'I've been to a lot of U2 concerts,' says Edge, 'But I've never seen the band. So this is the closest I've ever seen to what the fans experience." Edge and Bono talk to USA Today about seeing 'U23D' - and how work on the new material is coming along.

Below some choice extracts, read the whole feature
here.

** 'What surprised Edge about the footage was "how separate we are onstage. When I'm playing and Bono is singing, we're lost in the music, and our physical proximity to each other is not actually that important. But when you see that happen in a 3-D movie, you see that Larry is at the back, and for a minute I thought, 'Wow, that must be a slightly lonely place,' to be sitting at the drums giving it everything he has as he does every night, but it's like his bandmates are scattered around this huge room."'


** 'When he talks about the film, Bono grins and raises his eyebrows behind circular purple-tinted glasses. "It's got some rock 'n' roll. It's got some swagger, and that'll either annoy you, or it won't. But in the end, it's the emotional force of it."

He says his favorite sequence is the song Miss Sarajevo, which includes an opera part originally recorded by the late Luciano Pavarotti. "It takes on a lot of extra resonance, and it's very hard to listen to that." The Edge nods quietly, and Bono goes on: "It's my favorite U2 song, I have to say. Normally, when I hear a U2 song on the radio I cringe. Either, a) I sound like a girl, or the lyric isn't finished. ... But there are some songs that I really, really do enjoy. Miss Sarajevo is one of them."


** The movie also has had an effect on band unity, giving them all a clearer perspective on what the others do. Bono marvels at bassist Adam Clayton's renewed prowess, while The Edge says he wondered if Larry Mullen Jr. felt isolated stuck on the top platform of the massive stage with his drums.

"He's very assertive, Adam is, in this," Bono says. "On this last tour, he really came out of himself. He's kind of the 'wise owl' of the band, and he has become a bit of a hermit. He withdraws to his fine art and quite cerebral life, and on this movie, he's a real proper rock star."

More here.