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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 U2. It was the band's first video release, originally released in November 1984 on VHS and Betamax, and later on Video CD and Laserdisc. The film was recorded on the second leg of the band's War Tour at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado on 5 June 1983. A remastered edition of the film was released on DVD in September 2008, featuring previously unreleased tracks.
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Encyclopedia
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 U2. It was the band's first video release, originally released in November 1984 on VHS and Betamax, and later on Video CD and Laserdisc. The film was recorded on the second leg of the band's War Tour at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado on 5 June 1983. A remastered edition of the film was released on DVD in September 2008, featuring previously unreleased tracks. This coincided with a remastered edition of the companion live album Under a Blood Red Sky, on which two tracks from the Live at Red Rocks film appear.
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. The band's performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from the film has been cited as one of Rolling Stones "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."
History
Planning and production
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. Concert promoter Barry Fey fought hard to have the open-air Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado chosen. Eventually, it was agreed Red Rocks would be the site of the film, as McGuiness wanted to showcase the band to American audiences who were not very familiar with the band. Steve Lillywhite was flown in to handle the sound mixing, while Feyline worked with its production company, TTS.
Gavin Taylor, director of the British telivision show The Tube, was selected to direct the film. Taylor had planned on having The Tube broadcast the U2 concert in its entirety in order to feature the band. Unfortunately, only 15 minutes of footage were 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.
Filming
U2's planned performance for June 5, 1983 faced the threat of cancellation, on account of poor weather. Torrential downpours of rain soaked the area, triggering flash flood warnings and posing many technical problems for the filming and concert crews. Crew members used squeegees to keep rain away from the wires. The fans that would attend would have to make a long hike through the Rocky Mountains in the rain, making the potential turnout of fans disappointing. The Alarm and the Divinyls canceled their opening sets for U2, and there were many who thought the entire concert had been canceled. Still, the band, crew, and McGuiness thought that too much money had already been invested into the planned filming to abort, and they 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 where the concert was being moved to.
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. Bono went on the radio to confirm the Red Rocks concert was continuing as planned, as well as to promote the Boulder show. Although the fans that did attend Red Rocks were excited and anxious, only half of the venue's 9,450 person capacity was actually filled; of the more than 6,000 tickets that were sold, only about 4,400 fans attended. Much of the focus on the concert's attendance was disguised by the thick mist that filled the air that evening.
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 this is what you've got 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 burnt into the film from the cameramen aiming the cameras directly into the venue's lights.
For some songs, footage from the film was used for music videos shown on MTV. This was in lieu of professionally shot 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. The reason for this is so that the post-production crew could edit the film with several choices of which song to end with.
2008 remastered DVD release
The remastered version of Live at Red Rocks, released in September 2008 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.
Track listing
Original release
The original version of the film was released on VHS, Video CD, and Laserdisc. 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".
- "Surrender"
- "Seconds"
- "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
- "October"
- "New Year's Day"
- "I Threw a Brick Through a Window"
- "A Day Without Me"
- "Gloria"
- "Party Girl"
- "11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
- "I Will Follow"
- "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.". The DVD also features PCM stereo, Dolby Digital, and DTS soundtracks, as well as an audio commentary by director Gavin Taylor.
- "Out of Control"
- "Twilight"
- "An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart"
- "Surrender"
- "Two Hearts Beat as One"
- "Seconds"
- "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
- "Cry/The Electric Co."
- "October"
- "New Year's Day"
- "I Threw a Brick Through a Window"
- "A Day Without Me"
- "Gloria"
- "Party Girl"
- "11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
- "I Will Follow"
- "40"
Personnel
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