Review of Cheap Trick: Silver

Introduction

Cheap Trick are a "stadium rock" band who were formed in 1975, and like most other similar bands, were successful in the late 1970s and faded away in the 1980s only to get a new lease of life in the mid-late 1990s. This DVD features a 25th anniversary concert performed on 28th August 1999 in their home town of Rockford Illinois.

The concert contains 29 tracks, spanning the group`s career, along with a bonus commentary, discography, a look behind the scenes, a photo gallery along with fan and merchandise information.

Video

The video is presented in full-frame and is of above average quality, aside from some "handycam" footage at the start which is a little grainy.

Apart from that, there is little that I can say about the visuals - this is standard concert footage, with the members of the band singing and playing their respective instruments in front of a fairly basic lighting show and enthusiastic crowd.

Audio

Sound comes in either stereo or "True Surround 5.1" delivered via the Dolby Digital 5.1 channel. Both sound mixes are good, but I preferred the 5.1 mix which is a little smoother.

As far as the music goes, the band put in a powerful performance of their songs and the music is good old fashioned rock with plenty of guitar and drums. There are plenty of good tracks amongst the 29 included on the DVD, but although I like rock music, Cheap Trick are a little bland at times for me, and a concert that runs for over 2 hours was hard going after a while. Of course I`ll happily watch two hours of a band I really like - so fans of Cheap Trick (who in truth are the only ones likely to buy this DVD) will be delighted with this performance

Features

The bonus commentary is not as you might think an audio commentary, but instead a 26 minute documentary featuring interviews with the band and footage of them playing. The behind the scenes is a 4 minute featurette set to music. Fan & Merchandise info simply shows a couple of addresses in America, and the discography features the band`s albums and shows covers and track listings. The photo gallery shows a number of images of the band playing the concert and the crowd.

The menus are basic but very easy to navigate.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a well presented DVD which features a very good performance from Cheap Trick. Fans of the band will not be disappointed, but obviously anyone who isn`t keen on "stadium rock" will find the 29 tracks a little hard going after a while.

The extras are reasonable for a music DVD and the sound and video are both above average.