Today is opening day for U2-3D, but I have tickets for the Saturday show to see it with some very close friends. However, I had a pretty crappy day. If I were Irish, “crappy” would have been substituted for other creative adjectives indicative of their colorful vocabulary.
To help me turn my frown upside down and escape from reality for an hour and a half, I decided to go see U2-3D today. WifeGeeding was even nice enough to accompany me even though she can’t see the 3D effects because she only has one eye. Luckily the ticket dude was nice enough to sell her a discounted ticket.
The last 3D movie I saw was the very memorable Jaws 3D, and I thought I would have to wear those goofy blue/red glasses. But the glasses and technology has changed over the years. For instance, here’s the band with the glasses on at Sundance last week with more of a rainbow type of lens.
And here I am with my 3D glasses which are much bulkier.
It doesn’t matter if you are Geeding or U2 – it’s hard to look cool in these glasses. But I do kinda look like a half-Asian Bono if I may say so myself. But the picture of the dude behind me cracks me up – it’s like he’s trying to squeeze out a fart or something.
As we entered the theater one lady was telling us this was her second time watching this today and that she’s an addict, and someone I never met before said, “Hey Geeding, you better be blogging about this!”
Be sure to wear the glasses. When you take them off, all you see is double vision – as evident from this picture I snapped with my camera phone. If you only have one eye, you will see a clear picture, but since you lack depth perception you won’t see the 3D effects.
OK, on to the show. I expected the 3D effects to be cheesy, but they were amazing. Even during the opening credits you can hear the audience oooh and awe. There’s one part in the beginning where Bono steps off from the screen so friggin’ close to you that you feel like you can touch him (many people actually tried) – and then he makes eye contact! There are also times when you want to tell the person in front of you to put their arms down, then you realize it’s the 3D special effects.
The camera angels are amazing. There are times when you feel like you are Bono because you can see everything he would see as he gets close to the fans. Then there are the overhead shots that make you feel as if you are a ghost hovering here and there. Even flying over Larry Mullen’s drum set is pretty darn cool because you realize this is an angle and place that is rarely seen. Heck, I even noticed he had a box of tissues and a small garbage can next to him; I guess he had a bad case of the sniffles. There are also a few times when Adam or Edge’s guitar pops out of the screen and you almost have to flinch because you think it’s going to poke your eye out. I also thought they did a nice job of creating angles from the fans’ point of view because it made you feel like you were in the middle of the concert surrounded by thousands and thousands of people. One of the coolest crowd shots happened when they all start to jump up and down – the 3D effect makes it pretty darn sweet. There’s also some animation that’s included which adds to the excitement, and seeing the lighting special effects in 3D makes it that just more amazing.
I have to admit, and no pun intended, but after a while I started to feel a bit of vertigo. I left with my stomach a bit queezy. The credits start to roll when Yahweh is being played, and it’s worth staying for the credits to see the animation and a couple more shots of the band in concert. Once Yahweh is over, you can start to head out. However, a lot of the crowd was a bit disapointed that 40 wasn’t played for the last song.
I can’t wait to see it again Saturday.
