U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky is a concert film by Irish rock band U2. It was recorded on 5 June 1983 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, United States, on the group's War Tour. Originally released in 1984 on videocassette, U2 Live at Red Rocks was the band's first video release. It accompanied a 1983 live album entitled Under a Blood Red Sky, on which two tracks from the film appear. The video was directed by Gavin Taylor and produced by Rick Wurpel and Doug Stewart.
The film was arranged by U2 management to showcase the band's live act and to promote them to American audiences. It depicts the band's performance at Red Rocks on a rain-soaked evening. The concert was almost cancelled because of the inclement weather, but the band had invested in the filming with Island Records and concert promoter Barry Fey and wished to proceed with the gig. The rain and the torch-lit atmosphere of the surroundings made U2's performance dramatic. Segments of U2 Live at Red Rocks were shown in regular rotation on MTV, and were also broadcast on other television networks.
Critics praised the concert and the video, and it subsequently became a best-seller. The video, along with Under a Blood Red Sky, helped establish U2's reputation as remarkable live performers and boosted Red Rocks' stature as a live venue. A remastered edition of U2 Live at Red Rocks was released on DVD in September 2008 with previously unreleased tracks, coinciding with a remastered edition of Under a Blood Red Sky. Rolling Stone selected the film's performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" as one of the "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll".
Production
Planning and organization
In 1981, U2 were on their Boy Tour to promote their debut album, Boy. Following their 11 May concert at Rainbow Music Hall in Denver, concert promoter Chuck Morris took the band to the nearby Red Rocks Amphitheatre—a natural amphitheatre located between sandstone cliffs in the Rocky Mountains. Bassist Adam Clayton said, "From the moment we saw it, we were thinking, 'Some day we will play here'. It was very photogenic." U2's manager Paul McGuinness had long wanted to film the group for a concert video to highlight their success as a live act and to promote them to American audiences still unfamiliar with the Irish band. Concert promoter Barry Fey, who presented U2's shows in the southwestern United States, saw the group's potential and successfully lobbied for them to perform at Red Rocks.
In early 1983, McGuinness contacted Malcolm Gerrie, producer of the British television series The Tube, about shooting a video of U2 at Red Rocks and possibly featuring it on The Tube. Gerrie initially assumed McGuinness was interested in creating a video of a single song; however, McGuinness was hoping to create an hour-long special. Because The Tube was not a "one-band show", Gerrie said he would have to sell the idea to Channel 4 television, but McGuinness insisted on giving Gerrie the rights to the video and letting Channel 4 broadcast the video without payment.
Filming costs were estimated at , which included the illumination of the cliffs, a mobile sound recording unit, and a helicopter to film aerial footage. With U2 only able to invest $30,000, Fey agreed to help finance the project, along with Island Records. A joint production company called "U2 at Red Rocks Associates" was subsequently established to fund the filming; the three parties split costs and shared profits from television rights and video sales. The radio rights were sold to American radio network NBC for inclusion in its concert series The Source. Throughout the United States leg of their War Tour, U2 filled venues with capacities similar to that of Red Rocks, leading the band to anticipate that the filming would take place before a sold-out audience and that the concert's revenues would help to offset production costs.
Fey's corporation, Feyline Productions, coordinated with his production company, TTS, to manage the videotaping. Director Gavin Taylor and Gerrie were selected as director and production associate, respectively. It was Taylor's first visit to the United States, and it was the first time he filmed a major outdoor rock concert. Local producers Rick Wurpel and Doug Stewart were also on the staff. Taylor's and McGuinness' original plans were to feature the video on The Tube, but trade unions objected to their limited representation on the concert crew. However, a compromise was reached, allowing 15 minutes of the concert to be broadcast on The Tube.
Weather challenges and preparations
The group's Red Rocks concert was scheduled for 5 June 1983, but poor weather that day threatened to cancel the show. Torrential rain soaked the area, and flash flood warnings were issued. The weather made it difficult for the crew members to transport the band's gear and video equipment through the mountains to the amphitheatre. The conditions also caused many technical problems for the filming and concert crews, hampering stage construction and endangering the safety of those setting up lighting and sound equipment. Crew members used squeegees to keep rain away from the wires, although the assistant of recording engineer Randy Ezratty still received an electrical shock while setting up a lighting truss. Between 15 and 20 fans were already camped out in the venue's front rows early in the morning, and lead singer Bono accommodated them by serving coffee and tea. The Alarm and Divinyls cancelled their opening sets for safety reasons, and many fans thought the entire concert had been cancelled. The show was scheduled for 6:00 p.m., and the band had until 1:00 p.m. to decide whether to move the concert elsewhere or risk the weather worsening, which could have necessitated a cancellation.
U2 and McGuinness thought that too much money had been invested to abort the concert, and they sympathised with the fans who had travelled to the venue in the poor weather. Accordingly, they decided to proceed with the concert as planned. Many of the crew were not in agreement and wanted to walk off the set. Ezratty said: "The guys from the American sound company were not at all enamored with being out with this band. I can remember them saying, 'Oh, we could be out with Asia right now!' So they decided to pull the plug on it. They said, 'It's a matter of safety. We're going to pull the system down and we're not going to do it.'" McGuinness dissuaded the crew with an impromptu speech, a moment on which Ezratty recollected: "Paul called everybody down into the bowels of Red Rocks where they fed everybody. It was cold and raining and everybody was shivering, and Paul made a speech, saying in no uncertain terms that we were going to proceed as one, that the band's entire livelihood was riding on this, and that this was one of the most pivotal moments in their career. He said that if it were deemed that this show was in any way possible to happen, it was going to happen, and it was not going to be tolerated that anybody would do anything but add their effort to a successful and positive outcome. I just stood there and went, 'This is so cool. This is like a general rallying the troops.'"
Bono informed the fans waiting outside the venue that the show would be general admission, and told everyone to get as close to the stage as possible, regardless of the seating assignment on their tickets. Fey wanted to cancel the show but was flying to Denver from the US Festival in California with Morris when the decision to continue was made. After arriving in Denver, Fey called the amphitheatre asking to where the concert was being moved, unaware that the band had decided to proceed with the show. Guitarist the Edge said that when Fey learned of the group's decision, he could not believe it. The Edge said, "I don't think he'd ever heard anything quite so crazy in his life, going on with an outdoor show in the worst kind of weather, rain and wind in the mountains. He thought we'd lost our minds completely." Bono went on the radio that day to confirm that the Red Rocks concert was still taking place, and to promote a concert that the band planned for the following night at the CU Events Center to accommodate fans who were unable to attend the Red Rocks show. Clayton said during the band's radio interviews, "We know it's raining now but we're sure it won't be when the show starts, so please come." Two hours before the concert, the downpour subsided and settled into a misty drizzle. The 9,000-person venue had sold out, but because of the inclement weather, only about 4,400 fans attended.
Filming and post-production
Taylor had a crew of six camera operators, comprising three Denver cinematographers and three others that he brought. Due to the thick fog and heavy rain on the night of the concert, very little aerial footage was suitable for the final edit. Although two "master angle" cameras on tripods provided wide and overview shots, most of the camera operators filmed with hand-held cameras. Much of the concert footage contains red streaks, which was caused by the cameras' tube sensors when they were pointed directly at light sources. This prompted a notice on the future home video release informing viewers that the coloured lines in the footage "are a result of special lighting effects, and are not caused by a tape defect or your equipment". The weather was cold enough that steam was coming out of the band members' mouths, and the Edge had difficulty playing guitar because his hands felt "frozen stiff". Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. believes the weather contributed a dramatic atmosphere to the concert. Reduced attendance at the event was largely obscured in the concert footage by the thick mist that filled the air that evening, as well as strategic shots of the crowd. Having seen Bono's interactions with an audience at a show in Gateshead years earlier, Taylor decided to have a thrust built at the front of the Red Rocks stage to reduce the gap between the audience and Bono, and to allow him to be surrounded by fans on three sides. Sound mixing was managed by Steve Lillywhite, who produced U2's first three studio albums. Ezratty's recording company, Effanel Music, was hired to provide their portable multitrack recording system.
Before U2 took the stage, Fey introduced the concert, making a reference to Bob Dylan's live album Hard Rain. The concert itself featured 18 songs, with a set list identical to that of several previous shows on the tour. "Out of Control" opened the 14-song main set, which concluded with "Gloria". A four-song encore followed, with "40" being the final song performed. The band played songs from the tour's supporting album War (1983), as well as material from their first two albums, Boy (1980) and October (1981). "Party Girl"—a B-side from the single "A Celebration" (1982), and the non-album single "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (1980) were played during the encore.
During the song "The Electric Co.", Bono left the stage and climbed up a lighting rig to display a white flag. In a 2004 interview, the Edge said that Bono "scared the shit out of [him]" by climbing onto the rig and risking electrocution by the live wires in close proximity. Bono said "good night" to the crowd on nearly a half a dozen occasions so that the post-production crew would have several choices of songs with which to end the film. Backstage, the band members were disappointed that the crowd did not initially chant "how long to sing this song?" after the band had left the stage following the final song, "40", which had become a tradition. However, tour manager Dennis Sheehan hid underneath the crowd barrier and began singing the refrain into a microphone without being asked. Eventually, the crowd joined in; the film was edited to disguise the fact that the singing was organised.