Nickelback -- 'Live at Sturgis' [DVD review]

Nickelback - Live at Sturgis [DVD]
Roadrunner Records (11/28/08)
Unrated
90 minutes

Love the band or hate it, Nickelback has become one of the biggest rock acts of the new millennium, and the group’s new DVD effort, Live at Sturgis, aims to show audiences, fans and non-fans alike, exactly why that is.

Recorded live at the Sturgis bike rally in 2006, Nickelback’s performance is part of the Rockin’ the Rally show. The set was recorded with a plethora of high-definition cameras and offers up a fair chunk of hits, but there are a few issues preventing this from being a perfect release.

The show

Arguably all of the band’s biggest hits are on here, but they stick to three of their five (at the time) albums: Silver Side Up, The Long Road and All the Right Reasons. From the ballads (“Far Away” and “Someday”) to the power-rockers (“Side of a Bullet” and “Animals”) to the biggest hits (“Photograph”, “Too Bad” and “How You Remind Me”), it’s all on here. Longtime fans will miss some of the better, more obscure content off those albums, or even something like “Leader of Men” (off The State). This becomes a more glaring issue when the concert really clocks in at slightly over an hour, and the band only does a single-song encore.

Presentation

The concert footage looks fantastic, presented in high-definition with amazing direction. This is probably one of the best-taped shows, in terms of visuals, that I’ve ever seen. The sound defaults to a 2-channel surround (?!) but is also offered in various 5.1 mixes (CircleSurround, multichannel and DTS). I watched the show in DTS and it sounded pretty solid—the band is spread across the speakers with the crowd noise pushed low in the overall mix. The only complaint, and it’s a small one, is that there are a couple of occasions where the distorted mic for the backing vocals kicks way too high into the mix, actually overpowering Chad Kroeger.

Bonus material

In addition to the concert, there’s a short behind-the-scenes documentary on the band featuring a lot of footage from another concert from the tour; there’s a “photo gallery” that looks more like screen caps from the main show; there’s a short infomercial on Sturgis and Nickelback; and there’s a video for “Rockstar” (how was this song not on the main set list?).

Censorship

This is a rock show at a biker rally. No one should be surprised that, between songs, a couple of choice words are thrown out there. For some reason these words are either dropped off the mix or overtly bleeped out. It’s especially disappointing when it’s done during “Woke Up This Morning”.

The decision was also made to digitally cloth topless women in the crowd during the many audience pans (there are more than a few moments when the cameraman zooms in and focuses particularly on females). I’m not saying topless women would make or break the show, but given the number of cameras filming the proceedings, it’s pretty certain a version of this show, sans nudity, could have easily been stitched together.

It’s especially troublesome when the band takes a brief break and Kroeger compliments the females in the crowd, with the accompanying camera pans, and the women and language needs to be censored. Why even include the exchange at that point? It was a moment that could have been easily cut.

It’s a rock show at a biker rally... what did you expect?

In closing

This is one hell of a show and, albeit a little too short, is both visually and sonically impressive. The bonus features don’t really add too much to this collection, but fans of the band will absolutely love this. All of the radio hits are on here, so even partial fans will have a good time. And parents can feel safe their kids' minds won’t be warped by nudity or bad language, though the censorship might tick off a good chunk of diehard fans.

AC/DC -- 'Plug Me In' [DVD review]

AC/DC - Plug Me In [2-DVD set; also available in 3-disc special ed.]
Columbia Records (10/16/07)
Unrated
300 minutes



Plug Me In isn't a documentary or biography, but it does offer a glimpse into the history of one of the world's most notorious heavy metal bands. The DVD set is an anthology of live performances, organized chronologically and separated by AC/DC's two most notable eras: the Bon Scott years, and the band's current and longest line-up with Brian Johnson on vocals. And spanning almost 30 years of the band's touring, there's more than enough footage to keep fans entertained.

The first disc features performances from 1975 through 1979. Most of the video is clear, though there are more than a few grainy shots. The sound is always clear (if not always crisp), and there's a nice mix of classic songs sprinkled throughout.


The second disc, with footage from 1981 through 2003, is the longer of the two. The video progressively gets better in quality the closer the material gets to present time (which makes sense).

The beauty of this set is watching a band go from underground sensation to world-wide phenomenon. The growth of Scott as a frontman, the development of guitarist Angus Young into the face of the band, Johnson finding a place in the band and successfully filling Scott's role and making it his own in the process—it's all here in its gritty glory.


The bonus features aren't half-bad either. There's a handful of classic interviews that probably haven't seen the light of day since the '70s when they were first recorded (some great stuff with Young and Scott from the early years). There's a good interview with Young and Johnson addressing the latter's place with the band following Scott's death. There's a nice sound check of "Gone Shootin'" from the band's VH1 Studios performance in London from 1996. There's even a crazy clip of the band performing with the Rolling Stones from a 2003 tour, along with a Beavis & Butthead animated opening from the band's 1996 tour.

The video: Everything seems pretty clean, considering some of the source material. It isn't so polished that it looks out of place, but not so raw where it's hard to watch. Out of the 40-plus performances, only one stood out for particularly poor video. The best of the bunch might be a three-song set from the Entertainment Center in Sydney (1996) where the video is taken directly from the live screens at the venue (the footage broadcast above the stage for those in attendance). Everything is presented in full-frame (except possibly for two songs from Germany in 2003 that were letterboxed).

Sound: Nothing special as everything is forced through in stereo, but it all sounds great.

Extras: The set is designed with a video game theme, which looks pretty cool, especially the opening menus. Each disc features a sort-of scrapbook of old newspaper clippings and concert paraphernalia. The most interesting feature is the "create-your-own playlist" that lets you pick the order and amount of songs you want to view, and then watch your creation.

There's only a couple of problems with this set. Apart from a place and date, there's no way to know, at least from the information provided, why each set was selected for this collection. "T.N.T." comes from the band's notorious performance at St. Albans High School in Australia (pretty rare footage). The 1979 performance of "Highway to Hell" was the first time it was performed live in concert. The set from 1979 was one of Scott's last shows with the band. There are a couple of intros with the later material to set the stage for the performance (like the Moscow show). There's also a couple of times where the timing of a particular song's performance could be questioned (most notably the "Thunderstruck" performance from 2003; there had to be a better shot at this song from the early- or mid-'90s when Johnson's voice was a little more powerful).

Other than that, there are plenty of classics on here: multiple versions of "Highway to Hell", "Whole Lotta Rosie", "Live Wire", "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Back in Black", "Stiff Upper Lip", "Hells Bells" and so on and so on. Add in some amazing Young solos, and more than enough bluesy rock 'n' roll to fill a jukebox, and you get an idea of what this set has to offer. Plug Me In is a great collection for longtime fans, or good for someone interested in seeing one of metal's strongest outfits proving its worth decade after decade after decade after decade

Megadeth -- 'That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires' [review]

Megadeth - That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires
Imagine Entertainment (9/4/07)
Metal



For many years, Dave Mustaine had wanted to record a live album in one of his favorite cities, Buenos Aires. Megadeth finally decided to go for it in 2001, but before the trigger could be pulled, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the world changed. It would take another four years for the band to finally take the stage at Orbras Sanitarias Stadium and record one of the hardest-hitting live metal albums ever put to disc.

That One Night is a stunning collection of tracks, spanning the career of one of metal's most-loved outfits. That's not to say that the set is perfect -- the two discs must have been recorded straight off the soundboards -- but playing in an open-air stadium gives the sound an almost artificial feel (the band's music isn't contained by four walls and a ceiling, so it just keeps going). As for the mix in general, Mustaine is just a little too forward in relation to the rest of the band, so he overpowers at times. Also, given the venue, it would be easy for any crowd noise to drift off as well, which almost seems to be the case through the first two songs of the set ("Jet Intro" and "Blackmail the Universe"). Of course, the main reason Mustaine chose to record in Argentina was the fan intensity, and that's the hidden element that really drives this album in the end.

There's nothing quite like hearing the crowd lose it once the band plays the opening riffs of "Hangar 18". And this crowd doesn't just sing along to the songs, it sings along to the guitar, too, as the hum of the entire stadium rises above the band during many portions of the show, especially during the aforementioned "Hangar 18" and "Symphony of Destruction".

How about the set list? Fan favorites "Peace Sells", "Skin of My Teeth" and "Holy Wars" are here. There are some particularly blistering versions of "She Wolf", "Tornado of Souls" and "Reckoning Day", too. The two high points would be "A Tout Le Monde" (complete with crowd sing-a-long) and the combination of "Hangar 18" and "Return to Hangar", which opens disc two.

Overall, this is a perfectly serviceable live Megadeth album -- probably the best the band has ever released. It does, however, lack the intensity of, say, Slayer's Decade of Aggression set, or the ferocity of something like Obituary's Dead album (to compare to other notable live metal releases). Megadeth don't do a lot of experimenting live, as the songs stay pretty true to the studio versions—not that that is a bad thing, but it just makes this a less than perfect release.

Megadeth has solidified its place in metal lore. Hell, the band is still cranking out killer albums (United Abominations was released earlier this year and is some of the strongest material the band has done in 10-plus years). That One Night has that air of "God, I wish I could have been there," but it's as much for the crowd as for the band's performance. So, in the end, you're left with a decent set list (there are a handful of songs that should have been on there in place of others), with the band being its usual amazing self, and a rabid crowd. Thumbs in the middle, starting to face up.