Cheap Trick: Live in Australia (DVD, 1999)

Great concert video with behind-the-scenes footage included between the songs. Classic line-up playing the classic songs!! I recommend this highly to any Cheap Trick fan! Your collection would not be complete without it.

This DVD has a very good selection of songs, from one of my favorite bands. I was a bit disappointed in a couple of areas:

The production and sound was somewhat uneven- camera shots were sporadic, and the sound was not consistent. This was filmed on a relatively small stage. The performance was very good by tghe band, but the audience did not seem to be very enthusiastic (except for a few of the songs, like "Surrender" and "Aint That a Shame").

I love Cheap Trick, so note the bias up front. That being said, this dvd is great for a number of reasons. This show was shot with probably 6 or more cameras, all good quality from what I remember, so you don't have jarring cuts from a lousy camera to a great one as you find in their "Silver" dvd. There's very good footage of Bun E. and Tom Petersson, who often tend to get visually overshadowed by Rick and Robin. There are a few little vignettes sprinkled throughout the dvd to show the band off stage and taking in Sydney which are humorous. I always thought Australian crowds would be quite rowdy, but this particular crowd made the band work for their money; I think they were even a bit surprised that some of their American crowd pleasers weren't given that immediate enthusiasm that comes with recognizing a song in the first few notes. So, they soldiered on, all of them sweating up a storm and rocking their hearts out. This concert is from the 1988 Lap of Luxury tour, so you get to see Rick in his high jumping, endless energy days. He's really such an amazing guitar player, so effortless and nuanced. Tom gives a wonderful nod to George Harrison's "Within You, Without You" to remind us Rick isn't the only guitarist worth noticing on stage. Most of the editing shows what you want to see when you want to see it (often, music videos get edited by people who are not musicians and/or don't understand which instrument is making which phrase at a given time), but there are a few moments when Rick is soloing and there's an unwanted cut to one of the others for some ill-advised reason. If I could add one thing to this dvd, it would be to have the option of seeing lyrics. The way Robin can beat up his voice with such aggression and then turn around and extend subtlety and beauty in the next breath is what makes him one of the greatest rock singers ever, and Bun E. is an absolute, unrefutable master. There's so much talent, musicianship, friendship, and just enough tension in this group that they are always an extreme pleasure to see, and with this dvd, you can see them again and again until they come to your city.