U2-ZOO TV-Live FromSydney-1992

Tue 7th Nov, 2006 in Music Reviews

13 years ago I was sitting  in my office at a major airline here in Sydney. The phone rang and it was someone from our Melbourne ticket office who sounded a bit stressed. He began to tell me he had some guy from a rock band in front of him who wanted to make a number of changes to flights and the like. To help him out I told him to fax me all the details and I would see how I could assist. I asked, “By the way, what is the name of the group?” He said, “I never heard of them. Let me check. They are called U2.”

Wondering which rock my co-worker had been living under, I gladly helped out the U2 travel director with the changes that needed to be made. He invited me over to their suites at Circular Quay and I exchanged some travel documents, had a beer, met Paul McGuiness (U2’s manager) and was given four tickets to each gig and an invite to the after show party at the Sydney Football Stadium the night that the concert on this DVD was recorded. A very fortuitous turn of events and a grand time over those two nights was had by all. I thank U2 to this day and mostly I thank the ignorance of one person!

U2-ZOO TV, Live from Sydney, is a document of the gig on the 27th of November 1993 shot at the Sydney Football Stadium. This was nearly the end of a tour that could only be described as somewhat phatasmagorical and slightly absurd. From their political leanings and screamings through the years, this mix of technology and music and politics was a statement. What was the statement? From my viewpoint, it was about the politics of TV and media and our culture taken to the ‘nth’ degree. I have this pet peeve about concerts these days where people just sit and watch. For this gig, well you could sit and watch or you could dance and react. You had a choice. My problem with other concerts is that it is all just about the music and sitting and watching musicians, well you may disagree, but if it moves you, sitting is just not an option.

This DVD release is fantastic to look at and listen to. With nearly ½ of the songs performed from either Actung Baby or Zooropa you get a very good idea of what U2 were about in the early nineties. The anthems are here too. The interaction of The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton is simply what you would expect from U2 on tracks such as New Years Day, Angel of Harlem, Pride, and With Or Without You. Bono, well he was superb as front man of U2 (and as Mephisto) and had the crowd enchanted.

Simply, over these two nights in Sydney, just about every U2 track you would want to hear was played. I do wonder if they had intended to record both evenings and compile the best of the shows, but that had to be nixed due to the alcohol intake of one Adam Clayton. The only U2 gig that was ever played without their bass player  was on November 26th 1993 when his roadie Stuart Morgan ably filled his shoes. Rumours that Naomi Campbell had tied him to his bed in Sydney circulated through the stadium, but they could not be substantiated.

Now with U2 back in town, this is a first-rate look at them at their peak in the last decade. A good primer to watch before you come out and see them again. ZOO-TV was definitely cutting edge in the staging that was used. From the use of Trabants as lighting rigs to the phone calls to politicians and stars along the way, we were taken on a mysterious journey. But the rock and roll was still what we came to hear. And with the eve of their long awaited Sydney concerts on the horizon, we look forward to seeing U2 in Sydney for the 21st century for the first time. I look forward to seeing you their dancing along with thousands of others.
Rock and Roll!