2008 has thus far been a good year for concert movies.  Myley Cyrus, U2, and the Rolling Stones have all seen wide-release in our theaters.  I got in on the very last showing of U23D  before it rocketed out of the Rave Theater just one week after opening a few weeks ago.  I also caught a matinee showing of "Shine A Light" this week.  I can’t resist a comparison of these two epic rock concert movies.  First the similarities. Both movies featured rock icons in a vibrant, live setting.  The sound and cinematography for both were phenomenal, as expected.  Each movie gave us a feeling of being able to hear, touch, and smell two of the largest grossing concert bands of the last several decades.  That’s where the similarities stop.  Scorcese takes us up close and personal, maybe too much so. The lines on Mick and Keith’s face are frighteningly clear and contribute to the sheer amazement that Jagger is able to run, gyrate, and spontaniously impersonate zoo animals virtually non-stop for two hours.  The setting of the concert is the classic Beacon Theater in New York and serves as a formal contradiction to the raunchiness of the Stones music.  A huge brass section and several A-list guest singers tame the simple raw energy of the Stones and make them more palatable for an audience that might be attending the Beacon Theater on the night of a Clinton Foundation Benefit concert.  But make no mistake about it. This movie is about the band.  The footage of Mick and Keith is almost non-stop, with only passing shots of the star-struck young hotties lining the front rows of the stage.  The concert ignites with the opening of "Jumpin’ Jack Flash" but 2 hours later, I was ready for the band to take a break and maybe work in an EKG.  Worth the 7 matinee bucks for sure, but way too much, too close, too long.   U23D relies not on Martin Scorcese, but National Geographic and 3D cinematography.  The setting was radically different.  A huge stage dominated by 8-story digital light projection, mulitple ramps into the audience and more people than Joel Osteen ever dreamed of.  No back stage footage here, or occasional interview clips such as Scorsese used for "Shine A Light."  Only buck naked U2 and a mesmerizing audience. Unlike "Shine A Light’, it is the audience that dominates the U23D experience.  The audience was Argentinan, young, and looked like they were there for more than a tribute to an aging rock band. They were engaged, unified, and alive.  I felt at several points that the audience and the band were celebrating something that transcended the music and Bono’s oddly charismatic personality.  There was something in the words, something in the air, that needed no cameos from Christina Aquillera.  True, "Pride" and "Sunday, Bloody, Sunday" tend to inspire more unity and social action than "Brown Sugar" and "Satisfaction." But there was something intangibly different between the two concert films.  U23D may have been filmed in 3D but it added a fourth dimension as well.  Maybe it was the fact that it was filmed in Argentina in a huge stadium rather than a New York opera house.  Or maybe it was the spiritual, communal, inclusive nature of the music.   Either way, I caught my self almost spilling my popcorn to reach out and touch Bono’s 3D hand and wishing "U23D" had the 2 hour plus running time that "Shine A Light" had.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Stones man and comparing the two bands may be like comparing apples and oranges.  Still, one hour and 20 minutes of U2’s apples seemed like an appetizer while I’d had enough oranges 45 minutes into "Shine A Light."