I cant get Procol Harum Live at Union chapel out of my dvd player.Of the twenty concert dvds i have this one is my favorite.Amazing acoustics and a crisp dts sound that is miles above the rest.The fact that the core of the band has been playing for 40 years has a lot to do with it.Great hd pq and tasty editing is icing on the cake.

How is the music? I barely remember them, wasnt their last hit in the 60s?

the music is hard to describe.Classical based blues heavy on the interplay between piano and organ with plenty of heavy bass and drums.Its gary Brookers amazing voice that carries it all(you must remember whiter Shade of pale or salty dog).I would never recommend something unless the music was as good as the sound and pq.I just saw their other dvd live in Copenhagen is available and it doesnt rate as high as Union chapple and is only4/3 screen size but the set list is different so im going to get it just because i love their sound.

Whiter Shade Of Pale... very good tune.

Im old enough to have been able to catch first wave of british bands when they toured the US playing in small halls and clubs.It was a great time for live music and thats what viewing the procol harum live at union chapel is like.The sound is so good and the acoustics so perfect in the Chapel that the band sounds like they are playing in front of you.Even if you dont know this bands work take a chance on it.Read some of the reviews on amazon for more on the reactions to the dvd.The dts sound rivals the Boz Scaggs and James taylor releases as reference quality and I used it to set up my new digital receiver.

I'd give up a "digit" if I knew that someone had filmed a show during Be-Bop-Deluxe's "Live in the Air Age" tour.
I remember waaaaay back watching them on "Saturday Night Special" playing a live set, Bill Nelson was a very underrated guitarist!

Hey Matt, I just picked up a " Ringo Starr and friends" DVD concert and Gary Brooker does 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' along with Peter Frampton, Jack Bruce (Cream) and Simon Kirke (Free). Awesome performance.

Jack sings "Sunshine of Your Love", Simon belts out " All Right Now" and Peter does an excellent rendition of "Norwegian Wood".
Along with Joe Walsh (Rocky Mountain Way) and Felix Cavaliere (Groovin') from the Rascals and many others, its a pretty sweet DVD.
These performances were filmed between 1989 and 1997 so video isnt the greatest but the audio is remixed in DTS and sounds pretty good.

JohnR_IN_LA would be pretty interested in this one as well if he doesnt have it already.

Yea Im reluctant to buy DVDs of bands like Procol Harum since strong material is a MUST IMHO, and ... I just dont remember them having built a decent song catalog. I suppose I could have missed them, or maybe they just weren't to my tastes.


"Frampton Live in Detroit DVD" is a perfect example:
He puts on a Good performance
The DVD production is superb: great recording and video
But it suffers from a weak song catalog.


So sometimes when these types of artists get added to a stageshow of a stronger performer, thats the concert to buy. Like how Prince added "Sly and the Family Stone" to his Rage 2000" concert DVD, that was awesome, Sly did a couple of their tunes, then they helped Prince do a couple tunes from his *uber* catalogue, and it turned out great.


So the Ringo DVD sounds interesting. I also ordered the Live Aid DVD :)

I got the Live Aid dvd from the local library and was underwhelmed. So far I have watched disc one which features lots of mid-80's bands...<yawn>

-Ken

Originally posted by kenvt
I got the Live Aid dvd from the local library and was underwhelmed. So far I have watched disc one which features lots of mid-80's bands...<yawn>

-Ken

It was filmed in the mid 80's :confused:

The ringo dvd was the reason I went for the procol harum dvd.Gary brookers performance was so good I needed more.

Be-Bop-Delux

Now that was some different music back during the 70's when I started to listen to them.

Still is.

Deron.

Wow,

I can't believe I just discovered this thread. Very useful information, even if it did take quite awhile to read through all 26 pages.

I never saw Pink Floyd's Delicate Sound of Thunder mentioned. I almost wore out my laser disc of this concert (LOL) because I liked the performance so much. Its a 4:3 format, but that was fine on my old, non HD TV.

I tried to buy a DVD version, but could not find one through normal DVD retail channels.

I did buy one off of eBay. Its a 16:9 format, and I think it has a DD 5.1 sound track (although I am not at home and can't verify at the moment). However, there seemed to be something lacking in PQ and AQ when I played it on my newer system with HDTV.

Has anyone else bought a DVD version of this concert? If so, how is the PQ and AQ?

Do you think my lack of enthusiasm for this DVD is because I've been spoiled by the quality of newer DVDs played on newer HT equipment?

Could I have gotten some kind of pirated copy which sacrificed PQ and AQ?

Thanks
Bruce

Bruce,

This is definately a bootleg. This Pink Floyd disc is not commercially available in the states.

-Ken

kenvt,

Thanks, that would explain it.

I actually bought a second DVD off of eBay becasue I could not find it commercially, the Rolling Stones Live at the Max. Same situation - really liked the 4:3 format, 2.0 sound track laser disc, but was underwhelmed by the DVD.

Oh well, buyer beware.

Bruce

Bruce,

Don't ever buy that stuff off ebay. Most of it is available for free. There are many of us that trade out of print and unreleased video and audio. Check out www.easytree.org for audio and video.

-Ken

kenvt,
Thanks for the link.

I have an off the wall question regarding the Roger Waters In The Flesh Live concert - is the left-handed guitar player, with the dark curly hair, playing a right-handed guitar rotated 180 degrees?

It looks like the thinnest string is at the top and the thickest is at the bottom. I had assumed left-handed players used left-handed guitars so the order of the strings is preserved- thickest at the top and thinnest at the bottom.

Bruce

Wanted to mention three concert DVDs that I don't recall being discussed earlier in this thread (apologize if I missed them).

First is "Berlin intimate"
Video is 16:9 enhanced and PQ is excellent. AQ is good with DD 5.1, but only fair with DTS (vocals are muffled for example).

Second is "Steely Dan's two against nature"
The video is only 4:3, but it has both DTS and DD 5.1 sound tracks. PQ is very good. AQ is excellent.

The above are two quite different musical styles, but both were recorded live in a studio.

For this last one, I need to provide a huge caveat - I am not a fan of the peformer. However, my wife is, and I bought this for her.

Third is "Manilow Live!"
The video is 16:9 enhanced, it has both DTS and DD 5.1 sound tracks, and PQ and AQ are both excellent. I normally would not watch this personally, but when I played it for my wife, I found myself drawn in because of its technical excellence.

Thanks
Bruce

wow, so this thread is still around. Well, here's a new addition:

Primus: Halucinogenetics Live 2004.

If you're a fan, get it, now- heck, you probably have it already. Tim "Herb" Alexander is back and they play Frizzle Fry all the way through, and that's really all you need to know. Sound and PQ is fine- you see what you need to see and hear what you need to hear, Did I mention herb is back and they play Frizzlr Fry??

If you're not a fan, run- you won't like it.

Originally posted by FredProgGH
wow, so this thread is still around. Well, here's a new addition:

Primus: Halucinogenetics Live 2004.

If you're a fan, get it, now- heck, you probably have it already. Tim "Herb" Alexander is back and they play Frizzle Fry all the way through, and that's really all you need to know. Sound and PQ is fine- you see what you need to see and hear what you need to hear, Did I mention herb is back and they play Frizzlr Fry??

If you're not a fan, run- you won't like it.

My buddy used to like em, are they from kind of the Metallica mold? I only like the best bands of that type of music... would I like em>?

This is not uncommon for lefties. Take a look at a photo of Jimi Hendrix playing- same setup with the light strings on top. This makes it very hard to copy what they are playing from sight.


Originally posted by BruceOmega
kenvt,
Thanks for the link.

I have an off the wall question regarding the Roger Waters In The Flesh Live concert - is the left-handed guitar player, with the dark curly hair, playing a right-handed guitar rotated 180 degrees?

It looks like the thinnest string is at the top and the thickest is at the bottom. I had assumed left-handed players used left-handed guitars so the order of the strings is preserved- thickest at the top and thinnest at the bottom.

Bruce

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
My buddy used to like em, are they from kind of the Metallica mold? I only like the best bands of that type of music... would I like em>?

They're not Metallica at all; they're sort of a funky dissonant noise band with hooks. The drummer clearly listened to a lot of Rush but the band as a whole is just... nuts. They are a love or hate kind of thing... (btw they are also very funny. The singer basically knows he can't sing, the lyrics are strange and sarcastic and at one point they toured playing in penguin suits :D) Try before you buy!! (If you can find an album called Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, it's probably their best work, and also the aforementioned Frizzle Fry).

Did someone mention "Steely Dan's two against nature"?

I giving my disc away, I tried real hard to listen to the music, but whoever the singer is (Donald Fagen?), is killing me with that nasal sounding voice. I did like their earlier stuff and he did not sound so nasal.

Deron.

LOL Deron, I had one of their DVDs ( it was called Plush TV, or something like that), and I couldnt handle the the way the camerman was rivited to Donald Fagen's bad teeth most of the show.

The band is great, but thats one ugly dude, i would rather not see them..

The Last Waltz is $7.50 at CC this week! SCREAMING DEAL! Too bad I paid $15 :(.

Originally posted by jcmccorm
Jet - Family Style. Picked it up at Best Buy for $11.99.

I watched this one all the way through the other night. PQ is so-so. Not great, but I've definitely seen worse.

Audio (DTS even thoug it doesn't say on the box) sounds great. Vocals are clear as a bell.

The best part is the music and the band. These guys are fun to watch. They are young and on top of their game. Check it out.

Cary

This DVD is a flat-out steal @ $11.99... and it's still available @ BB at that price.

You get the excellent live club performance, 6 good videos, and a brief tour documentary.
The concert soundtrack can be played in DTS (or DD or PCM).
I found the picture quality to be quite good... seemed to to be film-based, with a grainy dark gritty feel, that I believe was completely intentional. It absolutely fits the band's club performance.

I found just the live performances of "Cold Hard B!tch" and "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" to be well worth the price of admission. Everything else is gravy.

Concert footage is 16:9 anamorphic.
Videos are 4:3.

The (excellent) black and white video for "Are you gonna be my girl?"will severely test the de-interlacer on your DVD player!... with all the curling thin black lines. For those unfamiliar with the band, this is the video used on the earlier iPod commercials (before the U2 commercial). I definitely saw some combing with my Momitsu. On the bright side, the Momi handles the 16:9-4:3 transitions seemlessly.

I really like this band. They rock. Excellent DVD. WELL worth the bargain price.

This is one of my favorite threads that I've followed from the beginning. I wish we could break it up though as it is getting very very long and then move it over to the surround music forum where I think DVD concerts would be welcome!

I would LOVE to have anything of marginal to good quality by BeBop Deluxe and UFO (w/ Schenker)

These two guitarists were HUGE influences for me, and absolute MONSTER players.

Another ditto to anything by David Gilmour...

Finally finished going through the concert DVD loot I got for Christmas. Here are some quick reviews:

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival - Clapton DVD are always a favorite of mine because they always have good PQ and Audio. I also like this one for its variety of musical genres. If you like guitar playing this one's for you. My favorite performances on this DVD are Steve Vai, Robert Cray, but, for me, Robert Randolph steals the show. He's a slide guitar phenom - Duane Allman, Carlos Santana, and Jimi Hendrix all rolled into one.

The Michael Schenker Group World Wide Live 2004 - this one surprised me it was much better than I expected. PQ and audio are pretty good. The crowd is lifeless (it was filmed somewhere in Poland) but the band gives a great performance running through his solo stuff and all the great UFO songs.

Soundstage presents Chicago Live in Concert - this one is O.K. It's better than their A&E Live by Request but it's definitely not as good as the Chicago/Earth Wind and Fire concert I saw on INHD this weekend. That was one of the best concert shows I've seen and I can't wait for the DVD release later this year. Also, I can't understand by they shot this in Hi-Definition and then release the DVD in 4:3 aspect ratio.

Gary Moore Live at Montreux - recorded in 1990 at the Montreux Jazz Festival this is a rockin good show. Good PQ (although picture is a bit dark) and good sound. If you like fast fingered rock blues (backed by a horn section) then Moore is your guy. The final instrumental "The Messiah will come Again" is worth the price of DVD alone. You will probably be seeing alot more from the "Live from Montreux" vaults as they have hired Eagle Vision to go through their recordings. I also have a Montreux concert of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer which is very good. Montreux was one of the first places to film concerts in hi-definition (starting in 1997)

Elton John Dream Ticket: this one is similar to the Rolling Stones "Four Flicks" released last year. 4 DVD's of 4 different concerts. All of them are good but I think Disc 2 when he's accompanied by his band, an orchestra, and a choir is the superior concert. They mixed the band up front and EJ's voice in the center channel and then put the orchestra in the surround speakers so you're just enveloped in sound.

Peter Gabriel Play - this one is not a concert DVD rather it's a solo career spanning collection of all his videos. The key though is that Daniel Lanois (with Peter Gabriel blessing) has re-mixed all these videos in 5.1 surround sound and presents them in 16:9 aspect ratio. This makes, I think, for a cool combination because you probably have not seen the video in a very long time but at the same time you're experiencing the audio re-mix for the first time. After Two and a half hours some of the videos and songs kind of seem the same but one cool feature this DVD has is a programmable 18 song jukebox where you can choose the songs you want to listen to and play them back in the order you want.

Nice reviews Griz... Gary Moore and Michael Shekner, woaah! I would like to see them at least once.

I may have to save my pennies for the Crossroads guitar festival though, that sounds awesome.


Crunchy, dont tell me that you dont have "David Gilmore In Concert" yet?
He replaces Roger's bass with a standup classical bassist and a cello... and it works. Audio quality is pretty much REFERENCE.

JohnR- no I don't .....yet!

That is soon to be remedied! I'm going to try to find the MSG WWL2004 DVD, too.

Thanks for the tips, guys! Oh YEAH!!

I got Gilmour live recently. Very cool disk. You can see how Floyd broke up by watching the extras from the Roger Water's Live in the Flesh DVD and then watch Gilmour live. Water's has every moment choreographed in an exquisite display of musical genius. Gilmour starts out fiddling with his setup in front of the audience and his two guest singers are reading lyrics from pieces of paper and sound like they have never heard the song Comfortably Numb let alone sang it. Still, the sheer talent of Gilmour shines through and his accompanying band is great, just not as spot on as the Water's ensemble. I have no doubt that these clashing styles must have made it interesting backstage with Floyd. Both of these concerts are among my favorites with In the Flesh probably topping my all time favorite list.

Enjoy

Simply Red....Live in London

One more vote for the Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD. This is a two disk set and has tons of great music on it. It gives a good sampling of what it was like at the festival (I was there for the main concert). Clapton played onstage with several of the groups which made it fun. I was disappointed that Jeff Beck didn't make the DVD. He and Clapton played a version of "Cause We Ended As Lovers" that was just incredible.

Originally posted by BruceOmega
kenvt,
Thanks for the link.

I have an off the wall question regarding the Roger Waters In The Flesh Live concert - is the left-handed guitar player, with the dark curly hair, playing a right-handed guitar rotated 180 degrees?

It looks like the thinnest string is at the top and the thickest is at the bottom. I had assumed left-handed players used left-handed guitars so the order of the strings is preserved- thickest at the top and thinnest at the bottom.

Bruce

Yup.. Forgot his name... That's the same way I learned it..

A friend of mine gave me some books .. Said reverse the pictures .. :D

I had to as the first guitar I ever had was a right handed in such a crappy condition it was even impossible to reverse the strings..


And to get back on this tread..

Dream Theater live in Japan... Get it ... Just make sure you have the 2nd printing w/o The Surround errors...

Snowy White is the guitar players name from Roger Waters in the Flesh Live.

Originally posted by dvd maniac
Snowy White is the guitar players name from Roger Waters in the Flesh Live.

Doyle Bramhall II is the left-handed guitar player. Snowy White is the other guy and has toured with Pink Floyd since the 70's. Tim Renwick replaced Snowy for the PULSE tour.

I dont know about you guys, but I wasnt impressed with Doyle Bramhall, he seemed unnecesssary, other than the fact that his hot wife was a key backup singer on the tour.

Snowy White played the classic electric guitar ala David Gilmour
And Andy Fairweather-Low played the note bending blues guitar that Eric Clapton originally played on Roger Water's solo works.

I loved Andy's work with that red guitar on the last set, wooah..

Doyle was just kind of there, and he seemed a bit awkward at times... It wasn't a bad thing, I just don't think he brought much to the table..

-------------

They basically had 4 guitarists (including Roger on bass), plus that awesome keyboardist used a guitar at one point, lol.

Originally posted by outlier2
I got Gilmour live recently. Very cool disk. You can see how Floyd broke up by watching the extras from the Roger Water's Live in the Flesh DVD and then watch Gilmour live. Water's has every moment choreographed in an exquisite display of musical genius. Gilmour starts out fiddling with his setup in front of the audience and his two guest singers are reading lyrics from pieces of paper and sound like they have never heard the song Comfortably Numb let alone sang it. Still, the sheer talent of Gilmour shines through and his accompanying band is great, just not as spot on as the Water's ensemble. I have no doubt that these clashing styles must have made it interesting backstage with Floyd. Both of these concerts are among my favorites with In the Flesh probably topping my all time favorite list.

Enjoy

David Gilmour Live was part of the semi-acoustic Meltdown Festival concert at London's Royal Festival Hall in June 2001. He had to figure out how to pull it off because he had never tried playing Floyd tunes "un-plugged" in front of an audience. He was understandably nervous. As to who had the better show? In The Flesh was a full-band world tour so sure, there was a lot more to the production. David Gilmour Live performed only five shows, two of which were months apart. Both concerts are great.

Gilmour's voice is an instrument unto itself. That french song he sings early on the disc is amazing.

There are some uneven moments, like 2 performances of Comfortably numb (why bother), but the 5.1 sound is near reference, and a bonus is an excellent 2 channel pcm track.

The cello sounds awesome, Gilmour did a great job freshening up some of those old tunes.


-------------

Roger just sets out to do the perfect rock show, he dots every i, and of course, he succeeds.

Water's has every moment choreographed in an exquisite display of musical genius. Gilmour starts out fiddling with his setup in front of the audience and his two guest singers are reading lyrics from pieces of paper and sound like they have never heard the song Comfortably Numb let alone sang it.

Well, I don't know about you, but if you view Gilmour's vast and extensive list of studio credits, and compare it to Waters' pretty much non-existent list outside of PF, that will tell you who is more the "professional". Period.

Unorganized hacks don't get invited back very much to sessions, if at all...

Did anyone mention "Billy Idol Story Tellers", someone must have. The video is pretty good, Billy tells alot of interesting stories about how the songs came about.

What is totally awesome about this concert is the audio, the DTS is incredible, it puts allmost all of my other concert videos to shame. I can not even think of one that has the dynamic range of this DVD.

I have always wondered if a music system could come close to giving you the feeling of real live excellent audio. Well this disc demonstrated that the source material is a huge part of it.

In this DVD the kick drum hits you like it should, the lead guitar is just plain fun to listen to. This sucker is referance for audio.

Deron.

I thought Bramhall largely carried the show. He plays the lead for most of the songs and showed great deference to Gilmour's compositions by playing them very close to the original rather than straying into his own style. Snowy was awesome and filled in nicely when needed (yeah, tone baby). I thought Andy Fairweather Low was useless. He plays some backup bass and a few minor guitar spots. His only solo was... well, the most embarassing piece of guitar work I've ever seen filmed. Andy is a phenomenal talent but this disk does not flatter him at all. Whether it was Water's choices or Andy had a bad night-- who knows. Still, watch the show closely and you will see that Bramhall is carrying the heavy load on all the technical stuff. Plus, he sings several of the songs so I'm finding it hard to fathom how he was the unnecessary player and not Fairweather Low. Gilmour is the man though and his show is the one to watch if you want to see his great skill on the guitar (plus his disk has a super cool section where they show closeups of his fingering for the songs- absolute heaven for players). These are two great disks and you would really have to hate music to not like these shows. But, as I said, Gilmour's group looks more thrown together and disorganized than Waters'. I mean, reading lyrics for comfortably numb from a piece of paper! What were they thinking????



Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
I dont know about you guys, but I wasnt impressed with Doyle Bramhall, he seemed unnecesssary, other than the fact that his hot wife was a key backup singer on the tour.

Snowy White played the classic electric guitar ala David Gilmour
And Andy Fairweather-Low played the note bending blues guitar that Eric Clapton originally played on Roger Water's solo works.

I loved Andy's work with that red guitar on the last set, wooah..

Doyle was just kind of there, and he seemed a bit awkward at times... It wasn't a bad thing, I just don't think he brought much to the table..

-------------

They basically had 4 guitarists (including Roger on bass), plus that awesome keyboardist used a guitar at one point, lol.

Originally posted by outlier2
(plus his disk has a super cool section where they show closeups of his fingering for the songs- absolute heaven for players).
What's this about? I don't remeber this feature. Are we talking about David Gilmour in Concert?

Ed

Yep! The Gilmour disk has a special section that shows closeups of the master's fingers at work, very nice!

Reminds me of an Eric Clapton concert I went to around 1978, it was the "Slowhand Tour", and it was at the Capital Center in Washington DC.

They had big screens, even back then, and they showed Eric Clapton's hands, on a 40 foot screen, in the center of the pot smoke covered stadium

I finally figured out why they called Eric "slow hand" his hand looked like it was strumming, but in actuality he was hitting several notes every time his hand went down the fretboard....

Cool. I'll have to pick that one up. For a real mind bender, pick up the DVD-Audio by Steve Stevens (Idol's guitar player) called 'Flamenco a go go". Awesome guitar but totally not in the Billy Idol genre. It is hard to classify but it is basically instrumental guitar. There is also a DVD video so you can see some of the guitar playing live- very impressive. The sound quality of the DVD-A is reference quality. It would be a showcase piece for DVD-Audio fans.

Originally posted by deronmoped
Did anyone mention "Billy Idol Story Tellers", someone must have. The video is pretty good, Billy tells alot of interesting stories about how the songs came about.

What is totally awesome about this concert is the audio, the DTS is incredible, it puts allmost all of my other concert videos to shame. I can not even think of one that has the dynamic range of this DVD.

I have always wondered if a music system could come close to giving you the feeling of real live excellent audio. Well this disc demonstrated that the source material is a huge part of it.

In this DVD the kick drum hits you like it should, the lead guitar is just plain fun to listen to. This sucker is referance for audio.

Deron.

Originally posted by outlier2
I thought Andy Fairweather Low was useless. He plays some backup bass and a few minor guitar spots. His only solo was... well, the most embarassing piece of guitar work I've ever seen filmed.
+1. I still can't figure what his purpose is. Oh, what solo are you referring to? I don't recall him having a solo....

Originally posted by deronmoped
Did anyone mention "Billy Idol Story Tellers", someone must have.

Definitely one of my favs. The audio is terrific.

htomei

Originally posted by pg_rider
+1. I still can't figure what his purpose is. Oh, what solo are you referring to? I don't recall him having a solo....

Someone had to play bass while Roger Waters played guitar... Some of Rogers bass parts were overdubbed too.

The solo (if you wanna call it that) was in Money. He strums some weird chord variations. I though it was pretty cool myself.

I watched half of it last nite, and I retract what i said about Doyle Bramhall, he carries 1/3 of the main guitar load easy.

In fact, they seem to divide the guitar duties up remarkably evenly, almost all the playing is well done, and you can hear each individual guitar. Doyle did some cool stuff on "Amused To Death", and I love Andy on "Every Stranger's Eyes". Snowy was just awesome :)

The keyboardist plays some awesome guitar on "Pigs", and Roger even picks up the guitar a few times.

Lol 5 guitarists....

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA

plus that awesome keyboardist used a guitar at one point, lol.
His name is Jon Carin and he's awesome! His performance of Dogs is a tour de force -- singing, playing guitar, and playing keyboards.

Interesting note -- he was the keyboardist on the Sound of Thunder tour with Gilmour et. al. I think he might have been on the Pulse tour as well???

That "in The Flesh" Waters DVD is one of the best - a rare treat from beginning to end. I also thought Doyle's guitar and singing work was incredible and the disk is a goldmine of picture and sound.

Only one lately that impressed my sonically was the "Boz Scaggs Hits Live". Might have to be of an advanced age to really appreciate, but a clean and masterfully mixed live show by a veteran of some very soulfull songs done better than a quarter century ago.

Originally posted by ksoza
Only one lately that impressed my sonically was the "Boz Scaggs Hits Live". Might have to be of an advanced age to really appreciate, but a clean and masterfully mixed live show by a veteran of some very soulfull songs done better than a quarter century ago.

Totally agree - this is one of my favorites too. All other things being equal I prefer disks that are shot in a more intimate setting, vs the big productions in arenas and stadiums. I'll take good musicianship and sound quality over flash and showmanship anyday.

The music of "Blast" (Music In Motion)

Just Brass (30-35 total) and percussion(20-25 total) in a theater in London.

Available in DD 5.1 and sounds tremendous.

Everything from Count Basie to Chuck Mangione to Bolero (Theme from the movie "10").

This will hit you between the eyes and ears!

Thanks,

Lawler 1

Originally posted by JBaumgart
Totally agree - this is one of my favorites too. All other things being equal I prefer disks that are shot in a more intimate setting, vs the big productions in arenas and stadiums. I'll take good musicianship and sound quality over flash and showmanship anyday.

Sounds like a match, you don't have to worry about showmanship with Boz Skaggs, that one album wonder is about as animated as a praying mantis at that show :D

Agree that the Boz concert, shot in a small theater in San Fran, is very intimate and Boz is not Ozzie. To be fair, it is basically a live studio recording with a small audience. The overall performance however is excellent and the band, clearly seasoned studio pros, deliver the goods without fanfare nor upstaging. Boz's strong stage presence is telegraphed more by his voicing and emotional interest in his songs as opposed to a rousing live act. The benefit of the studio environment is stellar sound and controlled lighting and this is a disk that can play in the background or be enjoyed as a full concert.

Have others noticed discrepencies in the video perspectives listed for these discs on the web?

I compiled a list of DVDs mentioned in this thread that looked like they would be of interest and that I don't already own. I then went to deepdiscountdvd.com and noticed what seemed like an unusually large number listed as full frame 1.33 video when my strong preference is widescreen Anamorphic.

I then went to dvdempire.com and noticed the two sites were not consistent. For example, Allison Krauss + Union Station Live on deepdiscount has the video listed as 1.33 full frame, while the same DVD at dvdempire lists 1.78:1 (Anamorphic).

How do I tell what is correct?

Do they only release concert DVDs in one perspective?

Is it possible both deepdiscount and dvdempire can be wrong?

Do I need to go to B&M to verify the perspective in person, assuming they even have it in stock?

By the way, I really appreciate the recommendations and discussions in this thread.

Thanks
Bruce

I find that playing concert DVDs to be the perfect way to show off my home theater. You can talk over the music and answer all the usual questions that come from a first time viewer. I really enjoy the Boz Scaggs or Hell Freezes Over DVD for the amazing sound and picture quality that is possible with a small environment. They are the first in my player for the wow factor. As the evening progresses, I start playing something like Guess Who - Running back to Canada or Rush - Rush in Rio were sound quality isn't possible with that large a venue. The performance is still amazing and everyone seems to talk about and enjoy these just as much as the first two, maybe more. Stories come out of old Guess Who concerts and the good times or how amazing a drummer Neil Peart is. My point is I was the only one who knew the picture wasn't as great and I wasn't going to spoil their enjoyment by mentioning it. They still loved it and were absorbed into the concert.

No one has mentioned Rod Stewart - One night only Live at Royal Albert Hall

If you like his music this is an excellent DVD on all accounts, especially performance. WAF is very high and the price is cheap too.

Bruce as far as i know there is only one aspect ratio released, but I may be wrong. I have seen this before even on packaging that was listed wrong or not at all. My guess is someone looked at the packaging and didn't see a AR so they entered 4:3 in the catalog. What DVDS were in question?

Allison Krauss is 1.78:1 for sure and a very good DVD for PQ and AQ

sprint8,

I did not specifically note which were in question. It was a subjective feeling that too many were showing up as 1.33 on deepdiscountdvd when I knew this thread was more interested in widescreen.

However, a second example is Doobie Brothers Live at Wolf Trap- 1.33 on deepdiscount and 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic) on dvdempire.

Thanks
Bruce

Two things, yes the rod stewart live at albert hall is amazing for pq and presentation,in fact most things at the albert hall are great to look at,check out robbie williams live at the albert for a real spectacle that also pays homage to music of the past.another good choice that is the exact opposite is the intimate procol harum live at union chapel that presents a seasoned band at the top of their game playing their hearts out.The dts sound is the best i ever heard on dvd.
my second point is that deep discount is the best place to shop for concerts but has a lot of wrong info on screen aspects ratios etc.

sprint8,
just an FYI; Alex Lifeson is the guitarist, Neil Peart is the amazing drummer for Rush. Sorry, reading that gave me the "twitches".

Now if they would only re-master the three Rush concerts that were available on VHS...

Originally posted by mattg3
.....my second point is that deep discount is the best place to shop for concerts but has a lot of wrong info on screen aspects ratios etc.

I absolutely agree - on both counts. I buy almost all of my dvds from DDD, but I depend on this site and others for info on aspect ratios, etc., as DDD often gets it wrong.

htomei

Originally posted by sprint8
I find that playing concert DVDs to be the perfect way to show off my home theater.

As far as I'm concerned, Concert Videos are the reason God invented Home Theater in the first place! :D

Originally posted by Dallas777
As far as I'm concerned, Concert Videos are the reason God invented Home Theater in the first place! :D

Absolutely!!! While I own over 800 dvds and lds, the only ones which I view repeatedly are my concert videos.

htomei

I cant get over the fact of having Joe Satriani, or Led Zepplin playing in your living room, in almost life-like size and sound. I've been to a bunch of concerts in my life, and they are getting more expensive every year, to the point of being almost ridiculous.

So I kept upgrading my HT until the concert DVDs seemed pretty awesome, then I slowed down a bit, hah.

Nice movie playback is just a bonus :)

I have the "Storytelling Billy Idol" DVD.

Yes, the sound is great.

Yes, Billy "talks".

Yes, Billy still has his face buried in the "candy bag".

what a yammering, sad display. (for the most part)

Wish he would have just shut up, and sang...

This is your brain on drugs.

[i]Originally posted by BruceOmega [/

However, a second example is Doobie Brothers Live at Wolf Trap- 1.33 on deepdiscount and 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic) on dvdempire.

Thanks
Bruce [/B]

HDnet was playing The Doobies at WT this month in high definition and DD5.1.
The old guys can still rock now that Tom Johnston is back.
Nice to have this on HD-DVR now.

Originally posted by Crunchyriff
I have the "Storytelling Billy Idol" DVD.

Yes, the sound is great.

Yes, Billy "talks".

Yes, Billy still has his face buried in the "candy bag".

what a yammering, sad display. (for the most part)

Wish he would have just shut up, and sang...

This is your brain on drugs.


That is why they call it Storytellers.
Billy was just being himself, an aging punk which cracked me up a few times!
If you want to skip the story, hit the next-->chapter button.
Takes you right to the start of the song.

I agree with the incredible dynamics and clarity on this one. They don't get any better than this.
Steve's recent flamenco guitar work really shows in his acoustic versions of White Wedding and Rebel Yell.
And Billy's vocals can still range from raunchy to honey sweet.
Great musicianship allround and well defined recording by master technicians.

Only drawback is 4:3 video but looks good for 4:3, so don't let that hold you back.

Thanks Kayook.. I knew it was Neil Peart LOL Can I blame it on the odd odor in the concert last time I saw them live back in the late 70s when they played a bar called Duffy's in Hamilton, Ontario.

I have another dvd from Rush called Rush Chronicles but I wouldn't recommend it. I'm not sure if thats one of the ones you mentioned on vhs.

That is why they call it Storytellers.

Understood, but he goes WAY out there more than a few times...like I said, you can easily tell he's still deep into the mind-altering substances, you can see it manifest as the concert unfolds...

I was always a BIG Rebel Yell fan (great, great tunes); but I won't give place or make excuses for people racking their lives with the 'stuff'. You'd think at that age they'd grow up and get a clue. It's very very sad. As a musician I've been real close to that 'side of life' and have had a bird's eye view over the years of MANY talented people ruining (or ending) lives due to drugs. It's all about choices, and I know firsthand.

Back to the disk- That soundtrack is just stellar. I love it. Steve Stevens is a HUGE player. Great chops, taste, and tone.

sprint8,
Is Chronicles just music videos? I would love to see that old vid they did, was it "The Trees"?

The three VHS concerts I have are the "Exit...Stage Left" concert, "Show of Hands" and "Grace Under Pressure". All great performances that I would love to see on DVD & hear in PLIIx :)

I would also dearly love to see a Steve Morse concert DVD or a Dregs concert or Leo Kottke, maybe some Michael Hedges (I could keep going).

Kayook... It is just videos. The Trees is included along with 13 other videos. I picked it up really cheap and I believe it is still available in Canada. The quality isn't very good, but it does give a look back at Rush in their early years.

Too bad Live in Rio's sound is sub-par...I'd spring for that. Been a Rush fan from the 1st album through G.U.P.

Can you imagine how COOL "All the Worlds' A Stage" would be on DVD?

Originally posted by josesol
OPETH - LAMENTATIONS.
16:9 anamorphic, DD/DTS.
the most amazing and beautiful music from a progressive rock group I have heard in years. A masterpiece....
If you dig prog. rock, run and buy it!!!!

I also recommend this to anyone who likes prog. rock/heavy metal. The set after the intermission is very heavy (growling involved but atleast the singer is good at it).

This band hails from Sweden and man they are incredibly talented musicians. They are so "tight" ... I can't believe how well they play live. The dvd was pretty cheap (around CDN$15) so I picked it up and bought a bunch of their CDs soon afterwards.

mini review (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/tapnotes/042804.html#ope)

Rick.

you can easily tell he's still deep into the mind-altering substances, you can see it manifest as the concert unfolds...

I haven't seen it yet, but now I'm curious. How can you easily tell? Did he have a boulder hanging out of his nose? Was he doing lines between songs? I don't get how ANYONE could really know.

Originally posted by Crunchyriff
...I won't give place or make excuses for people racking their lives with the 'stuff'. You'd think at that age they'd grow up and get a clue. It's very very sad. As a musician I've been real close to that 'side of life' and have had a bird's eye view over the years of MANY talented people ruining (or ending) lives due to drugs. It's all about choices, and I know firsthand.

Lol the guy looks alot more fit than your average overweight American. He cruises across the country on motorcycles, plays a few shows, seems to have a pretty cool life <shrug>.

Theres lots of great arts thave have been done stoned, drunk, sober, crazy, depressed, in anger or angst .... etc etc .... for me to give a hoot what artists do behind closed doors.

Theres lots of great arts thave have been done stoned, drunk, sober, crazy, depressed, in anger or angst

I would certainly agree.

Lol the guy looks alot more fit than your average overweight American. He cruises across the country on motorcycles, plays a few shows, seems to have a pretty cool life <shrug>.

Fit? perhaps. Don't mistake not overweight for "fit". As far as how his life appears, well you know what they say about appearances...trust me, I've seen and been behind the scenes, and once you get past the, uhh, smoke and mirrors; the hype; and the "window dressing" of celebrity, you'd be surprised how shallow, hollow, and void some of these people's lives REALLY are. Been there, done that.

What they do behind close doors I have no control over nor do I care to; but when and IF I pay good money to see someone live, I want to see a professional on top of the game, not someone dragging their monkey out onstage. What I'm saying, is that it's sad what I see in Billy in his mannerisms and such between songs. At his age he should have pulled back from "the edge" he was teetering over, years ago.

I for one, had no idea how great life really was, really IS, until I finally lived it through sober eyes.

That being said- whatever Billy's 'condition', great music is just that- great music, and at least he pulled it off without a major trainwreck..

I bought INXS Live Baby Live DVD and watching Michael Hutchence is really eerie. Excellent DVD for performance from Wembley Stadium. Michael looked like he was oblivious to what was going on around him. What a waste.

Please go have yourself some fun.
You are bumming me out, man.

Billy's a punk. What do you expect? When it really starts to affect the performance then I get pissed. Rolling stones four flicks could be an anti-drug ad (this is your non-functioning musician's brain after years of too many drugs).

Billy gave us the whole story in this video.

Would it have really been Billy Idol if he had changed something?

Anyways does it really matter what he does with his body as long as he gets the job done? Hell, he could of gave up drugs and turned to a life of fast food.

Which would be worse, a 500 pound Billy Idol that can not perform anymore and croaks of a heart attack at 45. Or what we have on the DVD.

I did see him in concert a couple of years ago and he still performed great and did not seem to be high. In fact he is going to be here again in a month or two. Most of these performers that last this long seem to get away from the drugs at some point.

Deron.

Rolling stones four flicks could be an anti-drug ad (this is your non-functioning musician's brain after years of too many drugs).

:)rofl

Originally posted by Crunchyriff
Understood, but he goes WAY out there more than a few times...like I said, you can easily tell he's still deep into the mind-altering substances, you can see it manifest as the concert unfolds...

I guess your not going to tell us how hou know this. Is it some sort of Jedi like intuition, or do you have some evidence. My wife has been sober for 9 years, and she doesn't have such a sixth sense.

Eric Clapton's Crossroads-Guitar Festival looked and sounded great!!

Don't know if its been covered already (I jumped into this thread late) but EC's One more Car, One more Rider is a reference quality recording and a fantastic performance. I give it my highest recommendation.

Well, I've been sober for 14 years, and there's no "sixth sense" about it. "Jedi intuition." Pfft. Why be a smarta$$ Patrick?

The lack of personal class towards others around here among some amazes me.

When you've been around users enough you can see it "hitting them": the way they act sober as opposed to when they are flying- (or coming down) furthermore, when you see the concert, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. If your wife really was on drugs at one time, she'll concede this. There are a few drugs which can allow you to be " covert user"; what I mean is the avg person won't be able to tell if your're using or not.

Have you seen the concert? If not, go see it. Draw your own conclusion.

The music is great. Have fun. I'm not going to argue with you. Why be contentious?

I just unsealed "Live Aid" tonite, and am again astounded by this event. Its gotta be the largest musical event of all time...there must be 50 bands in this huge satellite simulcast between 1 stadium in NY, and one in UK. Too many bands to mention.

I skipped around a bit, Queen, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney, Black Sabbath ... I started with Sting playing "Roxanne", and his voice is crystal clear, he hits all the notes of that incredibly difficult song.

Some of the more elaborate performances are toned down a little because of setup concerns, Like Queen's"Bohemian Rhapsody" was truncated, but then they go right into an excellent 80s tune called "Radio Ga-Ga".

There were some suprisingly strong performances, by some bands I had low expectations for. REO Speedwagon performs "Roll with the Changes" with the Beach Boys doing the backup vocals, outstanding performance. I love that guitarist of REO, they need to let him let loose a little more.

Paul Mcartney alone on a darkened stage, playing a rousing version of "Let It Be" on the Grand Piano, to 100 thousand people, amazing.

Audio quality ranges from acceptable to excellent, video quality is generally very good, but with some soft segments. Anamorphic Widescreen.

And the humanity of this event is just astounding. I'll try to add more later as i digest this 4 DVD set.

Live Aid was in Philly, not NYC. Old JFK stadium, I lived about 15 minutes away at the time... and yes, it was pretty cool.

Live aid is anamorphic widescreen?this is sounding better already.how is the audio and is it dolby digital 5.1 or just 2.0?

Paul Young's performance of "Everytime You Go" on Disc 1 of the Live Aid set gives me chills for some reason. Such a great "80's-style" performace!

DTS 5.1, Dolby 5.1 and PCM stereo..

There is a huge quantity of music on this set. Stong performances, I caught a couple more before bedtime: Eric Clapton with a full band, Patty Labelle doing a soulful version of "Give Peace a Chance", Marsalis does Sax for a bunch of the acts...

Criticism: Instrumentation overall is not well miked, its there but dont expect studio quality. Theres not a whole bunch of guitar solos or anything, so its a vocal slanted performance, which is common with these kind of charity events. For some reason the instrumentalists don't want to make it "all about them", I guess.

Theres several 80s flash-in-the-pan acts, many of them not great. But they do their hit competently and then Freddie Mercury ( or someone like that) walks on the stage, and you we start yelling at our kids " You gotta stop homework and see this band!"

Hey does anyone remember a band called "Flash In The Pan"? They are not on this disc, but were incredible. It was run by a brother of one of the AC/DC members, but was keyboard/synth oriented, with very thoughtful lyrics.. The chorus went like this :

"I said Hey, hey, Hey Saint Peter"
"been down to London Town"
" It really feels like Hell"
"Hell"
"It really feels like Hell"

I collected the next 2 albums which were excellent. May have to do a search for them on CD.

most internet stores are listing live aid as full screen 1:33 aspect ratio.Is live aid really presented in widescreen anamorphic(no bars on top or bottom of screen] John ?Ive put off buyinng this because heard it was only full screen release.i also read there is a dts option.how does that sound in comparison to the 5.1 option? thanks john

I listened to the Stereo output for a song, was fine.
Then I listened the rest of the nite on DTS.
Theres a Dolby 5.1 mode too.

Like I said, sound quality overall good, many songs borderline excellent, but with some detectible faults in sound quality on a few songs too.

The songs with only a couple things to mike, generally sound very good. Mcartney and the ground piano on "Let It be" is a fabulous recording.
About what you would expect.

Video Correction, I guess its 4:3, I ran it in fullscreen mode and it looked fine though. I never noticed that I had it stretched

Live aid is NOT widescreen, I just rented it from the library. It was shot 4:3 for TV and that what is on the disc. These discs feature some of the most unmemorable video footage ever. Lots of forgotten (for a reason) bands. The only reason it was put out now was because of bootleggers selling it on ebay. The only compelling reason to buy is to make a donation to african famine relief.

-ken

The biggest Rock concert ever, is unmemorable? Watching Sting hit all those notes in Roxanne was almost worth the price for me. Watching Ozzy play with Black Sabbath, David Bowie and Elton John, The list goes on and on.

I guess we all have our tastes, but this event is a "must have" for anyone who loves either 70s or 80s Rock (some 60s in there as well). About 30% of the acts are not household names, this is true. But about half of them are decent.

I would also recomend it for general concert buffs, 2 stadiums filled and connected via satellite is an amazing sight.

Also, if you are socially concious, its kind of cool to see a couple-hundred thousand people in a group hug. And to think, one person organized this.
If Bob Geldoff did nothing else in his life, but this one event, he will still go down in history for hundreds of years.

Which chieftains dvd do people recommend buying?

i picked up U2 go home"live from slane castle ireland " and i just love it, not really a fan of live music cause most of the time they sing out out tune etc, but the boys did a really good job on this disk and is a must for all U2 fans...........

Matt,

'Down the Old Plank Road" ( I may not have the exact wording right) is an excellent recording and good video. It does have mini-documentaries/interviews between the performances, but they are well done and short.

I love all those cool acoustical instruments those guys use :)

I think the performance beats the heck out of Allison Krause, though the Krause audio quality may be a notch better (not much).

I cant remember all the details of its technical formats, but theres a screenshot in the gallery in my signature :D

Thanks john now get procol harum live at union chapel and you will thank me.

Originally posted by mattg3
Thanks john now get procol harum live at union chapel and you will thank me.
I know Matt has been raving about this disk for quite some time. But has anyone else seen it and think that it's great? I don't rememeber seeing any other recommendations for this. I haven't seen it myself but am considering buying it based on Matt's recommendation. But there was a negative comment on this disk in another thread about a week or 2 ago.

Ed

Go to amazon for some buyer reviews.I was not a great fan of the band but got it based on their reviews and it just grew on me.It has such perfect dts sound and the upfront presence on all the instruments makes everything i have head since then sound weak and muffled.

Originally posted by mattg3
Go to amazon for some buyer reviews.I was not a great fan of the band but got it based on their reviews and it just grew on me.It has such perfect dts sound and the upfront presence on all the instruments makes everything i have head since then sound weak and muffled.
I'll give it a try. But I was kinda hoping someone else would second your recommendation. Like I said, the only other comment I heard on this disk was negative.

Ed

Matt, did you say that Procol Harum was on the Live Aid 4 DVD set?
I dont see em listed ....

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Matt, did you say that Procol Harum was on the Live Aid 4 DVD set?
I dont see em listed ....
No - Matt is talking about a separate Procol Harum DVD called Live at Union Chapel.

Ed

If you want to learn more on this band that have been around since 1966 or so go to beyondthepale.com which is their official website.If you want to hear what they sound like spend some time on amazon in the audio cd section listening to sound bites.The are very classically oriented and really have three lead instruments.Grand piano.organ and a very blues oriented guitar.The bass and drums for me really sold me on the union chapel dvd.I have never heard bass and drums recorded so upfront.maybe its because I have a digital receiver(xr50) but I cant get enough of it and put in in for a few songs almost every day.They have another dvd called live at Copenhagen that i got but was disappointed in the sound and picture quality.It has a good performance and a nice 45 minutes of the band in rehearsal but i dont recommend it to anyone unless they are a true fan. Get live at union chapel dvd and hopefully the team that recorded that one will stay together and record another procol harum concert of different tunes in the future.

I second Matt's recommendation. The DTS track on Procol Harum Live at the Union Chapel is outstanding. The vocals and the keyboards are especially strong, and even my wife, who's not into this stuff, was impressed with Whiter Shade of Pale.

thanks mark,I thought I was hanging out here on my own with my recommendation.

A "rookie" here but I am enjoying this "thread...

I enjoy concert DVD's and feel that are a great way to enjoy live performances that I could not attend. Just finishing up with my HT set-up so some of my recommendations come from a 2-channel perspective.

Eric Clapton- One More Car, One More Rider...
Roger Waters- The Wall-Live in Berlin
NIN- All This and Nothing (I think this is the title)
Anything by Zappa Live. He always used excellent musicians and his bands were "tight" as **** live.

Keep the reviews coming. My "to buy" list gets longer and longer...

Harold

Live aid is NOT widescreen, I just rented it from the library. It was shot 4:3 for TV and that what is on the disc. These discs feature some of the most unmemorable video footage ever. Lots of forgotten (for a reason) bands. The only reason it was put out now was because of bootleggers selling it on ebay. The only compelling reason to buy is to make a donation to african famine relief.

I have to disagree with this comment. I think that this is some of the most memorable music. In my opinion bands like the ones on the Live Aid discs were classic and so much better than 99% of the new bands today. Just because it was not filmed in HD or has excellent transfer quality doesn't take away from the performance of these great bands.

For me, concert dvds are all about performance, for which I define as how well the bands perform and sound. PERIOD.

A litte trivia that I'm not sure if it was noted. Procol Harum's original guitarist was Robin Trower, who later went solo and became quite big in his own right.

John

Robin Trowler - Bridge of Sighs, I love that guy! He couldnt sing, but man he could play.

I had one album of his called BLT, and had the most incredible BLT sandwich on the cover, lol

Bridge of Sighs has been digitally remastered and includes a live concert as well, it really sounds killer now. What irks me about the Live Aid DVD is what they left out. I have the entire concert on Beta in stereo, great pic and sound quality. They left out some choice stuff including some of Neil Youngs performance.

John

Has anyone seen the Live Aid DVD? I know this isnt the best in sound or picture quality, but the event itself was pretty amazing when you think about it. If the music and/or artists dont make it for you, then its a hoot to just make fun of the clothes/styles of the mid 80's. (ie. see Bono wearing thigh high boots with 3 inch heels)

However, unbeknownst to me David Gilmour plays guitar on one of the Spandau Ballet songs. I wasnt actually watching at the time the song started but gilmour's telltale guitar style was easily recognized and sure enough when I looked up, it was him.

I have only watched disc 1 of 4. This DVD definetly makes a good one for casual party (again, when not caring about PQ and SQ)

Another nod here for Bela Fleck & The Fleckstones "Live at the Quick" which I just picked up. Great variety, great muscians, well-produced DVD - really enjoyed it.

I recently checked out the Moody Blues Live In France 1970. It was not the most well-shot concert flick but the performances were incredible- almost to the point that I thought they had to be lip-synching. Worth a rent for sure.

Originally posted by htomei22
Bought this based on recommendations in this thread. Generally enjoyed it, but.....

Why did he not include "Last Worthless Evening", one of his very best songs, imho; and,

What was up with that weird rendition of "Hotel California"?? Was he (and his trombone blaring accomplices) channelling ZZ Top and a mariachi band? Am I the only one who appreciates it when the song on a DVD concert sounds at least vaguely the same as it did on the original recording which made it a hit in the first place??!!! Well, at least I have a good version on the Eagles' "Hell Freezes Over" DVD (which I also bought based on recommendations in this thread - thank you very much!)

hatomei

Alot of artists get tired of doing the same old song the same old way even though that is the way that we are used to hearing it. I absolutely loved the new rendition of Hotel California and it is my favorite song on the DVD.

I know this has been asked before but I didn't see a response. Can any Doors fans out there tell me what are some of their better albums and Concert DVDs to get? Thanks

I just read through this entire thread after stumbling upon it a couple hours ago.

I was EXTREMELY impressed with all of the Roger Waters - In the Flesh recognition (it IS the best Concert DVD I have EVER seen). Also the Diana Krall - Live In Paris DVD is my other favorite. I just love that DVD -- it's just one of those performances that I really feel apart of when I watch it.

However, I cannot believe this DVD wasn't mentioned...

1. Paul Simon - You're The One - Unbelievable music. Unbelievable sound quality. Video quality is VERY tolerable (not even CLOSE to being unpleasant in any way), but nothing "reference." The amount of exotic instruments and unique musical methods on this DVD is amazing. Incredible selection of songs (it has around 26 songs) all performed incredibly well. If you like Paul Simon at all, and especially if you know the "You're the One" CD (an unbelievable CD), you will LOVE this DVD. Recommended VERY HIGHLY. Go buy it!

Like above, came across this thread. Have had my HT for about 6 months now and lovin the concert DVD's, simply awesome. Agree with lots of comments here on the DVD's I have seen (Roger Waters, Who, Zep, etc.), but some DVD's from concerts in the 80's are a real disappointment in the video/sound quality area. Which brings me to my question, has anyone seen anywhere near a half decent concert DVD of Jimi Hendrix? I wouldn't consider my audio collection complete with his material, I'd like to get this 'hole' closed off on my DVD collection without having to go through several disappointments. And yes, I do have a long list of DVD's to purchase through the recommendations, thanks!

If you like jazz pick up "Jean Luc Ponty in Concert". near studio quality in audio and very good video, albeit 4:3. Also Pat Metheny Group "We Live Here" and "Imaginary day Live". Bonnie Raitt "Road Tested" is also very good. For classic rock the Who Live at the isle of Wight, the new 5.1 remastered version kicks butt, also Little Feat "Highwire Act live in St. Louis", very good audio and video.

John

I also liked the Average White Band in concert at the House of Blues for a jazzy funk type of band. Great stuff such as Pick Up The Pieces.

Jimmy Hendrix Live At Berkley was issued recently (2003 or 2004) on DVD.

They did a good job with sub-par source, and it sounds as good as can be expected. It is definitely a solid buy for a Hendrix fan.

Originally posted by Lee K

1. Paul Simon - You're The One - Unbelievable music. Unbelievable sound quality. Video quality is VERY tolerable (not even CLOSE to being unpleasant in any way), but nothing "reference." The amount of exotic instruments and unique musical methods on this DVD is amazing. Incredible selection of songs (it has around 26 songs) all performed incredibly well. If you like Paul Simon at all, and especially if you know the "You're the One" CD (an unbelievable CD), you will LOVE this DVD. Recommended VERY HIGHLY. Go buy it!


I love Paul Simon, and will be picking this up, THANKS.

I have the Average White band DVD, it's a great performance and a quality release. Also Hendix at Woodstock is killer!

John

I purchased We Live here because I'm such a huge Metheny fan, but was disappointed with the sound and the PQ. Speaking of Now is soooo much better. IMO/YMMV

Originally posted by Pablo M
Question about the Heart Alive in Seattle. Is this 5.0? I'm not getting any subwoofer and the lights not on. Anyone?
Pablo
I just checked this DVD as I had it for a while and it is only dts 5.0 and DD5.0. Even in the back of the package says that. Still sound good though.

Ann & Nancy's rendition of Battle of Evermore brings chills down my spine. What an Amazing performance. Do me a favor, cue it up, crank it up and tell me if it doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Thanks John R. and Antenna for the comments on Hendrix DVD's.....

BTW, picked up Fleetwood Mac Live in Boston (double DVD and CD), having the Rumours album (like most), a good deal and the usual curiosity. I'd have to say I'm impressed, first with the talent, sound is good and video too. They do play alot like their studio recordings, but just enough difference to keep it varied. I find myself liking the band a whole lot more than before....

Originally posted by Tom Grooms
Ann & Nancy's rendition of Battle of Evermore brings chills down my spine. What an Amazing performance. Do me a favor, cue it up, crank it up and tell me if it doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
I absolutely agree. I think that this is about the best piece of DVD concert out there. And I love when the bass drum comes in and pounds your chest.

Ed

Originally posted by tvuong
I just checked this DVD as I had it for a while and it is only dts 5.0 and DD5.0. Even in the back of the package says that. Still sound good though.
I commented on this the first time the issue came up, but let me repeat. To me, 5.0 makes more sense than 5.1 for music (as opposed to special effects in movies). If you have your bass management set up correctly, there should't be any problem with your subwoofer working.

Ed

If the rambling in Billy Idol's Storyteller DVD is bothersome, go to features & select music only :D

Peter Gabriel's Play The Videos has this ability also and it in the new DTS 96/24 format.. New for video DVD that is..

I'm really a rock & roller to the core, although my tastes are wide and I can not seem to get the Peter Gabriel out of the DVD player. It sounds simply stunning in DTS. Many times I don't even turn the TV on..

Originally posted by ekb
I commented on this the first time the issue came up, but let me repeat. To me, 5.0 makes more sense than 5.1 for music (as opposed to special effects in movies). If you have your bass management set up correctly, there should't be any problem with your subwoofer working.

Ed

LOL its a problem for most of us ED.

Bass Management is a pretty high end feature, I bet its only on about 10% of receivers.

Heart Live In Seattle is a mixed bag IMHO.

The sound quality is good, and the performance is solid, yet uninspired.

Most old rock stars need to freshen up the presentation of their songs, they get stale over the years.

I know Page and Plant did in their late 90s concert. David Gilmour and Roger Waters freshened up their music for their DVDs.

However bands like the Who, and Heart, seem for the most part, to play their music like it is on the Album.

I gotta run, i will add more to this later.

How is the sound on peter gabriels video collection PLAY?On amazon they review it like its the greatest sound yet on dvd.

Originally posted by mattg3
How is the sound on peter gabriels video collection PLAY?On amazon they review it like its the greatest sound yet on dvd.
Very adventurous 5.1 mixes with some hits and many misses.
Some songs are entirely reworked, (Shaking The Tree, which I really like both old and new versions),
and some are just very different sounding, (Games Without Frontiers, which I didn't like).
Might work better without picture as I'm constantly being distracted by the lead vocal in the rears.
(Though I did like how they tried to do 'Don't Give Up', it just didn't quite come out very good.)
Also some levels issues. Listen to the Dolby Digital or DTS in stereo mode and you will see these are not great mixes, fun as they may be in 5.1.
For me, really interesting for one listen and that's about it.
Feel free to disagree.... :p

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
LOL its a problem for most of us ED.

Bass Management is a pretty high end feature, I bet its only on about 10% of receivers.
If we are talking about A/V receivers that do DD 5.1 then I disagree. They ALL have it since that's a requirement for the DD 5.1 certification. And I would image that just about everyone reading this forum would be using such a system. In fact, if they're not, then 5.0 or 5.1 is a moot point. Now the old fashion 2 channel (analog inputs only) receivers did not have them.

Ed

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Heart Live In Seattle is a mixed bag IMHO.

The sound quality is good, and the performance is solid, yet uninspired.

Most old rock stars need to freshen up the presentation of their songs, they get stale over the years.

I know Page and Plant did in their late 90s concert. David Gilmour and Roger Waters freshened up their music for their DVDs.

However bands like the Who, and Heart, seem for the most part, to play their music like it is on the Album.

I gotta run, i will add more to this later.

Sorry John, but again I have to disagree with you. I guess it's a matter of taste. I much prefer a performance that is as faithful to the original as possible. I invariably dislike "inspired" versions.

BTW, I had made a recommendation to you a while ago that I think you missed. It's Meat Loaf - the one with the Melbourne (Australia) Symphony Orchestra. He puts in 120% effort. Really rocks. PQ and AQ are good. Patricia Russo who is his female partner does as good, if not better job. But the Dashboard Lights song is nothing like the original and may be the kind of embelishment that you like.

Ed

Ed, we've all heard poor "embellishments" thats for sure. But have you heard what David Gilmour does for old Floyd, by replacing the bass guitar with a cello teamed with a classic standup bassist?

Or the Eagles acoustic concert "Hell Freezes Over". Or nearly any Prince concert performance, that guy almost always sounds better at the show.

Or that classical orchestra and all those country string players that are on "An Evening With The Dixie Chicks". Although I dont own the album, who knows, they could be there too :D

Or on the "Led Zepplin DVD", you see how the 4 members of Led Zepplin can look at eachother, and slow down a song to a stop, then start it up again? What AMAZING players.

Its those moments, that I watch concerts for. As big of a Led Zepplin fans as those Heart girls are, I thought they could have floored the audience with a 12 minute version of Magic Man, or something : )

Meat Loaf is on my list! But he kind of has the "One Album Wonder" uncertainty.

If a band put out only one good album, are they worth a concert DVD?

We have to ask ourselves, was the Frampton DVD worth it?
Was the Boz Skaggs DVD worth it?

I personally love Frampton in Detroit. He still plays and sings very well for his age IMHO.

John

I"ll throw in a very strong recommendation for the Corrs, specifically Lansdowne Road. Three beautiful and talented sisters and their brother before a frenzied home town crowd after their truimphant tour. Irish pop type music. Excellent audio, very good video, although I'll qualify it with one of the cameras must has a hair across the lens so many shots have this. It is otherwise great. The Corrs Albert Hall production offers better sound and cleaner video, but the concert is not as captivating.
Art T

Originally posted by antennahead
I personally love Frampton in Detroit. He still plays and sings very well for his age IMHO.

John

Oh heck yea he does, he plays great! But his song catalog is soo weak.

Theres so many prolific artists out there with multi-album catalogs, that agonize over what tunes they will have to leave out.

I mentioned it before but I've been playing this track for a coupla weeks now....
On Ringo Starrs concert DVD, the best song is Free's "All Rite Now" with Peter Frampton on guitar, Jack Bruce(Cream) on bass, Simon Kirke (Free) on the skins along with a few others (Ringo, Gary Brooker etc.)
Love it when the wife goes out.....:D

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Ed, we've all heard poor "embellishments" thats for sure. But have you heard what David Gilmour does for old Floyd, by replacing the bass guitar with a cello teamed with a classic standup bassist?

Or the Eagles acoustic concert "Hell Freezes Over". Or nearly any Prince concert performance, that guy almost always sounds better at the show.
I have both of the above disks and love parts of the Gilmour one. I can see what you mean that novel versions can be good - but, for me, it has to be a really good song and the new version has to be done well. Shine on you crazy diamond is an example of that.

As big of a Led Zepplin fans as those Heart girls are, I thought they could have floored the audience with a 12 minute version of Magic Man, or something : )
BTW, I think that Heart's version of Battle of Evermore is even better than Led Zepplin!

Ed

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Meat Loaf is on my list! But he kind of has the "One Album Wonder" uncertainty.

If a band put out only one good album, are they worth a concert DVD?

I'm not really a Meat Loaf fan (is anybody?!) because after a while it all sounds the same. But what I was trying to say, is that he really goes all out to put on a really rocking show - I think that it's the kind of thing that you appreciate. The very good PQ and AQ is a real big bonus. Unfortunately it is an expensive disk. Anyone a member of Netflicks or similar clubs? Can you rent this kind of stuff just to check it out - because the local Blockbuster certainly doesn't carry this kind of stuff?

Ed

Storytellers is pretty good with MeatLoaf, the PQ is grainy but for loaf fans...

I was a pretty big ML fan in his hey day, I still have some memorabilia of him.
Check out my HT pic and look above the TV to the right......

Originally posted by ekb
Anyone a member of Netflicks or similar clubs? Can you rent this kind of stuff just to check it out - because the local Blockbuster certainly doesn't carry this kind of stuff? Ed


Netflix has these DVDs. Can anyone recommend one? (Performance - PQ - SQ, etc.)

Thanks

- Classic Albums: Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell (1999)


- Meat Loaf: Hits Out of Hell (2000)


- Meat Loaf: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2004)


- Meat Loaf: VH1 Storytellers (1999)

Originally posted by Cyrano
Netflix has these DVDs. Can anyone recommend one? (Performance - PQ - SQ, etc.)

Thanks

- Classic Albums: Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell (1999)


- Meat Loaf: Hits Out of Hell (2000)


- Meat Loaf: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2004)


- Meat Loaf: VH1 Storytellers (1999)

Well I was talking about the Melbourne one - very good PQ and AQ.
I saw the Storytellers one and it's no where near as good. Haven't seen the other 2.

Ed

Peter frampton live in detroit-Has anyone seen this?Lots of great reviews on the net stating the pq and audio are outstanding.Im not a fan but this might be a keeper considering the work he did on the ringo starr tour where he and jack bruce played together and stole the show.Framptons guitar playing was as good as clapton in his younger days.The only criticism I found was that someone said no sound at all comes from the center channel on the detroit dvd.Has anyone found this to be true?

I just watched "Niacin: Live: Blood, Sweat, and Beers" last night. Concert filmed at a small venue in Japan. 4:3 PQ was not bad at all. Stereo sound was good. Performance was excellent!

larry

Originally posted by mattg3
Peter frampton live in detroit-Has anyone seen this?Lots of great reviews on the net stating the pq and audio are outstanding.Im not a fan but this might be a keeper considering the work he did on the ringo starr tour where he and jack bruce played together and stole the show.Framptons guitar playing was as good as clapton in his younger days.The only criticism I found was that someone said no sound at all comes from the center channel on the detroit dvd.Has anyone found this to be true?
I have this and I think it is very good, both PQ (Matt you'll like the PQ since I believe it was recorded as HD video and you've commented that you like that) and AQ. I'll check about the center channel and get back. This is an old DVD and I remember several years ago that it was common not to put audio in the center channel. But I don't really miss it since the phantom center works for me.

Ed

Matt, Frampton has a weak song catalog, but plays good and the sound/Video quality is there. It was a "listen once" DVD for me.

I will check the center channel tonite. I noticed that many concerts are basically recorded in Stereo, with a 3rd crowd channel. Roger Waters In The Flesh is recorded like this. and yes on these disks they often put the crowd channel in the center. Its not the best way to do it, thats for sure.

I would hesitate to compare *any* guitar player to Clapton, much less Peter Frampton. Clapton has a direct link between the brain and his guitar :D. All you have to do is watch Frampton for 5 minutes, and watch Clapton for 5 minutes, and you see the difference in intensity and musicality. Frampton is good, but hes mortal. he did some cool things with a voicebox in his early days, and the "Breaking The Rules" Frampton album had some decent work.

But IMHO 10 minutes of Claptons studio work on "Pros and Cons Of Hitchiking", shows more musical genus than Frampton's whole career.

thanks john ,I agree but if you can, check out the dvd compilation of ringo starr and his all star band.Frampton and Jack bruce together really shocked me based on old frampton stuff from the eighties. You also get to see gary brooker,the lead force behind my procol harum recommendation

I love Eric Clapton's Guitar Festival. I used to watch it 2 times a day when I first got it. Now I still watch it at least once a week. I don't think you can find any concert DVD in anamorphic video though.

Originally posted by wdang
I don't think you can find any concert DVD in anamorphic video though.

What do you mean? I think there are loads of them.

Ed

Originally posted by mattg3
Peter frampton live in detroit... The only criticism I found was that someone said no sound at all comes from the center channel on the detroit dvd.Has anyone found this to be true?
OK, I just checked. There is sound from the center but it's low level and simply ambient sound. That is, the main vocals are not there as they should be. Nevertheless, this hasn't bothered me since the phantom center works well.

Matt, I think that you'll like this DVD especially if you like the performance on the Ringo Star DVD since this one is much better (ie for Frampton). Regarding John's comments on this disk, everyone has their own tastes. My conmments are based on the fact that both of you post a lot and I feel that I have a sense of your different tastes.

Ed

Altho Clapton can be grouped together with the likes of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, Frampton is no slouch himself and proves it on this concert DVD....like his acoustical abilities on 'All I Wanna Be' (Is By Your Side) and the licks in 'Do You Feel Like We Do'.
Matt, this Image Entertainment DVD will not disappoint. It is shot with HD cameras and the DTS sound is fantastic.

Note, Roger Waters' In the Flesh also has nearly no sound coming from the Center Channel but it is one of the best sounding concerts I own. Strange but true...

Originally posted by ekb
OK, I just checked. There is sound from the center but it's low level and simply ambient sound. That is, the main vocals are not there as they should be. Nevertheless, this hasn't bothered me since the phantom center works well.

Matt, I think that you'll like this DVD especially if you like the performance on the Ringo Star DVD since this one is much better (ie for Frampton). Regarding John's comments on this disk, everyone has their own tastes. My conmments are based on the fact that both of you post a lot and I feel that I have a sense of your different tastes.

Ed

Thanks to everyone for frampton feedback and thanks ekb for checking out center channel.I have to be careful on this purchase and follow my own advice i gave here about not letting good pq and audio get in the way of your tastes.I don't know much about the frampton catalog except for the hits that were radio friendly and in its day I considered light weight pop.
i actually remember frampton as a member of the early sixties UK band the herd(I hope my memory right here)where he was a teen rock idol in those early days of British invasion.I'm going to spent some time listening to amazon sound bites from his cds to get a feel for the music to see if it works for me.Was the dvd recorded inside or in an outdoor stadium structure?
It seems about once every three weeks i get the urge to buy another concert and growing up in the sixties its hard to match my tastes with whats out there.Its also really tough to buy old stuff that was recorded before pq and audio were perfected.Its great to see old band reunions or,like procol harum,bands still playing and putting out new dvd product.
Has anyone checked out amazon .com UK.It seems to me they have a lot more dvd concerts available than in US.the problem is you need a region free dvd player and an ability to buy off the sight and have it sent to US.I have no idea if amazon accepts US money on UK products but i doubt it.the shipping would be pretty high and the dvds would probably be pretty costly in US money.
Ive been a paul weller fan for years and have his Two classic concerts dvd that i highly recommend for the outdoor concert filmed in the middle of London at sunset.The dvd editing is too fast and frantic for my tastes but the concert is great.He has a number of UK dvds that have not been released in US and thats a real shame since many don't know how great a performer he is.I'm tempted to get his only other US dvd Live at braehead but reviews say the editing is even more frantic than the dvd i own.I'm planning on taking a purchasing trip to London some day to fill my need for some of these dvds i see on amazon.com UK that will never see the light of day in the US.

Originally posted by outlier2
Note, Roger Waters' In the Flesh also has nearly no sound coming from the Center Channel but it is one of the best sounding concerts I own. Strange but true...

I think I might have said this earlier in the thread, but it's not really that strange when you consider that Roger and his crew have been working in quadrophonic for more than thirty years.

Originally posted by kjroddy
I think I might have said this earlier in the thread, but it's not really that strange when you consider that Roger and his crew have been working in quadrophonic for more than thirty years.

Eh?
What PF albums have quad versions? I cant remember any, though I vaguely remember some special version of an earlier album... "Wish You Were Here" ? " or DSOTM ?

Pink Floyd did one album with Carver labs Holophonic processing, but that was 2 channel.

I think Roger incorporated 2 channel Holophonics into his solo work too, is that what your talking about?

Certainly Atom Heart Mother, DSOTM & WYWH were released in Quadrophonic, there may have been others.

What I was really referring to the Pink Floyd concert sound, which has been quadrophonic since the late sixties (The "Azimuth Coordinator") making heavy use of rear surround channels for sound effects, something which Roger continued on the Pro's & Cons, KAOS and of course the In the Flesh tour which this video is from.

I have never been to any concert, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, or anyone else where they had a front center PA stack ;)

How about Umphrey's McGee: Live from the Lake Coast Skyline Stage. This band is HOT. Excellent musicanship. They are like Zappa meets Yes, meets Steely Dan, meets Chick Corea. Here's an except from their website:

Music that “fuses fusion, funk, and pop into a steamy psychedelic swirl,” music that is called “cerebral” and “mathematical,” yet “danceable and infectious” at the same time, music that “prog-rock nerds delight in discovering,” music that “threatens to blow speakers—and a few minds—,”music for the parched heads out there begging for some depth and complexity, this is the startling music of Umphrey’s McGee.

The disc has plenty of audio options, including DTS. It also has alot of easter eggs, so it's like you get more than just a concert disc. I will say that the disc is not without it's faults, The video production is just ok in that they shot the concert with stage lighting and not TV production lighting. Everytime the the red lights come on everything bleeds to death. There are alot of cameras including a boom, but some of the camera work is rough. What really shines here is the performance. These guys CAN PLAY. Both guitar players are smokin' along with a great drummer, bassist, percussionist and keyboard player. Check them out! You will be glad you did.

Greg

Originally posted by gps
How about Umphrey's McGee: Live from the Lake Coast Skyline Stage.

Additionally, Umphrey's McGee is a taper friendly band in the same vein as The Grateful Dead and Phish etc. If anybody would like to check out their music before spending money on the DVD you can go to Internet Archives (http://www.archive.org/audio/etree.php) and download something from any of the hundreds of Umphrey's shows they have archived to give it a sample. Most shows are available .shn or .flac (lossless compression) format but many are also available in the much more compact .mp3 format.

During the "Dark Side of the Moon" tour in the summer of 1973, PF played the Merriweather Post Pavilion outdoor theater in quad. Huge speaker stacks placed at the rear of the expansive lawn and throughout the covered area gave the sold out crowd two shows they will never forget.

Best concert ever..can still hear the swirling sounds across acreas of concert lawn and hearing the entire album for the first time.

I didn't mean that it was strange that they use quad, which is fairly well known, but that it sounds so good despite largely ignoring the center channel. And I have a big CC so recordings with a good center sound wonderful.



Originally posted by kjroddy
I think I might have said this earlier in the thread, but it's not really that strange when you consider that Roger and his crew have been working in quadrophonic for more than thirty years.

If you focus on 2 quality channels, you can do some cool phasing and imaging with the sound, that would be difficult to do with 5 channels.
I think some of the drum sound benifits from the 2 channel presentation on that disk, ;like the drum solo on "Amused To Death"

Not that I find "In The Flesh" to be a reference audio DVD, its clearly not a "10".
Its an "8" or a "9", and to a snobby audiophile it may well be a 7.

But performance is everything, so it feels like a 10 :)

Also the camera work on ITF is excellent...

Originally posted by kjroddy
Certainly Atom Heart Mother, DSOTM & WYWH were released in Quadrophonic, there may have been others.

What I was really referring to the Pink Floyd concert sound, which has been quadrophonic since the late sixties (The "Azimuth Coordinator") making heavy use of rear surround channels for sound effects, something which Roger continued on the Pro's & Cons, KAOS and of course the In the Flesh tour which this video is from.

I have never been to any concert, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, or anyone else where they had a front center PA stack ;)

Ah, yep I've been to 2 Waters shows, and he did use the surround effects, but mostly for theatrics...

I could tell you guys a story ... I lived in Maryland at the time, fresh out of college, and I was working in LA on a contract. I was an electronics technician installing huge telecommunications switches all over the country.

So anyways, this contract company i was working for wasn't paying promptly, so I had to move into a cheap seedy motel in downtown LA. Well downtown LA in 1984 was run by gangs, and getting to my cheap motel at nite was always an adventure.

The night I went to see Roger Waters I had to figure out the bus system and get from one bad neighborhood to another ( where the Forum was). I did it though, but to this day, i cant believe i pulled off seeing Roger with no transportation, little money, and no beer.

I saw the Pros & Cons tour twice on back-to-back nights at Earl's Court (with Clapton). Remains just about my favorite ever concert, apart from The Wall shows a few years earlier. Saw the KAOS tour both nights at Wembley as well ( 2nd row seat the second night :D ).

Awesome, clapton must have been great!

It kills me that I missed the "In The Flesh" tour. I was right in the middle of a stressful divorce and he played 30 minutes away at a 5000 seat place, but I couldnt exactly "party during during the funeral", if you know what I mean.

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA

I recently bought several new concert DVDs: .........Simon And Garfunkle in Central Park 1999, .................., I will probably review them here




Still waiting.



Stew

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Awesome, clapton must have been great!

It kills me that I missed the "In The Flesh" tour. I was right in the middle of a stressful divorce and he played 30 minutes away at a 5000 seat place, but I couldnt exactly "party during during the funeral", if you know what I mean.

No, I don't know what you mean. I would have been there with bells & whistles with my most new & beautiful girlfriend.

Actually pretty much every time I have seen Waters has had a story attached:

I wasn't following the music scene very much around the time of Pros and Cons and I only found out about the shows two days before they happened. I was pretty upset to think I'd be missing it... then on the morning of the first show my brand new Mastercard arrived in the mail... shot off on the train to London, prepared to take a major hit on the cash advance rates if necessary, yet, to my amazement the shows were not sold out (Roger never sold terribly well without the "brand name") and tickets were available at the box office, so I bought one for that night and a pair for the second night. Neither seats were particularly good but the show was so enormous that it didn't really matter.

I also missed the initial announcement for the KAOS tour, but did notice in the London evening paper the day they announced that a second night had been added so I took the morning off work to go to the box office and that was how I got the second row seats... at the time I was living in North London a ten minute bus ride from Wembley so on the night of the first show I went up there anyway, intending to check out the merchandise, but when I arrived there were scores of scalpers with lots of tickets to sell. Once again the lack of a brand name seemed to have hit sales... I wasn't desperate, I knew I'd be seeing the show tomorrow anyway, so I played a patient waiting game with one particular guy... "seems to me you've got an awful lot of tickets and not many buyers... in a couple of hours they won't be worth anything"... eventually at about 7:45, 15 minutes before showtime, he gave in and let me have one for less than face value :)

Fast forward to almost 12 years later. I'm now living in Philadelphia. The In the Flesh dates are announced but oh the Horror!!! I'm going to be working in Upstate NY when he plays Philly :( . A little research and I find that he is playing Scranton, PA on the Friday that my contract finishes, so I hatch a plan to drive down to Scranton to meet my wife, who travels up from Philly on the bus. We stay in Scranton then drive to Darien Lakes, NY where Roger plays the next night, then head up to Ontario to visit my aunt and uncle for a few days. All went pretty well until "Another Brick in the Wall" when thunder roared and the heavens opened. The band stopped and left the stage, Roger saying it was too dangerous for them to play. For the next couple of hours it rained solidly with lightning illuminating the scene every few seconds. The Arena at Montage Mountain, Scranton is a ski slope in the winter, there was no shelter anywhere. I have never been so wet in my life. A couple of times announcements were made that the rain would be stopping soon and the show would continue as soon as it did. Still it rained and rained. Eventually, some time getting close to midnight if I remember rightly, Roger came out and announced "F* this rain, we're gonna play anyway" and did. It was truly awesome with the occasional clap of thunder overpowering the PA and the lightshow from mother nature outshone the stage effects... I lasted thru Dogs before finally taking pity on my poor wife and leaving, knowing that we would at least be undercover for the show the following night.

Oh yeah, caught the show another couple of times on the second leg at Madison Square Garden the following year, but that was comparitively uneventful.

I saw KAOS in the San Diego Sports Arena. Excellent!! I loved the video effects as well. I also saw 3 Pink Floyd Concerts. The first when they released "Meddle", the second on release of "DSOTM" and the third "Wall" concert. They're never less than astounding.

Originally posted by Stew4msu
Still waiting.



Stew

So am I. Need to satisfy my concert dvd fix now!

htomei

Originally posted by Stew4msu
Still waiting.



Stew

LOL thats been a while, probably a year?

I cant remember the details...
But the sound quality for the time period is solid, the video quality, again for the time period, is solid. This is not a crap recording, neiither is it great, its very acceptable.

Its one of those "generational event" concerts. They had been doing solo for quite a while,and they play a free show to a sea of joyous people in Central Park, its a warm fuzzy concert.

They are both in good form voicewise, although Garfunkle is a geek. He has all the presence of a librarian. Folk music is kind of like country music, it helps if the musicians have a personality...

Paul was very cool though.

They have a good backup band, and this helps keep the energy level up.

Thanks John.

I was asking because buy.com has it on sale for $8.99 and wasn't sure if I should pick it up or not. BTW, I'm a S&G fan, so I guess I can't go wrong, eh?

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=40223379&loc=322&sp=1



Stew

Never saw that s&g concert but have the new one Old Friends.A huge stadium like structure was not the place to film a concert.The content is good but it lacks the intimate feel that the songs beg for.If only it had been filmed in the Beacon theater with the crew that did James taylors dvd.

Originally posted by Stew4msu
Thanks John.

I was asking because buy.com has it on sale for $8.99 and wasn't sure if I should pick it up or not. BTW, I'm a S&G fan, so I guess I can't go wrong, eh?

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=40223379&loc=322&sp=1



Stew

IMDB likes it..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218896/

I have the "Youre The One" concert by Paul Simon & like it allot.

The performance on the S & G disc is sad. Trigger to the special features and hear what they were when Garfinkle had that high wispy voice and cry for what he/they are now. This was a visit to the past that should not have happened.

Listened to the Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD the other day and was extremely pleased with it. But, what was the best treat from this for me was my first introduction to John Mayer. WOW! I was floored by his performance. I've got to find some more of his recordings. He has a DVD out called Any Given Thursday. I will probably buy it blind, but does anyone know of it to make a recommendation?

I bought Rod Stewart's Live at Royal Albert Hall tonite and watched a few cuts and came up with a few conclusions....

One, PQ was not amazing as MattG had put it, but definitely watchable, better than some. Somewhat soft.

Sound was good, all the instruments were very clear, Rods voice sounded great and raspy and very legible. Bass seemed a little subdued to what Im used to but then again, it was late and I had it at a lower volume than normal.

Nothing really coming from the surrounds except the audience clapping at the end of each song....of course I'll try it again when the kids arent in bed and Momma's out shoppin or somethin.

All in all, I'm looking forward to watching/listening to all of the concert in a manner of which I am more accustomed to......-10 on the receiver is my magic number. :D

Listened to Little Feat "Highwire Act Live in St. Louis" tonight, great DTS sound and widescreen pic, very good video. Performance was excellent also ......... now if Lowell George was only alive ............

John

I have seen John Mayer live and he is really talented, but I wouldn't recommend Any Given Thursday. The audience screams the whole DVD. I watched it once and put it away. CD is the same.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Live at Slane Castle
Warner Vision

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround

DTS 5.1 Surround

Widescreen 1.78:1
16:9 Enhanced

The quality of this show, both visually & sonically, is unbelievable.

I also was impressed with Roger Waters ~ In the Flesh, i missed this in person, but saw the Pros & Cons & Radio Kaos(2nd Row Dead Center @ the Gr8 Western Forum~Los Angeles c.1987)

sprint8,

Thanks for the quick feedback. I really appreciate it. So, I guess the audience annoyingly overwelms the performance, like Rush in Rio? Guess I'll have to do a little more research then and probably pass on it.

Thanks again.

Well I guess you have to have the pioneer plasma and the panasonic xr50 dvd player with the farouda chip but i still stand by my pq comments on the Rod stewart live at albert hall.Compared to most dvd concerts i own this one was heads above the rest on picture quality.

I also was impressed with Roger Waters ~ In the Flesh, i missed this in person, but saw the Pros & Cons & Radio Kaos(2nd Row Dead Center @ the Gr8 Western Forum~Los Angeles c.1987) [/QUOTE]

Cool! I was there.... how about the way they finished the intermission!...

People were still filing in with their popcorn and drinks, and they had an airplane fly overhead and blow up the stage.

Just finished watching David Byrne Live at Union Chapel. Very good , especially the numbers with the string section. Not as good as Stop Making Sense (my favourite), but definitely worth it.

Originally posted by TXP3064W
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Live at Slane Castle
Warner Vision
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
DTS 5.1 Surround
Widescreen 1.78:1
16:9 Enhanced
The quality of this show, both visually & sonically, is unbelievable.


yes-great disc.it took me awhile to get into their "semi-mellower not as funk/rock driven"stuff from the past 2 albums,but it has grown on me.

Originally posted by mattg3
Well I guess you have to have the pioneer plasma and the panasonic xr50 dvd player with the farouda chip but i still stand by my pq comments on the Rod stewart live at albert hall.Compared to most dvd concerts i own this one was heads above the rest on picture quality.
Hmm, well theres a few that are a lot better that come to mind....
Heart : Alive in Seattle
Boz Scaggs Live
The Eagles : Hell Freezes Over
Don Henley : Live Inside Job
Mind you I only have an ISF'd RPTV and an old Pana RP82...I feel so slighted :(

So I just got Procol Harum that Matt has been raving about. I only had time to sampled it quickly. The PQ is fairly good but a bit soft at times. The AQ is also pretty good - much better than the norm, but not reference quality IMO. This is the first disk where I think the DTS is better than DD (and I know that this contradicts most opinions). I like that the instruments are distinct and clear. You can hear bass string plucking vs a bass mush. The drums and especially the cymbals are recorded better, more forward than usual. And the vocals have a very strong, center presence. I'm not too familiar with the music and so I'll have to give that a chance - but first impression is that it's a bit dull. I do know their classic hits from the 60's - Conquistador was changed from the original too much for my tastes, A Whiter Shade of Pale was more like the original - but I think the originals had orchestra's which are missing here.

Ed

I guess you had to be there EKB to get some of this Procol harum .I was in college when they first showed up and didnt get it until now.I guess i just love the grand piano,organ interplay and the way the bass and drums were recorded on this dvd.
didnt mean to make you feel slighted yosh,i own the Boz scaggs dvd you mentioned and its got good pq but there is something about the lighting in the Albert hall and the bright colors that my pioneer plasma plays up to the extreme.I will check out some of those other dvds you mentioned.

I just finally watched Herbie Hancocks Future2Future Live.. I've had this for some time but never really played the whole DVD.

http://www.intervocative.com/cgi-bin/data/myprofiler/images/7464551939f.jpg

For those that are unfamiliar he is the guy that did Rockit back in the 80's. The best way to describe this band would be calling them a jazz jam band :)

The video is widescreen and crisp. The DTS sounds great and the band is really tight. I don't know the ladies name but she is the best female drummer I have ever seen.

I first saw Herbie Hancock in concert in 1969. He was the filler for the marquee lead group Iron Butterfly. My friends were lovin' "Inna Gotta Da Vida" while I was cruisin' on some fine jazz. They thought I was nuts, but I knew Hancock's Headhunters would become great. And he's still kickin' around some nice tunes.

Cant let this thread disappear.Has anyone seen a dvd called What we did last summer by robbie williams.A huge concert filmed at Knebworth with 125 thousand people going nuts for this guy?The pq is hd all the way and though i dont know much about the guy he sure puts himself out there for his fans.A bit pretentious but enjoyable at times.The audio doesnt rate as good as the video but its not bad.He seems to want to be Elvis,freddy me
rcury and a member of sinatras rat pack all at the same time.If anyones interested the double dvd is available very cheap on amazon but i think its an import because it took a month to arrive.
Morrissey has a concert out the end of the month and Mike and the mechanics with Paul carrack just put out concert out this week.Both of these are new concerts from 2004.

I'm right in the middle of watching "DeJohnette, Hancock, Holland, Metheny: In Concert". I ordered this because of PM, but Hancock is wonderful as well. The PQ isnt fantastic, but the performance is supurb. If you love this type of jazz, its a must see.

For the guy who liked john mayer...I would say, wait for the SoundStage dvd...I watched the HD performance on RAVE, and he does a good job, and it has some notable additions.

Okay, what do people here think of the Dream Theater Live At The Budokan?

BTW, George Benson has a high bit rate DTS DVD, and ... it sounds great and all, but his style of jazz is just so wimpy. Its Jazz-lite!

I think I spent 24 bucks on it, the most I have ever paid for a single DVD concert, and regreted it.

I was a big Mike and the Mechanics and Paul Carrack fan, would love an update on that DVD. Do they do any Paul Carrack songs? Tempted, written when he was with Squeeze would be nice.

John

The track list for mike and the mechanics dvd is listed on amazon.

Can anyone recommend a good Fleetwood Mac DVD? There are a few available, just want to know which one has the better PQ and sound.

BTW, i watched them on HD-PBS the other night 'Live in Boston'. It was fantastic.

Originally posted by brumos
Can anyone recommend a good Fleetwood Mac DVD? There are a few available, just want to know which one has the better PQ and sound.

I have The Dance but I haven't played it in a long while.

If I recall, PQ was just fair and SQ was urinate-poor. Drums and bass were so muffled it was the worse thing I have ever heard.

The concert and content was great, but the bum DVD made me invent a few new swear words directed to the bums that made it. It pissed me off.

But reviews are always different. I've heard other people rave about the SQ and PQ of this disc, so go figure.

I have both The Dance and Live in Boston....The Dance would be my choice between the two.

Altho PQ is somewhat soft, its very watchable and SQ is definitely better than what Dallas is saying. Not sure if maybe there was something wrong with his system at the time but it is not at all like he says.

Originally posted by Dallas777
I have The Dance but I haven't played it in a long while.

If I recall, PQ was just fair and SQ was urinate-poor. Drums and bass were so muffled it was the worse thing I have ever heard.

The concert and content was great, but the bum DVD made me invent a few new swear words directed to the bums that made it. It pissed me off.

But reviews are always different. I've heard other people rave about the SQ and PQ of this disc, so go figure.

Wow I thought the drums were done great on The Dance. This was perhaps my first concert DVD, back in the roaring 90s, and it demonstrated what a good concert DVD could sound like, to me.

No its not perfect, but was awesome for 1998 or whenever it came out :)

A little off topic, but the "Rumours" DVD Audio disk is very well done. No video footage of course, but I can't imagine them sounding any better than this.

Originally posted by Yosh70
I have both The Dance and Live in Boston....The Dance would be my choice between the two.

Altho PQ is somewhat soft, its very watchable and SQ is definitely better than what Dallas is saying. Not sure if maybe there was something wrong with his system at the time but it is not at all like he says.
Ditto here. The Dance, although not reference quality, is actually quite good. Its the one to get. Live in Boston really sucks as far as AQ goes.

Ed

Originally posted by Yosh70
SQ is definitely better than what Dallas is saying. Not sure if maybe there was something wrong with his system at the time but it is not at all like he says.

I stand by my review of The Dance DVD on my system. There was / is nothing wrong with my system, because I have played many DVD concerts since then.

I know "bits is bits" but could I have a bum DVD? One would think the quality would be completely the same on all of The Dance DVD's sold.

If I want to experience reference quality sound, I plug in my Bruce Live in NYC DVD and listen to his wailing guitar coming from the dialogue channel. Again, that's the best mix of a concert DVD that I have ever heard on my system.

Originally posted by JBaumgart
A little off topic, but the "Rumours" DVD Audio disk is very well done. No video footage of course, but I can't imagine them sounding any better than this.

LOL well have you ever seen Lindsay Buckingham ripping up the fretboard?

One doesn't truely understand the synergies of Fleetwood Mac, until they seem them live :)

Originally posted by Dallas777
I stand by my review of The Dance DVD on my system. There was / is nothing wrong with my system, because I have played many DVD concerts since then.

I know "bits is bits" but could I have a bum DVD? One would think the quality would be completely the same on all of The Dance DVD's sold.

If I want to experience reference quality sound, I plug in my Bruce Live in NYC DVD and listen to his wailing guitar coming from the dialogue channel. Again, that's the best mix of a concert DVD that I have ever heard on my system.


What kind of speaker setup do you have? Many disks, especially of that era, are basically stereo recordings, with a back audience channel, and multiplexed out to 5 speakers. This requires the front Left/Rights be setup right for stereo.

Not saying yours arent, but just curious.

Also, I agree the Bruce DVD is an unbelievable recording. The way they capture the feel of a huge arena concert is great. His music .... er its not quite as dynamic as Fleetwood Mac though, nor does it age as well IMHO.
I like putting that disc in and listening to about 2 cuts, then im ready to put in something else.

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
LOL well have you ever seen Lindsay Buckingham ripping up the fretboard?

One doesn't truely understand the synergies of Fleetwood Mac, until they seem them live :)

Actually I did see them live once, and to tell you the truth they didn't sound that good. Maybe they had a bad night. I don't ever recall Buckingham ripping up the fretboard, but something I do remember is Peter Townsend totally destroying his guitar to end a 1969 Who concert that I saw in Boston. Some of my other more memorable concerts in the early years were:

The Byrds (first big name concert ever)
Beach Boys (my first 45RPM single I ever bought)
Jimmy Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
Jethro Tull
Ten Years After
Foghat
Steely Dan

Sure wish I had good quality DVD's of all of these performances...

"Led Zepplin DVD" is a tour-de-force of Led Zepplin, Jimmy page went over all those old tapes and lovingly remastered them. I was not a huge Zepplin fan when I bought this DVD, but these guys play like freaking gods!

What a tight band, watch how they slow down and speed up the timing of the songs. They can take a fast heavy metal song, then slow it down to a silent stop, then slowly bring it back up to speed. Jimmy has a thousand musical riffs, and you hear him go through most of them effortlessly. You get to hear Plant in his prime, back when he could fill an auditorium without a microphone.

Watch John Bonham dish out a unique musical drum fill - 20 times a song.

Watch Plant sing as just another incredible instrument. This guy will shutup when appropiate, he will wail when appropiate, he will murmur and humm if thats what sounds good with the other instruments. Watch him hit all those obscene notes that he did in the studio.

Watch Jimmy Page's unleash a unique guitar riff - 20 times a song.

Watch John Paul Jones somehow tie all these virtuosos together with perfect bass timing, even when those nuts decide that they dont need to follow any timing conventions of music. He is impressive.

Its mostly in 5.1 DTS or Dolby 5.1, but check out the MONO recording on the first DVD, called "Danmark Radio", they play almost the entire first album in a studio, completely raw. They have one simple amp for each player, and thats it.

They start out all nervous, and Plants voice is tight, but around the second song they hit their stride and put a show of a lifetime on for these snot nosed kids. Watch Page do the entire spacy part of "Dazed and confused" from 12 inches away. And thats just an "extra".

They have a good portion of 4 other concerts, and it most of their best material.

The first disk has them when they were new, playing that first blusey album, where they defined heavy metal blues. It also shows them playing their 2nd and 3rd albums... and some of their most challenging material for Plant. The stuff where he has to sing super fast and super high..

The second disk has LedZepin in their musical prime, AND playing their prime material, like "Kashmir", "In My Time Of Dying".

This is simply the most amazing historical DVD...

********************

Jimmmy Hendrix, Live at Berkley, was remastered in 2003. It was originally a horrible recording, and its still not great, but again, I cant imagine a Hendrix fan being bummed about it.

The cameramen screwed up on the original filming, so they switch to scenes of the riots and such where they dont have film, but you still see enough Jimmy to make it a very good thing.

"Steely Dan Plush TV" is a high quality DVD recording, and good video, but I couldnt stand it. The primary cameraman basically locks onto Fagen's slightly gross face and stays there. LOL not what I want to see while listening to Steely Dan...

JBaumgart also check out "No Quarter", its Page and Plant in the late 90s, was originally LaserDisc but is now on DVD.

Page and Plant perform some of the songs you wont see anywhere else, that were loved but not necessarily played on the radio.

Its bold, innovative, well filmed, and well recorded. It shows how this band was basically a progressive rock band, before there was progressive rock.

On the minus side, it really shows how Page was completely in his own world during shows, he barely acknowledges the audience.

Plant's stage style also is shown with all its glory and faults , hes always going off on tangents, most of them good, but occasionally he gets a little wierd :)

They do not mess around though, most of it is in a live concert, some of it is like them playing by a quiet creek... and its definitely worth taking a look.

They have the guts to play "What is and What Should Never Be" which I always considered unplayable live, with the super fast singing and the slow interludes.. Plant also have the guts to sing "Thats the Way", which is basically a love song to a guy, lol.

Song List:
No Quarter
Thank You
What is And What Should Never Be
The Battle of Evermore
Gallows Pole
Nobody's Fault But Mine
City Don't Cry
The Truth Explodes
Wah Wah
When the Levee Breaks
Wonderful One
Since I've Been Loving You
The Rain Song
That's The Way
Four Sticks
Friends
Kashmir

John, thanks for the suggestions - I'll check them out.

There are a few DVDs I enjoy on a regular basis both video and audio wise. Here are the few that I highly recommend.

Queensryche - Live Evolution:
Great concert video and audio capturing the band's performance covering songs from their entire catalog, from 2001 in their hometown, where it all started. Video is 1.85:1 and the Dolby Digital has a good mix.

Queensryche - Operation Livecrime:
This is an older concert that has made it's way to DVD. I used to have it on VHS, so I was glad to see they gave it the DVD treatment with a DD soundtrack. Unfortunately the audio is from back in the day so it is definitely not a clear and separated like the newer concert DVDs. But this concert is really worth it. To watch the whole album unfold from beginning to end, along with the theatrics and video sequences is a sight to behold. Video is 1.33:1 and DD.

Iron Maiden - Rock in Rio:
This is my all time favorite. One of my all time favorite bands puts on the performance of a lifetime. Vivid colors and great audio separation in the DTS version. Each of the three guitarists has their own dedicated front speaker. So you can listen to each individuals performance just by tuning your attention towards a certain speaker. And from what I could tell when viewing it on my old DVD player, the audio was encoded around 1500 kb/sec. The crowd is incredibly into the show and it just adds to the feel of the DVD. Again, like Queensryche, they perform songs covering the bands entire history. Video is 1.33:1 and your choice of DTS or DD

Black Label Society - Boozed, Broozed and Tattooed
Guitar master Zakk Wylde proves he has the skills to sing and play guitar in amazing fashion. The DTS audio on this DVD is amazing. The video quality is as good as it can get for a nightclub in Detroit. Definitely worth picking up if you are a Zakk Wylde fan. DTS and DD

Steely Dan - Two Against Nature
Yeah, I know, this really doesn't fit in with all the other concert DVDs I listed, but my musical tastes are all over the place. I remember seeing this concert on PBS and knew I had to get it on DVD. The DVD in DTS is outstanding. Such a great atmosphere and setting for this concert. Though I do have to agree with one reviewer of this DVD, the closeups on Donald Fagen are not the greatest. He sure has a nice set of Vampire teeth. DTS and DD

This is the best thread on the web in my opinion. Wanted to keep it alive... bump!

FYI, in celebration of its 20th anniversary, Sting's 1985 documentary, "Bring on the Night" has been released. It is excellent in every way. Back with the Sting we all loved before he went all adult contemporary and mushy, the brooding, self absorbed Sting and his ass kicking band of jazz musicians that brought something new and fresh to pop music.

How much of "Bring On the Night" is a live performance, and how much is "documentary"?

Lol Sting had an amazing voice back then, I bet its great if its mostly live performance. Most of the documentary DVDs are horrid though, especially when they hack up the songs.
The couple tracks he does on the Live Aid show DVD just floored me, and he easily hits all the notes in "Roxanne" ...

I would say there is about 75% of it is live performing. But that portion is a mix of the opening night concert and the rehersal sessions in the weeks before. The documentary portion is just as interesting as the performances. Highly recommended.

If you like the Allman Brothers buy their Guitar player's (warren haynes) band (Gov't mule) cd/dvd package. The DVD is 3 hours of a single concert at a small concert hall in New Orleans. Their bass player had died in the recent past and they had an all-star lineup of bass players, e.g. les claypool, roger glover, etc. as well as other special guests. Check it out and get 2 CD's of the concert also. The total concert lasted 5 and 1/2 hours!

Just a note to thank JohnR for his continuing contributions to this thread. John, your reviews are complete, insightful and generous in their scope. Your recent re-review of Led Zeppelin's disc set is just one example of how contagious your enthusiasm for the music is.

Over the life of this thread I have now purchased quite a few concert dvds - many of them based on your reviews - and I've yet to be disappointed with any of those discs. Thanks.

htomei

Thanks man, i appreciate the words. Ive been to way too many shows, me knows my stuff about this one subject, hah! I even have this hunting vest with a rabbit pouch around the small of the back. Great for BYOB...


Ive gotten some good recommendations from here as well, and was delighted to find this thread when i arrived at this forum, thanks to the original James who started it :)

So glad to see this thread refuses to die.another recommendation is the latest phil collins DVD that I think is called Finally the first farewell tour.

Glad to see this thread brought back to life. I purchased a bunch of concert DVD's to enjoy with the new sound system I'm installing. As soon as I have it all set up I will dive right in and let everybody know what I think of them. Most have been reviewed here but there at least a couple I have not seen mentioned yet. Don't expect a JohnR type review but I'll do my best.

I also would like to thank JohnR for his great honest reviews. Many others have also provided some great reviews. I have bought so many concert dvds based entirely on this thread and I have never been disappointed. It is definitely the most accurate rating of concert dvds out there.

May this thread live forever! Cheers to everyone who posts here!

Gotta concur with ALL the above. I am a MAJOR DVD concert junkie! Is it me, or has there been very little new stuff in the past few months?

Originally posted by ClickCardo
If you like the Allman Brothers buy their Guitar player's (warren haynes) band (Gov't mule) cd/dvd package. The DVD is 3 hours of a single concert at a small concert hall in New Orleans. Their bass player had died in the recent past and they had an all-star lineup of bass players, e.g. les claypool, roger glover, etc. as well as other special guests. Check it out and get 2 CD's of the concert also. The total concert lasted 5 and 1/2 hours!

Gov't Mule is one of my favorite bands. Anything with Warren is sure to please. ABB, Bonnaroo 2003 footage, Gov't Mule, Phil and Friends...

Oh my...
The Germans get all the good stuff. I heard this was a good recording ( for 1981).

Look at the song list. And it ends with Emerald, perhaps the hardest rocking song ever :)


Thin Lizzy
Live At Rockpalast
DVD GERMANY 1981 PAL
The original 19 track DVD features one of the last concerts of ‘thin lizzy’

TRACKS:
1 Are You Ready
2 Genocide
3 Waiting For An Alibi
4 Jailbreak
5 Trouble Boys
6 Don't Believe A Word
7 Memory Pain
8 Got To Give It Up
9 Chinatown
10 Hollywood
11 Cowboy Song
12 The Boys Are Back In Town
13 Suicide
14 Black Rose
15 Sugar Blues
16 Baby Drives Me Crazy
17 Rosalie
18 Desaster
19 Emerald

DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1, DOLBY DIGITAL STEREO. Approximate time: 112 minutes.

PAL SYSTEM. FULL SCREEN. ENGLISH AND GERMAN LANGUAGES


©1981 WDR - Westdeutscher Rundfunk Koln/2004 und Vertrieb durch Studio Hamburg Fernseh Allianz (FA) GmbH

Originally posted by eweiss
Everyone says STOP MAKING SENSE is the best concert DVD, bar none.
Is this true?

I would say its one of the best out there. Not just the quality of the DVD
but the show and musicianship as well. Definitely worth your time to look into.

I'am writing as I watch/listen to Roger Waters-In the Flesh. I must say the audio is fantastic...But, I just can't get around the corny stage presentation. His backup singers and most of his band are about as stiff as a stick...I will say I haven't watched all of the disk, but up to chapter 10, eeeegad...But, the music makes up for the presentation. Fantastic selection of music.

I also purchased Elton John-One Night Only. Wow, I could listen to that disk all day. I don't care much for some of the guest singers, but the remaining songs more than make up for this intrusion...DTS is just incredible.

Is the "Bring on the Night" DVD mentioned above a film of the same concert that is on the 2 disc CD set? That CD is one of my favorite live perfomances and I was hoping that the sound and picture quality of the DVD matched the stellar musical performance of the CD set. Any thoughts?

Originally posted by Iwanthd
Is the "Bring on the Night" DVD mentioned above a film of the same concert that is on the 2 disc CD set? That CD is one of my favorite live perfomances and I was hoping that the sound and picture quality of the DVD matched the stellar musical performance of the CD set. Any thoughts?

The music comes from the same tour. The music on the 2 CD set comes from different stops on the tour. The movie/documentary is limited (and that is not meant in a negative manner) to the rehersals leading up to the opening night of the tour and from the opening night itself. For example, "I Burn For You" on the CD is not the same performance, but equally as compelling as it is on the DVD.

You might, or might not, remember that the release of "Dream of the Blue Turtles" was a mjor deal in pop music in the mid 80's. It was Sting's first solo project just getting out of The Police and was on top of the pop music spectrum. There was a tremendous amount of worry that this pop-jazz fusion thing was going to be met negatively.

As we know it turned out great and had a good effect on the industry and on his career. If you love the CDs, I know that you will even more enjoy the DVD and seeing more of how he came to do this project.

The audio quality is very good, but the picture isn't great because it was shot on film in 1985, but it isn't bad either.

Judas Priest - Electric Eye. Very good musically if you're a Priest fan.
This was recorded live in Dallas Tx. at Reunion Arena in 1986.
Video and Audio Quality is good . This was digitally remastered and has both a two channel and 5.1 track. Editing on the other hand sux. Again this concert was taped in Dallas I am from the Dallas Area so I know Reunion Arena. Either the editor was shall we say "on medication" or just wasn't paying attention or was just trying to use a bunch of filler in between songs because there is footage of a different stadium that pops up periodically in the crowd shots. If I am not mistaken it is an outdoor stadium or an indoor 'super dome' somewhere. Its definitely some place where football can be played. Reunion was strictly for basketball and ice hockey. That aside this is a pretty good disc. Tons of videos and taped TV spots are also included. And if you're from Dallas is its cool to hear the name of our fair city mentioned.

petercw2,
Thanks for your comments, sounds like Sting will be getting a liitle more of my money!

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Prince "Sign O' The Times", Brazilian import, filmed in 1987. The packaging looks professional, and is in Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 audio, all the menus are in spanish, but easy to figure out.

First the bad: tHe sound quality is poor. This is disappointing since the rest of the production has high production values, and his performance is excellent. It not as good as FM radio. I'm thinking the top and the bottom of the audible spectrum are heavily compressed, the lows are muddy, and the highs are cut off. I played with my reciever, and made it almost passable by using soundfields.
.

I just watched the Canadian release and was blown away. :p The video has been remastered and the audio had to have a serious overhaul in comparison to the Brazilian import. It is one of the best recorded concerts I have listened to at home. I could not believe how "tight" the bass is on this disc. I've seen Prince live a couple of times and the sound is never as clean and clear as the DD 5.1 track on this disc.

Where does one get a Canadian release of Sign O the Times? Isn't it supposed to get a US release sometime soon here?

I am a big fan of the original Genesis and was wondering if anyone has seen any of the Steve Hackett dvd's, and if so, what is your opinion?

Originally posted by itsmeitsme
I am a big fan of the original Genesis and was wondering if anyone has seen any of the Steve Hackett dvd's, and if so, what is your opinion?

Tokyo Tapes is excellent. Great all-star band, lots of classic Genesis material, as well as King Crimson. Very good sound, OK picture. Plus bonus rehearsal footage that is a lot of fun.

Haven't seen the others that he has out but here's a link (http://www.progressiveears.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1) to Progressive Ears' reviews of them.

Originally posted by bearhawk260
I'am writing as I watch/listen to Roger Waters-In the Flesh. I must say the audio is fantastic...But, I just can't get around the corny stage presentation. His backup singers and most of his band are about as stiff as a stick...I will say I haven't watched all of the disk, but up to chapter 10, eeeegad...But, the music makes up for the presentation. Fantastic selection of music.

Your just getting to the good stuff :)

This is like an "Amused To Death" concert tour, since there never was one.

I normally start this DVD at chapter 16, He puts more energy into his solo material, and they break out the electric blues guitar and the background singers also get some incredible solos. This is like an "Amused To Death" concert tour, since there never was one.

If your not familiar with his solo material ...its at least as good as Floyd and alot fresher musically, at least to someone like me who overplayed Pink Floyd growing up.

Also, the world view" themes are more current.

Hey I finally figured out where Snowy White came from. He replaced Gary Moore as Guitarist for Thin Lizzy. He did some of the writing for them, as well.

Originally posted by FredProgGH
Tokyo Tapes is excellent. Great all-star band, lots of classic Genesis material, as well as King Crimson. Very good sound, OK picture. Plus bonus rehearsal footage that is a lot of fun.



Ill just add a few post-genesis DVDs to this list:

Peter Gabriel "Growing Up Live" which is superb in all areas, the stage show he puts on during the performance is worth the price of the DVD. The video and audio are all good. The material is also good, though he doesnt play all his hits, since its supporting a newer album.

Instrumentation is well done, but a little light for my tastes, he is more vocal based. You wont see alot of virtuoso playing here, but what you see is quality.

I also understand that his other concert DVDs are excellent, he takes his concert DVDs serious and it shows.

------------------------

King Crimson: Deja Vroom (1998) was one of my first concert DVDs, but it was a tad disappointing.

I love the material on this DVD, has Elephant talk, and all the cool stuff from that era, but the video is mediocre, and on my Panasonic RPTV, looked horrible, the blues were overdriven and it bled all over the image.
Cant remember the audio being that great, though it wasnt bad.

----------------------------------

Phil plays Drums on "Eric Clapton and Friends Live 1986 ", which is an excellent vintage concert DVD, as far as audio and video.

The performance is also good, Phil is an excellent drummer.

I was not completely blown away by the synergy of the band, and the songs were performed a bit too precisely.... I would have loved Eric and the other players to just go nuts on a few songs with solos and such, but that wasn't to be.

They don't perform any Genesis, just Phil's in the Air"hit, and 7 Eric Clapton tunes ( Crossroads, Layla, Sunshine of my love, White Room, etc)

Originally posted by Splashman24
I just watched the Canadian release and was blown away. :p The video has been remastered and the audio had to have a serious overhaul in comparison to the Brazilian import. It is one of the best recorded concerts I have listened to at home. I could not believe how "tight" the bass is on this disc. I've seen Prince live a couple of times and the sound is never as clean and clear as the DD 5.1 track on this disc.

I'll second this, the Canadian release is awesome, they must have rehearsed this show for a year, the choreography is amazing.

JohnR,

Damn, John, I just saw your new 'head shot' and - how can I say this gracefully - you've really aged in the last week or so!! Maybe you should spend a little less time watching these concert videos. You know, get outside and enjoy the sun here in L.A. Or maybe at least turn the volume down a bit?? :D :D

htomei

I have been enjoying the sun, cant ya tell? :D

thats the Farmer/Priest in Napoleon Dynamite, I have to change it back, since its apparently against policy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
[B]Your just getting to the good stuff :)
*************************************************

I watched almost all of this DVD and your correct, the band is a bit more "human." Even with this issue, its not an issue, the music and sound are great.

I guess this means a few more concert DVD in my future...

One question, the Elton John-one night only I purchased is in all white with an older picture of Elton on the front. the other DVD covers I saw has a current picture of Elton with raised hands in the concert setting. Differences???When looking on-line all content is the same.

I'm batting 2 for 2 with In the Flesh and One Night Only.

Originally posted by ClickCardo
If you like the Allman Brothers buy their Guitar player's (warren haynes) band (Gov't mule) cd/dvd package. The DVD is 3 hours of a single concert at a small concert hall in New Orleans. Their bass player had died in the recent past and they had an all-star lineup of bass players, e.g. les claypool, roger glover, etc. as well as other special guests. Check it out and get 2 CD's of the concert also. The total concert lasted 5 and 1/2 hours!

ClickCardo
Thanks a lot for this tip. I second his nomination. I have been meaning to pick up some 'Mule" music for a while, and after I read your comments I picked up a copy of this one. Boy, this is sure an outstanding show, and it has a great DVD too. I am not through all of the package yet but each song gets better than the one before. These guys kick some serious A$$. Video on the DVD is OK, but the audio is really the reason to buy. Personally I prefer he stereo version to the 5.1, mostly because I am not too thrilled about the way they use the speakers for effect in the back, but that is a small nit. I recommend this package highly for the music content.

What a great thread! HT's are great for movies, but my theory is still that god created HT for concert DVD's.
:D

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Elvis Costello at the Hard Rock in Vegas a month or so ago and his new concert DVD (Live in Memphis) recreates the sound and feel of that show with a slightly different song lineup. The group rarely stops between songs, full bore rock and roll. Highly recomended (16:9, shot with high-def cameras, 5.1 Dolby & DTS sound). Emmylou stops by and they morph into a C&W bar band for three songs.

Also, if there are any country-rock fans out there, the Gram Parsons tribute DVD (Return to Sin City) seems to be very well done (16:9, Dolby 5.1 & DTS also). I've only given it a cursory listen so far but the list of performers is impressive (Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, etc.)

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
I

King Crimson: Deja Vroom (1998) was one of my first concert DVDs, but it was a tad disappointing.

I love the material on this DVD, has Elephant talk, and all the cool stuff from that era, but the video is mediocre, and on my Panasonic RPTV, looked horrible, the blues were overdriven and it bled all over the image.
Cant remember the audio being that great, though it wasnt bad.


Well, for whatever reason, Deja Vroom was designed to look florescent and blown out. At least, on my system anyway, it looked like a decently good representation of an artisitic choice; you may be seeing something else though. I admit I haven't looked at it critically in quite some time. The sound is pretty nice and the show is the best I've seen on video for KC. The menu navigation is a freakin' nightmare though. You'll want to throw the disk out the window just trying to select DD or DTS. Robert Fripp doesn't want anything to come easy to you, the fan :D :D

Yesterday the weather was pretty ugly so I spent much of the day watching three concerts that I picked up a few months ago.

No. 1 was Los Lonely Boys "Texican Style: Live From Austin" which is full of energy and some great guitar work. Sound and picture quality are better than most but it's the performance that will draw you in. Not too many 3 member bands that can rock the way these guys do on this disc.

Next up was Dave Mathews Band's "The Central Park Concert." This is a big budget production with great sound quality, and the camera work is some of the best I've seen, with panoramic shots of New York City and the massive crowd from a helicopter up above, plus steady views of the individual band members doing their thing. Unfortunately I always find myself skipping through many of the songs on this one, because although done very well technically I'm not fond of about half the songs themselves. Others are great so this one's sort of a mixed bag for me. There aren't too many DVD concerts out there though that are better done from a technical point of view.

Last up was an old favorite of mine, Eric Clapton's "One More Car, One More Rider." This has been discussed several times here previously, but I always enjoy watching this one from start to finish. Great sound quality, great song selection (probably my favorite style of music) and great muscianship all combine for great entertainment, at least for me.

A few that I did not watch yesterday that I would recommend, as others in this thread have above, include:

1. Boz Scaggs - "Greatest Hits Live" (intimate, a little mellow but very good sound and I like the music a lot).
2. Eagles - "Hell Freezes Over" (still perhaps the best recorded of any out there)
3. "Music For Montserrat" featuring Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Clapton, Sting, Mark Knofler & others (great variety and some very excellent performances, but too much talking in between artists - you will use your fast forward button after the first viewing)
4. Alison Krauss & Union Station - "Live" (excellent bluegrass performance, one of my very favorites)
5. Bela Fleck & The Fleckstones - "Live At The Quick" (GREAT musicianship & sound quality, but don't buy if you won't ever appreciate bluegrass)
6. Diana Krall - "Live in Paris" (same comment as No. 5, but substitute "jazz" for "bluegrass"