There was a time when a concert film was a huge undertaking, requiring the placement of heavy film cameras, months of post-event sound mixing, editing of footage and, most of all, an artistic vision. This was the process that spawned “Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace, Music and Love.”
However, with the increased sophistication of digital technologies, the recording industry is now proud to bring you a not-so-very-special DVD release of Linkin Park live in concert.
There is nothing particularly bad about the DVD or the matching live album that comes with it — Linkin Park puts on a good show, after all — yet there is nothing particularly good about the double disc set either. As a media-based culture, we’ve become so jaded by the barrage of televised concerts, music specials, high-definition flat screens and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound that this concert DVD just seems like another DVD of some random television special.
The DVD doesn’t break much new ground because the shots basically repeat this same pattern: Moving from a close-up of one of the band members, to the lead singer, to the crowd, to the band as a whole and back to a close-up again. After about five minutes it becomes increasingly tedious.
To the credit of the DVD producers, the 5.1 digital surround sound is spectacular, and you can hear every note so beautifully that the crowd seems to be right in your living room. Also, DVD director Kimo Proudfoot shows glimpses of vision, but these are drowned out by zooming long shots and the pre-fab mass-production of the rest of the concert.
Linkin Park performs admirably, trying their best to look hard-core and playing their hits and standards to the adoring crowds. Yes, that’s right: crowds, plural. “Live in Texas” is not actually one concert as it is made to appear, but the combination of two separate events. Sure, they are live in Houston — but they are live in Irving, Texas, as well.
Aside from the illusion created by the DVD, the “live album” barely sounds live because the music seems a little too pristine for a live recording. There are few of the slip-ups or moments of spontaneous genius that make live music such a treat, and consequently this album has no soul. The music comes across as slow and lethargic, and the tracks drag along ploddingly toward the end.
Because this is a concert and not a new studio album, the band plays only old songs, not willing (or possibly able) to dip their toes into some new water for the live experience. What is surprising is how poorly such hits as “One Step Closer” have held up, and what this album’s set makes most apparent is how similar one Linkin Park song is to the next.
The record industry has made a concerted effort to make supplemented music releases available in order to combat music piracy, but if this is the best they can do then I doubt anyone will drop $22.99 on a double-disc set with the same old songs.
Basically, the entire project is a scam. If you’re a big Linkin Park fan, you already own these songs and they don’t sound all that different live due to post-production. But, if you’re desperate enough to see the DVD, run down to your local rental store and pick it up for a few bucks on a rainy Sunday. Just don’t bother going any further to support such ghastly artistic attempts.