There have been a lot of concerts coming out on dvd lately. What do you recommend?

Ideally they would meet this criteria:
• Anamorphic widescreen
• Excellent surround mix, preferably DTS surround.
• Great performance.

Thanks for your suggestions,
James
:o

The Band - The Last Waltz....awesome!

Roger Waters "In The Flesh" - Excelent concert from begining to end (one of the rare concert DVD's that can watched as a complete show). Very good picture, excellent DD 5.1 sound. Great mix of Pink Floyd classics and Water's originals - staged with top notch guest musicians.

This is being released today (7/15).

http://www.alisonkrauss.com/merchandise/index.html

We saw the tour this concert was part of in Fort Worth last May. It was excellent, so I'm guessing this concert DVD, which I'll buy this week, is also going to be very good, and one to recommend on this thread. Jerry Douglas on dobro is awesome, and Alison's voice and violin playing are beautiful, as her fans know.

Per the Web page, it's anamorphic (I assume when they say "anamorphic ... or ... letterbox," it's the same DVD, not two separate editions) and has DTS as well as DD 5.1.

LIVE 2-Disc DVD!

Pre-Order Now!
DVD Ships July 15th, 2003.

LIVE is the first DVD from Alison Krauss + Union Station. Shot in High Definition, the LIVE DVD will be available in anamorphic wide screen or in letterbox. Audio options include DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and a two-channel stereo PCM mix. The DVD is not region coded and will play in any region; however, it is a NTSC video and will not playback correctly on PAL televisions. Includes the LIVE concert, exclusive interviews, on-the-road footage and much more.

I've seen the most recent Pearl Jam DVD and it is excellent. I don't know about the specs that you have requested but I'm sure you can see them on Amazon.com.

Everyone says STOP MAKING SENSE is the best concert DVD, bar none.

Is this true?

"Everyone says STOP MAKING SENSE is the best concert DVD, bar none.

Is this true?"


Depends on what you like. This is a great performance, but a little bizarre. It's not for everybody.

If you like this kind of music-Diana Krall Live in Paris, is pretty good.

Video wise it is o.k. but sound is great.

eweiss, Thanks for the A.K.U.S. info.

The 2 Metallica DVDs (S&M and Cunning Stunts) are some of the best concert DVDs I have heard.

Lars' drums really kick!


And everything by The Corrs is great too...



The upcoming Slayer: War at The Warfield should be a very good production too....


Rock on! :-)

Roy Orbison "Black and White Night." Phenomenal!!

htomei

Sting's 'All this time' is probably the best Dolby Digital dvd gig I've come across not even including the excellent documentary !

Regards,
Manus

the cure, trilogy
anamorphic WS (filmed w/ HD cameras)
and dolby 5.1
best PQ I have seen on any concert DVD bar none.

additionally Red Hot Chili Peppers, off the map
catches them on a very good night, nice DTS but 4:3


allison krauss, diana krall???
wake me when its over..

My nods go to the afore-mentioned Sting, along with

Yes: YesSymphonic, Live in Amsterdam
The Who: Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Hey Tren diversify man, Diana Krall and Allison Krauss do wonders for good speakers.

But just in case I have watched and greatly enjoyed Tool's dd 5.1 dvd and Depeche Mode's numerous dvd's (not concert dvd's but good nonetheless).

I actually own more concert DVDs than movies. I look for audio quality first and PQ second. The Who Live At The Royal Albert Hall
is reference quality, however, the new Zep is my favorite. One thing I look or listen for is if the DD5.1 or DTS sound track is true multichannel. Most live concerts are 2 channel - 5.1 upmix. For the rears, the stereo mix is altered by removing the vocals and adding reverb or echo. Then the level is lowered by 6db and phased delayed. This basically gives the same effect as Dolby Pro Logic II. The LFE channel is passed through a filter which removes the high frequency sounds. For the center channel, they simple take the stereo track and make it mono and add emphasis to the vocal range. This compromises the strereo effect in the front. Listen to Dazed and Confused on Disk 1, during the bow parts you can hear the guitar moving form the front to the rear, a good example of true multi channel mixing.
Other good concerts, Both of U2s, Roger Waters NIN ,The Eagles, Don Henley, The Stones Bridges tour. It really depends on your taste in music. There are some really disappointing ones too. Most of the bad ones are early releases, pre 2001.

I would add John Fogerty:Premonition to that list. Great sound!

Led Zeppelin DVD
While I pick and chose which songs I watch/listen to, it is in DTS and Moby Dick alone is worth the price to me!

Originally posted by Luckie
Sting's 'All this time' is probably the best Dolby Digital dvd gig I've come across not even including the excellent documentary !

Regards,
Manus

I'll second the Sting recommendation. It's incredible.

I agree with htomei on the Roy Orbison DVD. Fantastic !!!

Roy Orbison Black & White Night

Accompanied by:
Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costella, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, Jennifer Warnes, k.d. Lang, JD Souther and Elvis Presley's famed 60's and 70's touring band.

DTS sound, Full Frame, in B&W (really looks good against the Art Deco stage backdrop).

Roy was one of the best that ever lived, he was respected by every musician in the business.

And yes, I kind of like this guy :)

Another one of these threads huh? Well, here goes:
ACDC-Stiff Upper Lip, incredible, but the DD mix sounds better than the DTS one (??)
Journey 2001, wow, incredible sounds, its in 4x3, but still worth it
Billy Idol - Storytellers, great sound, I cant believe how good he sounds both acoustic and with full band around him, definitely pick this one up!
Scorpions - A Savage Crazy World, its great that they restored this old concert footage, sounds pretty good too
Bee Gee's - One Night Only, and you all thought I only liked the hard rock... Sound is too good to pass this one up

To anyone who is working on bringing these wonderful old concerts to DVD, keep up the great work. I look forward to picking up Led Zep tomorrow, as well as the Iron Maiden video collection that just got released.

Here are two live performances by Dave Matthews: Listener Supported and Live at Folsom in Boulder Co. I'm not much for Dave's CD performances, but in concert they do alot of jammin and that's what sets them apart for me.

For Those who like the Classical side of music as well....

There is a DVD called "German Brass Goes Bach". It is a live concert from the St. Thomas Kirche in Leipzig. It has DD 5.1 and the transfer is surprisingly crisp and clear. And the music.....Oh, the Music!!!

Pat

The Beach Boys "Good Timing" Knebworth, UK


Roger Waters-Live in Berlin w/o Pink Floyd

The Led Zeppelin DVD is awesome. I didn't include it because it's full-frame.

The same goes for most of the classical DVD I own; they're mostly older releases. (So much to buy!!) Bach's Greatest Organ Works Vol. 1 is anamorphic and DTS and can shake the walls though!!

I have a Panny RP-91 and I use the zoom function for the zep DVD, the MSG footage is letterboxed, but the rest of the show looks fine with the zoom footage. With concert footage you don't lose much with the zoom option unlike a pan and scan movie. I believe Queens Video Collection DVD is in 16x9, but I think they just cropped the oringinal footage.

Peter Gabriel: Secret World Live is pretty terrific, and seems to meet your criteria:

• Anamorphic widescreen
• Excellent surround mix, preferably DTS surround.
• Great performance.

Couple of thing to note however. While it is anamorphic, it appears to have been cropped down to 16x9 proportions from the original 4:3 video. Picture quality is less than stellar to say the least! It looks like a standard TV broadcast to me on my plasma.

Sound is great (both DD and DTS 5.1), but almost too good. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was overdubbed, but I haven't bothered to confirm this.

:)

My favorite concert DVD by far is Springsteen Live in NYC. I bought it for it's picture and sound quality, and it converted me into a Springsteen fan. I have been spending the last year catching up on his music.

• Anamorphic widescreen (Yes. Shot originally in HD).
• Excellent surround mix, preferably DTS surround (DD5.1 only, but excellent use of surrounds).
• Great performance (outstanding - Springsteen's music is meant to be heard live. Also, good production value).

You will never get better than Scorpions - Acoustica DVD. Not sure if it's 16:9 but it simply is the best unplugged performance I've seen (and I am not a huge Scorpions fan). Maybe 13 cameras, but the discrete use of the mix should be a standard for all other concerts.

I also dig Joe Satriani - Live in SF.

The Beach Boys at Knebworth, UK 1980.This concert shows both of the now dead Carl and Dennis Wilson performing as well as Bruce Johnston. OAR is 1.85:1 in color at night.


Roger Waters Live Berlin, Germany without Pink Floyd 1989 OAR 4:3.

I lock in no stretch wide screen view, by using a Sony brand Progressive Scan DVD Player .:)

I just picked up HEart: Live in Seattle.

It is 1.78 anamorphic and DTS.

Haven't watched yet but Mark from Servodrive (sub manufacturer) says the bass is pretty intense.

I'll post what I think soon!

Stevie Ray Vaughn: Live in Austin
PBS Austin City Limits full-screen.
DD only I think.
If you like rowdy rock and roll this is a good one.
The best part is watching the faces SRV makes when he plays!
I always get chills when he plays Texas Flood.

Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been (DTS)

Only 4:3,but works well in "subtitle" wide mode on my Sony projector. Video quality is pretty good considering it was filmed using mostly handheld DV camcorders. They filmed each show throughout the tour and then mixed and matched the best shots. They filmed it this way so they wouldn't be distracted by the filming and so they didn't have to change the lighting for the "filmed" show. It has less of a "staged" look and does a great job of capturing the show as it was live (I saw the concert - this is a great souvenir).

On the DVD there is an alternate angle which lets you see a portion of the concert from a straight-on viewpoint in order to appreciate the video art wall at the rear of the stage.

You definitely want to start the DVD with your volume turned down a bit - I think it is mixed to approximate concert level volume. The sound track is a great 5.1 mix.

My only complaint is that the concert spans two DVD's I guess this was done in order to keep a high bit-rate on the video, because each DVD is only a little over an hour long.

This is my first and probably only (for awhile) DVD live concert purchase:

Product Details


Starring: Alison Krauss, See more

Encoding: All Regions
Format: Color, Dolby, Widescreen, DTS Surround Sound, Surround Sound

Rated: NR
Studio: Rounder Records

DVD Release Date: July 15, 2003
DVD Features:
Region 0 (NTSC format)

Disc 1:

Let Me Touch You for Awhile, Choctaw Hayride, The Lucky One, Baby Now That I've Found You, Bright Sunny South, Every Time You Say Goodbye, Tiny Broken Heart, Cluck Old Hen, Stay, Broadway, Ghost in This House, Forget About It, Faraway Land, A Tribute to Peador O'Donnell / Monkey Let the Hogs Out, The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn, Take Me for Longing, I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow, Maybe, We Hide & Seek, But You Know I Love You, When You Say Nothing At All, New Favorite, Oh, Atlanta.

Disc 2:

Exclusive interviews with Alison Krauss + Union Station

Exclusive behind-the-scenes and on-the-road footage

Over 150 rare and unreleased photos and home videos

Alison Krauss + Union Station discography

Video for "New Favorite"

Tribute to Frank Edmonson

Widescreen anamorphic format

Number of discs: 2

Needless to say, I loved this DVD set. It meets all your criteria, and frankly the only reason I knew about this was through PBS HD on Time Warner Cable HD here in NYC. I stumbled onto the performance after watching the Tonight Show Jay Leno, and couldn't go to sleep. Had to watch it until it finished. Checked out Amazon.com and sure enough it was there. My favorite song? It's gotta be "Let me Touch you for awhile"... My wife totally loves it as well. Stop reading this and go pick it up, you will not be dissapointed!

S.Anderson

Rieper, you should probably try Down From The Mountain as well.

I would recommend you get something from a band you like....

how about Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe-ing thru the tulips"?
DTS/anamorphic ws

:)

Watched the HEart (Live from Seattle DVD).

PQ is pretty nice and the csound quality is also great. Great bass.

I did notice the vocals get a little lost in the mains and somewhat in thethe surrounds rather than being at the anchored in the center channel.

All and all an excellent concert experience. Recommended!

Originally posted by thebland
Watched the HEart (Live from Seattle DVD).

PQ is pretty nice and the csound quality is also great. Great bass.

I did notice the vocals get a little lost in the mains and somewhat in thethe surrounds rather than being at the anchored in the center channel.

All and all an excellent concert experience. Recommended!

Do they extent their sets or do they pretty much play the song as recorded? I'm not much into groups who play their songs live, as they play their releases. This is one reason I like Dave Matthews Live, they expand the music into a journey, rather than a walk through the park. I realize there are some songs you can't do this to, but for the most part, extending them really adds to the experience.

The Last Waltz

The Band's swan song performance. Filmed by Scorcese. Guest stars include: Dylan, Joni Mitchell, a coked-up Neil Young, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters and, urg, Neil Diamond.

The recent special edition was well done. 5.1 audio of this fabulous performance. Robbie Robertson is a bit of a drip, however.

I wonder what is the name of that Allison Krauss DVD described above?

Jim:
There is only one Alison Kraus DVD out (that I know of). It's title is: Alison Kraus & Union Station: Live.

I know this really dates me but has anyone seen any of the MOODY BLUES DVDS that are out and hows the PQ and audio?

I can't believe it!! No one has mentioned the best DVD live concert ever recorded as of today (IMHO):
Bella Fleck and the Flecktones at Quicks Hall. Both picture and sound are the best I have (and I have almost all other concert DVDs mentioned on this thread). You guys have to check it out.

Some don't like that it was recorded on film, but Kansas - Device Voice Drum is one of my favorites. Of course, being a wheathead, I am probably a little biased.

Heart has also been spending a lot of time in my player of late too.

Originally posted by mattg3
I know this really dates me but has anyone seen any of the MOODY BLUES DVDS that are out and hows the PQ and audio?

Live at the Royal Albert Hall with the London Symphony is terrific, with a great DTS soundtrack and excellent direction and camera work. Not widescreen, but no matter-if you're even casual fan, this is a must have disc.

Also strongly recommended is Peter Frampton's Live in Detroit-another great DTS track.

I can't believe it!! No one has mentioned the best DVD live concert ever recorded as of today (IMHO):
Bella Fleck and the Flecktones at Quicks Hall.
Hmm...soon as I find out WTH they are, I'll consider it.:D

Originally posted by Yosh70
Hmm...soon as I find out WTH they are, I'll consider it.:D

Dude!!! Only the baddest (like "Shaft" bad, that is) electric banjo based jazz/space rock band on the planet!!

(and featuring the baddest bass player on the planet, BTW) :D

Originally posted by JosephF
Some don't like that it was recorded on film, but Kansas - Device Voice Drum is one of my favorites. Of course, being a wheathead, I am probably a little biased.


Great disk, but I think the decision to go with film was a mistake. It's very grainy under the low light level. Plus it must have cost a bundle to shoot and edit. Best the band has been musically though since the 70's, IMO.

Originally posted by FredProgGH
Great disk, but I think the decision to go with film was a mistake. It's very grainy under the low light level. Plus it must have cost a bundle to shoot and edit. Best the band has been musically though since the 70's, IMO. Doesn't that usually indicate that it was recorded on standard definition video tape rather then film? In my experience with concert videos, that's often been the case. :confused:

Originally posted by srgilbert
Doesn't that usually indicate that it was recorded on standard definition video tape rather then film? In my experience with concert videos, that's often been the case. :confused:
It's not a low-quality type of grain. It's just that with film, even newer faster films, you have to throw a lot of light or you will get a grainy look. Kansas wanted to use their regular stage lighting. The film-look does give the show a certain class that video wouldn't get, at least earlier standard video, but new 24P HD video formats are coming closer to a "best of both worlds" solution for this type of shooting, as far as what I've seen. People with more technical expertise (I'm a sound guy, not a video guy) feel free to jump in :)

The Corrs - Live in London...excellent PQ.

And, the most recent Queen concert at Wembley.

_______
Rick

Queen: "We Will Rock You" is no slouch in 5.1 and performance.

Michael

Originally posted by Rieper
This is my first and probably only (for awhile) DVD live concert purchase:

Product Details


Starring: Alison Krauss, See more

Encoding: All Regions
Format: Color, Dolby, Widescreen, DTS Surround Sound, Surround Sound

Rated: NR

I posted my review/comments about this at this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=281003

Bella Fleck and the Flecktones at Quicks Hall. Both picture and sound are the best I have (and I have almost all other concert DVDs mentioned on this thread). You guys have to check it out.
I didn't even know this existed. I am so there. Victor Wooten gives me goosebumps. Is it the original Flecktones, with Howard Levy? Or is it the later Flecktones?

(crossing my fingers for Howard Levy).

-Jon

Man, there are SO many great concerts on DVD. Many are 4:3 though (MUST get a Panasonic RP91). www.newegg.com is blowing them out @ 199 delivered. I am a former concert lover with 2 kids, no social life, and a kicking HT. Needless to say, I have concerts at home! Here are my favorites in no particular order:

Eagles Hell Freezes Over - DTS version ONLY
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Sting - All this time
The Corrs - Live in London
Portishead - Roseland NYC
Santana - Supernatural Live DTS
Sarah Mclachlan - Mirrorball
Diana Krall - Live in Paris
Norah Jones - Live in New Orleans
Metallica - S&M (not clean version)
U2 - Elevation 2001 Live from Boston
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Live at the el Mocambo in Toronto
Nine inch nails - And all that could have been DTS ONLY! (has Marilyn Manson hidden performances)
Depeche Mode - One night in Paris
Cranberries - Beneath the skin V2 ONLY! ( has audio fixed)
Dave Matthews Band - Live at Folsom Field AND Listener Supported
Sade - Lovers Live
Korn - Live
The Last Waltz
Family Values Tour 1998 - the original
Faith Hill - When the lights go down
Pearl Jam - Touring Band 2000
AC/DC - Stiff Upper Lip
Queen - Live at Wembley Stadium
Blue Man Group -Audio (actually video, lol)

Most concert video quality is pretty atrocious - only the music makes it tolerable in many cases (I like concerts, too). Most early concerts were shot in 16mm film with analog stereo sound (if not mono), making the images excessively grainy. Then there was a (thankfully short) period when analog 1/2" videotape was used, even worse for my taste. The single shining exception to the poor video quality was Scorcese's The Last Waltz, shot in 35mm and stereo sound (the DVD was a remix).

Live video footage from DVs I see as a considerable improvement over the typical 16mm film concert master. The biggest remaining problem is the uncontrolled lighting, but I think DV technology deals with such much better than film - although it has a different look, of course.

For those of you who want a glimpse of how good a concert can be, at least from a technology standpoint, check out an HDTV broadcast of the newly revamped PBS series Soundstage this season. These concerts are shot in achingly clear high definition video (1080i/60fps) and offer 5.1 Dolby surround sound. They are incredible. Last week was "Alison Krause and Union Station", and I was totally blown away by the incredible picture and sound. Although this is a studio environment, and what you see has been edited, there is a live audience and it IS definately a concert. In the happy circumstance that the performers match your taste in music (as for me this past Sunday evening) the experience is incredible. Here's the link to find the viewing times on your local PBS affiliate - hopefully you have a digital broadcaster with surround sound capability:

http://www.pbs.org/wttw/soundstage/airdates.htm

Highly reccomended - it doesn't look or sound better than this unless you are there in person - and my 90" screen is almost that good with this quality HDTV material.

Edit: for those who want a glimpse of what I am talking about, here is a screen capture:

http://www.kaleirish.com/Allison_Krause_HDTV_02.jpg

....and when you add to this the silky smooth motion of the 60fps, the result is amazing (I realized I used "incredible" 3 times above - I don't usually do that...)

Gary

Has anyone seen the Jethro Tull DVD? Worth buying?

Jim

$6 bucks for the "Hole in the World" DVD, DVD extras and a separate CD of same.
Really good I must say. Hell Freezes Over has always been one of my demo music surround sound choices. Hole in the World although filmed in a studio and black and white may replace it. It starts out in stereo but when it kicks into surround sound mode it provides a wonderful display of the benefits of 5.1.
The song is simple but very catchy with beautiful harmonizing. My wife and I sat through it 3 times last night.

I had never been a fan back when they were hot but since getting back into AV a few years ago and seeing the HFO DVD I've become a fan of the Eagles.

Going to see them at the Concord pavilion August 20th!
Very excited.

:D

Question about the Heart Alive in Seattle. Is this 5.0? I'm not getting any subwoofer and the lights not on. Anyone?
Pablo

Well aside from the couple obvious ones mentioned so far (The Last Waltz, Roger Waters in the Flesh, and Talking Heads Stop Making Sense) which meet the 5.1 and Anamaphoric requirements of the thread, I'm going to throw in a favorite of mine that is only Dolby 2.0 or PCM but still an outstanding performance captured on video formated to 16:9, Supertramp The Story So Far...

Originally posted by Gary McCoy
For those of you who want a glimpse of how good a concert can be, at least from a technology standpoint, check out an HDTV broadcast of the newly revamped PBS series Soundstage this season. These concerts are shot in achingly clear high definition video (1080i/60fps) and offer 5.1 Dolby surround sound. They are incredible. Last week was "Alison Krause and Union Station", and I was totally blown away by the incredible picture and sound. Although this is a studio environment, and what you see has been edited, there is a live audience and it IS definately a concert. In the happy circumstance that the performers match your taste in music (as for me this past Sunday evening) the experience is incredible. Here's the link to find the viewing times on your local PBS affiliate - hopefully you have a digital broadcaster with surround sound capability:

http://www.pbs.org/wttw/soundstage/airdates.htm

Highly reccomended - it doesn't look or sound better than this unless you are there in person - and my 90" screen is almost that good with this quality HDTV material.

Edit: for those who want a glimpse of what I am talking about, here is a screen capture:

http://www.kaleirish.com/Allison_Krause_HDTV_02.jpg

....and when you add to this the silky smooth motion of the 60fps, the result is amazing (I realized I used "incredible" 3 times above - I don't usually do that...)

Gary

Oh ... my ... goodness!!! We just watched again parts of AK+US Live (DVD) and as nice as the high-def video looks on DVD, actual Hi-Def in your screen shot is ... stunning!!! Wow!!!!! We did see her live, 2x last year. Your shot makes me want to get a high-def DirecTV receiver.

FYI -- the 2 encore numbers are on the DVD, but not in the concert. DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY is played during the credits on disc 1, and THERE IS A REASON accompanies a tribute to Frank Edmonson (their sound guy) on disc 2. Frank died last year, 49 years young.

To follow up my review, the interviews with the band members on disc 2 are very nice and well worth watching.

Originally posted by Dynacoman
Has anyone seen the Jethro Tull DVD? Worth buying?

Jim

I was pleasantly surprised by the Tull DVD (Living With The Past). PQ is decent (it's 4x3, shot on video), there's a good blather to music ratio (each song has a little intro but they are all pretty short). There's a wonderful recreation of the original recordings of Wond'ring Aloud and Life's a Long Song done with a string quartet plus a reunion of the original line-up with Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker and Glenn Cornick for two songs which rocks. The current line-up is great and they do a good selection of material including the best version (read: faithful to the original) of Thick As A Brick since they originally played it in 1972. Ian's voice has come back a bit and his flute playing is better than ever (he's been working to compensate for the deteriorating pipes!) Highly recommended if you're a fan.

Originally posted by yubyub
I didn't even know this existed. I am so there. Victor Wooten gives me goosebumps. Is it the original Flecktones, with Howard Levy? Or is it the later Flecktones?

(crossing my fingers for Howard Levy).

-Jon

Later Flecktones, filmed in 2000 I believe. The lineup includes Bela (banjo), Vic (bass), Futch (drumitar), Jeff (sax), Hanson (bassoon), McCandless (English flute), Andy Narell (steel pans), Burman (tablas) and Ondar (throat singer)

The performances are amazing, the sound quality is excellent. The only gripe I have is it's not anamorphic (it's letterboxed 4:3).

It's essentially "Outbound" live.

Unrelated: check out the Live Music Archive for Flectones shows in shn. http://webdev.archive.org/audio/etree.php
It's free and approved by the band.

If you want to see four Girls play Strings take a look at bond live at the Royal Albert Hall. They are fantasic. I enjoyed this dvd very much.

this is one fantastic example of a well done concert DVD. Lots of beautiful country strings and high resolution sound, you can hear every pick! I was able to clearly distinguish 5 instruments at once, plus the vocals, the audio quality is there. The Kodak Theater looks gorgeous, Ive never seen a more pleasing concert set. The music i think is first class, the crowd participation, and the humor between songs is enjoyable, the video production is very high resolution, I just LOVE this DVD. The director did a stunning job of capturing the ambience of a live country concert.

THe Dixie Chicks play their full "Home" album, and a couple of their older tunes at the end. This is a best selling record for a reason....

It is only full frame; but it stretches nicely to wide screen, as long as you dont mind slightly wider chicks

8 or 9 bucks at Costco!

Nazareth at Camden Palace 1985 - Brazilian Import - Professional packaging, Dolby 2.0 and Dolby 5.1. This was the raspy-voiced hard rock band of the 70s, with hits like Hair Of The Dog and Love Hurts.

Filmed by Trillion Pictures film, the Audio and Video quality is technically there. THe sound is good, especially for the time period, though its not quite up to par with modern live recordings, still, I was pleasantly suprised. The video image quality also was very good, but the director seemed completely uninspired. They never put the cameras on the audience, they never attempted to catch the ambience of the concert, which i consider very important. This is a common problem with many 70s/80s concert DVDs and films. They had enough cameras and lighting, why not use it?

The performance started weak, but got a little better. None of the players have any real charisma, but they played competently, and did faithful renditions of their songs, and did a decent mix of tunes. If you like Nazareth, this isnt a bad DVD. Im not sure how many more times I will watch it, I will probably skip around it once in a while: they have a few very strong tunes like "Beggars Day" and "Hair Of The Dog". The performances do come across a bit stiffly though.... I wouldnt be that suprised if this whole performance was really in some TV studio, and made to look like it was at a concert, haha.

They put out strong albums in their day, probably stronger than this DVD, we may be better off just looking for thier albums on CD. I especially like thier first album, which was really offbeat, with bagpipes and all, called "Indian Exercises".

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.

NOW THE GOOD:This performance is simply put, the most incredible live concert performance I have ever seen.

Prince's entourage of 10-12 players all wear many hats, you will see them all individually: playing the hell out of an instrument, dancing to highly choreographed musical plays, singing, and playing other instruments, at one point all the male players are playing drums.... This troop of players will wear many hats and switch between them most often. And their performance will be perfection.

Not only that, but there is continuous motion on the stage, and not just motion for motions sake, these players are moving about the stage like they have someplace to go. The effect is like having hundreds of players entering and exiting the stage over the course of the night, but .... its all the same 10 or so people!

Combine these players with master songwriter Prince, who can wear all these hats with ease, and dance as good as his best dancer ...
... who happens to be this incredible dancer named CAT.

Cat is this ultrafast dancer that whirls around the stage like a battling top most of the time, other times shes making out with one of the actors in a skit, or climbing the walls like a sexy spider woman. Other times shes singing or wearing some other hat. But she drifts in and out of the overall performance with astonishing speed.

As does Prince, whose performance talent manages to still dominate these other incredible players, I dont know how. He can dance as fast as the fastest dancer, play his guitar as good as his best sax player can sax ... and act in the plays with expressiveness that is worthy of Hollywood.

Which brings me to the video director of this concert. The way this concert is edited will make your head spin. The scenes will constantly be switching between Prince playing some riff on his guitar, to 3 horn players in the darkness to an incredible dancer, to some other band players artfully lit like some jazz painting ...
... to Prince singing, to shiela E going nuts on the drums, with her skintight top showing why female drummers are pretty to watch ...

And all these songs are directed in a cohesive way, despite the blurringly fast editing. Light is used with mastery, much of the instrumental playing is done in near darkness, adding a jazz-like quality to the band. Colored light is also used with great effect, but the stage is mostly kept in a soothing darkness.There is a master cinematic director at work here, and to my suprise, when I read the credits, the director was ... Prince.

Now if we could find a copy of this old concert with decent sound, it would be a great DVD.

Elton John, One Night Only -Greatist hits, Live at Madison Square Garden I believe this was shot in 2001 or 2002, is an excellent production, nice sound and video quality, good playing ( and Billy Joel wasnt drunk), lots of guest artists, and it starts with "Funeral For A Friend", whats not to like?

This is a very authentic Queen performance from, I think, the 80s. It really captures how most heavy metal bands were back then.

At first, I wasnt that impressed with it, too many closeups of Freddie's bad teeth, very little interaction with the band, etc. ...

.... until I watched the director's comments on the incredible effort it took to film Queen in that era. The introverted band wouldnt look at the cameramen, the camera men couldnt hear the director at all, the cameramen were intimidated by the band and wouldnt get too close, the sound synchronization was based on each camera shot filming a clock that was on stage, couriers running back and forth to the cameras with the director's instructions and more film, an incredibly lengthly post production phase, each band member wanting creative input into the process, all these technical mountains they had to climb back then. Definitely a great DVD to have though, the production quality is very good for back then.

I used to like this band called AC/DC, who was on radio alot in late 70s early 80s. I liked them cause they were a bit whacky, not real serious music, but lots of raw honest guitar. Once I saw them in concert, and their guitarist was a complete trip He was like in an epelectic fit the whole time, very physical guitarist with a hillarious style and dressed like an English school boy.

Anyways, i found a DVD of a 2001 concert of theirs in Germany
for 12 bucks, so i picked it up, and WOW what a show

Malcolm Young just goes nuts the whole show with his heavy metal-speed-blues style rocks. He kicks it into high gear the whole show, then does this incredible guitar show near the end, I mean this guy must be 50, and he still does all the backward running and wierd guitar moves like when he was 20.

And its classic hard rock, the whole stage is lined with marshall amps, huge Pyrotechnics, huge video walls, HUGE inflatible props, On "Hells Bells" the singer plays the bell by jumping on the bell-ringer on a 20 foot tall bell that hangs over th arena. Yes corny, but these guys take their show serious, they could have cut alot of corners, and didnt.

The stage has a huge 50 yard runway out into the middle of this sports arena, with like 60000 fans going nuts, the band and show centers around this guitarist that, like I say, is throwing a complete speed guitar fit onstage the whole time.

Anyways its called "Stiff Upper Lip" if you ever see it, and are even casually amused by this style of music.

Video Production is very good, 21 cameramen listed on credits, and it shows! Wide Screen Anamorphic, great production values (though I am not incredibly picky).

Tons of different camera angles, high tech cameras booms zooming around in the air, They even have a cameraman in the nosebleed seats.

It is so much like the shows I saw as a teenager, only better because I can control the audio.

Audio production is first rate as well, no cutting corners on this nutzo show!the audio catches the feeling and sound of rows of Marshal amps, neither adding nor removing any of that wonderful distortion. Shoot to Thrill they play early in the show; basically they play all their hits, and some non-hits as well. "Whole Lotta Rosie" is hilarious, about the joys of big women, theres a huge inflatable floating female behind them haha. A good bit of Highway To Hell LP, a good sample of their early stuff, a huge dose of the "Back In Black" LP ....

nice sound and video quality
Whoa...."nice video quality"? Excellent sound quality but very poor image. Looks extra soft, almost blurry and out of focus. I tried the DVD again after my set was calibrated and altho passable, I would not even think to show off my set with this DVD.

Originally posted by Yosh70
Whoa...."nice video quality"? Excellent sound quality but very poor image. Looks extra soft, almost blurry and out of focus. I tried the DVD again after my set was calibrated and altho passable, I would not even think to show off my set with this DVD.

Yep its not stunning, its only "nice". :). I really look at the concert as a whole, after all its a live event... and if its an older show, like an 80s concert, then im delighted if the sound and video is any good at all.

Even a 90s concert will not match the A/Vquality of a 00s concert, in most cases...

If you want to see stunning video quality, check out the Dixie Chicks... it must be a high definition video source .... although if you want to get real critical, even on this concert there an occasional shot that isn't as crisp as others.

I've noticed almost anything from Image Entertainment is w/excellent video/audio quality....Heart's and Peter Framptons DVD concert's are among the best IMHO.

My Favorite 16x9 enhanced concert disks with mostly excellent picture and sound are:

The Cure Triolgy
Yes Symphonic Live
Roger Waters In the Flesh
Roxy Music at the Apollo
Underworld Live Everything Everything
James Getting away with it live
New Order 511

My favorite 4x3 (some letterboxed) but excellent sounding disk are:

Pat Metheney Imaginary Day
7 Worlds Collide (tim Finn, Eddie Vedder, Jonny Marr)
Led Zeppelin
Jethro Tull
Big Country (two disks in one keepcase)
Warped Tour (16x9 but soft)
Ben Folds Five (w54th session)

A couple of disks I keep playing even tho the sound
and picture isn't that great but the performances
are:

Oingo Boing Farewell
Joe Jackson in Tokyo
Def Leppard Historia in the round

good luck,
j

x30/l300u

Good List, JaSee. I'd add The Who: Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Great sound and PQ- and great concert!

I would describe The Chieftans as an Irish/Bluegrass/Country orchestra. They have been around for probably 40 years, and continues to fill theaters with superb interweaving of harps, fiddles, banjos, flutes,recorders, guitars, violins, pianos, and several instruments that I just cant remember what they are called.

At any given time, there are, like 10 players on the stage, usually with all different instruments.

This 2003 performance is done in beautiful historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and they have probably 20 famous guests from the Country, Irish and Bluegrass world: Emmy Lou Harris, John Hyatt, Ricky Skaggs, Patty Griffin, the list goes on ...

The audio and video quality is modern and outstanding, with great miking of the instruments, and it is beautifully directed. It says it is NTSC format, but i found it looks beautiful if you play it like its anomorphic widescreen ...

I am not a huge fan of this kind of music, but this is well worth adding to your collection, if for no other reason, as being able to listen to masters of these somewhat obscure instruments do their craft, live. The atmosphere, crowd, and good vibes these honest musical folks give off, is excellent...

There are short little interviews between most of the songs, which are interesting the first time you watch it, and then easy to skip ... the concert itself is 120 minutes long...

Also theres some serious singing going on here, from beautiful female country singing, to irish ballads, to interesting cowboy types belting out songs while going nuts on some odd stringed instrument whose name escapes you, haha...

If you look at "California Livingroom" I have a picture with this performance on the screen... yes that is an AC/DC dvd on the coffee table, haha

...why all Concert DVD's I own and or have played don't seem to be play in progressive scan? The audio is wonderfull but the video is 480i. Almost every "normal movie" plays progressive scan perfectly but for some reason just the concert DVD's don't :confused:

BTW I have a JVC XY-F80 and now a Pioneer 563-A and both seem to have the same issue. The DVD's I've tried include Eagles Hell Freezes over, Hole in the World, Sting, James Taylor, and Eric Clapton among others.

Wus-up with that?!

That's a fairly reliable indication that the source material is video and not film. Interlaced video signals have every frame different from the adjacent ones. Film source material uses the 3-2 pulldowm method to display 24 frames per second as 60 fields per second.

Both of your DVD players apparently look at the frame flag bit settings to convert to progressive scan, and are confused by video source material. You should include good deinterlacing of video material in the selection criteria for your next DVD player.

Originally posted by Gary McCoy
That's a fairly reliable indication that the source material is video and not film. Interlaced video signals have every frame different from the adjacent ones. Film source material uses the 3-2 pulldowm method to display 24 frames per second as 60 fields per second.

Both of your DVD players apparently look at the frame flag bit settings to convert to progressive scan, and are confused by video source material. You should include good deinterlacing of video material in the selection criteria for your next DVD player. Mmmm, That could be it!
Thanks for the advice.

JohnR_IN_LA

if only Bon Scott was still around today...

I'll have to go find the "stiff upper lip" DVD and let er rip... it's TNT

Ya I heard AC/DC has another pretty good DVD out there somewhere too, but I can confirm "Stiff Upper Lip" is a great single arena show for Late 70s hard rockers ....

.... And I think the single show concert DVDs are the best ( I include the ones that are filmed over 2/3 nights at one location, and then combined, to look like a single show).

I recently bought several new concert DVDs: Jethro Tull Living in the Past, Heart live in Seatle , Simon And Garfunkle in Central Park 1999, and The Wall Live in Berlin. So far they all are appear to be good quality, I will probably review them here

Concert DVDs are the single best thing about Home Theater..

Just bought and watched the Alison Kraus + Union Station Live DVD and it is excellent! It has great picture and even better sound. An excellent reference disc.
Craig:)

Regarding the Alison Kraus DVD, How would you characterize the music? I like a variety of music from AC/DC to Diana Krall but I've never being a big fan of country. Is this the type of "twang" you typically find in country? In other words, If I like well played instruments and sweet angelic voices, will I like this DVD? Of course I also like heart pounding music with energy and soul. So if this DVD accomplishes any of this there is a good chance I will like it. I've heard nothing but good things about the audio quality and spectacular video in this DVD but if the music is not to my liking then I will skip this purchase.

romanr:
Bluegrass and country aren't the same thing at all. You will like Alison Kraus, especially this CD, especially if you have SACD playback capability and buy the SACD.

romanr,

As mnilan stated, bluegrass and country are different, especially in todays era. Fifty plus years ago country and blue grass had a more similar sound, but country has turned more "electric" while I think the over-all music and sound of blue grass has remained the same.
I think the Alison Kraus DVD really offers up a wide array of low, mid-range and high sounds.
It definitely will test the flexibilities of your audio system.
You said you enjoyed hearing singers with exquisite voices... well Alison has one of the best in my opinion.
The video on this DVD is also superb as well.

Craig

If you like Alison Kraus and that type of music, the Down from the Mountain concert is great. I enjoy it more than her tour concert. It's features some of the music from O'Brother and features an assortment of artists and music. I've watched it many times and still feel like I should applaud after some of the performances.

Maybe it's just me and my perculiar tastes.

Art

Art,

Thanks for the recommendation, I will have to check it out.
Actually, before this concert DVD I never followed bluegrass much. Of the two, (country/bluegrass) country has always been more appealing to me. I guess this DVD has opened my eyes to a new sound.
Craig :)

Originally posted by FredProgGH
I was pleasantly surprised by the Tull DVD (Living With The Past). PQ is decent (it's 4x3, shot on video), there's a good blather to music ratio (each song has a little intro but they are all pretty short). There's a wonderful recreation of the original recordings of Wond'ring Aloud and Life's a Long Song done with a string quartet plus a reunion of the original line-up with Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker and Glenn Cornick for two songs which rocks. The current line-up is great and they do a good selection of material including the best version (read: faithful to the original) of Thick As A Brick since they originally played it in 1972. Ian's voice has come back a bit and his flute playing is better than ever (he's been working to compensate for the deteriorating pipes!) Highly recommended if you're a fan.

The switching between nightime daytime performances was a huge directorial mistake, IMHO. People want to think they are watching a contiguous concert. The director cuts too fast and pastes between shows blatantly, i donno... he finally calms down about half way through the show, and I was able to start enjoying the concert, but WTF?

The sound and Picture quality was fine...still a worthwhile purchase if you like Tull, which I DO

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
The switching between nightime daytime performances was a huge directorial mistake, IMHO. People want to think they are watching a contiguous concert. The director cuts too fast and pastes between shows blatantly, i donno... he finally calms down about half way through the show, and I was able to start enjoying the concert, but WTF?



Yeah, this has become common practice but it's really annoying.

Sound: 4 out of 5
Video : 4 out of 5
Performance: 5 out of 5
What I didn't like: He substituted a bit of the dance/theater stageshow for more of a party atmosphere with superstar guests.
What I did like: The best quality concert I have seen of this one-of-a-kind performer.

Prince is one incredible performing musician, he has that rare combination of songwriting, stage performance, singing, dancing, and mastery of all the major musical instruments... This guy can perform doublesplits while wailing on a guitar, and dance while singing while playing the crowd. His "Sign O' the Times" concert DVD would be a seminal recording of his performance talents, were the audio quality not so AWFUL. So I bought this DVD of him playing a New Years party at Paisley Park Studios, with a full crowd.

He has lots of guest performers like Lenny Kravitz and George Clinton, but gives up a bit on the choreographed stageshow that is the hallmark of his live shows. THere is still a ton of dancing and skits going on, where the band basically acts out the song.

Hes also a bit older in this show, and perhaps isnt doing the outrageously good dancing that he was certainly capable of just a few years ago. However he is still probably better than most broadway dancers ...

In exchange, he relaxes and rips up the guitar fretboard, and plays jazz and soul and rock with various guests throughout the night.. he plays drums and piano and other instruments here and there... what a show!

As you can see, i am somewhat biased, and would probably give a high rating to any decent tape of this underrated superstar. He is that good.

Oh he also rails against the music industry in the "News" notes on this DVD, he exposes how the RIAA studios are robbing artists of their rights to the music they create.

Re: Prince---


I'm soooooooo mad. I saw this in a used store about 3 weeks ago for $10. I grabbed it but the checkout line was really long and moving slow and I was on my lunch break. I took the DVD and hid it on a shelf of old movies where I thought it would go unnoticed. Went back later that day and--- yep, it was gone. Arrrrrrghhhh!!

Performance 4-5
Audio 5
Video 4

This is an excellently recorded and directed performance of the Boss from 2001. The audio is stellar, it suffers none of the negatives of the stadium sound, but still has that huge revirberating sound, so you know your in a stadium. The sound producers and directors deserve credit. The same day I got this, I received a live recording of another performer, that was taped in a sound studio: Bruce's stadium recording sounds much better.

The performance is vintage Bruce, he is great in concert, and seems to treat it as almost a religous experience. None of his songs are played like they are on the studio album. his songs metamorphizes on the road, he will slow them down , or speed them up, and ... well ... the results are always pretty good :)


Nice band too, great Sax player, they arent incredibly complex, and often the sound is rather slow and quiet, but the songwriting and the sincerity are there...

the grateful dead the closing of winterland is quite good[you're not a true deadhead imho if you don't have this dvd]

Wow!

Has to be the best concert(s) DVD I've seen, so many extras it makes your head spin.

The PQ and Audio is stunning. And I'm not a Stone fan!:p

4 discs (4:3 :rolleyes: ) 3 different concerts Paris, New York & someother place in Europe.

Jessica ;)

Originally posted by kevin j
the grateful dead the closing of winterland is quite good[you're not a true deadhead imho if you don't have this dvd]

Ive been eyeing this disk, the quality is good?
I probably would have bought it by now, but I was afraid someone would see it on my shelf, and think I was a deadhead!

:D

I never cared for their studio stuff, but I used to own a concert album of theirs that was soo good.

I cant remember the title, but it was a studio release 2 album set released in the very early 80s, and I remember perfectly recorded layered guitarwork throughout...

Shirley Bassey The Diva. Comes with an excellent documentary and commentary from THE DIVA herself.She ldropped her earring while performing and you wouldn't notice it.

Originally posted by suffolk112000

You said you enjoyed hearing singers with exquisite voices... well Alison has one of the best in my opinion.
The video on this DVD is also superb as well.


One more "AMEN!!!" on Allison Krauss. I'm no fan of most bluegrass I've heard, but this woman's voice is so pure and mesmerizing- you can't help but love it!

-shrugger

Let me mention four DVD’s that may not have all the criteria to be great choices to sit beside the already mentioned demo discs of Krall, James Taylor, The Boss, Orbison, Santana, Dave Matthews Band, and Allison Krauss (I am genetically incapable of appreciating most hard rock), but are worth mentioning as good performance discs seem to be such rarities that any worth mentioning should be. As far as I am concerned, performance DVD's are the highest and best use of my theater.

Three Mo Tenors –
4 out of 5 video
4 audio
5 performance

The three performers prove their versatility in a wide range of styles from opera to blues and on. Rodrick Dixon singing and playing “A Song For You“ is worth the price of the disc alone.

Smokey Joe’s Café –
4 video
3 audio
5 performance

This is a stage performance as opposed to concert performance, and was shot in HD, but miked with those on the head things, which never seem to capture the best sound although necessary where movement is required of the artists. I never liked doowop music before seeing this one on Broadway. This is the last performance of the original cast, and is faithful of the live show, which, of course, it was.

America: A Tribute To Heroes –

4 video
3-4 audio
4 performance

Some great performances and some not so great. Skip the intros and verbal tributes if you wish and anything with Mariah Carey mugging uncontrollably. I did not know that Faith Hill could really sing until this disc.

Jane Monheit: Live At The Rainbow Room –

5 video
5 audio
3 performance

Cabaret performance the equal in production value of the Krall disc. This singer certainly has the voice and training, but lacks the maturity that will hopefully come with age, IMHO. Others more attuned to this type performance may give a higher rating to the performance, of course.

Originally posted by Distorted
I did not know that Faith Hill could really sing until this disc.



Not to be off topic but I can't let this go; she can't. I promise. I've seen it. If they have made it appear otherwise it's with post-production and Antares Auto-tune :D

A really cool DVD is (I'm paraphrasing the title) TRIBUTE TO BRIAN WILSON.

It features Elton John, Paul Simon, Carley Simon, and all kinds of other performers doing their versions of Brians Wilson's compositions. Very interesting. Brian even got it together enough to do a walk-on toward the end of the show.

Tim A.

Originally posted by FredProgGH
Not to be off topic but I can't let this go; she can't. I promise. I've seen it. If they have made it appear otherwise it's with post-production and Antares Auto-tune :D

Well, she gets a high five for just standing there.

Production of performance DVD's brings up an interesting subject though. We all know that almost any performer can be made palatable in the studio, but just how much can be rectified on live performance video recordings? My guess is not nearly as much, and that may account in large part for the relative paucity of decent discs - the performers have to actually be talented.

Eric Clapton Live at Hyde Park is reference.

Originally posted by FredProgGH
Not to be off topic but I can't let this go; she can't. I promise. I've seen it. If they have made it appear otherwise it's with post-production and Antares Auto-tune :D I wouldn't call myself a huge Faith Hill fan (although she is incredible to look at!) I was pretty impressed with her during her live performance at the Grammy's this year. The song she did, "Cry" can't be an easy one to pull off live, and I thought she did just fine. (Again, watching her in a gold mini-dress in HDTV might have had something to do with it, but I can't be sure......) :D

Thanks for the atypical recommends, Distorted! I agree with your take on this stuff, watching concerts and such, is an incredible use of this technology.

Theres several bands that mix rock with jazz and classical instrumentation, and lovely voices of all types, and some of those discs are the best, IMHO, so dont give up on Rockers yet :)

Originally posted by Distorted
Well, she gets a high five for just standing there.

Production of performance DVD's brings up an interesting subject though. We all know that almost any performer can be made palatable in the studio, but just how much can be rectified on live performance video recordings? My guess is not nearly as much, and that may account in large part for the relative paucity of decent discs - the performers have to actually be talented.

Well, if a band IS talented they don't need to touch up much. But you'd be amazed at what can be done after the fact to tweak a less than stellar performance (I've done it myself :D) And for the truly not-good there's always the retrack the whole show in the studio option. There is a famous live album from the 70's that doesn't have an actual "live" note on it. (And it's not Frampton Comes Alive, that was one of the notable exceptions. though I think Pete recut a few of his vocals!)

Even truly talented bands will often "sweeten" the live sound a bit in the studio- watch Keys To Ascension by Yes and check out all the backup vocals when theres no one within 10 feet of a mic! It's just how it's done...

And its not just musicians! Radio DJs and talkshow hosts send their voices through their signature processors. Do you really think Rush Limbaugh has that deep resonant voice for real? Do you really think Lara Sleshinger still has that sweet toned 20 year old voice?

Its mostly thiers, but they have magical sound engineers helping them out :)

U2's New DVD, it comes out on Tuesday and it is a very good show. Done in England at a famous castlle.

Also Peter Gabriel, Secret World Live, music is excellent video quality is so, so.

it's in ireland not england fyi

Originally posted by Garman
U2's New DVD, it comes out on Tuesday and it is a very good show. Done in England at a famous castlle.


Red Hot Chili Pepper's also did a concert at the same castle. This dvd is also available on 11-18. Will someone please post a review of this DVD.

Good thread. I've definitely got to check out the new U2.

Here are the best I've seen:
James Taylor Live at the BT
Roger Waters In the Flesh
Diana Krall in Paris
Talking Heads Stop Making Sense
Eagles Hell Freezes Over
Sade Lovers Live

jimnc,

"James Taylor Live at the BT;"
I've been contemplating getting this DVD, why did it make your top list. PQ, Audio, Content? I understand its 16:9.

Jessica :)

First of all, it's a good concert, great performances, 109 minutes.
Second, the production quality is excellent: PQ(you can see the beads of sweat on JT's balding head), sound(DD), editing. I can't stress how much editing is a factor in a DVD concert. It can make you feel like a member of the audience, or it can tire you out and make you feel like you're watching a music video. This is a well-paced edit.
I don't even recall what the aspect ratio is; doesn't say on the box; can't play it right now.
I'm not a JT fanatic; I just like watching well-produced concerts. I've been disappointed by quite a few concert DVDs. But this one is first-rate.

I also recommend The Cranberries Beneath the Skin Version 2.

Is there a forum somewhere that restricts it's discussion to concert/performance dvd's?

I don't think so.

Originally posted by Distorted
Is there a forum somewhere that restricts it's discussion to concert/performance dvd's?

Your in it bruddah!

I have about 50 concert DVDs, and order a few more every month.

So far, my favorites are Prince (Rave Unto) David Gilmore (Live) , Roger Waters (InTheFlesh), Eagles (HellFreezes), Dixie Chicks (evening with), Diane Krall (Paris), and Rush (Rio).

I've never liked the band U2 ... actually the band is rather nice, its just that Bono's self-important krooning rubs me the wrong way. That said i wouldnt mind renting it, or maybe buying it used,to see if i can stomach it :)

That JT concert sounds interesting, i will keep an eye out for it, thanks!

Ive been playing the heck out of "Prince: Rave Unto The Year 2000", he jumps from blues to rock to soul to R&B and puts on a helluva stageshow while hes doing it, all in a party atmosphere with excellent players (Lenny Kravitz, George Clinton, to name just a couple).

I agree with the earlier comment that editing is HUGE. Jethro Tull's "LIving IN the Past" is ruined by horrible editing.

A real gem is "An Evening With The Dixie Chicks", awesome editing, beautiful Nashville Theater, 1st class sound quality ....

Ok I will stop rambling

Is there a forum somewhere that restricts it's discussion to concert/performance dvd's?

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Your in it bruddah!


This is primarily a movie bb, which is good for film, but only about 2% music oriented, which is insufficient. Maybe a new forum here at AVS is in order as performance DVD's come on?

JohnR,
I saw the Tull DVD. I agree.
About the Prince DVD: when I saw him live many years ago, he kept pointing his mike at the audience encouraging a singalong. That bugged me. Does he do any of that in Rave Unto?

bruce springsteen live in barcelona...this dvd's better than the live in nyc one imho

The U2 concert is actually at Slane Castle in Ireland. You'll likely to piss off any Irish viewers with comments that is in England. Not surprsing though since even the Best Buy ad lists at as from England !!! You would think they could pay their researchers enough to get simple facts correct.

The concert itself is excellent with great sound but poor quality picture. Their other Elevation DVD has a much higher quality picture.

picked up the new U2 and red hot chili peppers today,only did a little preview at work but both look and sound excellent.
for whoever had the question about the Prince Rave DVD,i don`t believe he does any of that "let the crowd sing"stuff during this show.The highlight of that dvd for me is his Hendrix cover of "Red House"(although renamed purple house).
Princes new Las Vegas dvd(although shorter(80 mins.) and crappier video quality)is a better show musically but does have less of the "hits" a casual fan might want to hear.

Cool yea I love the "RAVE: DVD, and ordered the Alladin/Las Vegas DVD. Your right, he doesnt really do the crowd singing stuff, but the crowd does interact with him quite a bit, he does some crowd surfing, etc :)

Hows the sound quality on the Alladin/Las Vegas show?

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Cool yea I love the "RAVE: DVD, and ordered the Alladin/Las Vegas DVD. Your right, he doesnt really do the crowd singing stuff, but the crowd does interact with him quite a bit, he does some crowd surfing, etc :)

Hows the sound quality on the Alladin/Las Vegas show?

sound is pretty good,video was done with handheld cams,not very good quality.I was actually at the Vegas show and it may have been the best show i`ve ever seen him play,definitely top 2 or 3.unfortunately only about half the show made the dvd( a lot of good stuff left off)and there was also a 1 hour aftershow at studio 54 that was filmed that didn`t make the dvd.
so for what it is,it`s pretty good,but it could have been a whole lot better(content and quality wise).I do enjoy the dvd though,they`ve been showing it as a freeview on directv all month.

Originally posted by JaSee
My Favorite 16x9 enhanced concert disks with mostly excellent picture and sound are:

The Cure Triolgy
Yes Symphonic Live
Roger Waters In the Flesh
Roxy Music at the Apollo
Underworld Live Everything Everything
James Getting away with it live
New Order 511

My favorite 4x3 (some letterboxed) but excellent sounding disk are:

Pat Metheney Imaginary Day
7 Worlds Collide (tim Finn, Eddie Vedder, Jonny Marr)
Led Zeppelin
Jethro Tull
Big Country (two disks in one keepcase)
Warped Tour (16x9 but soft)
Ben Folds Five (w54th session)



J- excellent taste I must say - very similar to my own. Then i notice you're in San Diego where I was born and raised. Maybe its something in the salty air..

Just watched Concert for George. Wow, This one is near the top of my list of favorites. Anyone interested should check this one out. For those that don't know this is the concert Eric Clapton organized after George Harrison's Death.

I got Frampton Live in Chicago (2003) last nite. Stunning picture and sound quality...

But it is Peter Frampton, hes an open book. A "pretty boy" guitarist with a few good songs, a happy-go-lucky attitude, and no real edge to his music.
Its good music though, I cant really find any complaints... its not great music, but its way above average ... it is what it is!

He spends a good amount of time playing his guitar... and hes very proficient... its amazing, you take these old rock stars, and give them 30 more years to practice, and they sound even better! He seems to have some of his original band with him too, and they all are dedicated musicians.

But wow, this disk is reference quality, and its not bad music... nice guitarwork, the drumming sounds AWESOME, and... what the heck, its is what it is!

If you "kind of" liked Frampton back then, you will even more "kindof like" him now!

Concert For George is good! They start with an Indian orchestra that plays all those wierd Indian instruments, and its a nice break from conventional western instruments. This is about 10% or the concert.

THen it turns into a nice tribute/memorial concert, Ringo and Paul are there, and alot of well known faces. Theres NOT alot of virtuoso guitarwork or stuff like that at this show, so dont buy it to see Andy Fairweather Low and Eric Clapton rip up the fretboard, aint gonna happen in this show.

But theres solid playing and nice vocals... Watching Ringo sing "Photograph" was awesome.

Well recorded, wide screen, video quality is 4 out of 5, audio quality is 4 out of 5, very nice show.

This release is a CD and a DVD version of a concert, actually its material from 2 outdoor shows in Texas in 2002. It feels like a single show, which is nice.

The recording and video quality is very nice, a solid 4 out 5. I have seen better, but not much better!

Linkin Park's mix of Rock. Pop, Grunge and Hip Hop is very enjoyable, the band has lots of engery, and their songs are all pretty well written. These are young guys, and young music, which is hard to find in Concert DVDs, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Editing is a bit fast for my taste, is my only complaint. I would like to see some longer shots of the Mosh Pit, and the band.... Its not horrible though, and I enjoyed the show as much as my kids did...

Widescreen
5.1 Dolby Surround or Stereo..
12 Bucks at Target
Probably 80-90 minutes long.
I haven't listened to the CD, I assume its the same show

Extras are minimal, this is a barebones concert DVD, but a high quality one.

HOLY SMOKES! I finally got around to watching "Coldplay Live 2003" last night. Just wonderful. The 5.1 DTS, 5.1 DD, and Anamorphic widescreen presentation were all first rate. The band (especially the singer) were very active, as was the crowd. It even comes with a complete live CD to play in the car or elsewhere! I cannot heap enough praise on this package, especially at the $15 price I paid at CC. Next is Pearl Jam, Live at the Garden. I'm getting backed up on these releases. I need to watch Dave Matthews Central Park 2003 as well. What an addiction!

2 bucks at Target

I'm so there! Where was it recorded at in Texas? My Wife & I watched Linkin Park on an episode of HBO's "Reverb". Those guys freakin ROCK, and sound great doing it. Thanks for reminding me of it, must have!

Oh, its 12 Bucks, sorry, hah.

I'm going to see Jewel tonite at the Thousand Oaks Civic Center, should be cozy and awesome..

I figured that, LOL. Jewel has a great set. Song set I mean...

Gimme Shelter. It really is more of a movie than a concert. It is based on their 1969 tour. The footage of Mick at MSG is great! Anyone who only knows the Stones circa 80's-90's NEEDS to watch this!

HOLY CRAP, Linkin Park Live in Texas is unfreakin REAL! So damn good.

Brian Setzer- Live in Japan.

So so video.

Good audio with fine bass.

Great performance.

Daveoo

Originally posted by Patrick TX
HOLY CRAP, Linkin Park Live in Texas is unfreakin REAL! So damn good.

Haha it is pretty great. There is something unholy about a bunch of white boys mixing rock with rap and adapting little bits of rap culture, then playing it to a metallica crowd though haha

Pretenders: Loose in La...Reference quality for sound certainly. Highly recommended.

I watched half of my "Dave Matthews Band - The Central Park Concert" last night. I'm pretty amazed at the Audio & Video quality of this production. Excellent. It was shot on High Definition cameras, with a 16/9 presentation. The sound comes courtesy of DD 5.1 or 2.0. The 5.1 track is very rich, and sounds spectacular at low & high volumes. This DVD is TRULY reference quality. Move over Eagles & Diana Krall, you have company.

Yeah I really like the DMB - Central Park Concert - trully high quality audio & video :D

U2 Go Home: Live at Slane Castle which was released this week has pretty good audio quality.

The Dixie Chicks "On Top Of the World" gets released today. Their first concert DVD "An Evening with the Dixie Chicks" is fantastic....so I will probably pick this one up.

If you like the Allison Krause concert DVD, you will probably love this stuff ...

Dixie Chicks in the same league as Allison Krauss - not likely, IMHO. D/C's more in the slick country pablum catagory with a hook or two, while Allie is incredible top to bottom, but I'll take your word that they are well produced.

DMB's "Live In New York" is exceptional in the video department, as good as I have seen, and the sound is as good as DD 5.1 can get, but not up to DTS standards, at least before DTS went cheapo on the bit rate. Performance is great for us DMB fans, and the split screen nonsense is gone over the "Folsum Field" disappointment.

So few performance DVD's are in DTS that is unduobtedly unfair or unwise to even compare those that are though with those that aren't, and the high bit rate ones are from an era gone until a format with more space is available anyway. Sigh.

Originally posted by Distorted
Dixie Chicks in the same league as Allison Krauss - not likely, IMHO. D/C's more in the slick country pablum catagory with a hook or two, while Allie is incredible top to bottom, but I'll take your word that they are well produced.


The Dixe Chicks are slick country yep, but the hooks are endless, they have some incredible players backing them up, and they all play thier instruments skillfully..

I recently received the Allison Krauss DVD, and they instantly reminded me of eachother, i would definitely say they are in the same league ... Allison needs a new makeup artist badly though, and that Gaudy theater she played in, as well as the clothes they wore, made my girlfriend think that it was from the 70s ...

Musically it was very nice though...

I strongly agree with JohnR_IN_LA about the Dixie Chicks. My wife and I saw them in concert with the Indigo Girls back in October. To be honest before the concert I didn't care about the Dixie Chicks but my wife absolutely loved them.

The concert was absolutely awesome. I couldn't believe how incredible the backup instruments were. The violin (or fiddle) player was incredible. She was my favorite and she was pretty hot also.

Not to mention the strength of their material...and the hillarious wit of their lead singer. She reminds me of my sister, who is a laugh a minute!

While there probably is some cross over between Allison Krauss and Dixie Chicks fans, they really do appeal to different audiences.

Most Allison Krauss fans would deem the 'Chicks too slick and "Nashville" and most 'Chicks fans would think that Allison is too "old timey". If you like both - great, but not everybody will.

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
This release is a CD and a DVD version of a concert, actually its material from 2 outdoor shows in Texas in 2002. It feels like a single show, which is nice.

The recording and video quality is very nice, a solid 4 out 5. I have seen better, but not much better!

Linkin Park's mix of Rock. Pop, Grunge and Hip Hop is very enjoyable, the band has lots of engery, and their songs are all pretty well written. These are young guys, and young music, which is hard to find in Concert DVDs, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Editing is a bit fast for my taste, is my only complaint. I would like to see some longer shots of the Mosh Pit, and the band.... Its not horrible though, and I enjoyed the show as much as my kids did...

Widescreen
5.1 Dolby Surround or Stereo..
12 Bucks at Target
Probably 80-90 minutes long.
I haven't listened to the CD, I assume its the same show

Extras are minimal, this is a barebones concert DVD, but a high quality one. Widescreen

linkin park:live in texas
on the back cover it says 4:3
does anyone know if there is a 16:9 version??????

It must be a mistake on the cover, as it's 16:9. I just watched it again last night.

Originally posted by gerhard911
While there probably is some cross over between Allison Krauss and Dixie Chicks fans, they really do appeal to different audiences.

Most Allison Krauss fans would deem the 'Chicks too slick and "Nashville" and most 'Chicks fans would think that Allison is too "old timey". If you like both - great, but not everybody will.

Yea you can definitely put me in the "Slick Nashville" camp, but I can appreciate most honest music when performed live. I am getting rid of my Tony Bennet concert DVD though, i cant handle lounge music just yet haha

Has anyone heard/experienced the new AC\DC Live in Donington concert? I enjoy their Stiff Upper Lip DVD and was wondering if this one is as good or better....
Sorry to be slightly off-topic but all this "Allison Krauss" , "Dixie Chicks" and now "Tony Bennett" talk has started making me sleepy :D

Originally posted by Patrick TX
It must be a mistake on the cover, as it's 16:9. I just watched it again last night.

which one did you get? the one in the small cd case or the one in the larger dvd size case? both say 4:3
did you watch it on a widescreen tv or a regular tv????
thanks

Originally posted by Yosh70
Has anyone heard/experienced the new AC\DC Live in Donington concert? I enjoy their Stiff Upper Lip DVD and was wondering if this one is as good or better....
Sorry to be slightly off-topic but all this "Allison Krauss" , "Dixie Chicks" and now "Tony Bennett" talk has started making me sleepy :D

I also like "Stiff Upper Lip".

The Donnington concert was taped in 1991??

If so, does that mean it has the ORIGINAL LEAD SINGER?

I am unsure when that guy died. But his voice was haunting and great.

The new U2 concert, slane castle, has better sound and more energy than the one in boston. But I like the song selection better in boston, get the one in the jewel case if you only care about the concert. You pay 5 bucks more for the other version which I believe has more extras.

Originally posted by Patrick TX
HOLY SMOKES! I finally got around to watching "Coldplay Live 2003" last night. Just wonderful. The 5.1 DTS, 5.1 DD, and Anamorphic widescreen presentation were all first rate. The band (especially the singer) were very active, as was the crowd. It even comes with a complete live CD to play in the car or elsewhere! I cannot heap enough praise on this package, especially at the $15 price I paid at CC. Next is Pearl Jam, Live at the Garden. I'm getting backed up on these releases. I need to watch Dave Matthews Central Park 2003 as well. What an addiction!

Based on this review I bought this DVD. I agree its very high quality sound and video. Coldplay is a real band, with their own non-commericial style, and some individuality. That says something in this day and age.

I use the word "some" because they remind me of U2, which to me, is not necessarily a good thing. I can handle male-vocal crooning for 1 or 2 songsin a row, maybe even 3 songs, but them I am crooned out! This singer croons the whole show...

The video editing is also too fast. they rarely hold a shot for longer than 2 seconds, and there are too many 1 second shots ... quite annoying when your watching a full concert, to have the editor relentlessly changing shots the whole time.

Anyways, I will watch this band develop a bit more, they are pretty good, and if you like U2, you may may well like Coldplay...

Being a huge concert DVD fan, here's my top 3 thus far. The DD 5.1 on all 3 discs is outstanding, although the video might leave something to be desired.

1. John Mayer- Any Given Thursday (Check out track #13 "Covered in Rain" and turn it UP. My reference concert DVD material).

2. Dave Mathews- Listener Supported

3. Coldplay- Live 2003 (Clocks is always a crowd pleaser!).

Ok lets try this one...has anyone experienced Styx:Return to Paradise?
I enjoy(ed) their music immensely but hafta know that for $30 after taxes, Im getting my moneys worth.....

Originally posted by Yosh70
Ok lets try this one...has anyone experienced Styx:Return to Paradise?
I enjoy(ed) their music immensely but hafta know that for $30 after taxes, Im getting my moneys worth.....


Arrrrgghhhhh... I truly hate you for making me admit this but: I have this one on VHS and I like it. Tommy Shaw sounds great, the new drummer is really solid and J.Y. keeps the cheesy posing to a minimum. Plus, the setlist is good- not to much from after the 70's hey-day and some nice classics like Suite Madam Blue. The biggest problem I have watching it is that Dennis DeYoung now looks just like Paul Reiser and it weirds me out. :D I don't know how it looks or sounds on DVD but it ought to be fine.

Hah thats funny about Dennis DeYoung. I had to sell my "Steely Dan Plush TV" DVD because the singer guy was just sooo ugly. It sounded great, but the constant closeups of his mug was just too much for me to take hah

One more thing. Phil Hendrie recently did a hillarious skit on Dennis DeYoung, on his popular syndicated AM radio show. Basically Phil's producer played hookie from the radio show because it was Dennis DeYoung's birthday.

So, he calls his producer to find out why hes not at work, and the guy starts talking about how great Styx is, and why he had to take the day off....

Oh well, guess you had to be there, haha

Originally posted by hobbs47
Princes new Las Vegas dvd(although shorter(80 mins.) and crappier video quality)is a better show musically but does have less of the "hits" a casual fan might want to hear.

I watched this tonite, its still great because Prince is the consumate performer ..but when any performer plays in Las Vegas, they tend to tone down their show, because they usually have to do it several times a month, sometimes 5-6 nights a week.

Prince was no exception, he added alot of jazz and a little blues, sung less, did far more covers, and danced less and a bit slower. No flying splits like he is still capable of. It was good musically, and the 2 channel Stereo PCM soundtrack was AWESOME, with real nice bass and ... simply the best sound i have heard from a 2-channel only soundtrack. I think the case is mislabeled, i saw no " Dolby Digital" soundtrack.

Its a simple concert DVD, nice performance, the venue is a bit of a problem, the RAVE concert is still the best Prince DVD by far....

the styx return to paradise dvd's looks good and sounds good but the newer one[arch allies with reo speedwagon]is better imho

Originally posted by kevin j
the styx return to paradise dvd's looks good and sounds good but the newer one[arch allies with reo speedwagon]is better imho

That may be, but REO Speedwagon is a line I wil NOT cross. :D

Saw the Journey, REO, and Styx, tour twice this summer and all bands kicked major a**, and never seeing REO live, i wasn`t sure of what to expect,. and i thought they were good enough to wan`t to see them again someday. And i have zero REO in my cd collection, in fact i rarely hear them at all even on local radio anymore.

I watched Hall & Oates: Live in Concert. It is a very good concert and is filmed in wide screen. The sound is also excellent PCM & Dolby 5.1!
I found it at Wal-Mart for $13.88.

David

Welshed: I am pissed off also, having Irish blood in my, I saw a bit of it at Best Buy and just qouted what I saw sounded great. The sale guy had me convinced it was in England also, till Kevin J pointed out it wasn't.

The one I throw on the most is James Taylor, live at the beacon.. The sound of this DVD alone is what made me a James Taylor fan. By the way, I'm mostly a metal head.

Bobby

Originally posted by dcamp
I watched Hall & Oates: Live in Concert. It is a very good concert and is filmed in wide screen. The sound is also excellent PCM & Dolby 5.1!
I found it at Wal-Mart for $13.88.

David

:)

My wife and I saw Hall & Oates live this past July while at Mytle Beach, S.C. While we were waiting in line to get into The House of Blues for the concert, my wife passed out from heat exhaustion. Fortunately, there were some very helpful people in line behind us who had some EMT training (I do as well, but it was good to have some dispassionate assistance :eek: ) to help me out. Long story short, we got her a seat inside the SRO hall for the show and she loved it. They gave out free CDs of the current comeback release and it's not bad. But, their oldies are much more to my liking. Maybe I'll have to see what's on their dvd release.

I am at this moment listening to and watching The Dave Mathews Band Live in Central Park concert, which I got because of this thread. Never heard him before. While it is very good, Mathews' inarticulate mumblings makes me reminisce and wish there was a good dvd of Tom Waits' oldies. Well, that's what Dave Mathews kinda reminds me of, a so so immitation of Tom Waits with the brief scatological vocalizations, but with more jazzy improvizations and funk. Maybe it's Al Jarreau I should be thinking of; no, at least Jarreau is articulate. Oh well. Excellent concert performance anyway. The percussionist is boss.

:D

If nothing else, after watching the Mathews dvd I had to then put on the Allman Bros Band Live at the Beacon Theatre dvd to listen to some more Warren Haynes guitar. Sweet.

:)

Avil Lavigne - My World -2003

This Avril Lavigne DVD is refreshing, its a bunch of kids making decent music. My daughters like this band, I find them mildly interesting, no its not incredible music, but its fresh, and she has an attitude, and the band is just kids having fun...

The songs are all fairly strong pop tunage, shes a good singer, in a very normal way. In other words, she will never sing opera. The video is 4x3 but stretches to 16x9 bearably. The Audio quality is "fine", but by no means great, it has a "concert" sound to it, you know, the bass is not flat at all, kind of boomy, but similar to what you would probably hear in a big arena...

There is a full concert and a ton of extras on the DVD. The concert isnt incredibly long, but .... its a full show. I like it.

Lots of music videos on it, some nice documentary type stuff, its all there!

I rented it at Blockbuster, btw. I may buy someday though, i may miss not having some fresh faced kids in my concert collection

My vote goes to Roger Waters' In the Flesh. AMAZING!!!

Nicholas

Oh man Nick that last 7 songs, where Roger's band gets into his solo stuff.... I must have watched that 20 times... those 3 female singers he has with him can hit incredible notes.

And then Andy Fairweather Low plays those super-clean bluesy notes on that incredible red guitar, man-oh-man

Don't know if either of these was mentioned Eagles: Hell Freezes Over and Diana Krall Live in Paris

JohnR_IN_LA,
re: Avril, good pick. My daughter (2nd grader) got me started listening to Avril and her first cd is steller especially considering her age. Every song is pretty good. I may have to pick up that concert dvd.

Nich,
What kind of music does Roger Waters play? I have never heard of him.

getme,
Several have mentioned Diana Krall in Pairs. Again, I have never heard of her. Any info on her music style would be appreciated.

Not sure if it was mentioned but the new Coldplay "Live 2003" DVD is incredible! Definitely goose-bumps material.

Originally posted by rossi46
Not sure if it was mentioned but the new Coldplay "Live 2003" DVD is incredible! Definitely goose-bumps material.

You didnt find the ultra-fast camera switching annoying on the Coldplay DVD? The audio and video quality is nice, but I thought the director had too much coffee that day. Does he have to switch angles every 1.5 seconds for the whole 2 hours show?

Also, that lead singer croons every song, i wish he would just chill a little bit, I am not that infatuated with the male voice .... reminds me of Bono from U2. In fact, the whole band reminds me of U2 :)

What kind of music does Roger Waters play? I have never heard of him

manpig,

If you've heard of Pink Floyd, you may have heard the name Roger Waters. He was one of the lead singers and creative geniouses behind PF. He has been going solo now for quite some time. In the In The Flesh Live Dvd he does play a lot of classic Pink Floyd tunes, but he does add several of his solo materal (which is also very good).

Some other good concert dvds:

Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live (widescreen and has DTS 5.1): sound is unreal (I think it was remixed).

Peter Gabriel - Growing Up Live (widescreen and DTS 5.1): better PQ and sound is also awesome.

Don't know about the prices of these in the US but up here they are around $15 CDN.

Rick.

Grateful Dead "The Closing of Winterland"

TOTO live in Amsterdam 2003 with Simon Phillips on Drums. Dts and Dolby 5.1 sound is excellent as well as picture, performance is even better.

Originally posted by Rick Bertuzzi

Don't know about the prices of these in the US but up here they are around $15 CDN.

Rick.

That's about $12 US! What's with that deal? Those are about $17 - 19 here.

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

I was playing a program recorded on my PVR last spring sometime, when a Johnny Cash video strangely appeared. It was "Hurt," and hit me right between the eyes (and ears). I say "strange," because I did not record anything that should have had it on, and though I did not erase it, I could never find it again on the PVR. It was as if the spirits had sent it to me. Sometimes I would see part of it while channel surfing, but I never seemed to get all of it again even though it has been nominated for out of genre awards and carried home the prize on C&W awards shows.

To the point - I bought "Hurt" on DVD for $6.99 yesterday.
The run down - It has only the four-minute video, is PCM stereo only, and appears to be 2:35 wide screen only. I love it. Even with the production shortcomings, it is IMHO the most evocative video I have ever seen, and never fails to cover me with pathos not to be found anywhere else. The look of Cash' dying wife on the stairs is chilling. Incredible, especially considering it is a cover by Nine Inch Nails, a band I would never have believed capable of such depth.

Admittedly not for everyone, but when I show it to people who have never seen it the response is silence followed by, "Wow, that's powerful."

Originally posted by Rick Bertuzzi
manpig,

If you've heard of Pink Floyd, you may have heard the name Roger Waters. He was one of the lead singers and creative geniouses behind PF. He has been going solo now for quite some time. In the In The Flesh Live Dvd he does play a lot of classic Pink Floyd tunes, but he does add several of his solo materal (which is also very good).


Also, he assembles an all-star band, some incredible backup singers (women), and is actually quite a showman.

He has no less than 3 guitarists ( Not including him, he plays the bass) including the classy blues-tilted rock guitarist Andy Fairweather Low. Also a great keyboardist, a really cool drummer, and some other players here and there. He really lets them rip up their respective instruments too, lots of nice instrumentation.

Waters has been criticized as being hard to work with, hes a perfectionist. This quality makes his shows truely wondrous experiences, as the timing, the vocals, the visuals, the instrumentation, and the sound are all exquisitely hammered out beforehand.

They do not look over-choreographed though, he wouldnt stand for that. For example, when band members take a break, they sit on a table on the stage, and chill out. Once during a synthesizer solo, they even brought out a bottle of whiskey and played a game of cards.

One warning, his dad died in WW2, and he will never let Downey Street forget it. He has a fairly strong anti-war sentiment in his later PF and solo work, and will have the audience of 30,000 aging hippies all worked up by the end of the show....

Distorted,

Yeah, DVDs are pretty well priced here at stores like Future Shop, a&b sound, and sometimes HMV. But for online, I got the Peter Gabriel DVDs at dvdsoon.com (based in Canada) for $15.98 CDN (where I saw afterwards, the Growing Up Live DVD for $14.98 briefly). They do ship internationally I am quite sure.

Rick.

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
[B]You didnt find the ultra-fast camera switching annoying on the Coldplay DVD? .... reminds me of Bono from U2.

It only gets annoying when the guitar player is performing a solo and the camera doesn't stay on him.

There are a couple Coldplay songs that are reminiscent of U2 (I commented the same thing to my brother while watching it), but is that altogether a bad thing? ;)

How about a little Yanni for a change of pace. I was not a Yanni fan until I watched "Live at the Acropolis". Not the greatest picture quality, but an awesome viewing and listening experience.

Originally posted by Yosh70
Has anyone heard/experienced the new AC\DC Live in Donington concert? I enjoy their Stiff Upper Lip DVD and was wondering if this one is as good or better....
Sorry to be slightly off-topic but all this "Allison Krauss" , "Dixie Chicks" and now "Tony Bennett" talk has started making me sleepy :D

I have both of the AC/DC discs and both are very good. The PQ in Stiff Upper Lip is a little bit better but I think the sound quality on Donnington may be a little better, even though its DD and not DTS. They put Angus' guitar prominently in both the front and rear surrounds (much more than any other concert DVD I own) so you feel like your on stage with them. Also, Donington has 3 or 4 songs Stiff Upper Lip does not have.

I also have the Styx DVD. I found it an enjoyable concert although I don't think the PQ or Audio Quality are as good as the AC/DC DVD's.

Two recent purchases I have enjoyed are the Heart-Alive in Seattle DVD and the Kiss-Symphony DVD...if you can stomach Gene Simmons' ego.

Thanks. Is it the same band membership in Donnington?

Suprised there has been only one mention of Springsteen Live in Barcelona. PQ and sound are just awesome.

Almost all the songs from "The Rising" plus a rousing rendition of "She's the
One" and my favorite; Bruce playing "Spirits in the Night" solo on the keyboard.

"Randy Bachman Every Song Tells A Story"

Just got done watching this one, though I would just take a look at it but I could not wait to hear the next song and the next and the next.

The music from all the performers came through clearly, the video was very good (161" screen 9" CRT). I liked the intimate style that it was performed in. Randy tells a little story how the songs came about, which was very cool. Left me wanting more.

A must for any BTO or Guess Who fan and if you are not buy it anyway, alot of killer songs.

Deron.

I used to love BTO, I think I was 14-16! will definitely buy this thanks...
What ever happened to them? haha

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Thanks. Is it the same band membership in Donnington?


Everyone is the same except the drummer. Chris Slade, whom you may remember from The Firm, is the drummer here rather than Phil Rudd. Personally, I think Slade a better drummer; he gives them a bigger sound.

Another DVD I really like is "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". It's half-documentary and half concert film that tells the story of the studio musicians (known as The Funk Brothers) who backed all the great Motown artists. The documentary is interspersed with recent concert footage of the Funk Brothers backing a number of contemporary artist singing Motown classics. The artist range from Chaka Khan and Bootsy Collins to Joan Osborne, Ben Harper, and Montell Jordan.

The picture is very good and presented in Widescreen. The sound is reference quality; you can listen in either 6.1 DTS-ES or 5.1 Dolby-EX.

Best of all it's inexpensive. You can find it anywhere for $10 - $12 bucks.

Originally posted by Griz92867
Another DVD I really like is "Standing in the Shadows of Motown".

Yes, this one is TERRIFIC!!! it's such a damn shame that James Jamerson, and others, weren't around to participate- it took way too many years for this story to be told.

(I used to love BTO, I think I was 14-16! will definitely buy this thanks...
What ever happened to them? haha)

John

Part of BTO is still touring under the BTO title, playing alot of the original songs, saw them this summer, the lead singer still has that hard driving voice.

Randy Bachman is touring with his new band in Canada, he plays a new song on this DVD.

Watched the "Randy Bachman Every Song Tells A Story" with a friend today, he loved it. It's more then just a regular concert DVD, it tells a story of the history of how the songs came about. Randy does a very good job telling these stories.

If you want more then just the regular concert DVD this is a must buy, wish there were more concert DVD's done as good as this one.

Deron.

Would someone please answer this question about the "Randy Bachman Every Song Tells A Story" DVD?

Are the chapter stops at the beginning of the songs... or at the beggining of the "story" about the songs?

Thanks... This DVD sounds like a fun trip down memory lane :)

Am I the only one who likes Back In The USA by a guy named Paul McCarney. He used to play in a well known band but I can't remember the name but I thought it was a killer DVD. Also, the Average White Band DVD Tonight. Roy Orbison's Black & White Night was fantastic expecially the guitar riffs with Bruce Springsteen and I love Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble, Live from Austin, Texas. Also, Faith Hill doesn't have to sing she can just stand there and strut her stuff and I'm happy.

Not that it's a blasphemous thing in itself. But, the AC/DC Live in Donington DVD has quite a lot of overdubs on it.

Watch the iso-cam for Back in Black and you'll notice on one occassion you here Brian goes "UH!" with the mic away from his mouth. Also, on the songs that you can see Angus solo, you'll notice a few discrepencies (even if you're not a guitarist you catch a few cases of notes without fingers or fingering without notes).

Nevertheless, the sounds is astounding on the DVD. The Video is unremarkable and not very clean. Give the video a 6/10 and the audio-mix a 9/10. The audio mix is VERY LOUD. I had to knock my receiver settings more than -10db than normal (not that I am complaining). It's a very hot mix. I got it for $7 during the DDD super sale last week. One of the only times I will put up with DDD's media mail and frequent ordering and billing mistakes, especially since most of the stuff I got was 50%+ off list.

Umm..

Oh yeah, Shania Twain Live in Chicago. Video is stunning, audio is excellent as well. Get it!!!!!!!

Chris Xolotl, what is DDD?

DDD (http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/)

DIY Guy, thanks for the DDD link. How do I copy a link and then rename it like you did as DDD or whatever? Some people will have a link and then rename it as click here or just here.

plasmamaniac,

When you post a reply using the "Post Reply" button the GUI has vB code buttons. To add a http:// link, you click the button which will bring up the first window for adding whatever text you want your link to say. you enter that and then another window will pop up for the exact url i.e.(http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/newreply.php?s=&action=newreply&threadid=280205) that you want link to. click and your done. Does that make sense?

Steve, you are most helpful and very knowledgeable. Thanks, Richard.

Has anybody seen Bjork: Live At The Royal Opera House. I have her Vespertine DVD-A which I find amazing.

Is it 16x9 Anamorphic? does it have DTS? Any comment on sound and picture of this DVD is appreciated.

Thanks,
Maziar

Blue Man Group - The Complex Rock Tour Live
I've been to a BMG performance in Chicago and although this is a different show, it really captures the energy. Sounds great even though it's only DD stereo - the drums pound! PQ is not bad considering it's non-anamorhic.
Had some friends over to see this last weekend that had heard of BMG, but never been to a show - they were blown away......

The forever changes concert by Love.Just the fact that this exists in pretty amazing.Arthur Lee gets out of years behind bars and manages to put together this band.If only someone had a visual record of the original Love from their days on sunset strip.Truely one of the greatest bands from the sixties.

Shuttup!
You guys are costing me money!

I substituted the James Taylor recommendation,because it was, like 20 bucks, and got another concert of his, hopefully its good too. :)


RANDY BACHMAN-EVERY SONG TELLS A S $ 13.16
AC/DC-LIVE AT DONINGTON $ 8.98
BLUE MAN GROUP-COMPLEX ROCK TOUR LIVE $ 9.98
JAMES TAYLOR: PULL OVER $ 11.99
YANNI-LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS $ 12.93

Got this spread through DDD, not bad prices, and free shipping.

Originally posted by mazuly
Has anybody seen Bjork: Live At The Royal Opera House. I have her Vespertine DVD-A which I find amazing.

Is it 16x9 Anamorphic? does it have DTS? Any comment on sound and picture of this DVD is appreciated.

Thanks,
Maziar

Well since nobody responded, I went and bought the DVD :).

I have watched 4 or 5 songs and I must say, it is very good. Word of caution though, If you don't like Vespertine by Bjork, then you will not like this concert. The picture is not bad (shot in video). It is 16x9 and anamorphic. It has DD 2.0 and DD5.1 and I highly recommend the DD5.1. This is the most I have had activity in my surround channel. It is almost like her DVD-A disk. She also has a full orchestra playing with her as well as some other musicians (well, 2 of the guys on the stage are playing around with mixers, computers and gizmos though).

I highly recommend it if you are into her music.

I also have and recommend:

Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense (bought today with Bjork)
Dave Matthews Band, The Central Park Concert (bought today with Bjork)
Peter Gabriel, Secret World Live and Growing Up Live

Thanks,
Maziar

Originally posted by longshot
Suprised there has been only one mention of Springsteen Live in Barcelona. PQ and sound are just awesome.



Don't know WHICH Springsteen Live in Barcelona you're watching. I WISH I had one where the PQ and Sound are awesome.

However, the one I bought has piss-poor Sound and PQ. A total waste of money. Really disappointing compared to the LIVE in NYC DVD which is one of my all-time favorite concert DVD's.

The Barcelona sound is so muddled and muddy, one cannot (almost) tell a guitar from a drum. The 5.1 mix is terrible in Barcelona. The 5.1 mix on NYC is amazing, as Springsteen's guitar comes directly from the dialog channel. The sound is crisp and clean.

NYC PQ is almost HDTV like. Close-ups of Roy Brittan's piano are like you're standing right next to him. Check out the piano close-ups in Barcelona. Like I said, piss-poor.

Sony really did a terrible job on this DVD.

IMHO -
Barcelona - PQ 4, Sound 4
NYC - PQ 8-9 (first DVD seems like an 8, 2nd. DVD is a 9), Sound 10.


Just thought y'all should have a second opinion.

I agree Springsteen live in NYC has reference sound quality. Not only does the engineer have all the instruments and vocals exquisitely mixed, he also captures the positive aspects of sound in a large arena, the huge ambience you get in a place like that.

The engineer also deftly ommits the negatives of arenas: the constant echos and distortion. I would hire that soundteam to record my band any day... if i had a band :)

OK, as much as I hate to admit this...I like Britney Spears. I like looking at her, I like listening to her voice (talking or singing), I like seeing her move/dance, I just like her. She's hot.

Now that I got that out of my system, I'm wondering if anybody else (who wouldn't mind saying that they like Britney Spears) happens to have a copy of the Live From Las Vegas DVD. Can anyone comment on this one? The 5.1 ought to be pretty good. Of course, I realize that she's lip syncing for almost every single one of her songs, I'm curious if they mixed in the crowd to the 5.1 track.

I'll know soon enough when my DVD arrives (I bought it off of e-bay for $3.45). But I wanted to get someone elses opinion before it shows up. Plus, my 5.1 speaker setup won't arrive until mid to late Jan. It's already ordered, but the manufacturer takes a while to manufacture these speakers.

Thanks!

Yes, it's yummy. You don't really NEED to actually HEAR IT though :)

This is a great thread. I just read through the whole thing and ordered

Roger Waters - In Flesh
Hall and Oates Live
Sting - All this Time

from DDD. We started buying concert DVDs four years ago and just love them. Very much agree with Bruce Springsteen Live in NYC for overall quality. Also second recommendations for U2 Boston and Slaine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Diana Krall, Cure, The Who Albert Hall, Santana, Eagles, Prince Rave.

Two DVDs I would NOT recommend are:

Fleetwood Mac - The Dance; has to be the worst sounding DVD I have ever heard and Sting - A Brand New Day; very inconsistent audio. If anyone really wants these discs, I'd be happy to sell them cheap ;) :D


For sound quality Tina Turner Live in Amsterdam is quite good.

Keep those reviews coming :D

Hi Gang

I have quite a few concert DVD's. I'd like to add Oasis "Familiar to Millions' feels like your're really in the crowd, good widescreen video quality, Liam always sounds a little muffled anyway!, but good sound quality Another vote for; Roy Orbison 'Black & White Night', U2 'Rattle & Hum', ' Moody Blues at Royal Albert Hall' all superb.

Glenn

Originally posted by epiney

Two DVDs I would NOT recommend are:

Fleetwood Mac - The Dance; has to be the worst sounding DVD I have ever heard and


Wow that was the first concert DVD I bought, this was probably around 1999, and it still sounds good to this day. I do give it a little leeway because its a fairly early effort, but I really think the drums are mixed superbly on this DVD, and everything else as well.

Maybe theres a synergistic problem with how this DVD sounds on your system? where do the faults lie? I may pop it in the player and see if i can find what your talking about.

I really liked ELO's Zoom. The DTS sound is awesome. This DVD sounds like a studio recording. I highly recommend it to ELO fans.

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Wow that was the first concert DVD I bought, this was probably around 1999, and it still sounds good to this day. I do give it a little leeway because its a fairly early effort, but I really think the drums are mixed superbly on this DVD, and everything else as well.

Maybe theres a synergistic problem with how this DVD sounds on your system? where do the faults lie? I may pop it in the player and see if i can find what your talking about.

John, it's funny, that was the DVD that made me stop buying them for a while. My wife, who's a big Fleetwood Mac fan was so disappointed she wanted to "take it outside and drive the car over it".

The feedback on Amazon seems to be polar as well. Some love it, some hate the sound quality. Maybe others that have it can comment.

I think Fleetwood Mac: The Dance sounds great. Just the mastering level is quite low, but raising the volume fixes it.

Are the complaints with the stereo or surround mixes? IIRC, it's a two-sided disc with each version on its respective side. Loved the 5.1 mix.

Cheers,

Out of curiousity i popped it in just now. Its one of those early concerts that starts almost right after you put it in, no menu, very nice!

First I tried the 5.1 side. Excellent bass drum starts it off ... then the highs of the chimes, very high and clear. within 30 seconds i popped it out, satisfied that the the 5.1 side could not be the problem.

Then I tried the PCM stereo side. The sound was still "ok" ... but the lows were not as low, and the highs were not as high. It sounded very average, in fact it was indeed sub par by today's standards.

So Epiney, maybe you have a bad copy, or your listening to the wrong side? :)

"Pretenders Loose In L.A." is another good one. Has a DTS track which is very good and the video quality is very good too. 26 songs on this one!!! Some very good new ones and of course the excellent older ones. Pretender fans will be super happy with this DVD.

Never heard the Pretenders? Excellent off beat rock!

Watched on a 161" screen driven by a 9" CRT.

Deron.

I love that part of the studio version "Middle Of THe Road" where Chrissies (?) voice blends seamlessly into a stretched saxaphone note... I think its a saxaphone :)

Do they do that same trick live?


Pink Floyd does that same thing on "Final Cut" on that song "Postwar Dream", Roger's voice turns into a saxaphone note..

John,

I just put the Fleetwood Mac in for the first time in about three years. First time since I upgraded my system. It wasn't as bad as I remembered. Still not reference quality, but quite watchable. I used to have a first generation Rotel DVD player that would not pick up the center track on Prince Rave, so maybe it wasn't reading it that well.


I had given up on that disc. It may explain the reviews in Amazon. Some very poor on sound quality and some good. Go figure.

Have Pretenders as well. Nice show. Can't wait for Roger Waters to arrive.

Will probaby order James Taylor based on reviews here as well.

The Roger Waters Flesh DVD has almost no center channel, so it would sound good on your old system too, haha.

I have another recommendation I picked up yesterday,

Dave Matthews Band Central Park Concert. 16X9 anamorphic, very nice quality video (esp for video vs film material) sound was also very nice for a Dolby Digital title.

Highly recommended for fans. 2 disks, 3 hours...

ptaaty, have you read the entire thread? There have been about 6 references to the Dave Matthews concert.

yes I did. I meant add to my list.

BTW only I think 2 mentioned the Central Park concert and the overall quality of the release.

In fact....I just started a thread on it, I feel it is that good.

New No Doubt Live DVD plus 2 DVD's on the CD Boombox Single Boxed Set. Another live show originally released on VHS in 1997-98. Plus all their videos on one DVD. The other CD's are a B-Side Disk and a Best of Disk.

Speaking of nice to look at.....Gwen.

BTW New Rush Live in Rio....get it before Neil Peart dies.....looks real old.

Im pretty sure its been mentioned, but I'd like to recommend Peter Gabriels : Growing Up Live as another good concert DVD....very good PQ w/1.85 anamorphic and excellent DD/DTS sound.

Anyone can review the latest RATM DVD: Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium? Sound Quality, performance etc? I want to buy a RATM DVD, but I want to pick the best one right of the bat!

TIA!

Ciao!

Mart

EDITED 4 HOURS LATER:

Well, I just bought it.... I`ll tell you folks what I think of it later....

Originally posted by Stealthfighter
New No Doubt Live DVD plus 2 DVD's on the CD Boombox Single Boxed Set. Another live show originally released on VHS in 1997-98. Plus all their videos on one DVD. The other CD's are a B-Side Disk and a Best of Disk.

Speaking of nice to look at.....Gwen.

BTW New Rush Live in Rio....get it before Neil Peart dies.....looks real old.

Wierd my daughter said the same thing, that guy looks old. Yet to me, he looks like he benches 350 lbs before breakfast! why do you think he looks old? Because his face? Hey that just means he isnt falling for that cosmetic surgery crap.

RATM?

We are descending into acronym hell.

We are not descending WE ARE THERE!!! IMHO, FYI, take a WAG as to what the future will be like, AFAIK, we are THERE.

Prince - The Hits. While not a a concert DVD this collection of performance videos is worth mentioning. He performs most of his hits in these videos, and while most of them are probably lip synced, they are still worth watching.

The video quality is very good, although not wide screen. The Sound quality is pretty good stereo, and if you send it through a nice 5.1 sound field, they can sound very good.

Some of his lesser known hits are excellent on this compilation: "Alphabet Street", "Sign O' The Times", "Seven" are outstanding, his dancining/performance entourage really boogies. Some of them are high quality mini-movie format, but most are musical/dance performances.

Theres a great "1999" performance from his early years, and a "Controversy", his first minor hit, is pretty good as well. The chicks will like Peaches and Cream, and Diamonds and Pearls. He does wear womens stockings in a couple of the early videos, like "Dirty Mind", but aside from those I liked every video.

The tight bass lines on Sign O' The times, as well as the meaningful lyrics and excellent video production, is almost worth the cost of this older DVD

Originally posted by JohnR_IN_LA
Wierd my daughter said the same thing, that guy looks old. Yet to me, he looks like he benches 350 lbs before breakfast! why do you think he looks old? Because his face? Hey that just means he isnt falling for that cosmetic surgery crap.

I dn't know how old your daughter is, but I'm guessing that to her everyone older than Orlando Bloom looks OLD. :D The reason Neil freaks me out isn't that he looks old but he looks like Kevin Spacey. "Look out, Geddy! John Doe is right behind you!!!!"

Clapton and Friends with Sheryl Crow, etc. is very good. Great solos on Lttle Wing. I own Springsteen at Barcelona (Check out Bruce on piano on Spirits and Incident) and love it but prefer the NYC DVD for it's sound and camera work. U2 at Slane is worderful especially for the performance and the wild crowd. I am also wild about Gabriels Secret World live and the performance of In Your Eyes at the end is mesmerizing. I need to buy his latest DVD after checking out reviews here.

However, and I may be biased, if you at all like the music of U2 I would like to nominate Elevation (Boston) DVD as the greatest concert DVD yet. I defy anyone who likes their music to watch it in it's entirety on a good theater with the volume up high, and say they didn't just feel like they just attended a wonderful high energy U2 concert, and had just about the best seats in the house. It puts a huge smile on my face! I'd give it my highest recommendation.

An Evening with the Dixie Chicks has excellent PQ. My bet is that it was shot in high-def, so I don't know why they didn't release it in wide-screen.

what about The Doors - The Doors Are Open? Has anyone seen this DVD release and is it worth getting? Or rather, what is the best Doors DVD to get?

Cosmo
I think that Neil Peart looks old because of the effects of his wife and daughter dying in the same year.A tragedy that I think would age most of us prematurely.:(

Originally posted by ABCD
An Evening with the Dixie Chicks has excellent PQ. My bet is that it was shot in high-def, so I don't know why they didn't release it in wide-screen.

Excellent musically as well ...and it makes you feel you are there.

Originally filmed in 1970 for 22,000 dollars, this concert film was remastered this year, Hendrix's original engineer remastered the audio to 5.1 dolby digital ( as well as 2.0 Dolby).

The sound quality is impressive, with Hendrix's guitar really cutting through in all its glory. The percussion is done very well, in fact the crashing cymbals are almost too realistic: I'm glad I have lush speakers that mellow them just a tad :)

I wasn't impressed the video quality at first, being low-budget 70s grainy and all ... BUT... I have to hand it to the minimalist camera choices, and grew to love the editing of this film.

The DVD liner describes how it was filmed by a relative amateur director, and all the adversity they had to deal with in putting it to film: like the cameraman on the balcony (no doubt on acid!) zooming in and out to the of the music. Haha.

For such a short film (49 minutes) you see plenty long loving shots of this historical figure playing guitar and singing like a man possessed. The cameras do sloow pans of his guitar, extended shots of the Jimi playing, with a minimum of distractions. I really wish modern directors were this patient.

This style really is conducive to understanding Jimi and his music, I was able to understand Jimi's translation of almost every verse of Star Spangled Banner, without taking any acid tabs beforehand.

This film does suffer from the same problems of many early concert films: not very good quality film and lacking film footage here and there. They have to fill in areas where they have audio but not film, with scenes of the Berkley riots, etc.

But high quality audio remastering makes up for the grainy visuals, and the camera shots they do have, capture Jimi's onstage trance-like playing exquisitely.

Theres other Jimi DVDs that and longer and more comprehensive, but if you want a great sounding sampling from this legend, this is probably the one to get.

I'm a big fan of concert DVD's myself...I don't buy many movies. Here's revies of my collection:

Guns N' Roses Use Use Your Illusion Live in Tokyo 1992:
4:3, DD 2.0
This puppy just came out on DVD a while ago. Two seperate discs that run about $18 a piece...kinda expensive. Shot for Japanese TV it's thse guys in their Hayday.
Picture: 4 (Not bad for 1992)
Sound: 3.5
Performance: 4.5

Rush In Rio:
16:9 Non-Anamorphic, DD 2.0 & DD 5.1
I'm a huge Rush fan but besides the performance the quality of this DVD isn't the best. I was disappointed to see a non-anamorphic transfer. The video quality is pretty poor and the 5.1 mix has alot of reverb (but the 2.0 isn't bad).
Picture: 3.5
Sound: 4
Performance: 5 (Great as always!)

Megadeth "Rude Awakening"
4:3, DD 2.0 & DD 5.1
When I got this I didn't expect much but boy was I surprised. This an AMAZING performance from these guys with a nice 5.1 mix! Video is poor with alot of compression artifacts but the audio makes up for it!
Picture: 3
Sound: 4.5
Performance: 5

Incubus "The Morning View Sessions"
16:9 Non-Anamorphic, PCM & DD 5.1
One of the few DVD's I come back to watch all the time. They rip out a great performance in front of what looks like 100 people. Video quality is OK for a non-anamorphic concert vid but the sound quality is ultra clear and well balanced. Whoever edited this vid did a great job too...enjoyable to watch.
Picture: 3.5
Sound: 5
Performance: 5

Chevelle "Live at the Norva"
16:9 Anamorphic, PCM & DD 5.1
3 brothers in this heavy rock band on thier second CD. Pretty average all around. Video was a little better than the normal concert video but nothing to write home about compared to movies. Audio mix is OK but sometimes hollow.
Picture: 4
Sound: 3.5
Performance: 4

Coldplay "Live 2003"
16:9 Anamorphic, DD 2.0, DD 5.1, & DTS 5.1
Great performance and a dynamic DTS track on this one. The video quality is good but I've seen better. Seems like they introduced alot of grain to make it really film-like and all it does is muddy up the picture some. Compression artifacts apparent with the lighting and smoke. As far as the editing goes as others said it's pretty frantic...constant cuts from all angles. It's watchable once you realize that its no mistake & its just look they were going for.
Picture: 4
Sound: 5
Performance: 5

Rage Against the Machine "The Battle of Mexico City"
16:9 Non-Anamorphic, DD 5.1
REALLY energetic concert...the crowd was just nuts and RATM fed off of them. Video isn't too hot but its nice seeing them in 16:9 format.
Picture: 3.5
Sound: 4
Performance: 5

Rage Against the Machine "Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium"
4:3, PCM & DD 5.1
RATM's last concert...seems to have been shot roughly on purpose to get the bootleg feel. Concert has less energy than the Mexico City but is still pretty good.
Picture: 3.5
Sound: 4
Performance: 4.5

AC/DC "Stiff Upper Lip Live"
16:9 Anamorphic DD 2.0, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1
Good show with a long set. DTS track on this one will blow your socks off...flat out amazing! Picture quality is good for a concert DVD.
Picture: 4
Sound: 5.0
Performance: 4.5

Dream Theater "Live Scenes from New York"
4:3, DD 2.0
DT put on a great show for the home crowd. Video quality is good for a 4:3 but they interject these cheesy 80's video effects thru-out the show. Sound is OK but nothing to write home about.
Picture: 4
Sound: 3.5
Performance: 5

Dave Matthews Band "The Central Park Concert"
16:9 Anamorphic, PCM, DD 5.1
Wow! What else can I say! Great concert! Video is still not as good as most of the major studio releases but it's better than any of my concert DVD's. Seems like they didn't use much compression...after all its 2 hours and ?20? minutes spread out 50/50 over two discs. DD 5.1 mix is excellent...amazingly clear with almost perfect balance (needs just a little more of Dave's guitar).
Picture: 4.5
Sound: 5
Performance: 5

Don't think this was mentioned previously, I picked up Phish Live in Las Vegas. Pretty good DD 5.1, not the greatest picture, but I find it very entertaining. Guess you could call them "offbeat", not for everyody, but for me, very refreshing compared to most mainstream stuff.

I hate to say this, but why aren't there any decent Hip-Hop DVD's? I seriously need some modern dance music for my collection. You know...a little something for the kids! Something to throw a house party with to get the younger crowd dancing. I've got Jazz, Rock, House/Techno...but no Hip-Hop. I wouldn't mind some Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill, Outkast etc. Perhaps they don't feel there's a market for it?

Being an admirer of Eminem's studio work ( "Till I Collapse" is an incredible track) I picked up "Up in Smoke", a big budget concert flick which includes several huge Hip Hop stars.

Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Ice, and a few others. ... Done around 2001, so its a couple years old.

Sound quality: Sound is DD 5.1 or 2.0, its merely "ok", its actually pretty poor by todays standards, but on the other hand, its stil enjoyable.

Picture quality: Good, nothing great, but its fine, I believe its wide-screen, but I could be wrong. Good directing!

Performance quality: This is a long concert DVD with lots of performers, and obviously the performances vary. Some are good, some are bad:

Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dog are all pretty good. What I liked the most, was Eminem's choice of songs to play. This show was right after "The Marshall Mathers Album" came out , and he does "Criminal" and what I consider the epic off that album: the song titled "Marshall Mathers". That performance pretty much floors me.He does probably 3 or 4 other songs too, its a full set.

It also has a short movie worked into the concert, one scene involves hookers working, so NOT advisable for kids...

Its one of those DVDs I just forward to the performances I want to see, its a worthwhile DVD if you like the artists performing. Every major rapper on this DVD gets to do a full set, so its a good sampling..

It will not turn rockers into rap lovers though... if you dislike rap before you watch this DVD, you will probably dislike it just as much afterwards, haha

You're right John, I was aware of the Up in Smoke Disc but didn't really care for any of the acts except some of Eminem's work and Snoop. I've heard the audio wasn't all that great. But that's the only real hip hop concert DVD that I know of. That seems to be the only offering. I was hoping there was something else out there to add some variety to my collection but I haven't been able to find anything. Hell I'd be happy with basic music videos.

Has anyone seen Pink Floyd at Pompeii? I searched this thread and didn't find any references to this. I would like to buy this one but was hoping to see what you people thought of it. If you have an opinion on this DVD, please share. :)

~ Jay

Search this whole section, that DVD has its own thread. Its good, somewhat predictable after 30 years, but it has a nicely remastered soundtrack...

Thanks JohnR_IN_LA,
searching this whole section was to obvious. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by bluerider
Blue Man Group - The Complex Rock Tour Live
I've been to a BMG performance in Chicago and although this is a different show, it really captures the energy. Sounds great even though it's only DD stereo - the drums pound! PQ is not bad considering it's non-anamorhic.
Had some friends over to see this last weekend that had heard of BMG, but never been to a show - they were blown away......

I felt like the Ents in Two Towers, trying to decide if the hobbits were orcs or not, when I watched this DVD. I was trying to decide if this was indeed music.

I hated this DVD at first, I was convinced it was music for people who generally don't like music. Kind of like Frank Sinatra, you know? There is always that old guy in the Cadillac who owns one CD. Its always Frank Sinatra.

Anyways, back to the BMG. They eventually loosened up, and I guess I enjoyed the show. This is mostly performance, rather than music, but .. I guess ... it is music. Its certainly enjoyable, lots of percussion, even some nice guitars... and some singing.

THe sound and video quality IS very good, it took my Ents about 2/3 of the concert to decide it was indeed, music.

Originally posted by bluerider
Blue Man Group - The Complex Rock Tour Live
I've been to a BMG performance in Chicago and although this is a different show, it really captures the energy. Sounds great even though it's only DD stereo - the drums pound! PQ is not bad considering it's non-anamorhic.
Had some friends over to see this last weekend that had heard of BMG, but never been to a show - they were blown away......

I felt like the Ents in Two Towers, trying to decide if the hobbits were orcs or not, when I watched my new BMG DVD. I was trying to decide if this was indeed music.

I hated the BMG at first, I was convinced it was music for people who generally don't like music. Kind of like Frank Sinatra, you know? There is always that old guy in the Cadillac who owns one CD. Its always Frank Sinatra.

Anyways, back to the BMG. They eventually loosened up, and I guess I enjoyed the show. This is mostly performance, rather than music, but .. I guess ... it is music. Its certainly enjoyable, lots of percussion, even some nice guitars... and LOTS of style. In fact, its 90% style, and 10% substance.
But the style is quality. The theatrics are amusing as well.

I just think the crowd there, probably didnt have a strong desire to see any other band, so they went to see, the BMG! The audience more or less sucked, I think they wandered over from the Walmart next door.

THe sound and video quality IS very good, it took my Ents about 2/3 of the concert to decide it was indeed, music.

hate to say this, but why aren't there any decent Hip-Hop DVD's?

Public Enemy, Live from the House of Blues is supposed to be excellent. I have not heard it yet.

Watched Peter Gabriel Growing Up Live last night. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will buy it ASAP.

Audio (I listened in DTS) is great. Video is great.
The editing is restrained, thank heavens. When appropriate they actually hold on shots for a while. When more energetic editing is appropriate, they do it in a creative way.

As for the show - it's in the round. They use many high-tech theatrical elements, very original.
Unless you're a big PG fan, you may not be familiar with most of the songs. But that didn't bother me. I liked some of the songs so much, I replayed them.

Enjoy,
Jim

I also watched a good portion of Paul McCartney Back in the USA last night. I was disappointed, but I may still buy it.

First off, I'm a fan of Sir Paul and the Beatles. I've seen him in concert. He puts on a fantastic show. And his performance is great on this DVD.

BUT, after every other song they go to some tour footage. WTF. I don't need to see the freakin' fire marshall get a pyro demonstration before the show. Why not put this stuff in a mini-documentary? If you hit the skip button you can jump over this stuff, but you'll also jump over some songs.

And here's some irony: on the back of the box there's a "review snipit" from a famous music magazine that says, "All killer, no filler." NO FILLER?! Huh?

Anyhow, don't they know people watch concert DVDs over and over? We don't want to sit through that extra stuff every time. I mean, come on, who produced this thing, George Lucas?

If anybody knows of a way to play just the concert, let me know.

Regards,
Jim

Jim, I also was disappointed by the Paul McCartney disc & don't think you can play just the concert. I saw him twice on that tour and was really looking forward to the dvd. On the other hand, since you are a fan of the Beatles you may want to check out Concert for George if you haven't already. This one is really done well, one of my favorites actually.

Buzz

It was mentioned right back near the start of this thread, but Scorpions - Acoustica is the only one of my concert dvd's I've watched more than twice.
It just blows the others away.
Although I have just ordered Roger Waters - In The Flesh and will be interested to see how that stacks up.

Pete