U2: Zoo TV—Live from Sydney

Long coveted by music DVD aficionados, U2: Zoo TV—Live from Sydney is a tour de force performance filmed by legendary music video director David Mallet, capturing the Irish pop rock band on their multimedia Zoo TV tour in 1993 promoting the release of Zooropa. Backed by an array of video walls featuring a perpetual barrage of images (historical, industrial, advertising, TV talk shows, etc.) and rapid-fire battery of words and phrases (“everything you know is wrong,” “watch more TV,” etc.), U2 regaled the Sydney audience of 60,000 with a masterful 22-song set, with half of the songs drawn from 1991's experimental/dance-club inflected Achtung Baby (including “Zoo Station,” “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” “One,” “Until the End of the World,” and “Mysterious Ways”) and the similarly-themed Zooropa (“Numb,” “Lemon”). Interspersed throughout are a number of U2 staples, including “New Year's Day,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “With or Without You,” and their powerhouse homage to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Pride (In the Name of Love).” Playing the persona of rock star nonpareil, Bono skips, slides, slinks, strolls, and struts all over the stage and along a runway into the crowd, ably backed by Edge's choppy guitar, Adam Clayton's commanding bass, and Larry Mullen, Jr.'s steady drums. After a solid 90-minute set, the band returned to take the stage for a brilliantly campy encore in which Bono, sporting devil horns, opened with the funky “Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car” and closed on an absolutely lovely note singing the Elvis Presley hit “Can't Help Falling in Love.” Presented in DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, and PCM stereo, this landmark concert from one of the premier rock bands of the past quarter century is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. [Note: this is also available in a two-disc edition with bonus features priced at $32.98.] Aud: P. (R. Pitman)