The Shadows – The Final Tour
Picture: B-
Sound: B Extras: C Concert: B
The Shadows have been their own band for most of their
existence, yet they also had their period where they had British Pop phenomenon
Cliff Richards as their lead singer.
Yes, that was them made up as SuperMarionation puppets in the Thunderbirds
Are Go! Feature film reviewed elsewhere on this site. All of them play instruments and sing, but
they decided in 2004 to end public performances, so there they are live in The
Final Tour. Drummer/Percussionist
Brian Bennett, Lead Guitarist Bruce Welch and Rhythm Guitarist Hank Marvin are
joined by keyboardist Cliff Hall and Bass Guitarist Mark Griffiths for a 135
minutes-long program that includes:
1) Apache
Intro
2) Riders
In The Sky
3) The
Frightened City
4) Theme
For Young Lovers
5) Peace
Pipe
6) The
Savage
7) Let Me
Be The One
8) The
Stranger
9) Kon-Tiki
10) Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)
11) Dance On
12) Nivram
13) Lady Of The Morning
14) My Home Town
15) Guitar Tango
16) Geronimo
17) Sleepwalk
18) 36-24-36
19) Shazam
20) Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
21) Equinoxe V
22) Mountains Of The Moon
23) Shadoogie
24) Gonzales
25) Don’t Make My Baby Blue
26) The Rise & Fall Of Flingel Bunt
27) Atlantis
28) Shindig
29) Man Of Mystery
30) Foot Tapper
31) Please Don’t Tease
32) In The Country (not
the Three Dog Night hit)
33) I Could Easily Fall
34) The Day I Met Marie
35) Gee Whiz It’s You
36) Summer Holiday
37) Bachelor Boy
38) Little B
39) Theme From The Deer Hunter
40) Wonderful Land
Most of the performances are terrific, though I wished The
Deer Hunter theme did not sound like a distant rehash. The all-time classic deserves a livelier
rendition. Otherwise, the set is
remarkably consistent and reminds us the one-of-a-kind British phenomenon they
were on their own in the long run. It
seems like everyone is having a farewell tour, which has become a spoof of
itself, but The Shadows never sold out and the playlist proves it.
The anamorphically enhanced 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 image is not
bad and recent, showing the band on stage complemented by the usual assortment
of limited-color stage lighting. The
other winner here beside the show is the sound. Eagle Vision continues to release dozens of their titles in DTS
and this is another 5.1 winner in that format.
You can tell this was conceived for such playback and it is not too
often that this kind of music gets this kind of treatment. The only extra on the DVD is a 45 minutes
interview segment where the band talks about their career and history, but it
is a good one. Even Cliff Richards
shows up. A paper foldout insert inside
the DVD case with text by Malcolm Campbell is short, but informative. This is another solid concert disc. Hope we get more like it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
