooTV tour and one which would seem to be *the* song tailor made for this sort of thing. Unfortunately, The Edge had guitar trouble (it sounds like the guitar he normally uses was in the wrong tuning) in the beginning (which is for the most part included in the film for some odd reason) and the performance and arrangement of the song for this tour which imo, was the weakest version of the song of any tour they've played it. For some reason, the sound mix is kinda weak on this song as well. The film does slow down significantly during the last 3rd and unlike some people, I could have done without the animated segment during "Yahwey" which itself is one of my least favorite newer U2 songs. As a veteran of about 20+ U2 shows dating back to 1981, I can see why this movie is barely an hour long. I was close to being fried after watching it as it was presented. It's meant for the casual fan not only as a showcase for the 3D process but an introduction to the band.

On the other hand, the usual standards almost all sound excellent. Even a burned out song like "Pride" comes across fresh and vibrant, especially in context with the (shortened) human rights video proceeding it. Top it off, they were blessed with a truly ecstatic stadium audience that is a huge plus to the experience.

One other thing I should mention, I have all of U2's previous home video releases and thankfully this film is not edited with those half-second cuts and gimmicky jerky camera work that make their Elevation and Vertigo tour live dvds such a chore to watch.

Minor nitpicking aside, it's a fantastic showcase for U2 and I'd hope that more bands take advantage of the format. Sadly, U2's manager has publicly stated he doesn't see the band ever releasing this on home video. I think it would be a stunning example of the 3D format on blu-ray.

T.B.