Iron Maiden Rock in Rio DVD review wanted
 

I'd especially like a comparison to their Raising Hell DVD. But also a normal review to see if its worth getting. Thanks.

http://www.ironmaiden.com.br/gfx/dvd_1.jpg

RiR
 

I picked it up the other day and I have watched almost the entire thing. The picture is amazing, and the concert is treated very much like a movie, opening with shots in and around Rio, the fans entering the stadium as soon as the doors open and running to get front row, and finally the dramatic intro to their headlining show (I think the orchestral music played is from the movie First Knight, whatever it is, it sounds fantastic). I'll get to how the concert sounds in a minute.

The second disc is loaded with extras. You can pick a band member to follow around on his day off, each one doing his own thing. You can also follow the entire band around on the day of the concert to see what they experience as well. There is also a photo gallery with 56 photos taken during Maiden's South American tour in January 2001, all commentated on by famous metal photographer Ross Halfin, but I found his commentary to be a bit boring, and he seems to be totally in love with Steve Harris! Also, there are at least 6 Easter Egg clips that I have found so far, some being VERY funny. Try to find the one with a guy doing shadow puppets with his hands.

Ok, back to the concert. They do something like 18 songs, many from the 90s, and for some strange reason, the two soundtracks provided are 5.1 Dolby and DTS, exclusively. So there is no 2.0 stereo track. If you only have stereo on your setup, the sound will slightly dip occassionally when forced to use the 5.1 soundtrack. Its not a huge deal but it is noticeable, and after all the release delays in North America, I wish a 2.0 soundtrack was an option. The songs sound great, and its really cool to see Dickinson performing some of the Blaze era stuff (Sign of The Cross!), he sounds perfect.

My only other gripe would be the packaging. I have never seen DVDs held in cases with foam in the center hole before, but that is the case here. It definitely provides for a high potential for scratching. The rest of the packaging has terrific artwork though, they even got Eddie's face on the Brazilian flag!

I'm very happy with it and recommend it.

Full frame, letterbox or anamorphic?

Re: RiR
 

Ah, that explains it. I was wondering if I possibly had a faulty disc. Although, for me, it's actually worse than just dips in sound. Throughout the show, I get periodic crackling pops of distortion, usually when Bruce is hitting the high notes. I'm planning on making the DTS upgrade sometime in the near future, so I'll just have to hope the problem goes away then.

6 Easter Eggs? I only noticed two. Guess I'll have to try harder.

Yeah, the foam hubs are frustrating. I fear they won't last long.

Great concert, though. I saw them earlier in the tour and this DVD brings it all back.

Full frame, and I'm now up to 7 easter eggs

How about listing them (or at least where they are)?

Sorry, I didn't want to ruin the fun.

All the ones I have found are on the second disc.

They are all brief clips of the band members hanging out, or saying something that is (mostly in their minds) humorous. You'll know you found an Easter Egg if a circular Eddie head appears out of nowhere.

If you click left from the 4th selection on the main menu (I dont have the dvd on right now), and Eddie head appears that will take you to a clip with their producer Kevin Shirley, doing somewhat of a Spinal Tap homage.

By highlighting Bruce's name on the band section and pressing the up arrow, Eddie will appear on the bottom. This is the funniest and most graphic Easter Egg there is (lol, hide the kids!)

And if you go to each band member's menu page, an Eddie head is hidden within every member's page (except Adrian Smith - maybe its there but I haven't found it). You just have to highlight whats on the screen and hit the directional arrows until you find each one. The heads are in different places for each members page but they are not hard to find.

Thats what I've found.

Thanks

I just got this dvd today, and so far, I am quite impressed with it. If you like Maiden, you should love this disc.

Here's some copy/paste of my impressions:

Oh. My. God.
This thing rocks so hard. It's got an insane DTS surround track that blows away any other disk I've ever heard - music or movie. Seriously! It really feels like you're right in the middle of the music with all the instruments surrounding you and rocking your very soul. It's got perfect separation of each instrument track and everything's leveled to perfection - I really can't say enough good things about the sound on this disc. The performance is really good too - it was recorded last year in Rio in front of 300,000 people, specifically for this dvd release - so they knew exactly what they wanted and they sure go it.
Only two negatives:
1. Too many cuts/edits. There is no shot that lasts for longer than two seconds. It's like they wanted to make sure you knew that they had over 50 cameras recording the show as they just randomly cycle through every one of them with no rhyme or reason. You cant get a good look of any single band member because the camera never stays on any of them long enough to get a sense of what they're doing.
- And
2. Not enough classic songs. Only half the set of 20 songs is from their first 7 (great) albums - the other half is from their last 4 (not so great) albums - most of those are from their newest album (which is actually pretty good, but it's no Piece of Mind), so it's pretty lop-sided. But the great performance and the insane sound quality pretty much negate the two above issues (it was also only $14, which is less than any Maiden cd).
There is also a bonus disc of interviews and behind the scenes stuff that I haven't looked at yet.

But the quality of the performance and the audio track alone are worth this great set.

Just a word of warning:

If you have a subwoofer - before putting in the second disc, turn it WAY down, becuse the menus on the 2nd disc will blow it out.

where did you get it for $14?

Best Buy had it for $14.99 the week it came out.

Hows the Judas Priest live DVD? I saw that at Best Buy also. I almost bought them both.

Priest
 

I haven't seen the new Priest DVD, but I hear its quite good. The setlist looks awesome, just wish Rob was singing, but his new band kicks ass too, so maybe he just needs to put out his own DVD.

What I have seen however, is the new Motorhead DVD. It is hands down the best metal DVD of the year. I could go into all the extras and the quality of the performance, but I think that DVD Talk has a review up, and I gotta go. If anyone is interested in more info though, just post and I'll write more later.