Vans Warped Tour 2007 (Image Entertainment DVD)
Picture: C- Sound: C Extras: C- Concert: C-
The thing about concert
DVDs is that whether or not you like them depends entirely on whether or not
you like the bands. Well with the Vans Warped Tour, you generally know
what you’re in for, and this disc doesn’t disappoint. Of the 83 bands that traveled on the tour,
this release includes performances from Avenged Sevenfold, Bad Religion,
Chiodos, Circa Survive, Coheed and Cambria, Killswitch Engage, Fishbone,
Pennywise, Pepper, The Starting Line, and Sum 41. Of these, Fishbone is one
band that stands out as unusual. Amongst
a sea of metal, punk, and emo bands, Fishbone has a bluesy reggae-funk vibe
that stands out like… well… a black guy at a metal concert.
The feature flips back
and forth between concert footage and interviews with the bands. The extra features are composed of (drum-roll
please) more concert and interview footage!
Early on in the feature, the motion graphics artist took some liberties
to try to spice things up. Honestly
though, it just ends up looking like Sesame
Street set to punk. Plus, there’s an
inherent contradiction when there’s an anarchy symbol being drawn on the screen
while someone’s being bleeped in an interview.
The concert footage is
well executed with a variety of shots to keep the eye busy while hardcore tunes
rage in the background, and the picture quality ranges back and forth from
showing how good video can look to pointing out its limitations in open-air, documentary
shooting. The picture is in full screen
format. The sound is adequate, but
certainly not as clear as it could be.
It is formatted in your choice of Dolby Digital 2.0 or 5.1.
If you like the bands
on the disc and weren’t able to make it to Warped Tour yourself, I’d say go
ahead and buy this release. While I
might be wary of its replay value, hardcore fans shouldn’t have much to worry
about.
- Matthew Carrick
