Reviews (2)

JJ is a monster!
Not only do i own the vid, I saw him play the show the night before this taping in the State Theatre, Sydney Australia (gotta be one of the best venues for live music in the world). Anyway, JJ is the MAN! (bit of a pun there if you know his repertoire). He is passion-personified. His musicians are faultless, yet play with soul. The songs leave me speechless (why is this guy so underrated?) and his arrangements are brilliant. "Nineteen Forever" is tooooo much...."Slow Song"-I thought the version on his "1980-1986" live cd was the best thing I'd ever heard until I saw him do this extremely different version - you have to hear both versions to appreciate this, make sure you hear the "1980-86" version first!!!!! Another reviewer somewhere in Listmania stated how he has seen this song make grown men burst into tears. Yep!! In closing, there are two musical acts that after having seen them in concert, I can now die happy - one is the unrateable Pink Floyd, the other is this absolute monster of the perfect song, JOE JACKSON!

SURPRISINGLY Great. What a group .Sounds great
This was a most surprisingly great music-vid I have heard in many a year. This performance is top notch.The Drummer is a gal..(who knew?) and she really knows her stuff. This is almost a better performance than the other main artist like Elton John present.Don't let the name fool you. I rented this one time, and went back to try and rent-lose-pay, just to own it.It was gone.(someone did it first)! I went to all local stores and rentals- it wasn't there. Here is the only place it is and at a great price. I guess you already know I'm buying it. I highly recommend this. Now it's MINE ... Read more

Reviews (1)

CLASSIC CONCERT FOOTAGE OF THIS GREAT MUSICIAN
I saw this video a few years ago and it is fantastic. If it ever becomes available, I highly recommend it. A great musician who transcends several types of music. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Live-studio Joe
If you are not familiar with the way 'Big World' was made, it was done in front of a 'live audience' that was apparently asked to behave like this was being recorded in a 'live studio' and NOT to act like a bunch of typical concert-going idiots. This was pulled off very well (wish all concerts could be like this!), and the performance by Joe and the band was great. They chose some great songs to be on this video ('Right and Wrong', 'Soul Kiss', 'Hometown') and some losers ('Big World', 'Man on the Street'). The ending balance is on the positive side, as the experience of seeing this man is great.

JJ is one different kind of guy, and Big World took place at a crucial point in his career. To me, it was a CD that stretched and flexed his musical abilities, yet did not 'sound' as commercially appealling as the more successful CD's that preceded this one. The end result was one of the most exciting and satisfying things that JJ ever did. And this video caught the essence of the whole 'Big World' experience for what it was.
I got it as a gift some time ago, but still pull it out to see 'The Man'. ... Read more

Description

Expertly blending the grooves of pop, easy listening, and jazz, Joe Jackson has crafted countless unforgettable tunes over the past two and a half decades. Join him for a special, celebratory evening filled with song as Joe sings and jams out on his piano, making this one anniversary you'll never forget. Songs: Hell of a Town, You Can't Get What You Want ('Til You Know What You Want), Happyland, Stranger Than You, Another World, Is She Really Going Out with Him?, Real Men, Stranger Than Fiction, Glamour & Pain, Target. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Don't let them put you off
Frankly I'm not sure what some of these reviewers are on about... I'm only glad I didn't let them deter me from buying this dvd.

artistically driven
I believe the artistic way the DVD was filmed and the cut to interviews gave us an understanding of Joe and his brillance as an musical artist. Great show!!! I loved it.

big disappointment
Sorry, this isn't really a concert, it's some songs interupted by interviews. There's barely a complete song on the whole DVD. The interviews are actually very interesting. Joe Jackson is one of those people who never settles into a rut. I always like to hear his opinions, he's a real free thinker. I just wish there were some complete songs on this DVD. Also, the recording quality of this DVD is almost poor. All I can figure is that the recording companies are afraid that if the DVD is too good, people won't but the cds. I have a couple "live" DVDs where all the songs are interupted by interviews. I saw one show from this tour and the sound was just stunning. I think Joe must put a lot of effort into rehearsing and getting his sound "just right" for live shows. Too bad that more of his music didn't make it to this DVD.

This could have been a better DVD
I'am a big Joe Jackson fan, and I saw him on tour 6 times. This DVD is good, because it contains an interesting interview with JJ, because it has a section with The Man himself reading a chapter of his book "A cure for gravity", and because the "Nigh and day II" songs are well played.

Unfortunately, on the musical side, this DVD contains only part of a show and not all the songs are equally well arranged. The musicians are really good, (expecially the delightful Allison Cornell, which is a talented artist), but there are songs that heavily suffer from the lack of a guitar in the group (expecially "You can't get what you want"). The "night and day II" songs are well played (astounding the vocals from Allison on "Glamour and pain") but the other (few) songs are not arranged in their best form.

I think that, given the huge JJ production along the years, this DVD has too much missing material.

Besides that, the continuous sound of percussions (not a Sue Adjoupulous fault, obviously) gives each song a very similar flavour (even where it isn't fitting, like on "Real men"), and this is a little annoyng.

I am glad to hear that JJ is now on the road with a drum/bass/guitar/piano line-up.

So .. if you already know Joe Jackson this DVD is for you, but if you are new to the man try the "Live in Tokyo" tour(VHS or DVD) or the "Laughter and lust" tour (VHS), instead of this.

[Living in Europe I have a complaint to do: why the DVD "Live in Tokyo" from the "Big world" tour is not out coded for region 2, too?]

Why is this so bad?
This is just an awful DVD. For starters, the sound quality is inexcusable and represents absolutely no production care or effort whatsoever - think bootleg quality (one fave part of mine takes place in the second verse of Real Man when Jackson is playing the piano and you hear all band and absolutely no piano, none). If that weren't enough, the video quality is inconsistent and poor. Finally, the content is so limited that in the end you're sure that you've ended up with the salvaged parts of a failed production effort; one which should have been scrapped.

I saw this tour in San Francisco and thought it was mediocre to begin with. I was prejudiced though: One year prior I saw Jackson at the Bottom Line in New York where he played only with Burke and Maby, parked his butt behind a piano, and gave one of the best live performances I've ever seen (that mini-tour is captured on the Summer In The City:Live In New York CD).

A concert on DVD can be nothing short of spectacular: James Taylor's Live From the Beacon, Dave Matthews Band's Listener Supported, and many others take full advantage of this incredible medium to use unprecedented sound and video quality to create a truly unique experience for the viewer. Why then are there so many horrible concert DVDs? Because some concert DVDs are about a process dedicated to capturing the live experience and therefore consider elements such as appropriate equipment, great sound production, video production, lighting, direction, editing, mastering, and other things which cost money. Other DVDs are just about getting the artist onto a DVD as cheaply as possible to make some quick cash. Nobody is asking for producers to break out Scorcese and crank out another Last Waltz, but if anyone thinks consumers aren't going to see through the process of showing up midtour and filming a few nights of a band's performance without further forethought or preparation, well then, they're just wrong.

(...) ... Read more