One man in his mid-20s has watery eyes over his encounter with one-half of the world's biggest rock band and offers blessings, choking for words. Then they are off, leaving the onlookers with only memories. What's it like to have that intense effect on people?

"It's the weight of responsibility," The Edge says in mock graveness. He smiles. "And it's fun, really. It's fun."

Bono leans back. "Which is it, Edge? A weight of responsibility or fun? Come on, now. You can't have it both ways."

The Edge says flatly: "The first was irony on my part."

Bono: "Sorry, I might have missed that. We hate whinging rock stars. Come on, why else do this?"

Throughout the long drive through the northern Utah countryside, the pair banter like the schoolyard friends they are, discussing their past, present and future in the context of a movie they hope will set a new standard for concert films. By the end of the ride, they're playing a demo CD of songs they hope to include on an upcoming album.

The Vertigo tour grossed roughly $377 million from March 2005 to March 2006, a tally surpassed only by the Rolling Stones' Bigger Bang tour, according to Billboard. The band has sold more than 30 million albums domestically in the SoundScan era (since 1991) and won 22 Grammys.

U2's hits have resonated through the culture for decades with Sunday Bloody Sunday, Beautiful Day and One. They joke about it, but there is a power there.

"It's only when it's finished that you start thinking about … how people are going to receive it out there," The Edge says. "We're objective enough to know if we have a song that's going to resonate beyond just the way we're feeling about it at that minute. Objectivity is hard to keep."

It's all about the music Bono says the movie tries to put the focus only on the music, not the personalities.