AC/DC - Live At Donington
Performance
Production
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AC/DC - Live At Donington
Performance
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Live At Donington differs from the previous two AC/DC concert videos No Bull, and Stiff Upper Lip, in that this recording goes all the way back to their headlining gig at the annual Castle Donington Festival of 1991. Going back more than 13 years, this concert shows the band in peak form, jackhammerin' the skulls of over 200,000 rabid Brits with their power-chord drenched, heavy metal spectacle. AC/DC are one of the few rock bands left that are not the least bit ashamed to get downright "Spinal Tap" on your ass with each and every tour. I mean this in a good way, as I will always have a place in my heart, even at my ripe age, for a good-old-fashioned pyrotechnic besieged, laser shrouded, 120 decibel rock and roll extravaganza of old. Hell, I even went to the Kiss reunion tour. Makeup-Kiss rules! AC/DC, thankfully, are much more that just the smoke and mirrors of an overblown stage show. They also have 30 years worth (can you believe it?) of blues-tinged, rock and roll masterpieces to fuel each and every show. Brian Johnson took over the lead singer slot in 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, and AD/DC went on to release the greatest hard rock album of all time, Back In Black, soon thereafter. Since then, they have continued to churn out new albums at an admirable pace, and are somehow still motivated to tour the world nearly every year giving their fans what they want to see. I think this alone has made them worthy of the their recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. As every rational fan knows, all AC/DC tours and concerts are basically the same - with maybe a few new songs, and some new, gigantic stage prop thrown in for good measure. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because they definitely give you your money's worth at every show. I'll never get tired of that Macy's Day Parade-looking, balloon-sized, blow-up doll they break out during every performance of "Whole Lotta Rosie". It just wouldn't be the same without that big frigging whore! The problem they now have (shouldn't every band have this problem) is that they just have too many essential songs ("Back In Black", "Highway To Hell", "The Jack", "Whole Lotta Rosie", "Hells Bells", etc.) that they could never leave off of the set list, without fear of setting off an audience riot. This makes each show essentially the same, give or take a few new songs from whatever album they are currently touring after. Compare the set lists for No Bull, Stiff Upper Lip, and this concert and you will see what I mean. One thing you will never see from AC/DC, however, is your standard, 90-minute, one song encore, thank you and good night, performance. What you do still get is over two hours of sweat-soaked, ball-breaking rock concert - done right! The stage show for this tour was massive, to say the least. It was not "done dirt cheap", that's for sure. They must need a crew the size of the Australian army to put on a production like that. My God man! How the hell can tiny little Angus stand in front of that wailing wall of Marshall amps without literally getting blown right off of the damn stage? If there is ever a place to apply the over-used cliché "well oiled machine" this is it. These guys just keep chugging along like a freight train. Malcom Young, as always, stands in his favorite spot on stage and hammers away at those three power chords with the precision of a robot. Angus Young, the anti-Malcom, barely stops to take a breath. He is the consummate rock guitar showman, covering every inch of the stage, soloing from every platform, and drawing the crowd in with his every guitar-god move. Damn, he looks like he loves his job - and what a job it is! Brian Johnson, like Angus, looks like there is no place he would rather be than on that stage. That makes it fun to watch. He consistently gives it his all in every performance I have seen. His voice sounds a little stronger here than on the more recent concerts, since it has 13 less years of wear and tear. He does adequate justice to the Bon Scott songs, but they have a little less of the blues swagger than when Bon sang them. This tour featured Chris Slade on the drums, replacing Phil Rudd. Chris is a much better drummer than Phil in both technique and style. He was having the time of his life up there, and it was exciting to watch him play. This concert was originally shot with 35mm Panavison film using 26 different cameras, including one mounted on a helicopter. The "helo-cam" shots were extraordinary in the way they presented the mammoth scale of this show. It was used sparingly enough so as not to detract from the band's performance. Since this was originally shot on film, in 1991, the picture was considerably grainy, and not nearly as sharp as a new digital video recording. See the Stiff Upper Lip DVD for some nearly perfect video quality. The camera work was good, overall, but the director got a little bit carried away trying to incorporate all 26 camera angles. There were just a few too many quick camera changes for my taste, but most of the shots were excellent and really drew you into the show. The 5.1 surround mix was different than anything I have ever heard. The guitars were mixed equally loud in the rear speakers as they were in the front speakers, with Malcom on the left, and Angus on the right. This created a nice separation between the instruments in the mix. I thought this sounded great, since I typically focus most on the guitar playing when I watch a rock concert. The bass guitar was mixed a little low, but this is kind of typical for AC/DC, as the guitars usually stand out more, as they rightly should. As I mentioned before, the drumming sounded great, and was mixed perfectly. There has reportedly been significant audio overdubbing added to the DVD transfer. If this is true, it is hardly noticeable, unless you are specifically looking for it. These reports appear to come from those freaks that have listened to the VHS version everyday since 1991, thus having it completely memorized, and then when they first listen to the DVD version, every slight difference jumps right out at them. I'm no fan of using overdubs to "pretty up" live performances, but in this case I can forgive it. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - June 2004 |
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| Running Time: 120 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - November 2003 |