Occasio

Concert DVD released: U2360° at the Rose Bowl

I recently wrote a review of the new concert DVD U2360° at the Rose Bowl. Here's a teaser.

The release of U2360° at the Rose Bowl couldn’t have come at a better time. Whether by coincidence, synchronicity, or divine providence, I am again holding tickets for a postponed U2 tour (I also had tickets for the Vertigo tour finale in Hawaii which was delayed eight months). So, as I write this I should be standing in the GA line for the June 6th Anaheim, CA, show, but it’s a wonderful consolation to watch the new DVD and offer a few reflections.

On October 25, 2009, I attended the filming of the concert with a group of friends. We ended up with great spots on the floor about twenty feet in front of The Edge. The crowd was in prime U2 form, and the atmosphere was exuberant, so I wasn’t sure how the DVD would compare. Could my 50″ flat screen adequately represent the ethos, emotion, and energy of a front and center live performance?

Read the whole review here at the Interference website.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu with U2 at the Rose Bowl

As part of U2's celebration of grace at the Rose Bowl on October 25, 2009, Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave an inspiring pre-recorded speech. Here's what he had to say.

The same people who marched for civil rights in the United States are the same people who protested apartheid in South Africa, who are the same people who worked for peace in Ireland, and are the same people who fought against debt slavery in the jubilee year 2000, who are the same BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE that I see when I look around this place tonight in 360 degrees. WE are those people. WE are the same person. Because our voices were heard millions more of our brothers and sisters are alive thanks to the miracle of AIDS drugs and malaria drugs. Ahhhh! They will be doctors, they will be nurses, they will be scientists who will live to solve GREAT problems. Yes, there are many obstacles. Of course, there are always road blocks in the way of justice. But God will put a wind at our back and a rising road ahead if we work with each other as ONE... ONE!

The DVD of this concert was just released this week. If you would like to read my entire review of the concert check out the U2 Interference site here.