I thought I would put the boot AC/DC SARS show on for the kids, to try and keep them in the living room long enough to decorate the christmas tree. Yes it's tough to instill good old traditional values like an AC/DC tree decoration on kids today. Well the AC/DC turned into the Rush show and I can't go to bed with Rush as the last musical influence so on went the Stones show.

I had previously ho-hummed this DVD for the sound mix. Micks vocal's that same as Lisa and Bernard, sometimes hard to make out, horns way too loud, keyboards actually legible and Ronnie almost out of the mix. The stand out thing in the mix was that Keith is turned up the loudest and it's all him musically.

I had the FF theatre show on the night before and was mulling all the post comments on the lack of guitar sound and was trying to resolve how it could be fixed. One thing that jumped out at me was that in FF Charlie is way too loud and 'contributes' to drowning out the guitar.

Back to the SARS show. I am now going out onto thin ice. I am going to put this DVD next to my Ladies and Gentleman as the next best 'must have' dvd. So why take it from the basement and put it on the mantel? First, this may be the only live recording of the Stones without allot of Stones interferance in the final mix. The sound is mixed as if any other rock band in the world was playing, yes you can hear each vocalist and what parts they sing, you can hear every little bit of keyboard (having seen Chuck play with the Allman's I must admit hearing his contributions to the Stones is quite week, musically). What realy caught me this time was with all the complaints about not getting guitar this may be the best DVD available that shows note for note, every little bend of the sting redition of Keiths guitar playing ability and yes it's there. With now decernable Ronnie weave, the songs all take on a rough, mixed like a real rock band, kick butt guitar pieces. I also finaly got a better appreciation of the Charlie/Keith relationship, with Charlie mixedback (yes you can hear each beat) and Keith up you realy see and feel the interaction, what is it Keith is playing to.

Summary......I would characterize this DVD as a Keith guitar concert, playing all RS tunes, with the RS as the back up band. If you can adjust to hearing the band mixed as a real rock band, and it takes some free thinking, it adds a whole new dimention to some classic tunes. I think this DVD has the best Don't Stop I have heard or seen, done as a Keith guitar piece, the IORR is incredible, the versions of HTW, SAT and JJF are guitar clollectors.

Bottom line....for me this may be the last DVD recording of the Stones (unless another strange mix boot surfaces) that has a real guitar thrust. It may be the only recording of the Stones you may hear mixed in this fasion and this is the best recording (audio and video) showcasing Keiths tallents.


These are just the opinions of the author who heard a great country song the other day - It's Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night, That Chewed My Ass Out All Day Long.

I was at that show. They of course had PA banks set up every 1/8th mile or so but the sound mix was absolutely incredible - especially given the massive area there. As I recall they did capture the essence of that sound on the DVD as well.

It was good sound, I agree.