U2360° at the Rose Bowl
Mercury Records ****
ROCK DVD:With U2 temporarily grounded due to Bono's back injury, this impressive document will more than do as a showcase for the band's latest onslaught. The concert was recorded last year in front of an audience pushing 100,000, their biggest-ever
US show. (The gig was also streamed via YouTube, the first live streaming of a full-length stadium concert.) The show itself will be familiar to anyone who attended 2009's Croke Park gigs: a greatest hits assault course infiltrated by selections from U2's most recent (and one of their weakest) albums, No Line on the Horizon. What gazumps the songs (in the playing of which there are, by this point, few surprises) is the staging, which is astonishing – a crab-style overhead structure that houses everything required to make a good band seem great. Extras include a Blu-Ray version and
a documentary featuring new interviews with the band, manager Paul McGuinness and the tour production crew. Until Bono is back on his feet then . . . See u2.com