Music dvd review: Apocalyptica - Life Burns Tour
You need to know that I am a huge fan of Apocalyptica before you read this review. It will probably make it more coloured than it should be. I really need to fight not to write some squeeing fangirl article. But damn, what an amazing band!
DVD menu
The menu looks gorgeous. Very much Apocalyptica. On the left side live footage is showed in slow motion. And on the right the menu-options (Play concert; Setlist; Audiosetup; Extra’s.) are presented in the upper right quarter of a skull.
Concert
Of course the concert starts with the classic black and white ‘before the show’ intro. Followed by the name of the band and tour. During the first track the guys seem somewhat more nervous than usual. And it seems a bit too rehearsed. But as the music gets rougher, the guys get more relaxed and during Somewhere Around Nothing any tension that could be seems has vanished. Heat opens with fireworks, which isn’t the Apocalyptica as I know it. The never use fancy tricks like this during their gigs and they don’t need it. Also it doesn’t seem to give the gig something extra. The band plays fantastic as usual. Adding a drummer to the band is the best decision Apocalyptica could make. It gives extra power to the music and Mikko is a great presence on stage (not to mention that he is the fastest drummer I’ve ever seen). The band returns pretty fast for an encore after Inquisition symphony to play three more songs. And the last, of course, being Grieg’s Hall of the mountain King. I swear that they play that one faster each year!
Concluding: It was a great gig, but I still think they will never top the one, which was a rehearsal for this DVD, for me. I cannot understand how anyone can be numb to this music, so powerful and so full of emotion.
Concert registration
Mainly in the beginning the stage lights are a real nuisance. Due to them and the shot angles it is sometimes hard to see anything. Fortunately that is corrected during the second track. The camera angles change a lot. Too much actually. But after a while you get used to it and the switching is better adapted to the music and what happens on stage as the concert progresses. The same goes for the numerous useless close-ups and zoomed out shots. When you buy a live DVD you want to see the band play, not the complete audience and the band barely. Or just a hand holding a bow. But this too is lessened half way through the second track.
During the third track the camera has truly discovered Mikko, which results in lots and lots of awesome Mikko shots throughout the entire concert. All members are shown equally as much, except maybe Antero. It is no longer an Eicca-show as it was on the 2001 live DVD.
Extra's
The extra’s contain a video of the tour through North America, which pieces of interview and gigs, the making of the video for the new single Repressed featuring Max Cavalera and Matt Tuck and a video collection. This collection holds seven video’s of original Apocalyptica tracks, which looks like another way to say goodbye to de covering days of the band, except during gigs as Eicca has said. These are the featured video’s: Bittersweet ft. Ville Valo & Lauri Ylönen, Life Burns ft. Lauri Ylönen, Wie weit ft. Marta Jándova, Faraway vol.2 ft. Linda Sundblad, Somewhere around nothing, Seemann (rammstein cover) ft. Nina Hagen and Repressed ft. Max Cavalera & Matt Tuck. The tour film and video's are a nice addition to the DVD, but Apocalyptica is still more a live band than anything else.Verdict: Love the band, like the DVD. It is worth the money. But it is nothing compared to real Apocalyptica gig.