MUST. HAVE. DVD.
Below is a review from some pro DVD site.....
October 22, 2003 - In 1998, after several years of inattention, I decided to check up on Rush. My interest in the band had waned over the years with their keyboard experimentation, so I hadn't kept up on the band.
The news was instantly bad. The previous year, drummer extraordinaire Neil Peart had lost his teenage daughter, and less than a year later his wife succumbed to cancer. The band was in "limbo," which I took as meaning they were done. It had been a good run, more than 25 years, but after so many threats to break up, this looked to be the clincher.
For two years, a lot of fans felt the same way. The band was silent for the entire time. Even when Geddy Lee issued a solo album, often times a bad sign, he was mum on the subject. Then came the news in late 2000 that Peart had remarried, and in the reporting there was talk of the band going back into the studio. Finally, fans (including me) had some hope.
Vapor Trails hit on May 14, 2002, followed by a tour. After five years away, with the musical landscape completely different, banishment from MTV, segregation to classic rock radio and no opening act, Rush still came back to fill arenas, performing for almost three hours despite all three members pushing age 50. The Vapor Trails tour would sell more tickets than tours by MTV darlings Britney Spears and NSYNC, according to Rolling Stone's list of top tours for the year.
The band capped off the tour with three dates in Brazil, with the final show in Rio de Janeiro before 60,000 fans in a soccer stadium, the largest crowd in the band's history. The band had never played in South America before, and to say those fans were anxiously awaiting their arrival would be an understatement.
The Show
After a brief opening montage of stage assembly and excited fans filling the stadium, Rush open with their biggest hit, "Tom Sawyer." It's very rare that a band opens with its best-known song. Bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee has 60,001 backing vocalists on this night; guitarist Alex Lifeson and the whole audience. The whole crowd sings in unison, in English, to that and every other song.
The band is on target, as always, executing every song flawlessly. As each song ticks off, their performance just keeps kicking up another notch because of the enthusiasm of the audience. You really have to give an assist to the crowd because they are unlike any other I've seen.
As happy as we were at the L.A. and Irvine shows to see them again, knowing full well that those shows might never have happened, there's no comparison to this exhilarated Brazilian crowd seeing the band for the first time. One guy can be seen making a prayerful gesture skyward. Their mass we're-not-worthy bow during "Freewill" is only topped by their singing along to "YYZ," even though it has no words. They simply sang the notes.
The video was shot with 22 cameras, giving you shots of the crowd, all three musicians from different angles, you name it. There's a great overhead camera on Peart that gives you a clear shot of his infamous drum break in "Tom Sawyer," which has vexed would-be drummers for two decades.
Geddy has never been much for between-song banter and he hasn't changed, although he does address the audience in Portuguese a few times. The show has an intermission, but there's no break on the DVD. It goes right into the comical animated dragon video (which I never saw due to some extremely bad seats) that always has the audience laughing
The second half of the show was started with songs from their last two albums, plus it contained the drum solo, a Rush staple for 30 years now and Geddy and Alex doing an acoustic version of the song "Resist." They end with their classic 70s and 80s tracks: "Overture/The Temples of Syrinx," "Limelight," "La Villa Strangiato," "The Spirit of Radio" and the encore "By-Tor & The Snow Dog," "Cygnus X-1" and "Working Man."
If they call it quits tomorrow, I'll be sad but not sorry, having seen them twice last year, and now owning this. They put MTV darlings half their age to shame.
Score: 10 out of 10
The Video
Oh boy, Houston, we have a problem. The video is supposed to be 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, but it's not. On my HDTV set at home, the video was displayed in a box. That is to say, black bars on all four sides. On our 4:3 TV here at the office, it filled the horizontal box and it looked like a regular widescreen print.
Coming Home Productions, which made the disc, said there is supposed to be an option for either full screen or widescreen video, but it's not on the disc. We will keep you posted as to what's going on as soon as they find out.
Another problem that I noticed is the tendency toward interlacing problems during motion on a non-progressive scan player. Look at things like close-ups of Peart playing and you see the interlacing lines in places.
That said, it doesn't look half bad. The best video is the close shots of the band. The further away the camera, the blurrier it got. Close shots show all kinds of fine detail, from the sparkles in Peart's kit to the wood grain on Alex's guitars.
Colors are a mixed bag, due to the stage lighting. It's far better than the Slayer show, which was all back lighting. But some lights, like the blue lights, seem to cause fuzziness in the picture.
All things considered, it's good enough, since the sound is what counts. Hopefully it will get fixed in the future.
Score: 6 out of 10
Languages and Audio
There's no subtitles, as you can imagine, nor an audio commentary. Also, there is no DTS soundtrack. Amazon and other etailers have said it would be DTS, but with a three hour concert, there's no way you are going to get two Dolby Digital tracks and a DTS track on one disc.
There are two mixes, Dolby two-channel and Dolby Digital 5.1, and they are super, easily matching if not surpassing the audio of the Led Zeppelin and The Who DVDs, which were in DTS. Both mixes sound extremely good, with the edge going to the 5.1 surround, obviously.
The one big difference in the 5.1 mix is that the crowd is a lot louder, and I do mean loud. It has the effect of feeling like you are in the middle of that crowd. The audience noise comes from the back speakers while the band comes from the front speakers, along with some audience noise.
The instruments come through loud and clear. Very loud. I had to drop the amplifier by almost a third from its usual volume. The mix is excellent. Geddy's voice isn't holding up, which is hardly a surprise at the end of the tour. His voice some times falters, so it's often the weakest part of the mix. There are some songs, particularly "Resist," that are better off with the 2.0 mix because it softens the audience.
Score: 10 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
The double disc comes in a digipak with a 16-page booklet, including liner notes from Peart, who notes his amazement at the audience reactions.
The second disc has multiple camera angles for "YYZ," "O Baterista," (Portuguese for "the drummer") and "La Villa Strangiata." The drum solo offers three different angles on Peart while the other two instrumentals offer four angles total. The audio is in Dolby 2.0.
The highlight is a 50-minute documentary called The Boys in Brazil, shot by the band's long-time photographer Andrew MacNaughtan. It's mostly footage shot in between the three Brazil shows, which can be boring at times. Other times it's hysterical, like when the three are talking to the camera. Soup is good food.
There are also comments from fans, some of them crying at how happy they are that the band finally showed up. Sepultura, Brazil's most successful musical export, are interviewed, offering praise on the band.
In addition, there are some sit-down interviews by the three. Getting Peart to talk is a treat since he doesn't do press any more, which Geddy addresses as well. Alex once again proves himself the funniest member of the band. He and his wife Charlene would be perfect in an "Osbournes"-like show, because they are a hoot together. Anyone who has heard "Shut Up Shuttin' Up" knows what I mean.
There are also two hidden Easter eggs, including a 1975 video and a cartoon that played during "By-Tor & The Snow Dog."
Score: 7 out of 10
Personally the DVD is phenomenal, the sound is perfect to me. Just gotta mess with the settings on the system a little bit and its great. Video coulda been a bit better but who cares? I personally would have liked a DTS track rather than the Multi-Angles but what are you gonna do.
