First 'Rush In Rio' DVD Review (1 Viewer)

[Shane D]

My only gripe with the audio was that i wished the vocals were tied a little more to center channel. All I had was a wall of sound, which granted, a concert sounds like, but I just wanted a tad more seperation all around.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I avoided reading too much about the DVD so the sound and set list could surprise me a bit (even though I saw them on this tour). Picked it up last night straight after work, ran home and spent a quality 4 hours with my three favorite Canucks. A bit of good luck as a my roommates didn't come home until right after the DVD was over, so I was able to blast it.

Sound: Very sweet. The audience is as loud as the band. They sing along to everything. It felt like every single person in the audience was hardcore Rush freak. Great fun.

The surround mix is excellent, with crowd noises mostly in the back as is appropriate for a concert. The bass is very strong. It's also cool to hear sort of "stripped down" versions of the Vapor Trails tours, which miss the over-compression of the studio album and the layered vocals during the choruses (though some of the verses still had them via backing tracks).

Music: Phenomenal set list. First off, it's pretty damn long- almost 3 hours! I love the fact that they start off with Tom Sawyer to get it out of the way. They played the old material with a lot of enthusiasm.
Personal highlights:
Leave That Thing Alone (with some extra-nifty bass stuff)
Resist ("unplugged")
By-Tor (with animated clip that can be seen alone as an easter egg on the 2nd disc)
The Pass
Red Sector A (Ged was in fine voice hear)

DVDs/Packaging:
I was pleasantly surprised that they squeezed the whole show onto one disc. I also like the packaging and menus- simple and pleasant to look at.
The 2nd disc contains an hour-long documentary of the band during the days leading up to and including their South American gigs. They touch upon Neil's situation only briefly (without mentioning the specifics). You get to see some of the technical and weather problems the crew faced, the intensity of their Brazillian fan base, and Lurxst being a silly goose.
All in all very nice but not something I see myself watching again (like most extras).

The multi-angle presentations of the instrumentals are lame because each angle shifts position, so there really is no point to the whole thing. It would make sense if, say, one angle was always on Neil, one on Ged, on Alex, and then one covering the stage. I didn't spend any time with this.

Easter Eggs: the packaging lists them as such: "paraphrasing:"
- By-Tor movie accessed by pressing "enter" when By-Tor and the Snow Dog is referenced
They mean referenced in the documentary, particularly by Ged and Alex when discussing the set list. It's the animated sequence shown behind the band of the human, dog, and robot dopplegangers of the band members battling each other. Cute.
- Anthem '75 accessed by entering the right combination
I have no clue what this means and could not find this one. This is why I hate easter eggs. This and a video for "Desire" on Marillion's Singles DVD are too Easter eggs that elude me.

This is the way DVD concerts should be done. I would probably be happier without the 2nd disc and a lower price, but there it is.

 

[John_Bonner]

Anthem '75 accessed by entering the right combination. I have no clue what this means and could not find this one

I found this up on a Rush board for the Anthem easter egg. Haven't tried it myself so caveat emptor.

Disk 2


On the main menu, press 2
Once you get picture for the drum solo, press menu
You're back at the main menu for disk 2...
Press 1
Once you get picture for YYZ, press menu
You're back at the main menu...
Press 1
Once you get picture for YYZ press menu
You're back at the main menu...
Press 2
Once you get picture for the drum solo press menu
You're back at the main menu and is now shows "Special Bonus: Anthem 1975


So you gotta press 2-1-1-2 Hmmmmmm sounds like a good name for a song (or an album )

 

[Jim_C]

I KNEW it was something to do with 2112! I tried punching in 2112 at various points on the disc with no luck. This is why, like Mike, easter eggs annoy me.

I did find the By-Tor EE though. Not bad.

I got through most of disc one last night. Great, great concert. I love these guys.

 

[John_Bonner]

I only got to sample Disc 1 last night (with headphones).

I watched all of Disc 2. I'll bet Al would be a blast to hang with. I couldn't help noticing a few references to this being the "last time they play these songs" type of statements. I sure hope not. These guys seem very genuine and respectful in the way they speak about each other. Ged and Alex also seem very protective of Neil which is very understandable. Gotta luv Rush...Greatest band ever.

Tonight my wife and kids will be staying at my in-laws so I'm gonna crank up the Denon and ENJOY Disc 1 in it's entirety. Is it 5:00pm yet?

 

[Brett_B]

I am wondering what song(s) Geddy does NOT want to play EVER AGAIN. He said something to the affect that he knows how much the fans want to hear a certain song, but he could never play that song again. I know that there were petitions started prior to their tour last year regarding songs that fans wanted to hear the most. So I am wondering if his statement was in relation to that petition.

 

[TheLongshot]

I listened to a bit of the concert last night. Man, the audio is hot on this release! I had to turn my Denon down to about -25 to keep from blowing my eardrums. I personally think the crowd noise needed to be slightly lowered. It is fine if you are in the sweet spot, but when you start moving back from there, the rear surrounds start to overwhelm. Disappointing that it isn't anamorphic.

That being said, this release has what all previous video releases of Rush was missing: The audience. As much as I like "A Show Of Hands", it doesn't really capture the live experience. This one does a much better job. There is nothing like seeing thousands of people jump up and down to "YYZ".

Jason

 

[Mike Broadman]

My guess of songs the band doesn't want to play:

Hemispheres
Anything off of Caress of Steel
Most of the tunes from Hold Your Fire (extremely complex, especially for Geddy)

 

[Gwon Chang]

I loved the "were not worthy" bit the audience does in the solo section of Freewill. That was cool...

Love the Fender Jazz, not so sure about the twanginess of the SansAmp.

 

[Brett_B]

Or...virtually the entire crowd "clapping" along to "Spirit of Radio". Seeing the shot from way back in the crowd looking at the stage, and all you can see were hands in the air clapping in unison. Sent chills down my spine.

Wished I was there in Rio with that crowd!

 

[Paul.S]

Thanks for the link in your post #7, Gwon.

A few comments that are less a review per se (I'll pick up RiR once the budget will allow) than a relaying of some background information that has direct bearing on why we have the release in the form we do.

It was an interesting evening last night in Irvine, CA for the theatrical presentation of RiR. Director/producer Daniel Catullo and producer Larry Jordan (who also directed A Show Of Hands) were both in attendance (Coming Home Studios is based in L.A.) and I got a chance to speak with both of them.

There were technical problems with the remote transmission for the screening, purportedly the fault of Regal Cinemas, that negatively affected both audio and video quality. Video resolution was apparently only some 30-odd percent of what it should have been. The 5.1 audio we were supposed to hear was supposedly folded down to 2-channel stereo. Regardless, it sounded quite muddy even for a downmix. These problems were corrected not too far in to the concert in other parts of the country, but the problems lasted the entire show for the West Coast. If you attended this screening and missed Catullo's announcement, hang on to your ticket stub: there may be a complimentary re-screening. I'm told we should look for word of such to be relayed via Rush.com and/or ComingHomeStudios.com. We'll see.

Consistent with early word regarding specs., RiR was indeed supposed to have a DTS track. It was a victim of the bit budget. I inquired about why they didn't spread the concert proper over two discs so as to keep DTS and was told that the 'multi-angle' contents on the second disc are so large that they precluded even this option. (This is unfortunate IMO given what I've read in both the DVD Times review linked to in the first post of this thread and in Mike Broadman's post #22 about how this 'multi-angle' content has been executed. This is of course a perennial debate amongst DVD fans but, if indeed the 'multi-angle' contents are arguably something of a novelty with a low what I call 'RVQ' ['repeat viewing quotient'], why not allocate more of the bit budget to content that you enjoy/that improves fidelity every time you watch the DVD [i.e., arguably better sound quality via DTS and definitely better video quality via anamorphic enhancement]?) I of course wish they had then considered even making it a three-disc release, but doing so would impact sale price and therefore sales. Sales have reportedly been quite brisk, with RiR allegedly outselling Indiana Jones at Best Buy and achieving double platinum sales in the first day of release. I'll be looking for some confirmation of these figures if possible.

RiR was also supposed to be anamorphic but, due to a classic snafu, is of course not. I was told some small, not quite top quality mini-cams were used to get coverage of Neil (this was done partly at his behest, since he is not surprisingly rather particular about having multiple cameras around/close to him during live performance, especially behind him). I was told there was one guy remotely operating six such cameras on Neil.

The video quality of this footage was not as good as that from the other (digi Beta) cameras, especially when viewed with anamorphic enhancement. Rather than color correct the entire rest of the show, Allan Weinrib (yes, Ged's brother) made a decision to not do the anamorphic encoding. By the time Catullo and Jordan were apprised of this, the masters had already been sent to the manufacturer.

Here's the piece de resistance, guys: I was told that this title will be re-released in the spring (March 2004) as a single disc 'greatest hits' package. It will supposedly have half the number of songs and, you guessed it, use the additional bit budget gained via a shorter program to include DTS audio and anamorphic enhancement.

I am Jack's continuing DVD frustration.

Paul

P.S. - For the Rumor/I'm A Skeptic/I've Heard That Before/Received Conflicting Information/Don't Quote Me file: 30th anniversary tour next summer. ASoH DVD to perhaps also be released next spring. The band will do at least two more records.

 

[TheLongshot]

Here's the piece de resistance, guys: I was told that this title will be re-released in the spring (March 2004) as a single disc 'greatest hits' package. It will supposedly have half the number of songs and, you guessed it, use the additional bit budget gained via a shorter program to include DTS audio and anamorphic enhancement.

That's a nice kick to the groin. :rolleyes

As good as this release is, it could have been much better...

Jason

 

[John_Bonner]

Thanks for clearing up some issues Paul.

How many of us who bought the DVD yesterday will buy the anamorphic release next Spring? (raises hand). Yes it sucks admitting it, but I know I'll buy it.

I found this interesting:

From Amazon.com

Technical Info

Technical Information
Release Information:
Studio: Universal Music & VI
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 2003
DVD Release Date: October 21, 2003
Production Company: PGD
Package Type: Keep Case

Aspect Ratio(s):
Widescreen anamorphic

Discographic Information:
DVD Encoding: Region 1
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS)

They show both anamorphic and DTS.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I will not be getting the single-disc. I can't imagine watching just pieces of this concert.

 

[MattCPT]

I finally had a chance to watch the DVD and I must say that I'm a huge RUSH fan and I'm thrilled that they released a concert DVD but I'm very dissapointed. I find that the audio is terrible. After reading others's reviews on the audio I was expecting good to great sound. I honestly don't understand how people can find the audio to be even good. I found the sound to be very fatiguing after just a few songs. I can usually play a concert DVD at a volume of 0 to -8 and the louder it goes the better it sounds (ex. Santana-Supernatural, Eagles-HFO, Metallica-S&M, etc...) I can only play RIR at about -22 because the sound is loud, harsh, fatiguing (you get the idea). I guess I shouldn't have expected so much after how bad Vapor Trails sounded. I honestly think that they must have compressed the @#$# out of it. The sound doesn't have highs and lows like it should, it is just constantly "IN YOUR FACE" loud. The vocals could have been focused to the center more, instead they are dispersed to all three channels to the point that they are often too soft in comparison to the crowd.

I guess I was expecting more because they delayed the release of this so much and because they advertised DTS sound which never came to be. I may be alone in my opinion, although I can't imagine that other people haven't noticed this unless they don't have anything to compare it to, or they don't have equipment that makes the inadequecies so obvious. Sorry to vent but I had to say this because I'm shocked that others haven't. I can understand the excitement of Rush releasing their first made for DVD concert making some people overlook the sound, but not all.

 

[Paul.S]

John:

It's certainly not the first time that Amazon has just gotten things, esp. specs., plain ol' wrong. I could cut them some slack on the DTS and anamorphic issues since that may have been in preliminary information sent to them by the distributor. But they also inappropriately list a "Theatrical Release Date," the wrong "Studio" and the wrong "Production Company" (I'm surmising "PGD" is a reference to PolyGram Distribution, which no longer exists).

I wonder if the bit budget would have been a bit better if they had actually mixed it in with the actual concert (a la King Crimson), rather than have it as a seperate thing?

Or Cunning Stunts. For whatever reasons, Metallica had it goin' on WRT DVD over six years ago.

Given what I was told about disc one being stuffed to the gills, I surmise that that would be the offered reason as to why the multi-angle content was not included with the actual concert. I'm also speculating that that's (part of) the reason for no uncompressed, 2-channel PCM stereo track.

-p

 

[Chris Monk]

MattCPT, I agree about the sound. VERY disappointing. I can't believe anyone could say this DVD sounds good. I own around 25 concerts on DVD and this one has the worst sound of all of them. The Dolby Digital track seems to lack any bass whatsoever. The Dolby 2.0 track has quite a bit of bass, but still sounds very compressed. I can only watch 4 or 5 songs until I have to turn it off due to fatigue. Rush is one of my favorite bands as well, so this is very disappointing to me.

 

[MattCPT]

Chris,

Thank you for confirming what I heard. It's really a tremendous injustice because the concert was great. The audience and band were very much into it, and the song list is excellent. I just don't understand how such an amazingly musical and intracate group like Rush could allow for the AUDIO (the most important part) to sound so bad. I agree with the other poster that said he would have given up the extras to provide room for improved video and AUDIO.

 

[Mark Paquette]

Well all of this just sucks! This is like Vapor Trails all over again. I bought the CD and DVD. I've only had a chance to listen to the CD. I thought it sounded decent, but was harsh at times. I guess I won't be expecting much when I spin the DVD.

 

[Mike Broadman]

If you think the CD sounds fine, than I would think the DVD would be the same. I didn't get the CD, but I really do have no problem with the DVD sound. Could it have been better? Yes- spreading the show out to two discs and/or including a DTS track would have helped. But there's plenty of bass as I heard to turn down my sub a bit (which isn't set particularly high normally). The only mix issue is that Ged's vocals are a bit low, but I think he was just competing with the audience. Either way, that doesn't bother me, because his singing ain't what it used to be anyway and I already know all the words.