CES, Las Vegas: When CES opened two days ago, Bill Gates brought lead guitarist from Guns-n-Roses, Slash, onto the stage with him. That was fun. But move over, Bill, because I was on the stage tonight with Bono and The Edge. 

I had front row seats to the coolest U2 concert I've ever seen -- and I've been to several of them. What made this one special was how close I was able to get to the band. REALLY close.

The good news is that almost everyone in America will have the same opportunity when National Geographic Entertainment releases U23D, on January 23rd (in IMAX) and February (in other digital 3D cinemas).

I've seen most every film and live event made recently in 3D, and I believe this one moves the industry forward. It may change the way you think about 3D, or at least the way you go to concerts!

U23D was so convincing that there were moments in the film when I was looking through the crowd at the stage that I had to remind myself that the people dancing in front of me weren't really there. There were times when I smiled because the 3D made the experience more rich and textured than even if I had been there.

Beyond the simple enjoyment of the experience, though, seeing it made me realize how new Live 3D is as an art. There is not a well-accepted grammar for filmmaking like there is in cinema. The shot framing and editorial are quite different. As I mentioned, at times, I was there. Then there were moments when I focused (literally) on the effects, the transitions, or the wrong part of the screen.  Some of that was technical, but most was a result of creative decisions that were made. Maybe not wrong, but just different, and audiences aren't trained by experience how movies like this look.

These are still early days for digital 3D, and the field is still open to creative innovation. Now that the cameras and projection make the creation and distribution possible, it's time for more people to study and focus on the creative aspects of the experience. There's a lot of learning and experimentation yet to be done as 3D evolves from being just a gimmicky way of distributing a 2D movie into being a truly unique form that stands on its own.

So, U23D may not have been perfect, but I loved it. I walked out with the same kind of feeling I had after going to real U2 concerts -- without having to deal with parking and having to sit through some lame warm-up band!

Buy your tickets now before the scalpers get them all!!!