THE ART IN HEAVEN CONCERT LIVE IN BERLIN (DVD)

You could be forgiven for getting excited and thinking this DVD was as amazing as the TB3 concert from a few years ago, after watching the first one-third to half of the concert. Sure, Mike is a bit slower and sure, the supporting musicians are not as impressively arranged or utilized, but still....there are some great moments during the first 5 or so tracks. And then the second half of the show arrives and the whole thing goes straight over the cliff of lame-ness. I'm going to spare you my tirade about the awful second half of this show and its feelgood "we are the world" like singalongs that makes me gag. I'll say only that while the emotions and goodwill on display are wonderful for a "PBS celebrates the Millennium!" show, they are brutal as a rock concert for the Mike Oldfield fan. So let's stick with what did work. The first third of the show was full of nice moments of "Mike the guitarist" burning it up, creating sound and power with one guitar that shakes the city. It was so amazing how much control he has with the instrument and he similarly impressed with a beautiful, extended piano solo. Lovely leads and feisty vocals gave us some nice treatments of old singles like "Moonlight Shadow", "Portsmouth", and "Shadow on the Wall." But what was a 3-star event early on becomes mired in material that sells short both rock and roll, as well as world music. Both may be great in their own arena, but together they suck the power and purpose out of each other in my opinion. Stick with the TB3 show to witness Mike's ability to pull off a major musical event, or get his old live stuff to see his rock prowess on display. Avoid this one at all cost unless you are a huge Oldfield fan and have to see even the subpar stuff.

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