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Steve Vai - Live at the Astoria London

Steve Vai - Live at the Astoria London

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $15.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: i'm dizzy
Review: Anyone who's seen the concert video of Yessongs will be all too familiar with what ruins this dvd. Horrible video editing and camera work. Let's face it. 95% of people interested in this dvd are guitar players fascinated by the lightning guitar work of Steve Vai. We want to see clear, consistent shots of his hands blazing up and down the fretboard and his various right-hand technique. That's it.
While there is some of this, waaaaaaaay too often during his blistering solo passages, the camera shot is of the back of Billy Sheehan, or the drummer. In other words, what you don't want to see. It's so frustrating, you want to kick your tv. I swear there's an intentionally blurry five minute shot of of the butt of his guitar instead of his hands. There's also more quick camera angle switches than an episode of MTV's Cribs. And the weirdest thing of all??? Inexplicable slow-motion shots of some emotionless woman standing in the front row. Who is this woman? She looks like she's at the wrong concert.

The music still holds a lot of value, but it is not enhanced at all by the visuals of Steve's fan-blown hair, curiously numerous wardrobe changes, and stage moves from the eighties, all mashed together by some high school Audio\Visual club.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: horrible
Review: this guy couldnt write a song to save his life so he just plays solos as fast as he can and makes squealing noises with distortion and harmonics. how boring.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Musicianship to the max
Review: Long-time fans already know what Steve is capable of, and this DVD should serve as a shining example to new listeners (and new guitarists, of course) of the kind of expression possible with an electric guitar when it is in the hands of a master. Aside from obviously high quality, non-formulaic songwriting and dazzling technical skills, the thing that has always impressed me the most about Steve is that every note he plays, even in very rapid passages, is articulated like a word in a sentence. That is, there are no notes that are merely "played," but rather are "spoken" in terms of phrasing, rhythm, dynamics, attack, tone, etc. As a guitarist of 20+ years, I can tell you that it is exhausting to play even a slow passage of Steve Vai music because of this. Each note must be worked individually. Of course the DVD also shows us again what a great entertainer and showman Vai can be. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good music, good concert but......
Review: Now so far I've only rented this title, but still plan on buying this dvd real soon....Now the sound quality here is good, every member of the band plays like you wouldnt believe, and there really aren't any low-points at all. But like others have said, this gets ruined by the Blair Witch style camera work. One second you have a good shot being taken from the audience, the next second you're zoomed right up to Steve's face, then the camera spins around to face the bassist, and then the camera starts spinning and spinning... Also what ruined it for me was Steve's ego. I mean come on! he has a little fan in front of him to give his hair that "wind swept" look while he plays. Right in the middle of one of his explosive solos he even stops for a second to brush his hair out of his face. Not to mention him dancing around the stage and what got me a little disturbed was watching Steve pick notes with his tongue.

But dont get me wrong, Steve is without a doubt one of the best living guitarists right now . And his virtuosity is well documented here in this set of mostly instrumental songs, a few with vocals, and two Hendrix covers.In fact I'll be pretty lucky if I ever get to play half as good as he does. One thing that I noticed though is that most of Vai's songs seem to be more about flash than playing simple and effective songs. But Im also new to Vai's music so this might not be the case.

But bottom line this is a good dvd and is highly recommended to any guitairst that wants to see the masater in action. Or any fan of technically demanding, instrumental music.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: video shots - not the best
Review: if you havent seen steve vai live and closeup - this is the dvd to buy.
steve vai live in london.
if you are an aspiring musician and want some idea how the best of guiter playing is possible - this is the dvd to buy.
if you are an intellectually minded person and open to musical chords that you havent heard before - this is the dvd to buy.

if, on the otherhand your one of those headbanging ac/dc metalica loving joe 6-pack couch potatoes - buy this dvd and wake up to learn something.

sound quality is great.
choreography is great.
but the video shooting was somewhat under-par.
the part where steve puts on the lighted gloves and you cant see anything was a little far reaching.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super value. Steve may be the most complete guitarist ever
Review: Normally I might give this 4-stars...but at $14, this 2 DVD set represents excellent value an easy 5* value. I would have liked more "extras"-footage but quite a lot was supplied. There is a lot of concert footage and Steve is a fantastic showman, as well as being a guitarist of the highest ability.

Steve Vai's playing is certainly not easy listening but it is always impressive, often extremely impressive, and there are tracks here that are quite beautiful (Whispering a Prayer) or sublime (Jimi Hendrix's Fire and Steve's own For the Love of God ).

Prepare to be sonically bombarded -- watching this all in one go (not recommended!) might numb your senses but almost all tracks are good. There is a lot of advanced guitar and bass technique on show here. I am not sure that the world is quite ready to fully appreciate Steve's talents yet (much like Hendrix) but he is incredibly good -- he is pushing the boundaries of rock guitar and at the same time raising the bar for those that follow. Impressive.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The style of Steve Vai
Review: I got this DVD early, it really shaked my heart again. I also cannot deny, Steve Vai always gives us surprise. I think it is the highest level in Steve Vai's music career. If you are a Guitar Player, you don't have any reasons for missing it, if you not a Guitar Player, there still haven't any reasons for missing it, because you won't miss the greatest telekinesis.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Next guy please.
Review: This dvd is no good. Same old music from Steve (lots of P&W tunes which are the only good ones anyway), same old eighties chops, the same boring tapped pentatonics. Very cheap production, terrible stage, the worst I have ever seen, cheap post production effects, bad lights shows, histerical camera works. Futile, completly unuseful and boring special contents, the second cd is perfect to use as a frisbee. Do I say more? The only plus, a great rhythmn section is involved Sheehan, Donati. Steve's gone, he ran out of ideas, like Yngwie and Joe too. He did remarkable things in the past but we all know time passes. He's old and boring for the most part in this dvd too (which however is a really poorly and cheaply produced show). Next guy please.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Another bad DVD from Steve
Review: Steve's really not the best when Dvd time comes. Do you remember the disappointing "Alien love secrets"? From a DVD technical standpoint this is probably worst. I'm talking strictly about the realization of this single product, I'm not talking about Steve or about this music. It is self explanatory that if I did buy this Dvd I appreciate the guy and his music. Obviousy. I'm saying that this Dvd is NO good. This package comprehend two discs. The first is the concert and I'll say what I think later. The second cd is terrible, meaningless gags. I mean it is irritating really. Why lose an apportunity so big to let fans see something interesting and musically important? No, Steve probably thinks at his fans as totally fools. An hour or more of gags and stupid stuff. Pure garbage. There are few minutes of rehearsals which are the only minutes that deserves to be seen, but just once. The quality of the camera works are incredibly low. The concert. The stage is embarassing. The worst stage I have ever seen in a Dvd. Steve, look at Satriani's San Francisco stage. And learn. That one is a professional stage, lights and so on. Your stage is a garage band stage. The track list is not that fantastic. Sex and religion material is completly out of this concert and this disappoint me. The things, dress and moves and stuff Steve did on stage to entertain people are clownesque things that I personally don't like at all. The camera work is histeric, the post production effects are really cheap.... and in the end, just to tell the perfect truth, and it hurts me to say this, Steve is playing the same old licks. Be honest. He stopped evolving many years ago. I mean that tapping thing on the pentatonic scale, the other tapping thing with the two fingers of his right hand on the full fretboard .. that lydian mode. It is somewhat boring, the same old stuff. I really didn't think I have to say these things about Steve and about this live that I awaited for so long, but this is the truth. This is not what I was expected. It is a lot less. Last. A great line up. Steve, Sheehan, Donati, Macalpine and ,.... well, "the other guy" I can't remember his name sorry, three stars only for the guys playing here. And for some of the old Passion and Warfare tracks. That's it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: No good, no good, no good, baby you're no good!
Review: Steve's great but this dvd is not. And I'm talking about this single thing, I'm not judging Steve as a player or the beauty of his music. Music that I love. This dvd is just so and so (just to be educated). The track list is not the best. I would have chosen to include some tracks from Sex & Religion which is a great album and is not represented at all here. And it's a shame. Second the stage is simply horrible. (...) The stage is one right for an amateur garage band, the lights are awful, the camera works incredibly disappointing, on the stage nothing is in place. Behind the stage there are some flags put there at the last minute just to cover the trashy back stage. C'mon. The overall sensation is really of a cheap production. Steve plays great but he acts like a clown, not like a serious musician like he is, ... why? Terrific. The second disc is pure garbage. Non sense gags and trashy stuff that noone would see twice. I would put in the second disc a full session of rehearsals. It would be interesting to see works in progress. My three stars are only for the performances and for the music. This dvd is really no good. Steve is not the best when dvd times come. Do you remember Alien love secrets? ... bah I was expecting a lot more from Steve.


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