Rob Thomas: Something To Be Tour - Live at Red Rocks

Introduction

Knowing exactly where to start to describe 37-year-old singer-songwriter Rob Thomas is quite the question. Because while most people will know him for collaborating with the legendary Carlos Santana on the hit single "Smooth", he's also been uber-successful with his own solo records, and those with his band Matchbox Twenty. He's even in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, having won the Starlight Award in 2004.
 
Thomas likes to call his music a "mish-mash of styles", but it unquestionably has tremendous appeal. While the music is often relatively-basic pop rock, his clever lyrics are what give him that appeal of millions, with every album he's ever recorded with Matchbox Twenty having gone multi-platinum in the USA.
 
This DVD, recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, does indeed contain several of those Matchbox Twenty hits, even though this is a "solo" performance, with his band from his ventures away from the band.



 
 

Video

Video is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen (NTSC, since review copies were supplied from the USA), and is very good for a DVD of this genre.
 
The stage set up is quite dark, with lots of black and purple colours, all of which look good in the transfer. There's no noticeable grain or anything other than mild compression artefacts.
 
Camera-work is excellent, with most of the feature focusing on Thomas (as you'd expect), but hardly ignoring drummer Abe Fogle, guitarist Frank Romano, or any of the other personnel. Thankfully, there are not too many camera changes during songs, a bane of many new releases.



 
 

Audio

There are two audio choices here: Dolby Digital 2.0 and Dolby Digital 5.1.
 
Though the 5.1 is clearly the better of the tracks (so much so that, even in a two-speaker setting, I'd recommend listening to the 5.1), the actual mix of what's going on is not that much different. The 5.1 has the greater sound-space, as you'd expect, and a more greatly-defined bass presence which, for me, is always key to a good 5.1 track.
 
 

Extras

Just one extra, which is the "Streetcorner Symphony" video, also recorded at Red Rocks.
 
 

Main feature

While there's a lot to be said for the quality of the audio and video in concert DVD releases, when it comes down to it, it's all about the music, and "Live at Red Rocks" is a fine modern pop concert.
 
There are some great songs available here, in particular the Thomas solo tracks "This Is How A Heart Breaks" and "Problem Girl", and the David Bowie cover "Let's Dance", but which the glorious exception of the haunting "You Won't Be Mine", the re-worked, mostly stripped down versions of the Matchbox Twenty tracks just do not cut it. "If You're Gone", an excellent track in its original form, is rather tepid, as is "Bent", and most disappointing was the acoustic version of "Smooth", which they shouldn't even have bothered with if they couldn't fly Carlos Santana in for one night. That track cries out for the soaring lead guitar which is absent here.
 
As such, "Live at Red Rocks" can't hold a candle to the other full-length Rob Thomas release, the "A Night in the Life of Matchbox Twenty" which, obviously, featured his regular bandmates. However, if you're a fan of Rob Thomas or the band, you may want to pick this up for his solo track performances.
 
Just don't if you love the Matchbox Twenty originals.