What Music DVDs Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Korn - The Encounter

Full length Korn gig (with no audience) shot in the middle of crop circles in Bakersfield, California. It could have been simply a novelty but i loved the atmosphere as the band played to a backdrop of a sunny day before the sun set and night was upon us and found it really nicely filmed with great use of aerial photography.

Some classic Korn tracks were aired such as Here to Stay, Freak on a Leash and a truly excellent Got the Life as well as many from recent (then) release Korn III: Remember Who You Are, with opener Oildale a personal highlight.

Although the setting isn't as impressive as the concert by Incubus at Red Rocks, i certainly recommend this if you like Korn and also if you enjoy performances away from the usual stage setting.

This can be bought individually or can also be found on the special edition of album The Path of Totality, which is how i saw it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Black Crowes: Freak 'n' Roll... Into the Fog (2006)

Recorded live at San Francisco's Fillmore theater this is a fine example of a Crowes gig.

The first time i saw them live was at Blackburn King George's Hall in 1991. More of a curiosity at the time as American bands never played Blackburn, Lancashire.

Just like this dvd, Chris Robinson wore no footwear and the stage was fully carpeted which to someone more used to seeing the likes of Iron Maiden, Skid Row and co was quite a surprise. What was even more of a surprise (which doesn't happen during this Fillmore show) was the jam session as the whole band chilled out on said carpet for what must have been a good forty minutes basically doing whatever the **** they liked.

The problem i have with the Crowes is they don't always play the obvious songs live, or perhaps should i say they don't play what i class as my favourite songs live. So whilst we get classics like Sting Me, Jealous Again and Remedy, the band miss out Twice as Hard among others as well as my personal favourite song Sister Luck. However, joy of joys, we are treated to Rich Robinson and Marc Ford playing a five minute version of Amorica bonus track Sunday Night Buttermilk Waltz accompanied by a few inserts of the band relaxing on their tour bus. I love this fairly obscure instrumental and to see it performed live in a longer version was amazing.

The Black Crowes always were a band who did their own thing and didn't really play by the rules (Not in a badass rock n' roll way but in the way they appeared to stumble into the 90's from decades earlier) and this dvd with it's creativity in the musical department extending 19 songs into a two and a half hour show is a good example of a great rock n' roll band doing exactly what the hell they wanted

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

i've rewatched the Nightwish Decades: Live in Buenos Aires Blu-ray and a new to me dvd of AC'DC Stiff Upper Lip live.

Both excellent shows and channeling each of the 5:1 surround mixes through a seven channel decode via the amplifier made both powerful enough to shatter ear drums.

The neighbours, being away, have no idea what they missed.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Iron Maiden - Maiden England 88.

Filmed at Birmingham NEC in November 1988 on the Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour and a concert i was actually at.

This is / was Maiden at their commercial peak with hit singles galore and a superb icebound stage set. Fantastic to watch them perform classics which have long been dropped from the set list in a blistering Infinite Dreams, The Clairvoyant and Still Life.

Watching the full show again last night on dvd brought the memories back. Superb stuff.

.................................

It also made me think that we need Maiden to headline the Saturday of Glastonbury. They've certainly got the songs as long as they played a greatest hits set and not six or seven ten minute epics from recent albums.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I watched three concerts on dvd over the weekend.

Friday night was the pummeling War at the Warfield from Slayer. A fairly basic stripped down show from 2001. It doesn't even feature the inverted crosses hanging from the ceiling i've seen at every Slayer gig i've been to.

It's a great set list which features a final seven song barrage of Dead Skin Mask, Seasons in the Abyss, Captor of Sin, Mandatory Suicide, Chemical Warfare, South of Heaven and Angel of Death.

Saturday might belonged to Alice Cooper with his brilliantly fun Theatre of Death: Live at Hammersmith 2009

For sheer fun this is hard to beat with cracking songs and something happening on stage during every track. Alice was killed four times in all but still kept coming back. Thankfully no covers or need to ruin School's Out by shoving Another Brick in the Wall into the middle of it.

Alice (Like Maiden above) really needs a Glastonbury headline slot. He's certainly got the crowd pleasing songs and a show like this would give the audience, both young and old, a great time.

Finally Sunday night was Perfect Square. A fantastic performance by R.E.M. at the Bowling Green in Wiesbaden, Germany set against the backdrop of a stunning 18th century casino which looks more like a palace.

Highlights included Permanent Vacation an unrecorded song from 1980 and blistering run throughs of It's The End of the World as We Know It, Walk Unafraid and Orange Crush powered along by new member Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin.

A show which brought out every emotion in me. Superb stuff.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It And I Feel Fine



Perfect Square (2004)

There's also a documentary on the disc about a gig they performed at Stirling Castle. Going to watch that later this week.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

There's also a 40 min documentary on the disc about a gig they performed at Stirling Castle. Going to watch that later this week.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Friday night was the pummeling War at the Warfield from Slayer. A fairly basic stripped down show from 2001. It doesn't even feature the inverted crosses hanging from the ceiling i've seen at every Slayer gig i've been to.

It's a great set list which features a final seven song barrage of Dead Skin Mask, Seasons in the Abyss, Captor of Sin, Mandatory Suicide, Chemical Warfare, South of Heaven and Angel of Death

Have you found the Easter Egg?

From my notes: Highlight 'Fans Rule' – Press 'Down' For Alternate Concert Footage – 0.56

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Dio - Evil or Divine – Live in New York City

Concert from 2005 which is poorly rendered for dvd using different film stocks and going from colour to black and white. It looks shit most of the time, however you can't fault the music and Ronnie Dio is in fine voice and Doug Aldrich is a fine foil on guitar. Jimmy Bain and Simon Wright were both still in the band at that time too.

The video for the single Push is also on the dvd featuring Tenacious D. The best thing on the disc as it's a very clever promo short.

Deicide - When London Burns

Filmed at The Mean Fiddler in London in 2004 this is a an intense club gig. The only issue i have with it is Glen Benton's between song introductions. They are just juvenile insulting crap. Despite this When London Burns is a face ripping experience with the likes of Scars of the Crucifix, Dead By Dawn and Sacrificial Suicide particular favourites.

It looks way better than the Dio dvd.

I also watched Korn - The Encounter for the third time. I love this concert mainly due to the outdoor setting as daylight turns to darkness in the corn field. i've reviewed this before. See the top post on this very page.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

R.E.M. Live

Shot at the Point, Dublin in 2005 this is another cracking document of R.E.M. performing on stage. From the beautiful Everybody Hurts to the raging I'm gonna DJ with a rare outing for I Took Your Name from the Monster album.

Filming wise this uses a multitude of cameras and film stock and to me isn't as good as the Perfect Square dvd but still essential if you like R.E.M.