Review of Corrs, The: Live At Lansdowne Road

Introduction

I was supposed to be travelling to Newcastle last month to see The Corrs in concert. Unfortunately that show and the remainder of the UK tour were postponed because Andrea Corr had an ear infection and was advised by her doctor to take two weeks off.

Consequently, I`ve got to wait until April to see the group in concert :(

To console myself, I slid "The Corrs: Live at Lansdowne Road" into my DVD player and settled down at home instead.

Featuring an introduction, 18 tracks and a credit roll, the concert runs for 87 minutes and features a good selection of the band`s material, although nothing from the latest album.

Video

The video comes in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and is of excellent standard throughout the concert and shows no signs of dirt or grain.

Visually, surprisingly enough the show consists of the four band members on stage and various shots of the 50,000 strong crowd. The band have good stage presence and the footage is well edited so that the camera isn`t picturing the same thing for too long, giving a polished feel to the production - rather than the tedious static long-shots seen on some convert films. There`s plenty of crowd photography and numerous aerial shots to add to the atmosphere. The concert starts early in the evening when it is light, and ends at night in the dark.

The truth is that the producers would have to be totally inept not to be able to produce interesting visualy with the members of The Corrs and of course, the footage is very pleasing to the eye.

Audio

Audio comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is superb. The music and vocals sound great, with all channels being used to recreate the soundstage in your living room.

The tracklisting is not particularly different from the other two Corrs DVDs "Unplugged" and "Live at the Albert Hall", but the music on this DVD is better than the Albert Hall concert and the show is fantastic from start to finish.

Features

Unusually for a music release, we actually have some extras!

First of all there`s the promo video for the first single from the "In Blue" album - "Breathless" which is a great song, produced by the midas-touch Mutt Lange - this track comes in Linear PCM stereo and full-frame but looks and sounds good.

Next are two tracks from Fleadh 2000 - "Irresistible" and "No More Cry", again full-frame and Linear PCM stereo but non-the-worse for it.

Finally there is a 25 minute documentary "The Corrs - In Blue".

Conclusion

This is a great DVD. Fans of the band will love it and will be thoroughly entertained. The music of course is very good, and it is performed very well with plenty of energy and enthusiasm.

Very good visuals and audio quality plus some good extras make this a recommended addition to any music DVD collection.

Now if only April wasn`t so far away, I`d be watching them for real...