Bono on stage in a scene from U23D.

3ality Digital

The ultimate world band, U2, is in the spotlight in the ultimate concert film, U23D, which puts IMAX movie audiences not only in the audience, but right on stage with Ireland’s best export since Guinness — lead singer Bono, guitarist The Edge, bass guitarist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.

Shot in digital 3D during their Vertigo tour — mostly on March 1 and 2, 2006, at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina — this is a you-are-there experience that is breathtaking in its very personal, armchair experience.

Director Catherine Owens, an Irish artist living in New York who has been the director of visual content for four of U2’s multi-media tours, has captured the vibrancy and excitement of the concerts. Her cameras swoop over the audience sometimes for dizzying looks at the thousands and thousands of fans and the vastness of the stadium. It’s almost frightening to see that many people of one mind. Sometimes, when the camera pulls back for a long shot and you see all those arms waving aloft at the front of the screen in 3-D, one pauses to wonder whether they’re on the screen or in the IMAX audience. It’s that real.

Yet, amazingly, the film wasn’t only shot on those two nights in Buenos Aires. Small bits of footage from concerts in Mexico City, Santiago, Chile, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, have been seamlessly incorporated into the Buenos Aires footage in order to get certain specialized angles. You’d never guess. Even more amazingly, all those closeups of the sweat-drenched Bono were actually filmed in a cameras-only show the night before the two public concerts in Buenos Aires.

Technical stuff aside, however, the real reasons to see U23D are the larger-than-life stage presences and galvanizing performances of Ireland’s favorite band. Bono and Clayton move out into the audience on long ramps throughout the show to get closer to their fans. Shots of the audience, in musical frenzy mode, underline the fervor they generate among fans.

Behind them, images flash on giant lighted-bead video curtains, whether it’s shots of the band members themselves or some of Bono’s one-world messages. At one point the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights flashes on screen; as they’re read by a woman, the human hurricane of the audience is silenced momentarily. Earlier, during “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own,” an enormous stylized digital image of Bono himself seems to come off those curtains and sing by itself on stage.

The special effects are in synch with the music — when U2 sings “Beautiful Day,” a bank of powerful spotlights behind them light up the stadium. But it’s the performers themselves — and the energy of the audience — that are the real grabbers. At times, Bono seems about to take flight off the screen and land right in your movie seat. During “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” there’s a long shot of a huge swath of the audience bouncing up and down, unnervingly making them look as though they’re ingredients in a giant skillet that’s being tossed up and down by some gigantic unseen chef.

When Bono sings “Bullet the Blue Sky,” he’s outlined by only a spotlight while the stadium goes dark and hundreds of small lights from candles and cell phones sway in time to the music. It’s hypnotic.

“Pride (In the Name of Love)” is turned into a giant sing-along (who knew so many young South American fans could sing all the words in English?) For “One,” whose title is flashed above the band in several languages, U2’s message of peace and co-existence in one-world is underscored as is their message of “question authority,” which comes across in a dazzling moment as giant words come flying off the screen in 3-D, urging viewers to pay attention to world issues because knowledge is power.

One of their most popular songs — “With or Without You” — serves as their encore, a haunting song that is echoed by the audience.

If you’ve only known U2 from their music, you will be bowled over by their artistry on stage and their masterful use of technology to get their message across. Even if you have seen them in concert, unless you’ve been in the first row or actually been on stage with them, you haven’t seen anything like this.

****U23D

Starring: Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.

Rated: G.

mjanuson@projo.com