DVD from the current live tour?

[LdC]

This may be asking for a little much but if The Stones could do it, why not the Beach Boys?

Id suggest following the format they used on The Biggest Bang line dvd releases. A FOUR DVD set with 4 complete performances from different venues around the world showcasing diffrent settings (stadium,intimate etc) for the hardcore fans, and also a seperate single release for the mainstream of people who find 4 versions of GV redundant. Personally I would love this!

[Lowbacca]

This may be asking for a little much but if The Stones could do it, why not the Beach Boys?

Id suggest following the format they used on The Biggest Bang line dvd releases. A FOUR DVD set with 4 complete performances from different venues around the world showcasing diffrent settings (stadium,intimate etc) for the hardcore fans, and also a seperate single release for the mainstream of people who find 4 versions of GV redundant. Personally I would love this!

Beach Boys ain't the Stones. A "FOUR DVD set with 4 complete performances from different venues" won't happen.  I guess they're going to cut together performances from all over the world for a 2-2.5hrs concert main feature on the DVD/bluray. And I just hope they do it well..

[PS]

Tidbit.

This just in from my old high school buddy insider:

"Spoke to Bennett last night. He absolutely will include footage from Red Rocks. He said it was one of the most beautiful venues that he had ever seen. He was at the airport, on the way with the band to Australia . I said to him that this must be an incredible experience for him. He said it was unbelievable..."

That's great news; I hope we get a 2 hour compilation with minimum of intrusion or at least bonus features that are pure song, live and real. The songs on the Doin' it again special are great, but they are half live and half the records--very strange, so you don't get that actual feel.  I wonder who will compile and sell things like the Rolling Stone performances, the QVC, the Fallon show, etc?

Like you, I want it all.

It was fascinating to finally see Jersey Boys (wonderful) and the very telling differences between the audience reactions when they played full songs with a flourished ending versus when they interrupted a song by bringing down the volume when a narration commenced to further the narrative. Obviously, the full songs brought down the house exactly like an encore number  in a rock concert, the half songs not so much. The first half of the show had a distinctly different energy (as it should) than the second, with more full songs in the offing leading to that great climactic showstopper moment before intermission. But you can't interrupt a great modulating build up number like Opus 17 (Don't Worry About Me) and not feel, shall we say, a feeling of Valli Interruptus...

Not that it will do any good, mind you, but I am going to make a real effort to directly communicate with Bennett and Levy during post and at least let them know our general sympathies from this expert board of die hards, and, yes, the problem with something like Doin' It Again as a repeatable experience. I am truly interested in the filmed concert as a viable medium for music appreciation and the "next best thing to being there" (and, as of late, often much BETTER than being there, re: the assholes in the audience factor). I offer a course at CU Boulder entitled Rock on Film which focuses partly on the Concert Film - I will post a syllabus if anyone is interested. It's so easy to get it wrong, in terms of overall pacing, restless over-editing, camera angles that don't illuminate anything, missing key moments we'd like to see, over-sweetening the audio, too many audience reaction shots (also known as "We love you, Paul!"), etc. I maintain again that the SMILE DVD is one of the very best, modeled on classical music discs (which are almost ALWAYS done well and certainly help to visualize the source of what you are hearing).

[PS]

This may be asking for a little much but if The Stones could do it, why not the Beach Boys?

Id suggest following the format they used on The Biggest Bang line dvd releases. A FOUR DVD set with 4 complete performances from different venues around the world showcasing diffrent settings (stadium,intimate etc) for the hardcore fans, and also a seperate single release for the mainstream of people who find 4 versions of GV redundant. Personally I would love this!

Beach Boys ain't the Stones. A "FOUR DVD set with 4 complete performances from different venues" won't happen.  I guess they're going to cut together performances from all over the world for a 2-2.5hrs concert main feature on the DVD/bluray. And I just hope they do it well..

Agreed.

[acedecade75]

 I just hope they don't cut out the rarer tracks.  I hope they realize how important these tracks are to the hard core fans.

[Wirestone]

I just hope they don't cut out the rarer tracks.  I hope they realize how important these tracks are to the hard core fans.

If they realized what was important to hardcore fans, they would just release a complete, uncut concert.

Which they aren't doing.

Which suggests they don't give a rat's ass what we want or think.

Such a shame.

[the professor]

This may be asking for a little much but if The Stones could do it, why not the Beach Boys?

Id suggest following the format they used on The Biggest Bang line dvd releases. A FOUR DVD set with 4 complete performances from different venues around the world showcasing diffrent settings (stadium,intimate etc) for the hardcore fans, and also a seperate single release for the mainstream of people who find 4 versions of GV redundant. Personally I would love this!

Beach Boys ain't the Stones. A "FOUR DVD set with 4 complete performances from different venues" won't happen.  I guess they're going to cut together performances from all over the world for a 2-2.5hrs concert main feature on the DVD/bluray. And I just hope they do it well..

Agreed.

PS, from one Professor to another, thanks for all your efforts; I am not in film studies, but I will throw my voice with yours any time you need it. To me  it's a matter of making a historical record; the more verite such a DVD has the greater the force of the chronicle. I don't object to a note or two being fixed when the sound is just not right--just not viable for production, but God knows that will so many shows filmed that there is plenty of gold that needs no gilding. Cream had a great DVD drawn from, I think 3 different shows at RAH? That's a good model too.

[MBE]

In Chicago Marc was there and interviewed me twice. I hope they filmed on the inside as well as outside because it was a hell of a show that night.

[Ram4]

I don't really understand why complete or near complete concerts can't be released by all artists these days.  On one hand, they want to generate sales, and the more material you give fans on a release, the more they might be tempted to buy something.  Plenty of artists/bands release complete concert DVDs now, some do every single tour. 

I'll give an example - The band Rush has released a DVD of every tour they've done since 2002 - all complete shows.  No intercutting with other venues or nights (it's the same light show so who cares).  One night, one show - done.  For audio, they record other nights as backup or fix what is needed in the studio.  In fact, on their last video, they filmed one night in Cleveland.  There is an asterisk on one song where they had to fix the bass guitar.  They actually admitted where they had to fix a mistake.  Other than that, the whole show is untouched.

I also think the SMiLE DVD is about as well edited as any live DVD I've ever seen.  Just enough crowd shots to make sure you are witnessing a concert even if it's staged a little.  But it could have been that much better if the Beach Boys set was included as well.  Certainly would have sold a lot more.  But the documentary MORE than makes up for that loss.  Bottom line is - GREAT value for what you got.  SMiLE, bonus features, and the documentary.

With that being said, hopefully they release the entire Red Rocks show.

[Jaco]

The Singapore show is great, if not the greatest, according to all those YouTube videos, imho.

[PS]

A follow up today from a friend in touch with Mr. Bennett, who is directing the new DVD from the concerts.

Some promising news!

"My friend previously wrote to me "Spoke to Bennett last night. He absolutely will include footage from Red Rocks. He said it was one of the most beautiful venues that he had ever seen. He was at the airport, on the way with the band to Australia . I said to him that this must be an incredible experience for him. He said it was unbelievable..."

I followed up with:

"I wish I could advise them in person with the editing. I'm something of an expert when it comes to the concert video form and it is often done so badly (McCartney being one of the worst offenders - over edited to death with the "I love Paul fan gushing). I was an unofficial advisor for the SMiLE concert DVD and its one of the very best directed and edited concert films ever made - I really hope they study it. I just hope they don't cut it up with "false excitement overcutting" or interfere with complete song performances by cutting away to fan testimonials, boomers dancing, etc. The best of all possible worlds would be to have a complete (52 song, 2 DVDs) concert from one venue (like Red Rocks), without too much sweetening (they sounded incredible without any auto-tuning fixes) or interruptions and distracting cutaways - but that will never happen..

Today, this came in, from Marc to my friend:

"Tell him I am working with John Anderson, the director and editor of
the Smile piece."

talk soon.
marc


Well, now we're talking. John is a pretty well versed BB expert, on top of being an excellent director and cutter.

and my friend ended his email to me with this nice bit:

"Marc said he would be in touch with you as well"



Will keep you all apprised as i know more...

[Justin]

Great to hear...let's hope it turns out to be a winner.

The Smile DVD is indeed fantastic both in sound and picture quality but one of the best ever?  The weird audience cutaways and "reactions" were really awkward for me.  They even added a weird audience "laughter" after Brian waves his arm towards the audience.  The fact that it appeared to be a weird hybrid of live and staged performances also came off very inconsistent at times.  I can't see them doing that with Red Rocks because there was no opportunity to reshoot songs or single parts but I do hope that if flows much better. 

[PS]

Great to hear...let's hope it turns out to be a winner.

The Smile DVD is indeed fantastic both in sound and picture quality but one of the best ever?

Yes. Pure enjoyment for me from start to finish. I much prefer the sound, vitality and intensity of it (do you have a great surround system and projection or plasma? Makes a difference...) to Smile 04.

Another great one, whatever you think of the band, is Orchestral Yes, particularly on Close to the Edge.

The weird audience cutaways and "reactions" were really awkward for me.

Not one single audience cutaway during a song, if memory serves. Only between songs, applause, etc. No close-ups of the audience. Two or three shots at most in a row.

They even added a weird audience "laughter" after Brian waves his arm towards the audience.

I never noticed this, I'll check into it. I did notice that the audience reaction shots are "wrong" - we were applauding for a different song on that shot, etc. (I found myself in 16 different shots, so I'm quite pleased to see them!)


The fact that it appeared to be a weird hybrid of live and staged performances also came off very inconsistent at times.  

I agree, but there was no viable way to have that degree of CU detail in a fully live event. There would have been more cameras onstage than musicians. I mostly admire it because every cut serves a MUSICAL purpose, illustrates the song and encourages one to think about the orchestration and colors - much like classical music DVD's. Hardly anything extraneous. You are exactly where you want to be on every musical cue (cut to Nelson hitting something!) - indeed, they had a 40 page shooting script! So maybe over-directed and not spontaneous enough? Not for my taste. So while some of the the close-ups were staged, the sound, as far as I can tell, having been at both shows, was the concert sound - I can't hear any sweetening. I believe I asked Maggie and John and they told me the final music all came from the shows, not the rehearsals.


I can't see them doing that with Red Rocks because there was no opportunity to reshoot songs or single parts but I do hope that if flows much better.

Of course. I think the Smile little theatre approach worked perfectly for that small chamber ensemble, playing in an intimate setting and emphasizing the music and timbre and most of all, Brian.

The limited in-house video they were directing and showing live on the Red Rocks screen looked pretty good to me, actually, so I'm hopeful too.

[Pretty Funky]

Sounds promising!

For those that know how things work in the business now days. Will there be any kind of tie in with a live album? The Moody Blues did both a live DVD and album from Red Rocks many years ago. Both had great sound IMO.

Another point I have found is neither a DVD or album will have the same setlist. That means you must purchase both to get all songs which won't be a problem for me with the Beach Boys.

Although the DVD is going to get several plays, a live album will get multitude plays in my house just like the 'In Concert' still does. My hope is both can get the attention they deserve.

[Jim V.]

I don't really understand why complete or near complete concerts can't be released by all artists these days.  On one hand, they want to generate sales, and the more material you give fans on a release, the more they might be tempted to buy something.  Plenty of artists/bands release complete concert DVDs now, some do every single tour. 

I'll give an example - The band Rush has released a DVD of every tour they've done since 2002 - all complete shows.  No intercutting with other venues or nights (it's the same light show so who cares).  One night, one show - done.  For audio, they record other nights as backup or fix what is needed in the studio.  In fact, on their last video, they filmed one night in Cleveland.  There is an asterisk on one song where they had to fix the bass guitar.  They actually admitted where they had to fix a mistake.  Other than that, the whole show is untouched.

I also think the SMiLE DVD is about as well edited as any live DVD I've ever seen.  Just enough crowd shots to make sure you are witnessing a concert even if it's staged a little.  But it could have been that much better if the Beach Boys set was included as well.  Certainly would have sold a lot more.  But the documentary MORE than makes up for that loss.  Bottom line is - GREAT value for what you got.  SMiLE, bonus features, and the documentary.

With that being said, hopefully they release the entire Red Rocks show.

Ugh, the BWPS DVD was horrible in my opinion. At first I liked the documentary, but years of hindsight prove that it minimized The Beach Boys didn't really give the credit to the 1966/1967 sessions that there should have been. And the "live" part is the absolute worst. I don't think I even made it through one song. I felt like I was watching an infomercial. Everything felt so "staged". The band seemed like they were playing a band in a movie, and the crowd's reactions totally seemed insincere and just poorly acted. I was at a BWPS show and it was nothing like this. I know they filmed this thing at a soundstage or whatever, but it was pathetic.