Originally posted by zbych:[..]
Its a crime that such an E-P-I-C version is ruined by interferences early zoo tv style, the whole Australian “clean” footage should have been released long ago, since it was shot on film ... the blu ray would be handy , then again it’s 10 years since u23d the technology is rather going away frome home TVs and no Blu-ray :/
Originally posted by BelfastBoy:[..]
Totally agree. If you're going to include a song performance in a documentary, let the whole thing play from start to finish! The random overlays really disrupt the concert footage. On that note, it frustrates the hell out of me knowing that sensational Lovetown footage exists in this sort of high quality. It's always been said that the band film huge amounts of shows, so it amazes me that nobody on the inside has ever thought 'You know what, there's some great stuff here. Maybe we could do something with this'.
Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
Agreed, but keep in mind that they're extremely self-conscious and perfectionist when it comes to their own work, and they probably feel that something that was filmed just for "internal reference" is in no way meant to be seen by the masses. And they're partly right - there's only a small amount of fans that would be interested in buying a 20, 25, 30, 35 year old recording of a "standard" U2 show which wasn't recorded up to the highest cinematic standards. How many of these DVDs would they sell in 2018, when less and less physical albums are being sold? 5k worldwide? Probably not worth the time and effort they would need to put in it.
Originally posted by BelfastBoy:[..]
Sadly you're correct from a rational / financial / business perspective. But I'm a fan, I just want to see more stuff from the archives and screw the cost lol!
But, just for consideration, the Paris concert that came with the super deluxe JT reissue a few years back. IMO it's not a great example of a proshot concert in terms of technical merit. Very good performance but the presentation (camera angles, editing etc) isn't great, yet for some reason this was the JT concert selected for large-scale public release at that time. The point I'm making is that, while I agree that the band are self-critical and analytical to the point where they end up paralysed by total indecision (especially when recording studio albums), they do occasionally throw up surprises like the Paris concert. If they didn't want to remaster and release entire archival concerts, how about something like the Led Zeppelin DVD, that would offer a highlights of the U2's performances over an extended period of time, a few key songs from each era? I know it's never going to happen but hey, I can dream!
Just kidding. I think Paris 87 was intended to be professionally filmed and so they did - but truth is that they didn't have the means to do it "properly" (as opposed to subsequent tours), so the result does not look as professional and complete as more recent filmings. I doubt they filmed many other 1987 shows in their enterity and with the number of cameras required for official releasing –and most of Paris already existed in proshot quality– so I can understand why they kind of just went ahead with it. The third leg was covered by R&H anyway so...