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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: 5 stars
Summary: The King of the Guitar
Review: When you get this, watch Bad Horsie, and that alone is worth the cost! Vai does aamzing tricks, where we get to see the showmanship side of him. However, the music is not effected, it's actually enhanced. Cool lighting effetcs, excellent sound quality, and a great collection of classic Vai songs, a must have for the Vai fan!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Just Shut UP & Play Yer...Buy It !!
Review: Not the best production (as compared to the gold standard of "Live In Frisco" by Satch)...but DOES capture the clown prince of guitar @ his crazy best & with a kick-ass supporting cast of monster players...a definite, must-have addition to your collection...the special effects distract from the show a little...but NOT enough to screw up your viewing pleasure.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great show, bad DVD production
Review: I agree with most of the other reviewers here, that the show is owesome, but the DVD production - both photography and postproduction - just sucks.
Still, I would recommend this DVD to anyone who fans Steve Vai. I think he's a legendary guitarist, one of its kind in the whole guitar's history!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great Audio But Everything Else Is Weak
Review: I'm not a huge Vai fan, but I've followed his career since the "Crossroads" movie. I own a few of his albums and have also seen him live on G3. The latter was my main reason to own this DVD, as the band setup is the same. In a nutshell, the audio on this album is awesome (if you don't count the vocals), but everything else is a bit disappointing.

As stated many times, the visuals are amateurish at best. The camera is jumpy and often focuses on the wrong thing. There are a few cheesy effects thrown in, and it even intentionally blurs a few times (I picture Homer Simpson with his home "Star Wipe" editing system). Steve himself also is quite hammy. He's got a face full of sparkle glitter, and frequently hustles offstage for funky costume changes (including cyborg-laser man). He also does several Hendrix-esque feedback odysseys which aren't really my cup of tea. Give me the simple straight forward attitude of the G3 concert any day. I also find Disc 2 on the disappointing side. It contains some decent stuff (rehearsals), but is primarily filled with silly little interviews where everyone's trying to be a comedian.

While nowhere near the quality of Satriani's live DVD, this is still probably a must-have for serious Vai fans. For casual fans and guitar aficionados like myself, it's more of a close call. Despite its shortcomings, it gets one thing right - fantastic audio.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AN AMAZING DVD!
Review: This DVD is amazing.It is one of the best I have ever seen.Steve Vai is the best guitarist I have ever heard.I used to think it was Satriani,but after watching this,I changed my mind.The band on here is incredible.It was a similar band to when I saw him at G3 last year.The only difference is that Jeremy Colson played drums instead of Virgil Donati.They are both equally good.The highlight of this 2 and 1/2 hour performance is the extended version of "The Attitude Song".All of his guitarists and Billy Sheehan,with special guest Eric Sardinas,get a solo.My only complaint is that it is too long.It is 1 hour shorter than the whole G3 show.Plus,why do they give Tony a keyboard solo instead of a guitar solo?He is a great keyboard player,but guitar is his main thing.Anyway,if you like good guitar playing,buy this DVD,plus check the new G3 DVD and CD,which comes out in February

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: THE WORST DVD FROM THE BEST GUITARIST
Review: This DVD was so long in the making that I really expected it to rule the world. I've seen half a dozen Vai concerts and every one of them was amazing, he's truly one of the most gifted guitarists alive, EVER.

Pity then, that his live DVD SUCKS. The music is great but you won't know because you're too distracted by the choppy editing, amateurish production effects, and frenetic... ARGH! I really can't believe he released this like it is. I wanted to be able to really watch the show and take it all in but I just DON'T ENJOY WATCHING THIS DVD. It hurts. I want to turn it off.

Buy a Frank Zappa DVD instead.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Vai DVD
Review: OMG OMG OMG OMG

ITs now the 10th time I have watched the DVD. Both DVD's rule. The picture quality is remarkable. I understand during the commentary section about the camera angles, but to be honest, it really doesn't make a bit of difference. This video is the BEST DVD I own, hands down. I really felt a sense of Frank Zappa in this video, more than ever before. The way that Steve uses each piece of the band and his composing is fantastic. I am sure Frank would be very proud of Steve for sure. Thomas was hilarious, that guy rules. The concert was spotless, everytime I watch the show I learn something new. Being a musician myself, I love inspiration, its part of what keeps me playing that coupled with the willingness to become the best I can be. IMO, nobody comes close to Steve in what his abilities are, however you must respect the influences that brought him to this plateau. I've waited years to see the Dynamic Power Duo of Sheehan and Vai. There is so much GREATNESS in this video and for those still contemplating on getting this, BUY it!!! All the tunes came out great. No complaints here. There is so much more I could write but I wont clog the forum up too much. The 2nd cd is so great. Those who own the DVD now know how Billy and Steve come up with there parts, LOL!!!!

VAIGOD

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: steve vai, showman or musician?
Review: The reason I bought this DVD is because I love, really love the "Alive in an Ultra World" album. The diference is that on that album Steve was focused on getting the songs right. On this DVD Steve is too concerned on entertaining the audience and showing off for the DVD, compromising the interpretation.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Steve is a 5 star talent, this DVD production is bareley a 1
Review: I saw Steve Vai live for the first time at the Greek Theater in Hollywood during the 2003 G3 Tour and became instantly aware of his talents. Steve clearly has put in a life time of sweat, dedication and artistic consciousness into is craft, as was obvious from the reaction and outright appreciation from everyone that was present at the concert that night. Steve surrounds himself with like-talented musicians and technicians who no doubt have been selected from a list of thousands of personalities. My point for this opening commentary is to point out that Steve clearly did not surround himself with anyone remotely talented in the videography and/or DVD production industry for the making of this DVD. I find it incredibly ironic that the production team of choice would have little to no experience and yet, find a way to still be associated with Steve Vai's prestigious team.
This DVD has all the appearances of a bad 1st year high school video project; complete with 1st time videographers who think it's cool to perform special effects during actual taping, rather than afterwards during post production. Then, it seems, these same 1st year videography students took their already destroyed raw footage to the student post production/editing team. This genius team furthered their special effects training by performing everything the video editing software had to offer. Every transition, special effect, massive zoom, twists and swirls, etc., they did it all. (didn't want the videographers to have all the glory). This production reminded me of the Saturday Night Live - Wayne's World skit when Wayne stops the progress of his show by requesting, "unnecessary zoom, unnecessary zoom!!"... The camera would zoom in and out in rapid succession, close enough to see the skin pores on Wayne's forehead. Clearly, the zoom-in/tight shots for this concert were designed to produce the same effect. I now know more about the fine hairs on Steve Vai's knuckles than his actual guitar playing.
If there's any consolation to this experimental release, the DD 5.1 sound track is pretty good (clear, nice overall mix), and if you close your eyes, you'll actually enjoy the concert. Too bad this production is so poor. If I had not had the privilege of seeing him live, I would think Steve Vai was just another startup band operating on a shoe-string budget, trying to make it. Steve needs to rethink the talent behind his video production team. I can only hope that there's some salvageable footage left on those video tape reels that might allow a REAL production team the opportunity to re-release this concert.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Amazing musicianship, lame videography-buy audio
Review: I thought that since I didn't have to struggle to gaze through the small spaces between heads between me and the stage that i would actually be able to just relax and watch Steve and his band. Man was i wrong. Why does the video editor insist on changing camera angles every beat, and showing stuff that is unrelated to the musical highlight at any particular time? Why do we see a tap on a high-hat when all guitarists are shoulder to shoulder doing a harmonized solo? This stuff is all at odds with the continuity of composition of this wonderful music. It would have been so easy to allow the viewer to control for watching multiple camera angles. I am surprized that Steve would let a video like this carry his name.

This production is far too "MTV" to be worthy of Steve's talent and professionalism. The Video crew and editor should stick with bands that play music with nothing to see- or hear for that matter. It is almost as bad as watching cheap wedding video shot by someone who just learned enough corny video editing tricks to be completely annoying. The fact that behind it all is one of the most impressive performances you will ever hear makes this all the more frustrating.

Buy Steve's cds, listening with your mind is far more effective than trying to watch this. Steve is one of the most unique, taltented and amazing guitarists of our time. And with the talent in his band he is pulling off something that is beyond words. Watching and hearing him play is like seeing the natural beauty of an erupting volcano, or the aurora borealis, or the grand canyon.


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