Iggy Pop Album: «Iggy Pop Live at the Avenue B»

- Customers rating: (4.2 of 5)
- Title:Iggy Pop Live at the Avenue B
- Release date:2005-07-19
- Type:DVD
- Label:Virgin Records Us
- UPC:724354445996
Could be Iggy's best live performance on video. Great setlist and great venue. Band sounds great too. Worth every do;;ar.
No one, I repeat, no one puts as much energy into his performance as Iggy Pop. This dvd is no exception. Iggy is much more energetic and animated than the recent DVD release with the Stooges from Detroit. The camera shots here are great and this has got to be one of the best sounding dvds I have. The show can be played in either 5.1 surround or straight 2 channel stereo (10 out of 10 soundboard recording). Anytime you get a concert dvd, one key rating factor is "rerun" value (ie how many times will you end up watching the dvd more than once). I have had this dvd about 1 week and must have cued it up at least 10 times. Even if I'm not watching, I just crank it up and enjoy the music. Even without the video, the audio alone would make this one of the best Iggy live recordings in my collection; "Avenue B" is that good. You like electric guitar? Whitey Kurst is a killer guitarist. With a second guitarist on board to handle the rhythm chores, Whitey justs rips it up throughout the show. Some of the best lead guitar you will here this side of Slash. The only beef I have is the constantly changing camera shots. The camera shot literally changes about every 1-3 seconds which can become a little annoying after awhile.
So as far as the purchase goes.... For longtime fans? A no brainer here, especially with zShops practically giving them away. For anyone, I mean anyone interested in what Iggy is all about, you can start here and be happy. This is rock, real music....not pop, not dance, not hip-hop, or yes, not even punk...this is open up and bleed rock n' roll as only Iggy Pop can do it. I love it.....
It's a shame that a great video like this has it's rating brought down either by people who had problems with their purchase or people with nebulous criteria (the guy complaining about the quality of the widescreen.) This DVD is the definition of what a five star concert should be. Iggy is aweswome: no more than 5% bodyfat and on fire. The band is awesome; these are some of the best performances of these songs that I have ever heard. The setlist is awesome. (I'm not a huge fan of Avenue B, so I generally listen Iggy's opening comments and then skip to the third song.
It is impossible to describe the power that Iggy brings to the stage. I only wish I had been there in Belgium to see the show. Search and Destroy, Corruption, and Raw Power are as good as it gets.
While I agree with the other reviewers as far as the performance is concerned, I must say that this dvd has some serious video issues.
Picture in itself is non exactly reference quality, but it would be acceptable IF... if only the advertised "widescreen" format was a *real* widescreen.
Instead, what we get is a widescreen film placed in a 4:3 frame, so that the black bars on the top and bottom are encoded into the picture. You'll probably feel the need to zoom, if you want he image to fit your 21st century 16:9 screen, except that by doing that you'll experience some serious resolution loss (and, as i said, resolution - and generally the picture - was far from exceptional in the first place...).
I will NEVER understand why, in the year 2005, somebody would feel the need to produce something so ugly.
i have bought many dvd items from amazon. if they have it in stock, buy it. if not, you are buying from a third party. when this is the case, i have found that the dvd items tend to skip or freeze. you would be better off if you bought it from a video store, brand new. there is a great "let down" when buying a "what you think" is a brand new item, then to discover someone sold it back after defaults are seen. i hate vhs, but in these cases, i can do nothing more than to recomend them over dvds, in amazon shopping. no offense to amazon, they do a great job, most of the time. thought put forward by, kamikaze777

