The least we could say is that only a few seconds are necessary to the guys of AC/DC to install their energy on stage. The first track, the classic “Back In Black”, is not even finished that the crowd is already well warmed up. And this involving rock n' roll will continue for 2 hours. The concert for No Bull was captured on July 10, 1996 in Madrid, Spain, whereas the band toured all around the world with the Ballbreaker Tour. Released quickly, the DVD didn’t totally satisfy the producer David Mallet. The concert was thus completely re-edited in high definition, and the sound was remixed, as much in its stereo version than in 5.1 surround sound. Without being as great as Live At Donington issued in 1992, this improved version of No Bull succeeds in showing us a good outline of the unique performances on stage by this Australian group with a contagious energy. They play obviously all their classics: there are 20 of them, without counting the 2 bonuses recorded in Sweden (“Cover You In Oil”) and in Florida (“Down Payment Blues”). In fact, the main inconvenient about this DVD is that Brian Johnson has a rather defective voice, him being usually an exceptional screamer. Fortunately, the rhythm section is as good as its reputation and Angus Young always succeeds in impressing us with his guitar and his dance steps. He is straightforwardly untiring! In end of line, No Bull is a very good DVD which gives a right outline of the band in concert, even with a Johnson who is not at the top of his shape. (November 2008)

Here is a CD/DVD set which I classify in the DVD category for one simple and good reason: the DVD (Live In The LBC) is definitely the piece of resistance of this combo whereas the CD (Diamonds In The Rough) rather acts as a bonus to the set, even if it’s also very good. The DVD presents a concert captured in Long Beach, California in April 2008, including the 12 greatest hits of the band during more than 76 minutes. An exceptional sound and superb visual help to emphasize the group which is in a very great shape, including M. Shadows whose voice is at its best. The only moment a little weaker in the concert is when they bring a fan on stage to sing “Walk” of Pantera. Fortunately, he was cut short, but it was disappointing not to hear the full version interpreted by M. Shadows. The concert reminded me per moments of Mötley Crüe because of the atmosphere reigning on stage. The performance could also be compared to a mixture between Linkin Park and System Of A Down. The CD accompanying the DVD contains covers (“Flash Of The Blade” of Iron Maiden and “Walk” of Pantera), rarities, a remix of “Almost Easy” and an alternate version of “Afterlife”. The fans of the band will certainly be pleased with this CD/DVD set. (November 2008)

The English punk band Buzzcocks played Shepherds Bush Empire in London on April 27, 2003. That performance was captured and is offered now on DVD for our greater pleasure. We can experience 5.1 surround sound which emphasizes perfectly this excellent concert of the group. They offer nothing less than 32 tracks for a total duration of 95 minutes. The more the concert goes on, the more they manage to raise their level of a notch, for an extremely strong performance. Talking is useless and the group rather prefers to connect the songs together. We can count one problem at the beginning of “Keep On”, whereas the complete confusion reigned when no one knew which song they had to play next. Except for that, these are true pros that we can see on stage, even if the context has changed much for the last 25 years and that the voices are not anymore the same ones. In addition to the concert, the DVD offers many extras, some more interesting than others, the most relevant being a long interview with Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle. A very interesting DVD for the fans of the band and an excellent way of discovering them for younger people… (July 2008)

The punk group from Vancouver, Dead On Arrival (D.O.A.), had an important influence on contemporary punk music. We find them here at the top of their career in various performances, primarily in the San Francisco Bay where they were very successful on stage. We can hear more than 20 tracks as well as bonuses (the video for “World War 3”, a report with interviews). The recording quality is far from being perfect, but fortunately it doesn’t prevent from discovering the incomparable energy of the group in concert. This is a DVD which will enable you to suitably discover this single group of the Canadian punk scene. (June 2008)

This star of gangsta rap presents here a concert which was captured on February 23, 2005 in Brussels, Belgium. Snoop Dogg offers an excellent performance, worthy of his reputation, even if he is most of the time rather static on stage. The addition of female dancers on some tracks helps for the atmosphere and makes the show a little more dynamic. He plays nothing less than 20 tracks for a total of 68 minutes. We can hear obviously most of his greatest hits including “P.I.M.P.” and “Drop It Like It's Hot”. In bonus, we can also hear 2 tracks captured at Sumfest in Jamaica in 2001, “Wrong Idea” and “Deep Cover”. We can as well read the 10 commandments as they originally appeared in Q magazine and 10 minutes of before the concert footage. In addition to the DVD, we can read a very detailed 20-page booklet including his biography, filmography, various contributions and appearances, discography and a chronology of the most important events since the beginning of his career in 1992. In end of line, Drop It Like It's Hot is an excellent DVD, a necessary purchase for his numerous fans. (November 2008)

Here is the first DVD for this Canadian alternative band. It contains 2 performances captured in Toronto and Vancouver in 2007 which enable us to discover all their energy on stage. There’s also a whole list of archive tracks including some in concert, performances at MuchMusic (with one from the time of Rainbow Butt Monkeys), interviews and their videos. You will thus hear all there their hits in a form or another: “Good Times”, the ballad “One Thing”, “First Time”, “Paralyzer” and so on. A CD is also included and it contains 14 rarities: never released songs, demo versions and a remix of “Sick Of It All”. The main disadvantage of the package is that we can hear many different things all mixed up together. On the other hand, what is presented here makes an excellent overview of the group’s career, and the fans as well as the neophytes who will want to discover them will like it as much. Us Vs Then Vs Now has definitely much content for our money! (February 2008)

Formed in Helsinki, Finland in 1979, Hanoi Rocks was to some extent the hyphen between the New York Dolls and Guns N’ Roses. After having moved to Stockholm then to London, the group finally dissolved in 1985 without having truly obtained success. On the other hand, they left an indelible trace in the history of rock n’ roll music with their interesting mixture of punk and glam rock. Their energetic rock n' roll, particularly on stage, inspired several of their contemporaries. It’s precisely about one of these single performances we can find on this DVD. This is a concert captured on April 23, 1984 at the Palais in Nottingham, England. The band is very well leaded here by a Michael Monroe in great shape. Hanoi Rocks plays 14 tracks for a total duration very close to 1 hour. Through their best songs, we can find covers magnificently reinvented for the occasion including “Up Around The Bend” of CCR, “I Feel Alright” of the Stooges and “Blitzkrieg Bop” of the Ramones. On The Nottingham Tapes, Hanoi Rocks presents a rock performance of first quality, a concert which was concluded in a total disorder whereas the crowd invaded the stage at the time of the last track, “Blitzkrieg Bop”. (September 2008)

Laibach is a collective of musicians formed in Slovenia almost 30 years ago. They offer us an industrial sound, sometimes atmospheric and sometimes energetic, entirely based on percussions, synthetizers and voices. They present us here a concert captured in March 2007 during the Volk album tour which presented songs based on or inspired by national anthems. The first half is primarily atmospheric whereas they offer us 13 of these 14 national anthems. After that hour in which several pieces will probably succeed in making you annoyed, or even asleep, the second half, much more dynamic, is very welcome. These 6 tracks will give you a good outline of the origin of bands like KMFDM and Rammstein which were able to add guitars to the genre. In spite of good moments, these tracks aren’t able to awake the crowd and to bring back an atmosphere a little more festive in this concert which, in end of line, is only for their biggest fans. The concert ends in a prerecorded medley of almost ten minutes during which the musicians salute the crowd before leaving, and we’re left in front of the credits. The DVD offers in addition ten videos of the tracks presented in the first part of the concert, plus “Vaticanae” which we cannot hear on stage. (January 2009)

After having presented us her best album to date in 2007, The Best Damn Thing, Avril Lavigne left for a world tour with a particularly well constructed concert. The Toronto concert was captured and it’s now offered to us on DVD. We can see an Avril Lavigne all smiling which seems particularly happy to sing at home, in Ontario, with her mother and her grandmother in the audience. At the opening track, the mega hit “Girlfriend”, Avril doesn’t seem very comfortable to have to be integrated into the choreography of her dancers. Fortunately, she won’t have to dance much for the rest of the show. During her performances, Avril has sometimes a nonchalant attitude. She then seems annoyed and thinking about something else. Also, she’s not the most energetic one on stage, but she sings perfectly. During the rock n’ roll tracks, she lets herself go a little crazier (“I Always Get What I Want”, “Everything Back But You”). On various occasions throughout the concert, it’s pleasant to see her play different instruments, even if she’s certainly not the best musician. She plays electric guitar in “My Happy Ending” and “He Wasn't”, acoustic guitar in “Don't Tell Me”, piano in “When You're Gone” and she even offers a short jam on drums. Pauses in the show to give her the time to change clothes are filled by a dance session and a video presenting various images of the young singer on the sound of her version of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation”. At the finale, Avril sings the remix of “Girlfriend”, as well as one of the greatest hits from her first album, “Sk8er Boi”. The concert lasts only one hour and 15 minutes, but it’s intense and perfectly put together. The DVD unfortunately doesn’t contain any bonus features, but the image and sound quality of the concert is amply sufficient to make a DVD of great quality. (December 2008)

Before the guitarist Wes Borland leaves the group in 2001, Limp Bizkit made a mega stadium tour. This is one of these concerts, a show captured in Germany on June 1, 2001 and which we can find here on DVD. The concert can be viewed in its original version as presented on television (1 hour and 26 minutes), or in a remixed version of 1 hour and 14 minutes. The images, even in full screen format, are of great quality. For the sound, you have the choice between stereo or surround. The only problem, it’s that there is a delay of approximately 1 second between the sound and the image in the surround sound version, which can be particularly frustrating. The other aggravating detail, but that one is not a big surprise, is the attitude of Fred Durst. He is straightforwardly unpleasant with the German crowd insulting them even because they don’t understand or speak English. During “The One”, he brings a girl on stage to dance and at the end he says that it was awful and that she ruined the song… But, that belonged to the character and we should not be shocked about that. Besides these various details, it’s a good performance on stage and all their hits are played, at a moment or the other of the concert. In bonus, we can see a 8-minute interview with DJ Lethal. We also find a booklet with the biography and the complete discography of the band. (July 2008)

John Mayall is acknowledged as the father of British blues and he has discovered some of the most acclaimed musicians of the last 40 years, including guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. In 1984, Mayall came back with a new incarnation of the Bluesbreakers featuring Coco Montoya and Walter Trout on guitar. It’s a concert from that time which is presented here on DVD, a concert recorded in 1987 at Iowa State University. The near 50-minute concert presents a blues performance worthy of John Mayall. We can appreciate his versatility (keyboards, harmonica, guitar, and so on) in addition to noting all the dexterity and pure talent of his guitarists, particularly Trout which is letting himself go lose and plays rather impressive solos. It’s only unfortunate that the sound doesn’t give justice to that single performance. The only interesting element of the bonus features is a short 49-second backstage interview with Mayall… (December 2008)

Captured at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on October 7, 2005, this concert by Bob Mould was released on DVD exactly 2 years later. For his first concert to be offered on DVD, he is surrounded by keyboardist Richard Morel (Morel), bass player Jason Narducy (Rockets Over Sweden, Verbow) and drummer Brendan Canty (Fugazi). Chemistry settles greatly between the 4 musicians and Mould benefits from it to offer us the best of his entire career. He indeed draws in the material by Hüsker Dü and Sugar including his whole solo career until Body Of Song, his latest album (at the time of the concert). Mould is not very talkative but he’s full of energy and he connects 23 tracks during more than 90 minutes. Lightings can seem sometimes aggravating, but anyway the entire place is left for the music in this excellent concert which will charm his fans from the beginning. A 10-minute documentary begins the DVD and makes some kind of an introduction to the musicians. (February 2008)

After the excellent album Black Holes And Revelations, the following Muse tour could only be huge. It’s what we note here thanks to the capture of two concerts at the Wembley Stadium in London on June 16 and 17, 2007. We can see here the trio truly at the top of its career during a concert of 1:40 obviously making a good review of their last album, but also going to draw in their previous recordings. Through its best compositions, the group proposes to us as many experimentation and single arrangements as they could do on record in the past. It’s in fact one of the first things impressing on the DVD, because they succeed in offering live sound arrangements as effective as if it has been done in a studio. Many artists would even have problems to reproduce in studio the guitar and electronic sounds that Muse presents on stage. The surround sound mix of great quality emphasizes also well all these unique sounds of Muse. The DVD also offers an exceptional image quality in widescreen format with a particular texture clearly highlighting the lightings and stage set. In fact, Haarp is a DVD of the last generation with all the qualities necessary so that we can as much appreciate the group in the comfort of our living room that if we could have been present on the spot, in the middle of the crowd. In spite of the lack of interesting bonus contents, this DVD is a great gift for the many fans of the group. The CD presents an audio summary of the DVD and its exceptional sound quality makes it also interesting, if you don’t have a DVD player around. (May 2008)

The famous acoustic concert of November 1993, which appeared on CD in 1994, had never been released in video. Here is finally this excellent performance of Nirvana on DVD, in its entirety, and with a 5.1 surround sound. The sound is in fact almost perfect and allows us to rediscover greatly the quality of the songs interpreted in acoustic version. We can hear 3 additional tracks compared to the original version aired on MTV: “Something In The Way”, “Oh, Me” (with Meat Puppets) and a short improvisation of “Sweet Home Alabama” of Lynyrd Skynyrd. We can also hear various comments by the musicians between the songs. In bonus, we can also see the MTV final version, in addition to a short documentary on the production of this TV special and 5 tracks played in rehearsal. Among these tracks, it’s particularly interesting to see the massacre of “Pennyroyal Tea” which Kurt Cobain finally decided to play by himself during the concert, doing of it one of the greatest moments of the evening. Unplugged In New York became truly a collector's item following the death of Cobain a few months later, whereas it remains one of the best filmed concerts of Nirvana. A must have! (March 2008)

The neo-progressive British movement of the early 80’s, dominated by Marillion, also counts the Scottish of Pallas. Even if the band produced only a few albums in almost 25 years, they succeeded in creating a legion of extremely faithful fans. We find them here in a 90-minute concert captured in Katowice, Poland on October 31, 2007. They interpret their 12 best compositions in a good performance, accompanied by splendid lightings. The mixing in 5.1 surround sound makes the whole even more interesting, for the greatest pleasure of their fans. On my side, not knowing them very well, I couldn’t really let myself hang by their music. Also, the group is not necessarily the most dynamic on stage. Despite everything, it’s about an effective and well produced DVD. In bonus, we can find a documentary on tour, rehearsals, an interview with Graeme Murray and Alan Reed, and even more. (August 2008)

At the end of 1981, after several huge events, it was planned to make a film of the Queen concert. On November 24 and 25, 1981, they thus filmed the 2 concerts in front of crowds of 18.000 people in the late Forum of Montreal to make of them a film in 35 mm cinema format. The band was then at the top of its career and it’s a raw and rock concert they offered to their fans, whereas the keyboards had not made yet their appearance in the music of the group. All their greatest hits so far were obviously included (“We Will Rock You”, “Somebody To Love”, “Under Pressure”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Are The Champions”, and so on) and we can hear those in alternation with a little less known tracks which were not necessarily going to reappear very often in their concerts thereafter (“Dragon Attack”, “Get Down Make Love”, “Let Me Entertain You”, and so on). This concert can be compared advantageously with the one we can find on the excellent DVD Live At Wembley Stadium, captured in 1986 and issued in 2003. On the other hand, we hear obviously less hits of the Eighties, and it gives almost the feeling of an intimate show in comparison with the 60.000 hysterical people present at the Wembley Stadium. The quality of the image in panoramic format is excellent and the surround sound is quite simply irreproachable. This is thus one of the good live DVDs by Queen to have been released, a document to be discovered… Various editions of the DVD are available, of which an edition with a bonus DVD including their performance at Live Aid. (April 2008)

In 2005, the rapper Ja Rule was touring the world. Two of these concerts were captured and mixed to be presented here on DVD. They are concerts which took place in March in Germany and Belgium. We thus see on this DVD a mix of the 2 performances for duration of almost one hour. 5.1 surround sound is of first quality, but it’s the visual which is the most impressive whereas several images are placed on top of each other, including even sometimes extracts of videos. The main disadvantage of the concert is that no guest artist can be seen and all the feminine voices come from the studio recordings. On the other hand, they mainly fill this problem in the performances we can see as bonuses, recorded in Manchester, whereas we can see mainly Ashanti for 2 tracks including the mega hit “Always On Time”. Several other bonus features are available, which requires the presence of a second DVD to contain it all. On the other hand, except for certain interviews, there are much useless contents which are addressed to the hardcore fans exclusively. As a whole, this DVD of Ja Rule does what we could be waiting and is a nice gift for his many fans. (October 2008)

To celebrate the 30th birthday of Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, the 4 original members of the Sex Pistols performed for 5 nights sold out at Brixton Academy in November 2007. It’s one of these concerts we can visualize here in its entirety, in high definition and with a 5.1 surround sound. The montage succeeds in collecting perfectly the crowd’s energy and Johnny Rotten’s madness (we have to call him now by his real name, John Lydon). Even if we have practically the feeling to look at a concert by John Lydon and his musicians, it remains that the band offers a solid performance on stage during 77 minutes (the time to play about their entire repertoire plus covers). The only problem is that the scale of the concert and the images a little too polished doesn’t fit very well with the underground punk movement they founded in England. The age of the musicians also removes even more credibility with their anarchist message. Right at Lydon’s entry on stage, we have the feeling he just entered the skin of his character of young 1977 punk rocker. This is anyway a good concert which will make it possible for younger people to discover them on stage, but this type of performance cannot be compared with the atmosphere there was at the time in the small dirty venues they used to make disorder more often than any other bands in the genre. In bonus, we can view the documentary The Knowledge which presents a guide to London by the Sex Pistols. With more than 90 minutes of duration, it includes backstage footage of the Brixton concerts and other rare footage. (January 2009)

The last concert of her Oral Fixation tour in Miami in fall 2006 was captured and this is what we find here on DVD. It’s a 1 hour and a half concert Shakira’s offering to us with a perfect mix of genres and a lot of dancing. Very comfortable on stage, this short woman succeeds wonderfully in covering all the space under her bare feet. She manages to seduce her audience as soon as at the first track, “Estoy Aqui”, and it will be the case until the end, even if she travels between Latin pop, rock, Arab beats and ballads. Always very sexy, she uses brilliantly her moves to her advantage. It’s necessary to note the presence of 2 distinguished guests, the voices behind her greatest hits from the albums Oral Fixation vol. 1 and 2: Alejandro Sanz on “Tortura” and Wyclef Jean on the mega hit “Hips Don't Lie”, ending the show. The concert is largely emphasized by an exceptional image quality. For the voice, we can suppose that a recording assists her on certain occasions, because her voice remains always perfect in spite of the numerous movements of dance. If it’s not the case, she’s definitely in an exceptional physical shape! The DVD adds to the concert 2 tracks captured on other concerts of the tour (“Obtener Un Si” and “La Pared”), as well as a video for “Las De La Intuicion”. We can also view 2 short documentaries on her 397 days on tour and her charity activities in her native Colombia. Finally, a not very useful CD is offered with 6 songs from the concert. (October 2008)

On June 8, 1971, whereas he was at the climax of his career, Cat Stevens offered a unique performance in KCET studios in Los Angeles. This intimate concert is presented to us for the first time on DVD. We can hear 8 songs including the hits “Moonshadow” and “Wild World”. This rare performance is more than interesting to discover this incomparable folk singer who had a great career until 1978. Unfortunately, with a total of only 30 minutes, the concert will seem too short to you, even if we also find in bonus a 5-minute animated film entitled Teaser And The Firecat. (February 2009)

Two years after getting back together to record some tracks for the Iggy Pop album, Skull Ring, The Stooges gave a solid performance at the Lokerse festival in Belgium on August 6, 2005. It’s this 65-minute concert we find here in 2 versions. Most of the songs of their 2 first albums are interpreted here, in addition to 2 titles drawn from Skull Ring, “Dead Rock Star” and the title-song. Unfortunately, we cannot hear anything from the classic Raw Power, which thus becomes automatically the weakest point of this excellent DVD. Iggy is completely unchained here, like always, and he’s firmly supported by the music of the Asheton brothers and Mike Watt (Minutemen). But pay attention that the 2 DVDs offer us much more than a simple concert! The 2nd disc enables us to discover an excellent 60-minute retrospective of the last 30 years. We can also see in bonus very good interviews with Ron & Scott Asheton, Iggy Pop and Esther Friedman. On the whole, it’s thus more than 5 hours and a half of material which is offered to us, everything necessary to satisfy the most demanding fans. On January 6, we were shocked to hear the news of Ron Asheton’s death. He will always be remembered by everyone. (February 2009)

This former member of the New York Dolls and the Heartbreakers continued his career of rock n' roll star until his death on April 23, 1991, in spite of his dependence to hard drugs. This DVD contains one of the last concerts offered by Thunders whereas it was captured at the time of a mini-tour in Japan on April 3, 1991, 20 days before being found dead at his home in New Orleans. We can see a guy in great shape on stage whereas he reminds us more than ever his idol, Keith Richards. He offers nothing less than 22 tracks including 2 medleys: “Hit The Road Jack/I'm Not Your Stepping Stone” and “Louie Louie/Hang On Sloopy”. Among the songs played, we can hear some from the New York Dolls era for our greater pleasure, of which the excellent “Personality Crisis”. The main problem in this concert of more than one hour is the poor quality of the image, recovered from the analogical recording of the time. On the other hand, the sound remixed in 5.1 is excellent. For the atmosphere at the venue and the interaction with the crowd of Citta Club in Osaka, forget that because practically any crowd noise was deleted in the final mix. It’s almost embarrassing when the moment of the encore comes, but it’s understood that the DVD doesn’t reflect truly the atmosphere on the spot at that time. In spite of its defects, Who's Been Talking? is a very beautiful document for the fans of Johnny Thunders. We can see in bonus a very detailed written biography of his career. (March 2008)