DVD music concerts
If you like the Blues...."Lightning in a Bottle" This one-night, one-time-only concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York sees some of the greatest musicians in the history of blues music gather onstage. Performers include B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Steven Tyler, Aaron Neville and Macy Gray. Captured on film (by director Antoine Fuqua) are interviews with Buddy Guy, Chris Thomas King, Dr. John, Jimmie Vaughn, Honeyboy Edwards, Ruth Brown, Shemekia Copeland and Vernon Reid. Widescreen...top quality 5.1 sound (crank this baby!) Dave |
Some "crank this baby" suggestions Some more with excellent sound Black Eyed Peas - Live from Vegas to Sydney (Sydney has amazingly good sound for a concert, Vegas sucks!) Robbie Williams - Live At the Albert Hall (Swing music) Eagles Hell Freezes Over (amazing sound - aging band) Other great concerts but not such great sound ACDC Live at Donington (original crew but poor sound) ACDC Stiff upper lip live (better sound but Brian Johnson and aging crew) Queen Live at Wembly (Queen at their peak) |
Wow six recommendations for Gilmour/Waters/Pink Floyd DVD's...all done by James Guthrie. Either this is age related (Floyd peak period fan effect) or James Guthrie has indeed become a great surround mix/mastering engineer, as indicated by the audiogon votes so far... ...it is worth paying attention to who does the console work when it comes to DVD audio quality! |
Just bought "Last Traffic Jam" Traffic (steve winwood,jim capaldi and session musicians)recorded live on a re-union tour of sorts 1994. Sound quality is very good and excellent performances, one of the best versions of "Low Spark" I've ever heard. Video editing and "concepts" leave a bit to be desired. I'd recommend it on the music and the sound. |
as already mentioned, there are multiple threads on this topic, but I'm going to list mine here also since there are some new ones since I last posted. It's obviously subject to music taste - but there may be something for everybody. Some of these are nostalgic for me. For reference - here's a few of the existing threads: What concert or music DVD's are worth having? Pink Floyd's Pulse DVD finally Best Concert Film Some from my current line up: Best: Concert for George (this is an unbelievable concert) Pink Floyd - Pulse " " Allison Krauss & Union Station Live Peter Gabriel - Growing Up Live Neil Young - Heart of Gold Crossroads Guitar Festival Simon and Garfunkel - Old Friends Diana Krall - Live in Paris Excellent: Cream - Royal Albert Hall Steve Hackett - Somewhere in South America; and Once Above a Time Camel - Coming of Age Very Good: Mark Knopfler - A Night in London Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere Cowboy Junkies - Open Road (this is only Stereo/Pro-logic) Neil Young at Red Rocks Metallica S&M Mike Oldfield - The Art in Heaven Concert Julia Fordham - That's Live America - Live at the Sydney Opera House Guess Who - Running back thru Canada King Crimson - Eyes Wide Open Procol Harem Live Nektar - Pure - Live in Germany 2005 Nanci Griffith - Winter Marquee |
I played last night again; BEP Black Eyed Peas - Live from Sydney to Vegas (Sydney has amazingly good sound for a concert, Vegas sucks!). I compared it to Pulse ( a highly rated DVD in these and many threads ). While I prefer the music of Pink Floyd, there is absolutely no comparison to modern 5.1 recording techniques from this Floyd 1994 concert re-mix to last years BEP concert tour (with multiple Grammy award winning engineering behind it). I also got my sound meter out to figure out what was going on. It was such a startling difference and I am not one easily given to hyperbole! While you may not like Pop-rap you owe it to yourself and to test your sound system with what engineer Tal Herberg has achieved on this BEP DVD; a new gold standard in concert recording...absolutely astonishing dynamics and clarity! The sound SPL meter was all over the place (I could not find a comfortable position for the ratshack meter, as it was consistently indicating either too Low or too High!) This is one of very few recordings WITHOUT compression. Microphones sound just like live microphones do at a real concert (no doctoring). Normally compression is always used in Rock/Pop to even out the dynamics of drums versus guitars, so music never sounds anything like it does at a real live event. Not so in this case! You are there. If you go for it and crank it just be careful....this BEP DVD has the type of dynamics that can easily BLOW speaker drivers if you are not very careful. Unlike the usual compressed stuff, it will not sound loud or harsh even at high volume levels (I found that an average of 95 db SPL at the listening position was best for this concert with peaks about 20 db above this). I have over 50% of the DVD's already mentioned in these threads. I also prefer Classical, Rock, Jazz, Blues, country, you name it to pop-rap....but a great live recording is a great recording so I feel I must spread the word about the BEP's...especially given how BAD normal pop recordings are these days. Is there a glimmer of hope that sound engineers and artists might once again begin to give us decent uncompressed music? I am pretty doubtful when it comes to CD's ...but DVD's, well perhaps, finally, after years of frustratingly bad DVD's, there are some signs of hope... |
Dave, Thanks. I saw your post and I decided I must have "Lightning in a Bottle" - you convinced me. It is one of the 50% on this thread so far that I don't have, and it really caught my interest. I also have Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Down & Dirty arriving shortly. I have been impressed by the natural uncompressed sound of Dirty Dozen's CD recordings (although this indicates nothing, as BEP's last CD is quite compressed and yet their DVD came out so good... I'll report back if Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Down & Dirty DVD is any good...but thanks again for the lightning recommendation! |
Bdgregory: I'd like to applaud your listing existing posts on this subject. This is SO much better than merely whining about what is already there (as if we have time to wallow in the AGon matrix of posts to find them). For me, I really like Fleetwood Mac's "The Dance" DVD (still trying to decide if the music was actually made during the show or if some "Milly Vanilly" monkey business going on). Also really like the Zep' double set. Still waiting for an extended Humble Pie performance. |
I saw a segment on A&E's "Breakfast with the Arts" on Genesis that included old footage with Peter Gabriel. They had several cuts during his "costume" days but I don't think there were any complete concerts. Even if there were it looked like the production values would be pretty bad. Sure would be nice to see them all together again. |
Sure would be nice to see them all together again.hmmm, I saw a news item last week that Genesis is getting back together. Sadly, I believe it's the version sans Gabriel and Hackett. Wouldn't it be nice to see the Original Genesis (actually the mark II unit with Hackett) do a reunion show? Since there's been interest in Prog bands - I'll mention a DVD I picked up at the Tower records closing: Nektar "Pure" (Live in Germany 2005). Worth getting if you're a Nektar fan. |
Motorhead: "25 & Alive: Boneshaker" Dolby Digital Manowar: "Fire and Blood" especially "Blood in Brazil" disc, Dolby Digital Celtic Woman: their first DVD, this one has some incredible bass, great for sub demo, Dolby Digital Celtic Woman: "A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle, Ireland" this one is in both Dolby Digital and DTS |
Has anyone mentioned Pink Floyd "Pulse", live from Earl's Court in London 1994? I just viewed it. All I can say is......WOW !! Disc 2, Dark Side of the Moon, is sensational. This disc set offers two 5.1 SS audio streams: the default 448kbps and an upgraded 640kbps. If your player is compatible, select the 640kbps. Whoa !! |
Brian Wilson's "Smile" is really good. It has an available 5.1 DTS surround soundtrack, and the video itself is also great. The sound quality beats the hell out of the CD (which is actually very good for a CD). I have a live concert of Alison Kraus and Union Station. Also has a 5.1 surround DTS available, which sounds great, as are the performances. I think the video quality leaves something to be desired. Pat Metheny's "The Way Up" is available in HD DVD, so its video quality is top notch and the sonics are excellent as well. |
