U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under A Blood Red Sky - Release - Broadcasts and Home Video

Broadcasts and Home Video

The concert was first broadcast a month after its recording, on 8, 9, and 10 July 1983, under the title War Is Declared, on NBC's The Source radio programme. The broadcast was sponsored by Budweiser and the United States Army, and was distributed to radio stations on two LP records, which included the full 20-song concert. Twelve of the concert's songs were later broadcast on American television network Showtime, while nine songs were broadcast on MTV. The film's performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" became the song's music video, with Malcolm Gerrie, Rick Wurpel, and Paul McGuinness credited as producers. In June 1986 the video was one of 10 concert films aired on television stations throughout the U.S. as part of the Coors Concert Series, a series of music specials presented by the Coors Brewing Company and Radio Vision International. Broadcasts of the concert have also been featured on VH1 and various affiliates of the Public Broadcasting Service.

U2 released their live mini-LP Under a Blood Red Sky in November 1983, featuring live songs from the War Tour. Although the title of the album would later be used as the subtitle of the concert video, only two tracks on the album ("Gloria" and "Party Girl") were taken from the Red Rocks concert. The other six live tracks were taken from performances in Boston and West Germany, as U2 felt they were "more developed performances". The video release of the concert was planned as a follow-up to the album. The November 1983 issue of U2 Magazine mentioned the future release of the Red Rocks concert video, and stated that previews of the concert had been shown on Channel 4. The following issue was delayed until February 1984, as the editor had hoped to include details about the video release; there was still no information available, so the editor simply stated that the video "is due out in about a month's time".

U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky was released in May 1984, and was U2's first video release. The image of Bono atop the lighting rig during "The Electric Co." was used as the cover of the video, as well as Under a Blood Red Sky. The film begins with a brief montage that includes an interview with U2, preparations being made by the concert crew, and reactions by anxious fans. The Clannad song "Theme from Harry's Game", which was played after many of U2's shows at the time, is heard in the film's opening montage and during the end credits. The film's subtitle "Under a Blood Red Sky" was borrowed from the title of the companion live album and itself originates from a lyric in "New Year's Day"; however, this lyric is not sung in the film, as it was changed by Bono to "Under a thundercloud and rain", in reference to the weather conditions.

Universal City Studios owned the rights to the film. MCA Home Video released the movie on VHS and Betamax formats with Dolby Stereo sound, selling it for US$29.95. In August 1986 the video was released through MusicVision, a division of RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, and was sold for a discounted price of US$19.95. A LaserDisc version was released by RCA/Columbia and Image Entertainment in 1988, and the VHS was re-released by Virgin Video and PolyGram in 1987 and 1991, respectively.

During the performance of "Cry / The Electric Co.", Bono sang excerpts of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns". The band failed to get permission and pay the appropriate licensing and royalty fees to use the song. Initial pressings of U2 Live at Red Rocks, as well as the accompanying live album (which contains a different performance of the song from August 1983) featured the song with the snippet. U2 were forced to pay US$50,000 in an out-of-court settlement. The initial release of the video was 55 minutes long, and featured 12 songs from the film, plus "Cry / The Electric Co.", which was omitted from the track listing for legal reasons related to the snippet of "Send in the Clowns".

Recordings of "Twilight" and "An Cat Dubh" from the concert were featured on U2's "Sweetest Thing" single in 1998. In 2004, the concert's recording of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" appeared on the compilation album Carved in Stone Vol. 2: Live at Red Rocks, a charity record for the "Preserve the Rocks Fund" to renovate and preserve Red Rocks Park.