Gimme Shelter (Apocalypse Sound AS 186)
Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY – October 30th, 2009: Vertigo, Magnificent, Because The Night (w/Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith), I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (w / Bruce Springsteen), Gimme Shelter (w / Will.I.Am, Fergie, and Mick Jagger), Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (w / Mick Jagger), Beautiful Day.
MTV Music Awards, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany – November 5th, 2009: One, Magnificent, Sunday Bloody Sunday (w / Jay-Z). MTV Music Awards, O2 World Arena, Berlin, Germany – November 5th, 2009: award ceremony.
Saturday Night Live, Studio 8-H Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY – September 26th, 2009: Breathe, Moment Of Surrender, Ultraviolet (partial).
Island Life, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, England – May 28th, 2009: One (w / Baaba Maal), Vertigo.
Spectacle with Elvis Costello, 2009 CTV, Canada – September 15th, 2009: Mysterious Ways (Elvis Costello band), interview, Stuck In Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (Bono, Edge, Elvis Costello band), interview, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), interview, Two Shots Of Happy One Shot Of Sad, interview, Pump It Up / Get On Your Boots / Subterranean Homesick Blues.
Late Late Show, RTE 1 TV Ireland, Dublin, Ireland – May 29th, 2009: Magnificent, interview with Pat Kenny.
Comic Relief Does Top Of The Pops, BBC Television Centre, London, England – February 26th, 2009: Get On Your Boots.
The Oprah Winfrey Show, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC – January 19th, 2009: America’s Song (Bono, will.i.am, Mary J Bildge, Seal & Faith Hill). BBC Radio Theatre, London, England – January 27th, 2009: Intro., Get On Your Boots, Beautiful Day, Breathe.
Gimme Shelter on Apocalypse Sound collects together various U2 television appearances over the past year. All of clips were taped off of the air and all are in excellent quality making this a wonderful document summary of U2’s activities in the past year. The telecasts originate from the US, UK and Europe and are set (more or less) in reverse chronological order.
One of the exceptions is the first forty minute segment taken from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert. This was telecast from Madison Square Garden on October 30th, 2009 and is fitting for expressing U2’s current ethic of being both the preserver of rock from the past and the enabler of present and future pop music. As such their set at the RNR HOF celebration bash reflects that. The begin with their own two songs, “Vertigo” and “Magnificent” from their two most recent albums How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and No Line on the Horizon. Bono then brings out Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen, who are also joined by Paul Shaffer, to sing “Because The Night.”
Bono then gets into a short speech saying: “You can hear in one of rock and roll’s great cathedral that is Madison Square Garden. Thinking at this moment all the pilgrims, all the pioneers that got us all here. The saints and the heretics, the poets and the punks that now make up the hall of fame. It’s a dangerous thing, this business of building up idols. But at least rock and roll is not at its best about worshipping sacred cows.” Springsteen remains on stage and sings “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” with U2.
Will.I.Am and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas come onstage unannounced and the band start playing The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” Right before the first verse Mick Jagger comes prancing on stage to a huge ovation and sings the song with Bono and the rest. Jagger remains onstage and helps sing “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” and U2 finish with “Beautiful Day.”
The second clip is from the November MTV video awards in Berlin, Germany. It begins with the three song set played at the Brandenburg Gate in the middle of the city before an enormous audience. “One” is particularly dramatic in this setting. “Magnificent” is played without the greetings as was done on the 360 tour. Finally, U2 close with “Sunday Bloody Sunday” with the gate bathed in green lights Jay-Z coming onstage halfway through the song to add his talent, rapping about revolution and singing a bit of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.” This part ends with U2 accepting their award for the best live act.
U2’s appearance on the season premier of “Saturday Night Live” with host Megan Fox. This includes a commercial for their appearance, a couple of gags from the show and their incendiary performances of “Breathe,” “Moment Of Surrender,” and “Ultraviolet” during the closing credits. This is followed by the Island Records fiftieth anniversary celebration in Shepherd’s Bush in London. It features Baaba Maal performing a cover of “One,” joined onstage by U2. They follow this with an acoustic, funky arrangement of “Vertigo.”
The longest part of this DVD is the entire episode of “Spectacle” on Canadian TV. Hosted by Elvis Costello, this episode began the second season and he interviews Bono and The Edge. This was taped at the Masonic Lodge in Toronto. Costello introduces them as the “last rock stars” during the show. The band performed album tracks (“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)”) and a lesser-known gem (“Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad”) which Bono says he wrote for Frank Sinatra. They then joined in a medley of their recent single “Get On Your Boots” with Costello’s classic “Pump It Up.”
Three short clips follow from Irish, British and American television including a show at the Kennedy Center hosted by Oprah Winfrey to celebrate Barak Obama’s inauguration. The final clip is a three song set from January for the BBC. In general the sound and video quality of the clips is excellent and overall this is a very nice compilation for the U2 collector.
