Johnny Winter - Live in Times Square

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money on this DVD
Review: First off I have been a Huge Johnny Winter fan all my life .
Like the other reviewer I was very excited to hear there was a new DVD , After I bought it I felt sorry for Johnny , And felt ripped off !

Lucky for me the store I bought it from let me trade it in for another DVD ,

Go out and get Johnny's new CD instead !

Rating:
Summary: Thanks For The DVD!!!
Review: I love this DVD. The bonus features are worth the price alone. I haven't seen Johnny kicked back interview style in many years. The footage of him getting the award for most requested artist in 2002 & seeing him getting his hands in the cement for the Hollywood Walk Of Fame are priceless footages. As for the concert footage, I love it as well. I have seen Johnny in this type of show 16 times. Although father time has not been the kindest to Johnny in the last 8 years, it is still great to see him perform live whenever possible. I think the band backing him is great as well. The king can still jam that guitar like no other. It has taken us all some time to adjust to whatever has plagued Johnny over the last few years, but the man is still the greatest ever & I would never not go see him whenever he visits the five states I go see him in. Give the DVD some time. Check out the playing on Blackjack & when he whips out the slide, he still can hang with the best of them.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to handle.....manage your expectation right
Review: I preordered this DVD with anticipation as I've only listened to JohnnyWinter's music for a long long time. However, I've taught myself to lower my expectation that this performance is not during his glory days as currently his health/age(60yrs for an albino is not easy feat!)affected his agility and guitar technique. Gone are the fast licks as I can see that his right hand is trembling and he is seated throughout the performance. Gone also are the growling voice.

Nonetheless, this is a must for any Winter's fan collection. Just ask yourself, are you able to play at 90yrs old? Even Stevie Nicks can't reach the high notes anymore!

2 stars is not for DVD production but rather that those who expect a grand performance will be disappointed.

I'm still happy to see him perform.

The bonus interview material also include a 3min jams with the harp player(also very cool!)



Rating:
Summary: STILL ALIVE.... BUT NOT WELL.................
Review: I'VE SEEN JOHNNY MANY TIMES OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS AND WAS SHOCKED IN 1997 WHEN HE CLOSED THE DOHENEY BLUES FESTIVAL IN DANA POINT , CA. HE HAD TO BE HELPED TO THE STAGE BY TWO ROADIES AND ONE HAD TO HELP HIM PUT ON HIS GUITAR. I WAS UNAWARE OF HIS HEALTH PROBLEMS AND WAS TAKEN BACK BY HIS CONDITION. FAST FORWARD TO THE LATEST DVD AND I AM SURPRISED THAT THIS WOULD BE RELEASED. ON THIS DVD YOU CAN SEE THAT HE IS IN VERY POOR HEALTH. SO MUCH SO THAT HE CAN HARDLY SING OR PLAY. JOHNNY IS ONE OF ROCKS ALL TIME LEGENDS AND DESERVES BETTER THAN THIS. I COULD ONLY WATCH A FEW SONGS AND HAD TO TURN IT OFF. I HAVE A DVD OF HIM PERFORMING IN 1979 AND PUT THAT ONE ON TO REGAIN MY RIGHT FRAME OF MIND. HE WAS IN RARE FORM AND THAT REKINDLED MY INTEREST AGAIN. IF YOU CAN FIND IT, TRY JOHNNY WINTER AT ROCKPALAST IN 1979. THAT DVD ROCKS.........

Rating:
Summary: Shirley's Compliments and Comments on "Live In Times Square"
Review: I,personally, rate this DVD as EXCELLENT. I found Johnny Winter's guitar-playing as great as it ever was. It is true that he was sitting down during his performance, but that is because he was recuperating from a hip operation, which, as anyone knows, takes a long recovery period, yet, he still did not disappoint his audience with his excellent performance,and I am still mesmerized by him and his agility and talent of playing his guitars, and I still think his voice sounds great.
There is also some smoking harmonica playing by James Montgomery, who also did a few vocals on the DVD. The other members of the band also did a terrific job.
If you want to hear some great blues and blues-rock, buy this DVD!

Rating:
Summary: Father Time Cannot be Ignored
Review: It was difficult at times to watch and sadly, even more difficult to listen too ... JW struggling to play his wonderful blues tunes. Sure, there is still no one on the planet who plays the way he does, but he is so much slower while struggling to hit the right notes and obviously in a great deal of discomfort. It is a shame that there are no DVD recordings available from his younger years, when he was in his prime. Still, I will keep it as a reminder of where we will all end up some day and try to remember a kinder time ... when I would attend live concerts at small venues, and be in awe of his incredible skill and talent ... as he moved effortlessly accross the stage.

Rating:
Summary: Love Johnny but can't recommend.....
Review: Johnny Winter is seated during the entire performance and it's obvious his health is failing and/or something serious has happened to him. His voice is all but gone. His mind may be sharp but his fingers can no longer deliver like before. I have liked and enjoyed Johnny for years; that's why I bought this DVD. Although its sound and video quality is inferior, buy "Pieces and Bits" instead. I would be embarrassed if I handled Johnny's affairs and allowed this video to be released. I would return this but, unfortunately, it's not defective.

Rating:
Summary: Blues at its best!!
Review: This is awesome!!

The legend of Johnny Winter lives on, excellent!!!

Rating:
Summary: Hard to watch
Review: This was hard to watch. I've had the pleasure of seeing Johnny play 3 times during the 70's and a couple of good performances on TV. (most notable, his appearance on Don Kirshener's Rock Concert on the same night with Deep Purple during his "Still Alive and Well" tour...this footage should have been included on "Bits & Pieces") But I could barely watch this. I feel sad for him that he's degenerated so much physically (or hopefully not back into that "habit") but this should have never been released. He deserves to be better remembered.

Rating:
Summary: Johnny Is Still With Us Remember Albert and Stevie are not!
Review: Well, I have read the previous reviews and they have a lot to say. I bought this DVD for my extensive Blues collection and as 40 year fan and guitarist I was more shocked at the state of Johnny's health than his guitar playing. As I said in my Peter Green review we expect too much from these old players- what would Hendrix who would be in his 60s now have played like if he were alive.

Like Peter Green, Johnny still plays with a nuance than few guitar players could do. It is a mistake for some younger people who think they know Blues that they could pick up a guitar play the basic scale and sound as good as Mr Winter still does (choice phrasing, use of partial chordal licks, double stopped licks (like SRV), hardly any effects, only a little chorus!). The great Buddy Guy came to Australia once and said, "a lot of players sound good at home in their garage, but it's getting up on stage and performing that counts!! Great words! This guy has years of experience in real blues playing and he is the father, after Jimi Hendirix, of Rock-Blues guitar. And he has jammed with everybody!!

We rely (since the days of Led Zeppelin) too much on technique and speed- a good recent example of how this is not needed in Blues is 55 year old Mick Taylor's excellent playing in John Mayall's 70th Birthday Concert. He blows away Buddy Wittington who sounds like a Country Picker doing Blues. He is ok, but he really has no feeling-watch SRV play "Texas Flood" on the new double DVD from Montreax and Albert King play "I'll PLay the Blues For You" on the new release of Wattstax (Bonus Feature)!!!

Enough of this! This DVD is Ok for Blues lovers. The club is nice. His small band (he should have had horns I think to fill out the sound) is great. The Bassist Scott Spray uses a 20 year old Yamaha Bass-cool no fancy Fenders. The harp player James Montgomery is great (I also play harp!). He sounds like James Cotton. Wayne June the drum is solid and steady. Johnny sits the entire performance (Muddy and John Lee are remembered, although the late great Albert King, then 69 years old, moved the stoll out of the way when it was offered to him in the "Godfather of the Blues" DVD). Well I feel for Johnny, he has a good selection of tunes including Bo Diddley's "Mona", Muddy Water's "Mojo Working" and Junior Well's "Messin' With The Kid". My top selection is "Blackjack" a great slow Blues.

Get the DVD "Pieces and Bits" lots of archieve material, lots of great stuff, especially his duet with Dr. John on the Willie Dixon tune "Love, Life and Money", the real JW! But this DVD is a good bookend for Johnny's long career. I still remember as an 18 year old getting his first LP. The slide playing was phenomenal and it's still good on this set, probably the best thing musically on it. Don't judge an artist by their diminishing technique, but rather by their heart and contribution to the Blues genre.