"Rattle and Hum" - U2

Film and Video

Track Listing:

Background Information

Rattle and Hum was a full theatrical release for U2 in conjunction with Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Phil Joanou throughout 1987 following U2 on The Joshua Tree tour, and the film debuted on October 27, 1988 with a release in Ireland, with releases following around the world including Australia (Nov 3), UK, Canada and USA (Nov 4), Netherlands (Nov 10), Denmark and Portugal (Nov 11), and Germany (Nov 17). In the USA market the film grossed $8.6million. The film runs 99 minutes, and is a mix of black and white and colour footage. An accompanying album was released on October 10, 1988, and contains many of the songs featured in the film, although the film does contain alternate versions of some songs, and includes additional songs not featured on the album. The title Rattle and Hum is taken from a lyric from “Bullet the Blue Sky” from the album The Joshua Tree.

The home video release was February 21, 1989 in Europe and many other regions throughout the world. In North America the home video was released the following day on February 22, 1989. The initial video release was done in VHS and Beta formats. The home video release was promoted in the US with a radio sweepstakes, and with special audio and video displays in shop. The videos were released in standard videocassette packaging as well as a long box for record shops and the like. Initial suggested pricing of the home video cassette was $24.95 (higher in Canada!) The film was released on DVD on November 23, 1999 in the USA, UMD on October 25, 2005, HD-DVD on August 8, 2006 in the USA, Blu-ray on June 3, 2008 in the USA. The film has also been released in Laser Disc format, Video CD format, CD-i format. These releases in various formats contain little extras, usually just including the trailer for the film for bonus materials.

The live footage from the movie was filmed over a number of nights. The black and white footage was filmed on November 7 and 8, 1987 at Denver’s McNichol’s Arena. The colour footage from the film is from December 19 and 20th in Tempe Arizona. Other performance footage included footage of an outside concert on November 11, 1987 at San Francisco California’s Justin Herman Plaza. Additional filming for the movie included Foxboro, MA on September 22, 1987, Philadelphia PA on September 25, 1987, New York NY on September 28, 1997, and Boston MA on September 18, 1987. None of this footage is included in the film. Other footage used in the film included footage of U2 in Sun Studios, Larry Mullen visiting Graceland, U2 working on the album in the Point Depot theatre in Dublin, Ireland.

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