Product: Bond - Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2001)
Rating: 4.0
Bond live
I finally got around to renting Bond's dvd "Live at the Royal Albert Hall". I have been a big fan of the classical/pop quartet for almost five years now. I unfortunately had other prior engagments around the time of their concert last year and had to miss seeing them live so I had to see what they were like live (sort of).Their performance at the Royal Albert Hall was their debut live performance back in 2001. I will start with the two flaws I found with the dvd. The production on the dvd sounded awfully like the music came from the studio as opposed to a live performance. In other words, the allegedly live dvd did not exactly sound 'live' per say. This cheapens the band's reputation as a band if the performance dvd sounds much too polished. The second flaw with the dvd is that I could not tell if I was hearing the girls play their stringed instruments of if that was the orchestra. Including other musicians playing stringed instruments drowned out the girls' playing.With that aside, I found the performance engergetic and invigorating unlike a lot of rock bands nowadays. The girls showed a lot of enthusiasm towards performing which I don't see in a lot of rock bands today who just stand there on the stage and play their bloody instruments. I just loved how excited the girls were to be performing live. A lot of rock bands today could learn a thing or two about showing a little more enthusiasm towards performing from them.I loved all of the songs but I especially loved the band's cover of the "Dallas" theme song. I wished that was included on any of their albums. It had that huge epic sound that I have always loved. My other favorite song they performed was the sweeping ballad "Belladonna". Just a beautiful song.The bonus footage was pretty minimal. I liked the interviews and the two videos for "Viva" and "Wintersun". What no "Victory"? If and when the band puts out another live dvd, I sure hope the sound quality is more convincing that what I heard on this dvd. All in all, I did enjoy this dvd despite its flaws.