ZooTV Outside Broadcast Special
YAY. Finally a torrent I was looking forward most to completing the last couple of days has finished downloading yesterday:
The ZooTV Outside Broadcast Special From 1992.
Not like the commercially released "ZooTV Live From Sydney"-DVD, this special so greatly illustrates the whole concept, live feeling and greatness of the ZooTV-Tour. For example, you get a lot of crowd footage that shows you how big and impressive the stage actually was, not to mention the trabants used ;). Speaking of concept, it's the interferences and clips that really make it, for example the sequence of "A Thanksgiving Prayer" By William S. Burroughs (watch the video sequence and read a transcription here; Highly recommended), which is shown just before "Bullet The Blue Sky" starts ... or the interview snippets where U2 explain ZooTV *g*.
But most importantly for me, you get an idea of why ZooTV was what it was: a blatant, elaborate (and also humorous at times) attempt to show how fake and manipulative TV is/can be, full of irony/sarcasm/cynism and hidden meanings, aiming to make you think about society and the world... - and America's foreign policy of that time.
Some might think it's bullshit or self-indulgent and presumptuous the way how they put their 'criticism' on stage (eg with Bono's alter egoes, the gigantic screens and what they showed during the show, or the Sarajevo link-ups), but for me, this is pure art.
And btw, when you are aware of who William S. Burroughs was, the video for Last Night On Earth suddenly makes so much sense (Burroughs had a guest appearance in that video, shortly before he died).
The ZooTV Outside Broadcast Special From 1992.
Not like the commercially released "ZooTV Live From Sydney"-DVD, this special so greatly illustrates the whole concept, live feeling and greatness of the ZooTV-Tour. For example, you get a lot of crowd footage that shows you how big and impressive the stage actually was, not to mention the trabants used ;). Speaking of concept, it's the interferences and clips that really make it, for example the sequence of "A Thanksgiving Prayer" By William S. Burroughs (watch the video sequence and read a transcription here; Highly recommended), which is shown just before "Bullet The Blue Sky" starts ... or the interview snippets where U2 explain ZooTV *g*.
But most importantly for me, you get an idea of why ZooTV was what it was: a blatant, elaborate (and also humorous at times) attempt to show how fake and manipulative TV is/can be, full of irony/sarcasm/cynism and hidden meanings, aiming to make you think about society and the world... - and America's foreign policy of that time.
Some might think it's bullshit or self-indulgent and presumptuous the way how they put their 'criticism' on stage (eg with Bono's alter egoes, the gigantic screens and what they showed during the show, or the Sarajevo link-ups), but for me, this is pure art.
And btw, when you are aware of who William S. Burroughs was, the video for Last Night On Earth suddenly makes so much sense (Burroughs had a guest appearance in that video, shortly before he died).