Festival 2005 DVD - My initial thoughts

Started by nausearockpig, December 01, 2006, 13:35:57

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nausearockpig

Well....I just sat through the entire The Cure Festival 2005 DVD and thought I would rate it song by song for you all... I'm not sure that you're dying to hear what I think but this may be an interesting topic for others to comment on:

Some of these are comments, some are initial feelings - others are feelings at the end of the songs..you get the idea...

01. Open - this is missing "something". I really think this needs another guitar...I miss the little guitar bits that make this song one of my top 10
02. Fascination Street - Pretty Damn Good
03. alt.end - Great. This version opened my ears to this song. Especially the bassline.
04. The Blood - ACE!!
05. A Night Like This -  I've never really liked this song.. and this version shows me why. This sounds bland. The sound of the "lead" in the original sounds dated and here the whole thing does nothing for me. Shame because in the context of THOTD it works for me...
06. The End Of The World - COOL!
07. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep - Porl on the acoustic!! Magic!!
08. The Kiss - Garage. Imagine Nirvana playing this song...
09. Shake Dog Shake - Hot Dawg, Hot!!
10. Us Or Them - Nasty, tasty goodness...What's with Robert's eyes at the beginning....
11. Never Enough - ROCKIN'!!!!
12. The Figurehead - Majestic.
13. A Strange Day - The Bass is ACE!!!
14. Push - Fun!! See Robert & Porl chatting away. Later on in the song there's a "perfect boy-band shot" where you can see from right to left the head of Simon's bass, the head of Robert's guitar and the head of Porl's guitar all lined up and "dancing" together. Hilarious...
15. Just Like Heaven - I thought this would suck as I am so over hearing it. But this electric version ROCKS!!
16. In Between Days - see 15. Just Like Heaven + Porl's keyboard sounds on guitar are perfect.
17. From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea - See 01. Open.. Something missing again. Dunno what, but there's a hole. No amount of Porl smashing the life out of his guitar for the solo will make it right for me...don't get me wrong that was a great solo, the whole band is excellent in this, there's just a little something niggling away at me here....
18. The Drowning Man - See 12. The Figurehead
19. Signal To Noise - COOL! FUN!!
20. The Baby Screams - He's right: I "couldn't ask for more..."
21. One Hundred Years - Captivating. Maybe it was the lights -  I doubt it though..
22. Shiver And Shake - Frantic, Frenetic, Fantastic
23. End - Average @ best. See 01. Open and 17. From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
24. At Night - Loud, Quiet, Loud = TOPS!
25. M - @ first I hated the M solos on this tour, now I like..
26. Play For Today - Who needs keys when you have this audience??
27. A Forest - 3 Piece, 4 piece, 5 piece or 6 piece. This song will always be amazing.
28. Plainsong - No keyboard required. A fresh interpretation. Get over it.
29. Disintegration - Captivating, even with the wrong words and a couple of bum notes....
30. Faith - Jaw-droppingly good. Has there ever been a bad version of this song.. Awesome, truly Awesome. Shame about the picture though...
Credits - Creepycool

There you have it: My humble opinion.
All comments, questions, insults and compliments welcome!!

Descent

It's funny you're mainly reviewing the 'audio' part of the dvd (with the versions of the songs). By habit I suppose.  ;)

On the first viewing, I didn't like the dvd very much. But then it grew on me. Here are some thoughts :

I think it's a shame they chose Open from Istanbul at the beginning of the dvd. I don't like too much the way it's filmed. So it's hard to get into the mood right away. Then Fascination Street video is quite awful with all these video layers and effects added... Fortunately, it improves with the songs and the fact that there are lots of different views and different image quality that change on each song makes the whole thing quite dynamic in the end (as opposed to the same 10 cameras and a repetitive film). I quite even like the far away camcorder shots. The sound is great as you said.

The highlights for me are :

A Strange Day (way better than Trilogy !!!!), Push, The Drowning Man, 100 Years (fantastic really), At Night, Faith. These are really making the purchase of this worth it.

There are less interesting things but overall it's a good release in my opinion. I'm glad to own it. :rocker

nausearockpig

yeah point taken. i realised later on that even though the release is a video, I mainly commented on the audio... :oops: i guess though that the reason for this is that for me the change in line-up drastically changes the sound of the band, - of course it changes the look of the band, but that's not what I listen to...

overall i was surprised by all the crazy effects and stuff, mainly because Orange and Show were such picture perfect and clear vids... i would have preferred just plain images rather than all the effects used but then i'm sure that there are people out there who love all of the different vids.. I guess if it was up to me, i would have done it differently but then again the credits of the vid don't say "Robert Smith & Javier"  :cry:


cult_hero

this dvd is a complete waste of time and money!
i saw a few tracks last week. i had to stop watching it cos i couldn't stand it. 

it's the first cure item i'm not interested in. i won't buy it - not today, tomorrow or whenever. and i'm glad that my girlfriend won't give it to me as a christmas gift cos she also dislikes it.  :smth001
for me it's some kind of a sad documentation of how the cure became live - boring, spiritless, no magic anymore. :smth015

the technical side of the dvd is also no masterpiece (but fits very well to the cure 2005/06). i think everyone with a little bit experience and tmpg dvd author can make it.

the changes of the location during a song, the additional mixed in applause, the changes of the aspect ratio and plainsong as an encore - very embarrassing. :smth011

but if you like it enjoy it!  ;)

curiosa

just finished watching the dvd and ....

i don't care if they put the songs in the wrong order ("plainsong" as encore)
i don't care if they've added some (or more) overdubs
i don't care that they change the location during the songs
i don't care if they didn't use keyboards

yes they should have included "10.15" and "killing an (whatever)" but ...

i think this is a perfect example of how a live-dvd should be:
rough, not perfect but catching all the exitement a cure-concert is all about
i've seen them many times since 1980, there may have been better concerts but they've aged (as we all do) and they are still doing great shows and this dvd shows them at their best nowadays
i love it, i enjoy the sound and i hope everyone who loves the cure will enjoy it too

curiosa :rocker

ps: keep checking http://www.audiri.com/seconds/

Descent

Quote from: cult_hero on December 02, 2006, 13:35:51
for me it's some kind of a sad documentation of how the cure became live - boring, spiritless, no magic anymore. :smth015

I'm sorry you think that. I agree everything they played wasn't absolutely perfect but in my opinion there are nice moments on the dvd. As I said, I didn't like it right away. I hope your girlfriend will find another nice gift for you then.  :)

As for the magic on stage, if I wanted to be extreme I'd say that a lot of it had gone since 1990... I think I watched "Show" like 2 or 3 times, some European 1996 shows (towards the end of the tour) were lousy and very boring too, without mentioning the 1998 disaster. On the new dvd, you can see Robert and Porl enjoying themselves really. It's better than posing and feeling nothing while playing.

The video effects are quite decent most of the times.  8) I like the ones on 100 Years and At Night (the discoloration at some point). I still think the end of FS is a bit too much and dislike A Signal To Noise (ugly). But it's interesting and gives a lively side to the image. But maybe in a few years time, these will be seen so incredibly old fashioned... :lol:


cult_hero

Quote from: Descent on December 02, 2006, 22:47:32
...without mentioning the 1998 disaster.

i'd rather watch e. g. bizarre 1998 10 times in a row than just one more track from the 2005 tour.  ;)

maybe my girlfriend will donate me a t-shirt with porl on it?

bluewater

too much colour..
i still complain about the ac3 stereo soundtrack, it´s hard to get it sound right
on a stereo system, pcm soundtrack would´ve been better

it´s a psychedelic rock group, not the beatiful sadness goth group
call it a sacrilege then
i like it

-bw
Life's too short to listen to lossy music

Bloodflower9

I don't own the Festival DVD -- yet! -- so I can't comment on the video, and I can't comment on most of the songs. I can comment on Plainsong. I've got a copy of this (which I'll be deleting when I've got the DVD, in a week or so) and I have to say that I loved it. It's bolder and more daring than anything the Cure has done since Wild Mood Swings. It's not technically perfect, but I think it's damned cool to hear the guitar playing the keyboard bits. I can't help but smile like an idiot when I hear it, because I immediately think, every time, "This is it. This is the Cure that I love." I love Bloodflowers, I very much enjoy The Cure, but neither of those records were very adventurous. Plainsong is, and I love it to death for that.

That is all.

louis

eh Be! I find that this dvd is simply well, it shows what are ' THE CURE' now, a group which makes sing the guitars and they do it well!!!! on the other hand I think that only one concert would have been better than this compilation of images but the group wanted to pay homage to the fans who moved for them..... the manner of filming the images are surprising at the beginning but remain cool!!!! the return of PORL is beneficial for the future of the group (especially on scene) this object is simply essential for us the fans.......

:smth001 :smth001 :smth001

Descent


Dillinger

can someone tell me what song is used at the title screen? i just remember think "ahh yes ___ is a great track, i need to d/l it for my cure compilation"

japanesebaby

Quote from: farquad92 on December 09, 2006, 22:07:11
can someone tell me what song is used at the title screen? i just remember think "ahh yes ___ is a great track, i need to d/l it for my cure compilation"

play for today...
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine

tram71

*copies and pastes nausearockpig's song list*

*hopes he doesn't mind*

Well, this is my first post here on the boards, so...hello and here is goes.

01. Open - Sounds good, considering it's missing the 3rd guitar, perhaps they should have used a different version - their performance of this song at Live 8 sounded really good...
02. Fascination Street - Sounds pretty good, Porl's guitar needed to be slightly louder though IMO.
03. alt.end - I didn't really care much for the last Cure album, but this version is really nice.
04. The Blood - Wow. Porl totally owns those leads. I cringe at the thought of what they would have sounded like if Bamonte had tried to play them.
05. A Night Like This - Pretty good, the performance was tight.
06. The End Of The World - See #3.
07. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep - Nice. Porl making some sweet sounds on the acoustic...
08. The Kiss - I liked it, but since there were no keys, Porl's guitar should have been louder.
09. Shake Dog Shake - Best sounding live version since In Orange.
10. Us Or Them - This one has yet to grow on me...
11. Never Enough - Tight as hell. Nice. Porl even manages to change his outfit WHILE he plays :-D
12. The Figurehead - So, so good. Very moving...
13. A Strange Day - see #12.
14. Push - This is the best version I have EVER heard of this song (aside from the studio version) - I've seen them play this song with the previous line-up, and Perry's guitar never sounded quite right to me...
15. Just Like Heaven - Porl doing all of the keyboard parts PLUS his guitar leads? Oh yes.
16. In Between Days - Keyboard? What keyboard?
17. From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea - Pretty sweet. Porl's guitar sounds completely otherworldly.
18. The Drowning Man - Everything they play from the 1980 - 1982 period just completely shines. Awesome.
19. Signal To Noise - I always liked this song, so it's even better with Porl...
20. The Baby Screams - YES!
21. One Hundred Years - See #12 again...so amazing.
22. Shiver And Shake - So, so much goodness...I'm starting to repeat myself.
23. End - It's good. They're definitely feeling the music. Although I do wish Robert would sing "Please stop loving me" instead of "......Stop loving me".
24. At Night - See #18.
25. M - See #18 again.
26. Play For Today - Oh yeah, this version of the Cure is such a dull live act  :roll:, that's why they can move an entire audience to sing a keyboard melody - and in key, no less.
27. A Forest - I've heard many, many versions of this song. This one is one of the best.
28. Plainsong - SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I really can't understand the hate. Smith's 6 string bass sounded a little "floppy", but I bet you this one sounded f*cking huge in the ampitheatre/stadium/wherever. It sounds pretty full on the DVD to me.
29. Disintegration - Good. I was hoping that Porl was going to be playing the verse riffs, but then Robert saved it for the end.
30. Faith - Of all the times I've seen them, I have never seen them play this one in person, and the only other times I've heard or seen a live version is on the In Orange film and on some bootlegs from 1981. And this version is just as amazing as the one on In Orange. This is the only time in the entire DVD where I was annoyed by the camerawork/effects. Breathtaking scenery though, it's just that I didn't need to see just that for the entire song  :-D

So yeah, The Cure sound vibrant and energetic once again. I'm so happy that the sense of urgency and importance that has been lacking since 1995 has returned to their music - Jason Cooper even sounds like he's finally found his pocket. I am overjoyed that one of my absolute favorite bands of all time feels this important to me once again, as I really did stop caring after the last album.

japanesebaby

Quote from: tram71 on January 17, 2007, 00:53:52Porl even manages to change his outfit WHILE he plays :-D
:-D   so how come some people still keep saying he's boring?  :rocker

Quote from: tram71 on January 17, 2007, 00:53:52
04. The Blood - Wow. Porl totally owns those leads. I cringe at the thought of what they would have sounded like if Bamonte had tried to play them.
:?
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine