Have you watched and listened to Blu-ray DVD concerts? (1 Viewer)

This is as good as it gets to really test your system. There's some really outstanding Concerts on Blu-ray to let you know how much better the sound quality is with the newer Dolby and DTS formats. I've been buying them up like crazy but running out of product. If you really want to see how good some of these Blu-ray's sound try : Dave Mathews & Tim Reynolds "Live at Radio City", Chris Botti "Live in Boston", Pat Metheny "The Way Up-Live" or for those who like Jeff Beck "Live At Ronnie Scott's" you'll be blown away by the sound quality as well as the video quality. Blu-ray is not just for movies! If you have a decient Home Theater you'll fill your underpants when you listen and watch one of these, guaranteed!

Current System used:
Onkyo TX-SR906: runs low frequencies.
Outlaw Audio: 750: High frequencies.
OPPO BDP-83: Blu-ray combo player.
Denon DVD-2930ci: DVD combo player.
B&W Speakers: N-803 Main, HTM1 Center, SCM1 Surround.
2- Velodine SPL12 Sub's
Panasonic TP-C58S1 Plasma 58" 1080p HDTV.
Run through a Panamax 5400 power line conditioner.

Nine Inch Nails:Beside You In Time Great audio and video.

Rush: Snakes and Arrows, Led Zepplin: The Song Remains The Same, Heart: Alive In Seattle, Toto: Live In Amsterdam and I have bought Kansas: There's No Place Lke Home but haven't watched it yet.

I'm waiting for Boz Skaggs Greatest Hits Live to be released in hi-res BluRay. Please, please, please...

Diana Krall in Rio
Police reunion tour

There will be others soon enough.

Does "This Is It" count?

It sounds delightful!

I have found that some of my most favorite Blu-rays are concerts:

Pink: Funhouse Tour, Live in Australia

David Gilmour: Remember That Night

Rush: R30


Blue Man Group: How to Be a Megastar


Metallica: Français pour une nuit


Elton 60: Live at Madison Square Garden
Nickelback: Live from Sturgis
Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour
AC/DC: Live at Donnington
AC/DC: No Bull
Kings of Leon: Live at the O2 London
Billy Idol: In Super Overdrive
Styx: One With Everything
ZZ Top: Live From Texas
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense

I have collected quite a few SD-DVD concerts over the years, but so far have only picked up three concerts on BD:

Diana Krall: Live in Rio
The Police: Certifiable
Sheryl Crow: Soundstage

The Krall concert sounds good, but I prefer the performances on her two SD-DVD concerts. The Police and Crow concerts are quite good, though, IMO.

I had purchased the Moody Blues BD, too, but did not really care for it... so I sold the disc.

If one has any interest at all in Iron Maiden then Flight 666 is a must-buy.

Also on the metal front: Black Symphony, by Within Temptation. The editing is a bit too frantic for my tastes, but the performance is awesome.

I have the following and would recommend all of them:

The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
The Cure: Trilogy
Gimme Shelter
Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same
The Who: At Kilburn 1977
The Who: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970

I recommend U2: Rattle and Hum because I love the film, but as a very early entry into Blu from Paramount it is somewhat lacking, and it does not have lossless audio.

I haven't picked up Woodstock yet, but the bits and pieces I've seen are great, and all reviews I've read highly recommend the release.

Live in Rio was a very underwhelming disc. Only the extras where she was singing in the restaurant were any good.

Originally Posted by PaulDA

Diana Krall in Rio
Police reunion tour

There will be others soon enough.

Click to expand...

I pretty much stayed away from concert titles on DVD (other than a few operas/classical music titles where I know I'd at least get PCM 2.0 instead of lossy DD or similar), but yeah, BD makes a very substantial diff all-around, and I've picked up a fair handful so far.
Recently, I spotted Heart's Dreamboat Annie Live concert BD on Amazon -- doesn't seem to be available anywhere else. Was going to order it at just ~$13, but the price bumped back up before I got around to ordering. I'll probably get that at some point unless I see some negative reviews/comments about it.

_Man_

For classical music, I'd recommend the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique in the San Francisco Symphony "Keeping Score" series with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition to the concert performance, there's a fascinating documentary on the piece shot in HD, many in European locations. The concert itself, shot live, is a masterpiece of video production, utilizing something like 10 cameras, including three robotic, in and around the orchestra, all choreographed to the music with pin-point editing. The accompanying "making of" featurette points up what an accomplishment this was. The lossless surround audio track is incredibly impressive. Amazon has this one of the three in Blu-Ray priced at $10 less than the other two:

Amazon link to Keeping Score-Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique [Blu-ray]

I *think* I saw Dreamboat Annie in HD on Palladia. I do remember enjoying the performance a lot.

Is that Keeping Score series the one that was shown on PBS, with dramatic recreations of scenes from the composers' lives? I saw a couple of them on TV and they were great, albeit sadly not in HD.

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman

Is that Keeping Score series the one that was shown on PBS, with dramatic recreations of scenes from the composers' lives? I saw a couple of them on TV and they were great, albeit sadly not in HD.

Click to expand...

Yes, they were on PBS, although I've never seen them there - not having TV, I can't! Besides the three Blus, there are a number on DVD-only. I don't know if they're were made in HD and could be potentially released in Blu-Ray. Self-produced things like this, both CDs and videos, aren't really profitable to the orchestras, I've heard, but depend heavily on outside funding sources, grants, endowments, and in the case of these, presumably PBS. Classical music is faced with niche-audience problems, much as classic films are, so I can't be too sanguine about the prospects.

I do not have "Dreamboat Annie", but I do have Heart: Alive in Seattle on BD (I forgot about this one in my list above). I would recommend this disc -- the performance is excellent, and both audio and video quality are quite good.

Yeah, I already have Heart: Alive in Seattle also -- think I picked it up soon after it was released more than a year ago (and I also have the hybrid SACD from when it was first released a few years back). Based on the comments I could find around the web, Dreamboat Annie Live might not be as good (technically speaking) as that older concert recording, but it's probably worth getting anyway, especially if you want a concert recording featuring most/all of the songs from that album (along w/ various other covers).

_Man_

Return to Forever Returns Live at Montreux.

I saw the show in Toronto and the Blu-ray does it justice. Very nice.

Originally Posted by John Garcia


Live in Rio was a very underwhelming disc. Only the extras where she was singing in the restaurant were any good.

Click to expand...

We'll have to agree to disagree, as I quite enjoy the "bossa nova" take she uses. But I have a lot of music that is far from universally loved, so no biggie.

Forgot to note two additions--A Concert By The Lake (featuring a bunch of people: Eric Clapton, Mike Rutherford, Gary Brooker, Ringo Starr, Paul Carrack and many others); Eagle Vision Blu-ray Sampler (30 excerpts from various concerts by Queen, Jeff Beck, Rush, Return to Forever, Styx, Yes, Ray Charles and a whole bunch of others). Sampler was free with my SACD/BD purchase at the Festival Son et Image in Montreal this past weekend.

Styx & the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland One With Everything

Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up - Live