THE 'V' SHOWS

This was a DVD that one of my kids insisted I buy for him. Being a growing fan of the band myself, I was happy to oblige. It’s always interesting to see a band actually performing songs that you’ve only heard before on CD or the radio. In this case the band plays pretty much the entire Passengers album, which I don’t own. So it was nice to be able to hear that music for the first time, but a bit disappointing not getting to see more of their familiar work.

The band does throw in versions of the more well-known “Evergreen”, “Heroes Never Die”, “Never the Rainbow” (my personal favorite), and “Mother Nature”, all of which are excellent and more than do justice to the originals. Also included is a cover of “Afterglow” that I found to be very warm and engaging.

The DVD case states that the ‘V’ Shows were marked by a “mind-blowing light show, multiple laser display and amazing film projections”. Unfortunately, light shows rarely project well to DVD, although by using your imagination you can see that the laser displays would have probably been pretty cool. There are only a few snippets of the film projections spliced in here and there, and mostly only superimposed over shots of the band playing, so that effect is pretty much lost as well, but this isn’t really much of a detractor. There was one film clip during “Distant Train” that I recognized as a scene from Fritz Lang’s 1926 silent-film classic ‘Metropolis’ where the slaves are being marched off to their work under the city. As an aside, this was a great film about the dehumanizing effect of city life and the oppression of a class society driven by capitalism and greed, so it was a mildly appropriate choice for that song.

Anyway, the sound on the DVD is excellent, with 5.1 channel Dolby and DTS Surround- Sound. I only wish my home entertainment system were up to the task.

The film quality is very good, but the shot selections leave a bit to be desired at times. Many of the shots of the band are too far away, and the camera at Heather Findlay’s feet gives a weirdly distorted view of her head that makes it seem misshapen. That was a bit of a distraction.

Overall this is a very good purchase, especially if you can’t get your hands on the 2-disc limited edition set. It could have used a bit more coverage, and the ‘extras’ are largely limited to three short promo trailers that weren’t great, but were mildly interesting. I would have liked to have seen some interviews, or even clips from early concerts or old videos, but this is perhaps just nitpicking. An very good addition to your video collection, but misses the mark as essential.

peace