The song that was being performed was "The Electric Co.", but Bono was actually quoting Steven Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns". It's in the original VHS version, but not in the DVD. U2 had to pay a $50,000 royalty for unauthorized use of the song and left it out in the DVD.
Bono used to have a habit of putting himself in dangerous spots until his bandmates and U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, put a stop to it. Try to find a clip of U2 at the US Festival. He climbed the scaffolding and sang from the top of it.
Bono's bizarre hair aside, Under a Blood Red Sky is still one of the best concert films ever.
Has it really been twenty-seven years since the show? My goodness, the band looked so young.
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ravnwood
7 years ago
Yes, it's really quite a shame that copyright disputes cause great artistic works to be left on the cutting room floor. The "Send in the Clowns" audio version of Electric Co. is extremely rare. The CD was actually recalled and most 1980s versions do not include it. Later versions chop up the song even more. For the DVD version of the concert is disappointing that the song is so edited.
It's akin to WKRP in Cincinnati reruns that rarely include the original songs because they bought the rights for broadcast, but not repeats and home video.
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