Music Dvd Review. What Kung Foo Dat?
Publisher: BMG
Thu, 1 January 1970
by: Fazz
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“All my Life I’ve been Searching for Something…” The opening line of the opening track of Dave Grohl and Gang’s latest offering. I was lucky enough to see the Foo Fighters live as part of their “One by One” tour, and all those wonderful memories came flooding back when I popped this DVD into the player.
This disk features a complete live concert, excerpts from another two live shows, a wonderful “Audio-Only” recording of the band’s first Iceland show, accompanied by still pictures from the tour and studio and a whole host of other features.
Opening the main feature show, the band launch into “All My Life”, the opening track from their latest full-length album, “One by One”. The stage is set, the riff breaks, the curtain drops (think of the video clip to this song and you’re on the right track) and the crowd goes wild. The momentum increases until the band launches into “Aurora”, a more laidback track, and one of my personal favorites from their totally excellent 3rd album, “There is Nothing Left to Lose”. Don’t let this fool you, the Fighters’ keep the pace up then tear into more awesome tracks from “There is Nothing Left to Lose”, including the feature track from the hit film “Me, Myself & Irene”, “Breakout” another personal favorite of mine and, not-so-oddly enough, a favorite of the crowds too.
Just when you thought you’d seen it all, more classic songs are brought out from all four albums, including “Generator”, “Learn to Fly” and “Monkey Wrench”. The hits just keep on coming, much to the delight of both me and The Audience at the gig. Just when I thought they weren’t going to play it, Dave and the fellow Foos tear into my personal all-time favorite Foo Fighters song “My Hero”, and what a thoroughly brilliant rendition it is. Then, when all is said and done, they close the show with a spellbinding version of the radio-classic “Everlong”.
Have you had enough yet? No? I didn’t think so. Next up we have a brilliant short acoustic set of some favorites including “Doll”, “Everlong”, ”For All the Cows”, “My Hero” and “See You”. This gig explores a different performance of the classic songs, still lacking in none of the Fighters’ raw energy and power.
… And Yes! There’s more! Another section of a live show follows up the last two, again opening with “All My Life” and ripping through most of the classic favorites and finally leaving you gasping for breath.
As for more extras, this disk boasts some nice ones, although I believe some more thought could have been put into its arrangement and content. The main bonus feature is the full live set of their first show in Iceland. Unfortunately this is “Audio-Only” and is accompanied by various sets of still pictures from the studio sessions of their last record and the subsequent world tour. I must admit, it’s a novel idea, but it does get quite boring watching a sequence of stills on the TV screen. This feature would do best as music at a party or the like, because the recording, mix and mastering are nothing less than brilliant. Would we expect any less from the Foo Fighters? No.
Video:
The overall video quality of this DVD is quite good for a live rock feature. The Main Feature is shot from multiple angles bringing you right into the action. For the most part it appears to have been shot on Digital and Beta cam, but some of the less important shots look to have come straight from a video master, bringing back memories of Mudvayne’s “Live Dosage” DVD release a couple of years back. The acoustic segment looks to have been taken from some kind of TV special, and therefore has all the qualities you’d expect from a lower budget shoot. The final concert segment is similar to the main feature in the fact that is was shot and edited on quality media, and has some nice little crowd sequences outside the venue at the start, similar to the Muse release, “Hullabaloo”. Overall the quality is good and at times, a little rough, like the Foo Fighters themselves.
Audio:
This disk features many audio streams depending on what sequence you’re watching. The Main Feature has the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 AC3 Surround and 2.0 AC3 Stereo soundtracks we’ve come to expect on most commercial releases. It also features, for all of you out there with a digital amp, a DTS 5.1 Surround soundtrack for the ultimate in surround sound concert experience. Put it on and crank it up and you’ll feel like you’re really there.
The other gigs on the disk feature the standard 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo mixes, usually more than enough to get the place moving.
The Iceland “Audio-Only” extra show is presented in 2.0 AC3 Stereo only, and just compounds my above statement that it would be good for listening to at say a party or other social gathering, but otherwise rather pointless.
Overall:
As far as Live Rock Music DVDs go, this one is a standup release. At times it’s a little gritty, a little dirty, just like Rock Music it’s self is supposed to be presented. And who better to present it than one of today’s greatest rock acts, the Foo Fighters. It doesn’t have the interactive presence of KoRn’s “Deuce”, or the over-polished audio/visual feel of Coldplay’s “Live 2003”… but it does rock… HARD. I highly recommend it to any fan of the Foo Fighters, and it would make a worthy addition to any Rock Music lovers DVD Arsenal.
by: Fazz
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