Live - Live At The Paradiso Amsterdam
Performance
Production
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Live - Live At The Paradiso Amsterdam
Performance
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Although I have never been the biggest fan of the whole alternative/modern-rock genre, I have always enjoyed the music of Live. That genre should also be loosely applied to these guys, as I would consider them more in line with plain old melodic pop-rock, especially their later stuff. But who cares about genres. I was an instant fan of Live the first time I heard the hit singles, "Operation Spirit" and "Pain Lies On The Riverside", from their 1991 debut album, Mental Jewelry, as they were plastered all over the radio and MTV at the time. The band really hit pay dirt three years later though with the release of their sophomore album, Throwing Copper. The album climbed to #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned five hit singles that eventually made Live a household name. Throwing Copper has since sold over 8 million copies in the U.S. alone. Fifteen years and five studio albums later, Live are probably not on every teenager's iPod, like Throwing Copper would have been, but they are still quite popular throughout much of the world. Hell, they even performed on the Ellen Degeneres Show last month. Live finally released their first concert DVD last November and it is a good one. Live At The Paradiso Amsterdam was recorded over two nights, June 30th and July 1st, 2008, at the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as the title would suggest. The Paradiso is an old church that was converted into a music venue in 1968, and it offers an incredibly unique atmosphere for a live concert. Along with the cavernous church ceiling, there is a large balcony that nearly surrounds the stage, as well three giant illuminated stained-glass windows that provide an amazing backdrop to the stage. The band's last studio album was 2006's Songs from Black Mountain and two of its best songs, "The River" and "Wings", are featured here. Every one of their seven studio albums has at least one song represented, while Throwing Copper gets the most with four. They also trot our their excellent remake of the Johnny Cash classic, "I Walk The Line", which they contributed to the star-studded 2001 tribute album, Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records. The beginning of the concert is an adrenaline-fueled rush as the darkened stage erupts with a fury of lights and massive opening power chords of "Simple Creed", which launches the entire crowd into a hysterical frenzy. Live may not be the most popular band in the U.S. anymore, but they sure as hell seem to be over in Amsterdam. When the crowd wasn't singing along to every single lyric to every single song, they were all bouncing up and down blissfully with hands raised in the air. Hell, these Dutch fans were even coordinated enough to do both tasks at the same time. To say they were all "into" this show would be a ridiculous understatement. The show alternates effectively between heavy duty riff rockers like "I Alone" and "Lakini's Juice", and gorgeous ballads like "Mirror Song", and "Overcome". Singer Ed Kowalczyk is one of the most charismatic frontmen in the business, and his affection for the fans seems as genuine as theirs is for him. His performance was quite moving at times. The DVD comes with two play options, "play concert with b-roll", or simply "play concert" - finally a producer who gets it. The b-roll contains about 13 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage that precedes the show. Three audio options are included, DTS, Dolby 5.1 Surround, and Dolby 2.0 Stereo. The DTS track has the slight advantage over the Dolby surround track and that is what I stuck with throughout most of the show. The surround mix had me a little bit worried at first, as it sounded like one big wall of sound coming at you, but things evened out nicely by the second song, and the instrument separation was much more pronounced. The mix certainly has a very live feel to it which places you right down in the front row of the show. The widescreen picture looked superb, but the camera angle changes came at a nauseating pace, and way too many audience shots dominated the proceedings. Aside from the behind-the-scenes footage, there were no other special features included. Live fans should be thrilled by this excellent debut concert DVD from the band. Although I am only a casual fan of the band, I found myself watching Live At The Paradiso Amsterdam several times during the first few weeks I had it. It is that good. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - February 2009 |
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Set List |
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Running Time: 80 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - November 2008 |