Bullet In A Bible (Live At Milton Keynes Bowl/Parental Advisory/+DVD) [Digipak] [PA] - Green Day > Reviews > Time of your life

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Captures the energy of Greenday live, includes all thier hits
Disadvantages:	few but If you dont like green day its not for you

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Hopefully by writting this review I will be able to put forward a slightly different view of this DVD / Audio CD combo from green day. Whilst reading the reviews on this site it became apparent that the majority of the reviewers were actually at one of the two Milton Keynes and this is definatly reflected in the way they review the DVD. Most of them, while still loving the DVD, all seem just a little disapointed with it when comparing it to the real thing.

However if you were not one of the lucky 120,000 people to see the show I think its important to have the opinions of other people in the same situation.

As you are probably well aware Green Day are now the biggest Punk band on the planet and one of the most popular music acts from any genre. Thier popularity has been bolstered by the critically acclaimed and multi-million selling latest album American Idiot. This has been generally well recieved by the Green Day faithful and signified a welcome return to form after a some what disapointing Warning LP and a few years of time out.

So with Green Day fever at its hight the band set out on a sold out arena tour of the UK, accumulating with the two Milton Keynes Bowl gigs. At this point I should point out I did manage to see them live in Nottingham earlier in 2005 so I knew what I was hoping to see / hear with this release: and the boys certainly did deliver..........

The DVD itself showcases the gig with the band performing a mixture of current songs from the American Idiot album (holiday, St Jimmy, We are the waiting etc) as well as thier most famous older hots (Basket case, time of your life and minority are just a few). One reviewer has commented that a number of songs failed to reach the DVD cut from the gig, but as far as i can remember from the Nottingham gig, the only missing number was thier cover of Queen's We are the champions. Personally I was not suprised this was cut, maybe due to royalty issues? or because it was thier weakest song on the night.

The major aspect any live DVD needs to capture is the performance of the band itself. Anybody can listen to Green day songs really loud but you can not get the same rush as seeing them rock out for real, after all this is what any band lives for. If they cant whip a crowd up into a freenzy they are not doing thier job properly.

Needless to say Green Day achieved this and I also think the DVD does too. A Green Day stage performance is a TRUE band performace. Each member is a unique character and you cant take your eyes of any of them. Unlike with most other bands that simply have a front man who takes all the attention, with Green day the entire stage really is alive. The energy of the performance is illustrated to the viewer well by constantly changing the camera angle, mainly to accomadate Billy Joe's constant running and jumping, but also to ensure the performance of the ENTIRE band is visable. Further shots of screaming fans and mosh pits also helps you realise the energy and intensity that was created on the night by one of the best live acts around.

One other nice feature I liked about this DVD was the "extras" footage that was sandwiched inbetween songs. These short interludes included interview snippets from the band, backstage rehersals and the views of fans waiting for the gig to start. Overall these were insightful rather than amazing but they did help to set the scene and convay the significance of these gigs. There positioning was the key in this. Rather than placing them in a DVD menu, to be watched as an after thought, they were used to complement the gig and helped to lower the tempo in between more upbeat and ballard style songs.

I think the one moment that symbolises the true greatness of this gig and DVD happens at the very end with the performance of (good Riddance) Time of your life). Now i may be biast as it is my favourite song of all time, but at this point you realise why green day have the following they do. While hearing the entire gig without any suggestion thier signature song will be played everybody knows it will be the final song to end the show with. You can feel the anticipation growing in the crowd. Then when Billy Joe appears alone, with guitar in hand and walks right down to the front of the stage platform (so he's surronded by fans) he delivers one of those performances that sends a tingle down the back of your neck. When you have 60,000 people singing your own song back to you, you realise you must be doing something right......

The DVD also comes with an audio CD of the gig so you can listen to green day on your ipod as well. Not bad really for £15.