I went into this with an open mind, and really wanted to love the DVD. I did like it, but this is not in my top ten concert DVDs. First, Springsteen does a great job, and the 5.1 sound is superior. However, as pointed out by others the stage lighting – video is very dark at times, with quite a bit of shadows.

I had a hard time finding songs that I just had to hear over and over. The opening song Atlantic City is the best by far, and I found myself disappointed by the “Little House on the Prairie” rendition of Old Man Tucker, which was song number two. A second favorite has to be the bonus track – Love of the Common People. I did not expect “Born to Run”, but the rendition of Blinded by the Light was, well, disappointing.

The band is tight and their music is great – over the top – Horns, Keyboards, Percussion, Guitar, Violin etc.. But, the choice of the Sessions Band vocals just did not cut it for me. I believe Frank Bruno was providing some vocals in an attempt to provide a blues or “Brother Where Art Thou” tone, but in the end was not leaving me wanting to hear more. And, the back up female singers (Patti included), could have been better. Their “Scat” rendition was annoying to me, and the other vocals, just did not match the sound or the vibe of the Band/Music – which was Sensational.

Overall, I liked this DVD, but I did not love it. I will probably not view it a second time.

Rating: 3 / 5

I’m a fan of folk music and classic Springsteen but it was a chore to sit through this DVD. No one can question the musical skill or energy of this performance. The engineering production was also very good.

But the performance was conceptually flawed in my opinion. Most of the folk tunes would have sounded better solo or with a minimal accompaniment. Instead we get a huge band with a huge sound that seemed out of place to me. Simple tunes can easily lose their simple charm under such conditions.

There are some Springsteen classics in the mix. I usually enjoy the retreatment he gives to his classics in a live concert but this time he missed with every single one. Given the other (high) ratings for this DVD I must put all this down to a matter of taste.
Rating: 2 / 5

I am a big fan of Bruce and have seen him in concert multiple times. Additionally, I really enjoy this genre of music (check out “Vision Shared” the story of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly for a truly great DVD and value). That being said, the editing on this DVD is terrible. There isn’t any natural flow and you don’t get the feel of actually being at a concert.

Within a 10 second span you get 5 or 6 different shots in basically this sequence – Medium close up of Bruce Singing, followed by an extreme close up of the drummers hands…back to Bruce and then quickly to the back up singers and then to an extreme close up of hands playing a guitar. The promo for this product talks about how many cameras they used – in this case more is less because all the switching detracts from the DVD.

Bottom line: This isn’t a slam against one of the greatest artists of all time or this type of music but…beware that this DVD is borderline unwatchable.
Rating: 2 / 5