U2 rocks as 3-D concert film debuts at Cannes

The Irish rock band U2 rocked thousands of fans at the Cannes Film Festival at the premiere of their new concert film, U23D, which uses the latest in 3-D technology.

The band played Vertigo and Where the Streets Have No Name in front of the theatre in the French city where the movie was having its premiere at midnight on Saturday.

The film, directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington, follows Bono, The Edge,Larry Mullen Jr., and Adam Clayton during the South American leg of their Vertigo tour.

The music documentary requires the audience to watch through special glasses.

The directors say they have re-invented the concert film, bringing audiences closer than ever to a live performance.During the movie, the camera swoops and soars above the crowd, sometimes zooming in up close to the musicians and making it seem as if they are about to jump off the screen.

"We are replicating the physiology of sight, and that's a very tricky thing to do," said the film's producer John Modell said. "If you get it off by just a hair it creates actual physical problems eye strain, nausea. We don't have that at all."

The premiere cut was 55 minutes long but the cinema version will be up to 90 minutes in length.

U23D is expected to launch in 1,000 movie theatres around the world later in the year.Producers admit the movie's distribution will be limited by the number of cinemas that can project 3-D.

The film is one of several at Cannes' 60th festival to focus on music.

Control, a biopic about Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, has received critical acclaim. And prior to the U2 concert, Lordi theFinnish Eurovision Song Contest winners from 2006 performed their monster rock on the beach to promote their upcoming horror movie.