just give us what we want....

I am a huge fan of U2 and saw them recently when they played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the Vertigo Tour. I had seen them play in that venue before but in far better seats. The seats I had for the Vertigo tour were BEHIND the stage which was said to be open with full visibility. (my boyfriend bought these, not me, and he was going for the closest seats with good visibility--he got duped but everything said open stage) Anyway, we had a very hard time seeing the show through the back of the giant curtain of flashing lightbulbs. The sound wasn't so hot, either, since all of the speakers were set up to project sound to everyone IN FRONT of the stage. When Live From Chicago was available in stores, I rushed out to see what I had missed!

The Sound
WOW! I had heard the songs live but was not expecting them to sound as amazing on a DVD, even through my stereo. What a great surprise. You can crank up the volume on this DVD and it sounds as phenomenal as it did when you saw them live. If you haven't been to a concert--you can get just about the same experience (minus the spontaneous live commentary).

The Playlist
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Cry/Electric Co.
An Cat Dugh/Into The Heart
Beautiful Day
New Year's Day
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Standstill
Pride (In The Name of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
**ENCORE**
Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
**ENCORE**
All Because Of You
Original Of the Species
Yahweh
40
THE END

This DVD gives you almost all of their greatest hits and most of the best songs that they played on the Vertigo Tour. I was happy to see that it included some of their early songs despite the fact that some of the newer fans might not relate to them.

The one omission that truly bothers me still is that they didn't include "Miss Sarajevo". It is one of my favorite songs and I was pleasantly SHOCKED to hear them play it in concert. I actually had run out to go to the bathroom and grab a beer but I ran right back into the arena to soak up Bono's incredible stand-in for the Pavarotti part. It was spectacular!

The Best
By far, the best part of this DVD is when they play "Love and Peace or Else". You have Larry's powerful drum beat up in the front of the stage, Adam's driving bass line, and a great light show. It is a very political song, but even if you don't agree with Bono's politics, you will be entranced by the music and lighting as I always am. A neat highlight is when Larry goes back to his drums (not shown) and Bono starts pounding on the drums himself. It still gives me chills and I'm not sure why. Spectacular!

City of Blinding Lights is what they open up with and their performance just gave me a whole new perspective on the song. It went from being mediocre on the CD to being one of the best, IMO. Isn't it funny how a live performance can do that?

Running To Standstill was one that I had never heard before. Yes, I admit that I'm a relatively new fan since my first exposure to them was Achtung Baby back in 1992. Despite that handicap, I had never heard the song before. It was incredibly powerful live and that same connection/emotion is conveyed very well on the DVD.

I was so happy to see them play Zoo Station and The Fly. They are such underrated and underplayed songs. U2's performance of those 2 songs will make you re-think their position in your IPod or CD playlist.

Original of the Species is a song that Bono has said is probably the best on their How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb album. It is just as beautiful live and live on DVD as it is on CD.

Direction
What I love about this DVD (aside from the good visibility that I didn't get live in concert) is that you can see the concert from all angles. You see Edge, Larry, and Adam almost as much as you see Bono. You see the view from the audience, you get different perspectives throughout a song. It is not forced or ADD camera work--it is masterful which is to be expected from such a wonderful director.

My Last Word
Of course, all U2 fans will enjoy this. But fans of live music and live concert DVDs also will get a kick out of Live From Chicago too, I think. It is just so well done and gives a great new life to some of their older songs. Watching this DVD is just about as exciting as seeing U2 live!