Popbitch’s regular Old Jokes Home recently featured the following gem: “Bono is at a U2 concert in Glasgow when he asks the audience for some quiet. Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands. He says into the microphone: "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies." A voice from near the front pierces the silence: "Well, stop fucking clapping then."”

A gag I’m reminded off waiting for the 1993 Zoo TV performance by U2 in Australia to actually start. Recalling David Bowie’s legendary excessive ‘Glass Spider Tour’, the approach seems to be a no-expense-spared one. Yet one can’t help thinking less gadgetry would mean more of U2’s wealth addressing third-world debt.

It was the video for 1991’s ‘The Fly’ that inspired the whole Zoo TV tour, described as “a bewildering but extravagant array of hundreds of video screens, upside-down flying Trabant cars, mock transmission towers, satellite TV links, subliminal text messages, and over-the-top stage characters "The Fly", "Mirror-Ball Man" and "(Mister) MacPhisto" by our good friends at Wikipedia. The entry continues: “U2 used the show to mock the excesses of rock and roll by appearing to embrace these very excesses. Live prank phone calls to President Bush caused controversy, as did link-ups to war-torn Sarajevo.”

Yet for all U2’s style, they’ve got plenty of substance. They’ve a back catalogue to die for, for starters. The pick of which sees the crowd unite to hold lighters in the air for the epic ‘One’.

Whilst the first disc chronicles the concert in full, the second includes bonus tracks and documentaries. Unfortunately, there’s nothing as hilariously inane as on the band’s earlier Rattle and Hum DVD. However, this is must-see TV nonetheless.
(4/5)