Rating: 
Summary: What's the Big Deal About this Springsteen Guy?
Review: Some artists are great songwriters but their live performances are either pedestrian, predictable, or uneven. They may be great if you catch them on the right night, but may phone it in for other shows. Bob Dylan is in this category. Other artists or bands put on an exciting show, but their catalog of truly great music is limited. This will raise some disagreement, but I see The Who in this category - while I certainly acknowledge that some of the greatest hard rock ever written comes from Pete and the boys, their creative flame burned brightly for only a few years. Of course, there are the Dinosaurs, the once great groups that haven't produced any good music in many years, yet tour and tour as tribute bands to themselves. The Rolling Stones top this list.Then there is Bruce. His live performances have been legendary for over 30 years. There are no mediocre Springsteen concerts - there are great shows and the shows that are better than that. If you were to see Bruce perform for the first time you would think that surely he was playing his last show ever. He saves nothing for the next night. No one puts it all together better - he is simultaneously one of rocks greatest writers and performers. In their biography, VH1 matter of factly refers to him as "the world's greatest living rock n' roll star." His records are arguably among the greatest in rock history (a recent poll in Rolling Stone ranked Born to Run (1975) as rocks greatest album). His range is astounding. His concerts are a lot like a Broadway musical, with much better (and louder) music. The audience leaves a Springsteen show having experienced the important human emotions. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll feel the sheer exhilaration of being glad you're alive. Rock and roll doesn't come across well on television. It is meant to be experienced live and loud. However this DVD (which was released in November, 2003, not 2000 as your Amazon date indicates - the Barcelona show was in the late summer of 2002) brings the viewer about as close to live Bruce as the medium allows. It probably does about as well as Saving Private Ryan in creating the feeling of being in combat without having to actually deal with imminent death. The crowd response is enthusiastic and very much like many of the 43 Springsteen shows I have attended. The show was performed toward the beginning of the hugely successful international tour in support of his 2002 album, "The Rising." Unlike the Dinosaurs, about ten of 24 songs are from that album. You'll enjoy the show more if you first listen to "The Rising." Bruce and the E Street Band performed 120 shows on the tour, which were attended by over three million people. It speaks volumes of his stature that he sold out arenas and stadiums all over North America and Europe a full 18 years after his popularity peaked with the album and tour, Born in the USA, which was released in 1984. In 30 years of international touring, this is the first complete Bruce Springsteen show ever released. I recommend getting a large screen TV, with a great sound system, and for three hours, "turn it up, turn it up, turn and up," and watch and listen to one of the greatest shows on earth. (Its worth noting that $14 is a GREAT price for a double DVD when single CDs can cost as much.)
Rating: 
Summary: Bruce and the band great, Sound quality poor!
Review: This performance in Spain is further evidence of
Springsteen and the E Street Band's incredible talent as musicians and great entertainers.
Unfortunately, the sound mix was a big letdown. I mix sound for a living and for me this concert did not capture the power and soul of this fantastic band. The powerful drumming of Max Weinberg was lost somewhere in the back of the mix. The backround vocals were treated as if they were not important, also hardly audible. Even Bruce's lead vocal had very little presence.
For a much more exciting and accurate mix listen to the "Live in New York" DVD. It is a much better representation of how this band should really sound.
I don't think there is anything technically wrong with the sound on this disc, just some poor creative decisions during post production. I wonder if Bruce was as directly involved in this sound mix as he was in past recordings?
Rating:
Summary: TITLE??
Review: This DVD is titled as a concert in 2000. Is that a mistake? Since 9/11/01 occurred after year 2000, Springsteen had not written or performed most of the songs on the first disk. A small detail but bothersome one. The DVD is okay, not as good as "Live In NY" and I wouldn't purchase it unless I did not have "NY."
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING !!!!!
Review: This DVD is absolutely amazing. The show is terrific, and only an idiot could say that "I would have opted for a show played in front of an English speaking audience". It is well known for everyone that the Italian and Spanish fans are among the best around the world, even better than an American crowd (needless to say than the English). So what? Isn't music language universal? I remember when Bruce opened his World Tour after the Tracks box set. It was April 9th, 1999 in Barcelona. Chance? No way. And there were people from all over the world in Palau Sant Jordi. CNN TV channel was there. I was there too!
The first time Bruce releases a complete show, and the one in Barcelona is a very good choice. Remember it was already on MTV European TV. Where are you going to find Bruce alone playing "Spirits in the Night" on the piano, and guessing the lyrics, eh? And where would you find Bruce giving an extra bis after "Land of Hope and Dreams"? And this is "Thunder Road"!!! And have you seen his face, always giving everything (crying, smiling, laughing!)?
Don't waste your time reading this and just buy the DVD right away!!!
Rating: 
Summary: On Further Review....
Review: O.K., I admit it when I'm wrong. My earlier review really slammed the sound. Well, dummy me had the audio set to Dolby 5.1 Surround (which I don't have). It sounds pretty decent on PCM Stereo. The vocals are a little buried and have a little too much reverb when compared to the Live in NYC DVD (otherwise, it would have been a 5 star). The Boss is at his absolute best and funniest on Ramrod. I regret writing a bad and inacurate review the first time. This is definitly a gotta have...
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!! He did it again!
Review: For everyone who is in doubt, just buy it! It 's alive and kicking! The european crowd going nuts, jumping up and down! It is early in the tour, the arena pre-tour, so the athmosphere is brilliant and filled with hardcore fans only, which shows..! I got goosebumps all over of seeing the boss again.. it seems like years ago...
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment for Bruce fans
Review: The performance by Bruce and the Band are great. I have been waiting for this DVD ever since May after seeing a couple of shows. I am also very disappointed. Not in the performance by 2 things. 1. The sound quality is definitely not what it should have been. It isn't as clear or as full as the Live in NYC DVD. Bruce sounds like he is singing in a tunnel, Max's drums sound very light weight. The whole sound seems dominated by vague keyboard and violin. This is incredible when you think there are 3 big guitar players there. But the guitars are barley audible.
2. While the Barcelona show was great and the crowd very responsive, I would have opted for a show played in front of an English speaking audience. The dialogue seems missing, although there wasn't as much anyway on this tour. Bruce played nearly 150 different songs on this tour and what do we get 24 songs with only 13 we haven't seen before. Great, put the whole show out, but with a concert of this magnitude, it should have been Bruce putting out a 4 disc set, not the washed up Stones for heavens sake. All those different tracks we've never seen before are out there. Hope someone comes to their senses and re-issues this. Even Ramrod was not the version with the great piano solo by Roy missing. And it would have been great to see 7 nights to Rock The first thing I would do would be, I'd fire O'Brien and Didia for mixing this poor excuse of a DVD. It almost seems as though it was stuck out there early to cash in on Christmas sales, something I wouldn't think Bruce would do.
Rating:
Summary: Overall This Set is Disappointing
Review: It's a show from relatively early in the Rising Tour . . . the Summer 2003 shows were definitely better. The audio on the DVD is only average and disc 2 is defective in many cases. This set is better than no Bruce DVD at all but definitely not the best they could offer of the 2002-2003 Rising shows that were recorded . . . here's hoping that full-length versions of some of the Giants Stadium shows that were recorded make their way to the legions of Bruce fans. So, three stars . . . the set has it's moments but just doesn't stand up to the quality of the shows later in the tour. Plus, how many more times can Bruce re-release Darkness on the Edge of Town and Prove It All Night? These two songs in particular are just worn out and are filler material these days as far as I'm concerned. With his vast body of work, you'd think he could do better than just sticking in these two songs over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Not the quality from the Bruce I know
Review: I think this goes without saying to the audience writing these reviews-Bruce and the E Street Band are the greatest live performers in rock n'roll history. Their off performances are far greater than most artists I've seen in 25 plus years. The point here should be the quality of the product released. As some others have said, it's not necessarily the song selection(though there are redundancies that could've been changed). I've had some slight disappointments in some of Bruce and company's song selection in the past, but one thing I've never had a problem with ever is the sound quality on his recordings. Live in NYC's sound quality is so far superior than this it's not comparable. And the reason is, I believe, is Bruce wasn't at the controls on this project! I can't believe that Bruce or Jon Landau would approve the release of this DVD without first listening to it. But that's exactly what it seems like. The Bruce I know from the past would not have done that. If I were Bruce or in charge at Sony, I would recall every one of these no matter what the cost and start over. If I wanted inferior sound, I can just dust off some my old Bruce bootlegs. Bruce, you are much greater an artist than to compromise that.
Rating:
Summary: Disc 2 defect...
Review: IS being addressed by columbia. (I figured it'd be good to post this.) Go to www.brucespringsteen.net under NEWS they have a phone # to call incase of the disc 2 problem.
| 
