U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky

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Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky (also known simply as Live at Red Rocks or Under a Blood Red Sky) is a concert film by Irish rock band U2. Originally released in 1983, it was the band's first video release. The film accompanied a live album, Under a Blood Red Sky, on which there were two tracks from the film. The film was recorded on the second leg of the band's War Tour at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado in the United States on 5 June 1983.

Live at Red Rocks depicts the band's performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on a rain-soaked evening. The weather threatened to cancel the concert, but the band went ahead with the gig. The film, along with Under a Blood Red Sky, helped establish U2's reputation as a remarkable live band. Live at Red Rocks was shown in regular rotation on MTV, making U2 a popular live college rock act. A remastered edition of the film was released on DVD in September 2008, featuring previously unreleased tracks. This coincided with a remastered edition of Under a Blood Red Sky. Rolling Stone selected the film's performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" as one of the "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll".

History

Planning and production

Following a 1981 concert that the band played in Denver on the Boy Tour, concert promoter Chuck Morris took U2 to Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Located two miles up into the Rocky Mountains, it is a natural amphitheatre between sandstone cliffs. Bassist Adam Clayton recalls, "From the moment we saw it, we were thinking, 'Some day we will play here'. It was very photogenic." U2 manager Paul McGuinness had long wanted to have the band filmed for a concert video, in order to demonstrate the band's potential and live prowess. McGuinness also wanted to showcase the band to American audiences that were not yet familiar with them.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the site of the concert's filming. Planning issues prior to the concert's booking, as well as weather issues on the day of the concert, threatened the filming.

By mid-1983, as U2 toured the United States on the War Tour, the band's increasing success had enabled them to fill venues of capacity similar to Red Rocks. However, the $250,000 cost of the filming the performance was prohibitive for the band. The production's high costs included the venue's logistical difficulties, illumination of the cliffs to take advantage of the site, a mobile sound recording unit, and a helicopter to film aerial footage. Concert promoter Barry Fey, who presented the band's shows in the American Southwest and fought for Red Rocks to be chosen for the filming, was willing to invest with the band, as were Island Records. A joint production company called "U2 at Red Rocks Associates" was subsequently established, with each of the three parties splitting costs and sharing profits from television rights and video sales. The radio rights to the filming were sold to NBC for inclusion in their live concert series The Source.

Steve Lillywhite, producer of U2's previous three albums, would manage the sound mixing, while Fey's corporation, Feyline Productions, worked with its production company, TTS, to manage video taping. Director Gavin Taylor and producer Malcolm Gerrie of the British television show The Tube were selected for the film to direct and produce, respectively. Local producers Rick Wurpel and Doug Stewart were also on the production staff. Taylor had planned on having The Tube broadcast the U2 concert in its entirety in order to feature the band. However, only 15 minutes of footage was allowed to be used, as unions objected to not enough representation in the crew that supported the concert and a compromise was reached to allow a portion of the concert.

Weather challenges and preparations

Poor weather threatened to cancel the planned 5 June 1983 performance. Torrential rain soaked the area, and flash flood warnings were issued. The weather posed many technical problems for the filming and concert crews, which hampered stage construction and endangered the safety of those setting up lighting and sound equipment. Crew members used squeegees to keep rain away from the wires. The fans that attended would have to hike through the Rocky Mountains in the rain, and doubts were raised over the number of people who would attend. The Alarm and the Divinyls cancelled their opening sets for U2, and there were many who thought the entire concert had been cancelled.

The band, crew, and McGuiness thought that too much money had been invested to abort, as it cost the band $30,000. They also felt bad for the fans that had made the trek to the venue and stuck out the bad weather. Thus, they decided to continue with the concert. Fey wanted to cancel the show, but was aboard an airplane when the decision was made to proceed as planned. When his plane landed, Fey, unaware of the plans to continue with the show outdoors, called the amphitheatre to ask to where the concert was being moved. The Edge recalls that Fey, upon hearing the concert was continuing as planned, "could not believe it. I don't think he'd ever heard anything quite so crazy in his life, going on with an outdoor show in the worst kind of weather, rain and wind in the mountains. He thought we'd lost our minds completely."

U2 booked a free rain-check show at the indoor CU Events Center in Boulder for the following night to appease fans that did not want to suffer through the poor weather at Red Rocks. Lead vocalist Bono went on the radio to confirm the Red Rocks concert was continuing as planned, as well as to promote the Boulder show. Clayton remembers the band doing radio interviews, saying, "We know it's raining now but we're sure it won't be when the show starts, so please come." The downpour subsided two hours before the concert and turned into a misty drizzle.

Filming

Although the 9,450-person venue sold out, only about 4,400 fans attended due to the inclement weather. Much of the focus on the concert's attendance was disguised by the thick mist that filled the air that evening, as well as strategic shots of the crowd.

The film begins with a brief montage of footage, consisting of an interview with U2, preparations being made by the concert crew, and reactions by anxious fans. Fey emphatically introduced the concert, "Bob Dylan did it and they called it Hard Rain, and made a movie, and that's what you've got right here, so you're all part of history!" Taylor brought a crew of six cameramen with him, with aerial camera shots being provided by a helicopter. All of the camera operators used handheld cameras to film the concert. Much of the footage from the concert contains red streaks from the cameramen aiming the cameras directly into the venue's lights.

Although the rain had let up, the weather conditions were still troublesome. Bono recalls, "it was freezing cold. There was steam coming out of our mouths. [Guitarist] Edge was finding it hard to play guitar because his hands were frozen stiff."

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Bono has several fans near the front of the stage hold up a white flag as the band performs "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

For some songs, footage from the film was used for music videos shown on MTV. This was in lieu of promotional footage shot specifically for music videos. One such example, "Sunday Bloody Sunday", became very popular, with the image of Bono carrying a white flag becoming a familiar sight to fans.

During the band's performance of "Cry/The Electric Co.", Bono sang excerpts of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns". The band, however, had failed to get permission and pay the appropriate licensing and royalty fees to use the snippet. Initial pressings of Live at Red Rocks, as well as the accompanying live album, Under a Blood Red Sky (which contains a different performance of the song from August 1983) featured the song with the snippet. When Sondheim objected, U2 agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty and to press new versions of the film and live album for any future copies; the snippet was edited out of the live album, but the entire song was subsequently removed from the film. It is "Cry/The Electric Co." that features Bono climbing onto the roof of a building adjacent to the stage with a white flag in hand, an image which became the cover of the film, as well as Under a Blood Red Sky.

Bono says "good night" on nearly a half dozen occasions to the crowd so that the post-production crew could edit the film with several choices of which song to end with. Backstage, the band was disappointed that the crowd did not initially chant "How long to sing this song?" during the evening's final song, "40", which had become traditional after the band had left the stage. Tour manager Dennis Sheehan, however, "got the mike and he was hiding down beneath the barrier, trying to get the crowd to sing, without being asked. And slowly they started singing it."

Release

The concert was first broadcast a month after its recording. On 8 July 1983, the concert was broadcast on the radio on NBC's The Source. Twelve of the concert's songs were later broadcast on American television network Showtime, while nine songs were broadcast on the fledgling music television channel MTV. The video of the concert, which featured thirteen tracks, was released in November 1983 for public purchase on VHS and Betamax. The film was later re-released on Video CD, Laserdisc, and DVD.

2008 remastered DVD

The remastered version of Live at Red Rocks, released in September 2008 on DVD to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the concert, features four tracks that were previously unreleased, as well as "Cry/The Electric Co.", albeit with much of the song's performance edited to remove the "Send in the Clowns" snippet. The remastered version also features an edited version of "Two Hearts Beat as One" to remove a snippet of "Let's Twist". The only song performed at the June 5, 1983 concert that is missing from the remastered version of the film is "I Fall Down", as a camera malfunction prevented its inclusion. The DVD also features PCM stereo, Dolby Digital, and DTS soundtracks, as well as an audio commentary by director Gavin Taylor.

Reception

The film received positive reviews from critics. Andrew Gilstrap of PopMatters gave the remastered version of the film an 8/10, stating, "It's rare that a band can totally transform a scene—especially one with a stage show that boasts charisma as its only special effect—but it's not hyperbole to say that U2 put on a dominating, flawless-despite-mistakes performance. This is the one that put U2 on the map." Pitchfork Media, in their review of the remastered version of Under a Blood Red Sky, said, "...when the group performed at Red Rocks on a rainy June night, with lit torches above a panoramic skyline, the venue provided an ideal backdrop for U2's literally flag-waving music, with everything-- earth, wind, fire-- in place to maximize and heighten the drama of the moment and the songs." Perry Seibert of Allmovie, in his 4.5/5 star review, praises the band's performance and the venue's role in the concert, saying, "the historic Red Rocks venue provides a stirring backdrop for the band's sweeping sound".

The concert is regarded as a watershed moment in U2's career. The band's performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from the film has been cited as one of Rolling Stone's "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll". The magazine said, "[t]he sight of Bono singing the anti-violence anthem 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' while waving a white flag through crimson mist (created by a combination of wet weather, hot lights and the illumination of those crags) became the defining image of U2's warrior-rock spirit and — shown in heavy rotation on MTV — broke the band nationwide."

Track listing

Original release

Several editions of the film featured "Cry/The Electric Co.", despite the song not appearing in the film's track listing. Most editions, though, omitted the song entirely, due to copyright issues related to the lyrical snippet of "Send in the Clowns".

1. "Surrender"
2. "Seconds"
3. "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
4. "October"
5. "New Year's Day"
6. "I Threw a Brick Through a Window"
7. "A Day Without Me"
8. "Gloria"
9. "Party Girl"
10. "11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
11. "I Will Follow"
12. "40"

Remastered edition

The remastered edition of the film, released on DVD in 2008, features four tracks that were previously unreleased and restores "Cry/The Electric Co.".

1. "Out of Control"
2. "Twilight"
3. "An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart"
4. "Surrender"
5. "Two Hearts Beat as One"
6. "Seconds"
7. "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
8. "Cry/The Electric Co."
9. "October"
10. "New Year's Day"
11. "I Threw a Brick Through a Window"
12. "A Day Without Me"
13. "Gloria"
14. "Party Girl"
15. "11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
16. "I Will Follow"
17. "40"

Personnel

• Bono – vocals, guitar on "A Day Without Me"
• The Edge – guitar and keyboards, backing vocals, bass guitar on "40", lead vocals on "Seconds"
• Adam Clayton – bass guitar, backing vocals, guitar on "40"
• Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, backing vocals