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Blondie: Live
R0 - Australia - Rajon Vision Review written by and copyright: James Goldsmith & Noor Razzak (30th October 2006). |
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The Film
 There is something strange about watching these reunion concerts. I have seen a number of them live, and seen several other filmed performances of classic bands reunited. One thought always strikes me, It's kind of like watching your parents trying to rock out. Funny and kind of embarrassing. Now don't get me wrong, the musicianship is usually incredible, and the songs flawless, but something is missing from the performers. A certain zest in the musicians stage presence perhaps. This concert is no different, apart from Clem Burke (Drummer) who seems as if he is loving every second of every song, putting in one hundred and ten percent one hundred percent of the time. Debbie Harry though is another story. At the start of the concert she enters stage looking tired, shrouded in a black leather jacket and black sun glasses she opens the concert with a slightly restrained performance. It takes her two songs to take off the jacket as she relaxes and another three songs to remove her glasses, only then does she start to let loose. Once Debbie has started to enjoy herself the shift I felt myself start to enjoy the concert more, and it seems like the audience begins to get more and more excited. With dancers appearing in the isles to be shifted back to their seats by security and people standing in the seats shaking it like it is the nineteen eighties all over again. This concert includes performances of the following songs: - "Dreaming" - "Hanging on the Telephone" - "Screaming Skin" - "Forgive and Forget" - "Shayla/Union City Blue" - "Sunday Girl" - "Maria" - "Call Me" - "Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room" - "In The Flesh" - "Rapture" - "Rip Her to Shreds" - "X Offender" - "Atomic" - "One Way or Another" - "Heart of Glass" Although this DVD is released in Australia and New Zealand, this disc is actually NTSC format and not PAL.
Video
Presented in 1.33:1 full screen this transfer is going to turn heads, the image quality fluctuates from sharp and detailed to soft and murky. The colors are vivid and lush but is let down with murky blacks and a helping dose of compression artefacts that create visual noise in those blacks. I also noticed mild pixelation across a few hard edges.
Audio
This concert DVD includes two audio tracks, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track as well as an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo mix. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the concert with its 5.1 mix. And on the plus side the sound mix is fantastic, capturing the live sound of the band and the feel of excitement in the room perfectly. The acoustics are well balanced and immerse the viewer right into the concert, which is always a good thing. This disc does not feature and subtitles.
Extras
Rajon have included only a brief collection of extras that include a music video, a series of song lyrics plus a photo gallery. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is a music video for the song "Nothing Is Real But The Girl" which runs for 3 minutes 17 seconds, nothing special here unless you really want to watch this over and over. 4 song lyrics are also included for: - "Maria" - "Forgive and Forget" - "Screaming Skin" - "Boom Boom In The Zoom Zoom Room" A photo gallery of just 4 promotional images round out these extras and leaves a lot to be desired. I felt a little disappointed by the lack of decent extras as compared to other live concert DVDs which pack the disc with a number of music videos, interviews, commentary and perhaps even behind the scenes footage, this is a little light.
Overall
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