![]() įilming costs were estimated at US$250,000, which included the illumination of the cliffs, a mobile sound recording unit, and a helicopter to film aerial footage. Because The Tube was not a "one-band show", Gerrie said he would have to sell the idea to Channel 4 television, but McGuinness insisted on giving Gerrie the rights to the video and letting Channel 4 broadcast the video without payment. Gerrie initially assumed McGuinness was interested in creating a video of a single song however, McGuinness was hoping to create an hour-long special. In early 1983, McGuinness contacted Malcolm Gerrie, producer of the British television series The Tube, about shooting a video of U2 at Red Rocks and possibly featuring it on The Tube. ![]() Planning difficulties and inclement weather on the day of the performance threatened the filming. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the site of the concert, pictured in 2006. Concert promoter Barry Fey, who presented U2's shows in the southwestern United States, saw the group's potential and successfully lobbied for them to perform at Red Rocks. It was very photogenic." U2's manager Paul McGuinness had long wanted to film the group for a concert video to highlight their success as a live act and to promote them to American audiences still unfamiliar with the Irish band. Bassist Adam Clayton said, "From the moment we saw it, we were thinking, 'Some day we will play here'. Following their 11 May concert at Rainbow Music Hall in Denver, concert promoter Chuck Morris took the band to the nearby Red Rocks Amphitheatre-a natural amphitheatre located between sandstone cliffs in the Rocky Mountains. In 1981, U2 were on their Boy Tour to promote their debut album, Boy. 1.2 Weather challenges and preparations.2.2 Weather challenges and preparations.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". ![]() ![]() A remastered edition of U2 Live at Red Rocks was released on DVD in September 2008 with previously unreleased tracks, coinciding with a remastered edition of Under a Blood Red Sky. The video, along with Under a Blood Red Sky, helped establish U2's reputation as remarkable live performers and boosted Red Rocks' stature as a live venue. Segments of U2 Live at Red Rocks were shown in regular rotation on MTV, and were also broadcast on other television networks.Ĭritics praised the concert and the video, and it subsequently became a best-seller. The rain and the torch-lit atmosphere of the surroundings made U2's performance dramatic. The concert was almost cancelled because of the inclement weather, but the band had invested in the filming with Island Records and concert promoter Barry Fey and wished to proceed with the gig. It depicts the band's performance at Red Rocks on a rain-soaked evening. The film was arranged by U2 management to showcase the band's live act and to promote them to American audiences. The video was directed by Gavin Taylor and produced by Rick Wurpel and Doug Stewart. It accompanied a 1983 live album entitled Under a Blood Red Sky, on which two tracks from the film appear. Originally released in 1984 on videocassette, U2 Live at Red Rocks was the band's first video release. It was recorded on 5 June 1983, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, United States on the group's War Tour. Highlights of the video (which has twice as many songs as the eponymous album and draws on one concert instead of three) include “An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart,” a journey from the apocalyptic into the transcendent from 1980’s Boy “October,” one of the band’s most sincere (and least dogmatic) Christian numbers and an exhilarating rendition of “Gloria.” Many of the performances of songs from War (released a few months earlier) received heavy MTV exposure as de facto videos, which built anticipation for The Unforgettable Fire and paved the way for the band’s graduation to global-superstar level the following year.U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky is a concert film by Irish rock band U2. Recorded at the famous outdoor arena in Denver in 1983, the set, drawn from U2’s first three albums, represents the peak of the Irish group’s days as purveyors of political “football-chant rock” (as some have called it) before producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois took U2 in a more ambient direction with The Unforgettable Fire. One of the very first home video concert films, Under a Blood Red Sky is, for U2 fans, an invaluable document of a key moment in the band’s career.
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