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MY REVIEW OF LIVE AT RIVER PLATE!
I attended to the Avant Premiere of Live At River Plate last night, in Buenos Aires!!!! It was a very emotional evening, I don't know why, but I ended up the whole night with a smile in my face, more emotioned than the actual concert! It was announced to start at 19 and it started like at 20:15. In the place they had a full-size Hells Bell and two cannons! Well, so it begun. It starts with images from the stadium, and a title: "AC/DC" and "Live At River Plate". Then the video intro begun. It's not complete, but let's say that 75% of it is in, and it serves its "intro" purpose very well. Rock N Roll Train started and I was very emotioned. People jumping up and down and singing like if it were a 4th Buenos Aires show! That is the main reason why I couldn't tell some details of the sound. First of all, it wasn't the best sound possible, it wasn't excellent... (I'M TALKING ABOUT THE PLACE, NOT THE DVD) I'd give it a 8/10) So, because of the people's screams there were two things I didn't hear of the DVD: THE CROWD, cause it blend with the audience of the avant premiere, so I can't tell you how much is mixed with the music; and the BACKING VOCALS. The only two backing vocals I could hear were "Rock N Roll Train" and "War Machine", wich ARE BOTH THE STUDIO VOCALS, not the live ones. Well, going back to Rock N Roll Train, it started with a helicopter shot, pretty amazing, and people screaming and the band starting, very exciting. The video quality is simply MIND BLOWING, when they do close ups of Malcolm's guitar it's stunning, you can see the strings and the inside of the guitar! Brian, Angus, Phil, Cliff and Malcolm, kicked in and were lookin at the crowd all the time! Most of the times the show Malcolm on the DVD, he was looking at the crowd with a face looking like "Holy shit!" Brian entered and was really excited with the people, the first 30 seconds of the song were totally kick ass. Rock N Roll Train ends and I'm about to cry, but I didn't. Brian says his lines, "HOLA BUENOS AIRES, WE DON'T SPEAK SPANISH VERY WELL... blablabla" Next comes Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be , great crowd, great bass, great guitar sound. This one I enjoyed it much more in the actual concert, but it was great never the less. There's a part in HAABPTB where they use split screen and Malcolm is in one of it, but he's out of sync, like 2 seconds. Just a detail tho. The band, was incredibly tight, not making a single mistake. The only mistake I recognized was Cliff making a wrong note on War Machine's solo, and that's it. A slower-than-usual version of Back In Black, was great, nothing different than usual. And then, the second new song, Big Jack. This one was great, it sounded amazing, I really liked it. Phil was spot on in this one, he was during the hole song hitting the drums like a crazy mother fucker, never seen in recent-years-Phil. Amazing! Those of you wondering about the video edit (if it cuts too fast into the next shot), it was very good (aside from the HORIZONTAL split screen, that was really bad, and they used it 2 or 3 times in the concert). There were some shots like on the Shot Down in Flames solo or the TNT ending that they kept the same shot for like 10 or 15 seconds, really cool stuff. ATTENTION HATERS OF THE MCSHOW! They didn't show Brian saying "We got something special for you, we got Dirty Deeds" They only show him saying "We got Dirty Deeds for you!" I believe it was good to cut that out. Dirty Deeds is an AMAZING version, the ending is just perfect, really "heavy" if you will. Next, one of the finest versions of Shot Down In Flames, it had really cool groove, so much good rockin there, Phil was excellent!! I loved this version, we'll have to see if it can match the No Bull version. During the solo, Angus made an extra-long duck-walk, all in a 10 seconds long shot, pretty sweet. AAAHH,, Thunder!!! SUPERB VERSION, BRIAN WAS INCREDIBLE! He didn't miss a note on Thunderstruck, it was fuckin unbelievable!!! Angus didn't seem very well on this one, but Brian and the excellent sound of the drums make out for it. It surprised me, a lot. Black Ice was possible the only low point of the concert. It was played great, and Phil does it again, but it was played too slow, and the crowd seemed a bit off in this one. It was all great stuff tho! (I'm so excited, can you tell?) Then it came the SEXIEST version of The Jack ever made. The "that boy has the devil in his fingers" part worked suprisingly well on the DVD, and there's a lot of hot girls material right here, real hot! The strip tease was hilarious here, and Angus dropped his pants in a wrong time hahah, but nothing really problematic, of course. Then we go to Hells Bells, Brian, in his way to the catwalk, really liked the crowd, he was jumping a bit with them, and stood for a while on the end of the catwalk, before making his run towards the bell. There was a great pogo in Hells Bells, really unusual since it's a slow song, but it turned out great. Next it came Shoot To Thrill, incredible version. It's nothing like the IM2 video, there's only like 2 or 3 shots used from it, all the rest is different. The crowd didn't clapped a lot but it was great (and Brian says "Shook me all night long" for those who didn't like it) Malcolm sounded great in the intro, really tight and with that clean but raw sound that I like. Then, War Machine. Here they took a lot of risks in video-editing. How it starts is awesome. It's starts with a "close-up" of the moon, really awesome, and it goes getting away from it and it begins showing the stadium, all in 1 shot, it was sweet. Then, something that I understand why they did it, but I didn't like, they use split screen to show the animation they put on the show. In mostly the hole song, they show you the animation in one side and in the other side, general shots (not close ups, I mean) Then, THE FUCKING BEST OF ALL TIME VERSION OF DOG EAT DOG! Down tuning really helped here, the guitars sounded really tight, the drums excellent and Cliff very cool! I loved this version, (remember a while ago I said, this could be the greatest version? I was right...) Then an AMAZING version of You Shook Me All Night Long, well, it was really emotional because the people were jumping and singin like crazy, so it might have distrcated me (in all songs) But I loved this version, the crowd awesome, and Brian does it again, singing first "Argentinian" thights and doind the final chorus like in the studio version, going really high (I think he did it in Toronto 2003) and doing it perfect! TNT was also one of the best versions of all time, the crowd was unbelievable, all shaking their hands while chanting "OI, OI, OI" (I didn't hear it tho =P ) And the band sounded awesome in this one, and like I said earlier, there's a great 15 seconds shot at Angus at the end, really sweet. I didn't recognized any footage from the TNT & NASCAR comercial over here... nice work! Whole Lotta Rosie seemed more familiar than the rest. Of course , I had seen the first minute a thousand times, and it was really weird and awesome to continue watching the song, hahah. I could be wrong because of the place's sound, but here's where downtuning didn't work. The F chord sounded bad, not horrible, but I definitly thought "wow, what was that?" I hope is the place and not the DVD. Other than that It was great, there were a lot of great shots of Rosie, and the ending kicked ass. Let There Be Rock came after (the 2 teasers, I didn't realize that). This was a spectacular version, it seemed much longer than the usual of the Black Ice tour, it was spectacular. I got chills of watching Angus soloing right there, 5 meters away from the people, it was excellent. Something I wondered about this song is that if they would show the album covers they showed on the screen, well, they show most of them, but not all. Then angus went soloing, really cool, I loved it. What surprised me next was that they cut to Highway to hell really quickly instead of creating some sort of expectation to the encores. This song was , for me (and I think it was, just for me) the 2nd downpoint of the concert, not because of the audio or performance, but because of the video editing. First of all, this song is 80% the same as the IM2 video, they even use some Brian shots from December 5th, when they shot extra takes for the IM2 videos. They didn't show "Smiling Malcolm" sadly, and worst of all, there's some Angus shots from the 1st concert in Buenos Aires (December 2nd) because he's with the other guitar... not THAT bad, but it dissapointed me. For Those About To Rock and I was about to cry cause this thing was about to end and I would have to wait a month to see it again! (I didn't cry really, hah) OK, this was a excellent performance, Brian kicks ass again, and one of the best things of the entire DVD, when they finish the song and Brian says "We salute you Argentina" PHIL ACTUALLY SALUTES THE CROWD! It was so simple, so short, but so amazing! I'm not sure how to explain it in english, but he raised his thumb and his little finger and saluted the crowd! The fireworks are the background of the credits, really emotional, and the DVD ends with an extended shot of the stadium from the helicopter while the crowd cheers for AC/DC..... FANTASTIC. Three words to make it short: GO, GET, IT! Some DVD quality stuff: There's a lot of crowd shots, all of them excellent material, no waste at all. There's some funny parts, like some fans ending with their feets on the air, or falling to the floor, really great. You'll notice the band much more quite than in other DVDs, but the crowd and good sound makes up for it. BRIAN JOHNSON HIT EVERY FUCKIN NOTE!! and Phil seemed to sound awesome, but the sound of the place kinda hide him and made the bass ULTRA-present (tho, it was nice to hear so much of Cliff, for a change =P ) Audio mix seemed great, Cliff has great prescence but I can't let you know about the crowd! The guitars sounded great, I'm not to sure about their sound (maybe it was too distorted, but it's OK) Phil has an amazing sound and Brian sounds very clear and his performance is top notch, the best since Donington... or better! The video.... like I said, the quality is superb, the best in any AC/DC DVD. The angles of the shots were something I enjoyed a lot. In "Black Ice" there's a shot of the inside of the stage, the lighting rail part, quite stunning. There's some awesome crowd shots, and great shots at the band. Those of you wondering about the video edit (if it cuts too fast into the next shot), it was very good (aside from the HORIZONTAL split screen, that was really bad, and they used it 2 or 3 times in the concert). There were some shots, like I said, on the Shot Down in Flames solo or the TNT ending that they kept the same shot for like 10 or 15 seconds, really cool stuff. I'm looking forward to this DVD more than you cause I know it kicks ass, and you may still have your doubts, hahah!!!!!
wow great review. got me excited for its release.
i totally agree with all your views of the show! one thing you didn't mention (i dont thing you did) in one of the songs cliff switches his "regular" bass to a pinkish red bass (never seen it before) just thought it was neat!
Yeah, I had forgotten at the moment and I remembered a while ago in acdcfans.net! That was really cool indeed!
Then the video intro begun. It's not complete, but let's say that 75% of it is in, and it serves its "intro" purpose very well. Strange. What did they cut out? Am I to believe they cut out the actual "dirty deeds" which take place on the train (Brian getting blown, etc)? Man, who are these guys? They're definitely not the take-no-prisoners spontaneous risk-takers I once loved...
Great review, thank you for sharing! Now I'm really looking forward to the release!
"Strange. What did they cut out? Am I to believe they cut out the actual "dirty deeds" which take place on the train (Brian getting blown, etc)?" haha, actually, that part is in!
"haha, actually, that part is in!" Really? Then what did they cut? How is it only 75% of the video?
I don't remember exactly man, but it's not the full intro.