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R.E.M. - Perfect Square

R.E.M. - Perfect Square

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: delicious!!!
Review: i rented this DVD kind of on a whim, as i'm not a huge r.e.m. fan.. i saw that there were many newer songs which i know well, so i gave it a chance.. thank God i did, because this is easily one of the best concerts i've ever seen. they played all the hits and more.. in all there's about 20 songs in a row!! if you love any r.e.m. songs, you'll be pleased with their rendition here. if you're an r.e.m. fan, this is absolutely a must-own.

watching this made me laugh, made me cry, made me say "wow!", inspired me to make music myself... thanks guys. now i know that r.e.m. is truly a great band.. michael stipe's a rock star.. peter buck is an amazing guitarist.. mike mills is a great bass player and seems like such a nice guy.

if i had to say anything bad about this DVD, it's that there's nothing like a light show or cool visuals... however it doesn't count for much as the band is very interesting to watch and it's a cool view of the outside concert. i love "maps and legends" and their live version of "country feedback" is simply incredible.. but all the songs sound great. thanks R.E.M.!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: End Of The World As We Know It!
Review: I saw the edited version of this concert on HBO-LA a couple months ago and it blew me away! R.E.M play for their audience and read them like a book. The crowd's reaction to the fist few chords of Losing My Religion and End Of The World says why this concert on DVD is more than a worthy addition to any DVD music collection!

You know what I forgot to add? I wasn't a big R.E.M fan until I saw this concert and now I Feel Fine.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Are You Having Fun?!!!
Review: I was at R.E.M.s first U.S. stop on this recent world tour when they played their first ever Montana concert here in Missoula. It was without a doubt one of the best shows I've ever seen from anyone, anywhere. Ever since that evening I was hoping that the band would release a DVD from the tour so that I could relive this concert over and over. Perfect Square is fantastic! The flow of the set list is perfect, and when they get into their biggest songs (Losing My Religion, Man On The Moon, etc.) the crowds enthusiasm and love for this band just gives you chills. Great great show. My 4 star rating is due to the busy MTV style editing, although it does not annoy the viewing too much. Still, a little too much chop chop for me. A more accurate rating would be 4 9/10 stars. Sit back, crank it up, and enjoy a great R.E.M. show!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I was fooled...
Review: I was expecting this DVD to be in DTS, but unfortunately it was only in Dolby Digital 5.1 format.

I'm so disappointed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Oh, yeah
Review: I watched it 3 nights in a row already, can't get enough of it! REM is awesome!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Must Have for REM Fans
Review: I've seen REM about 10 times since Reckoning and was not all that excited about a "greatest hits" tour. I saw the tour closer in Atlanta and it had a great setlist but for whatever reason never really got me fired up. I had seen the otherworldy Radiohead Hail to the Thief tour the week before just to be fair, and my seats at the REM show left a lot to be desired.

This video makes me appreciate what they were doing on that tour SO much more. The sound is fantastic, the setting beautiful and the filming and editing is just superb. The stage backdrop just glows in the light of the setting sun, and sitting on my couch with a cold beer and 5.1 sound I thoroughly enjoyed watching this and being able to see the band up close - they're having a blast and it shows in the performance.

The ONLY reason I didn't give it 5 stars is for the sparse packaging. Cardboard and a disc but no booklet, but then again, what's on the disc is what counts and it is well worth the price of admission. A Stirling Performance was an afterthought with little quality footage from the shows, but the documentary is worth the 38 minutes it takes to watch it, but you're buying this for the show in Germany.

If you've liked REM for a long time you'll find a lot to love about this DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: If you could only own one concert film, this should be it.
The editing alone is amazing. Then, of course, there is the music. Get it, you will not be sorry.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Adrenaline pulls us near
Review: Just picked up Perfect Square yesterday and was not disappointed. I saw REM on this tour at Red Rocks and was instantly reminded of that stellar show. I think the major achievement of this tour was that new life was breathed into old chestnuts-see the rousing "Begin the Begin," "Orange Crush" and "Maps and Legends" on this DVD, while some of the slightly stiff recent studio numbers like "The Great Beyond" and "She Just Wants to Be" come off possessing great energy, sounding like instant REM classics. The new songs, especially "Bad Day," also sound much superior in a live setting. The whole band is in top form, especially Herr Stipe, who seems not to have aged a day since "Chronic Town" was released. My criticisms are brief, but I must make them to be fair. First, as some of the other reviews have said, the audience shots get a little cliched after a while, especially when you see couples making out, etc. That's all fine, but not exactly REM style. Next, I do wish that a couple of different shows would have been edited together, a la Road Movie, so as to get a flowing but varied image of the band. Finally, I wish they would've picked a show with at least one Murmur or Reckoning song, but that's just really being picky. Overall, though, this is a must-have DVD for all die-hard and even casual REM fans. And like Stop Making Sense and a few other concert films, it can practically function as an aerobics workout if you submit yourself to its energy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Broadcasting a joyful noise
Review: Like the "In Time" tour and CD, the "Perfect Square" disc plays like a greatest hits compilation. All the songs you'd expect to see are here. However, there are a handful of more obscure tracks (including the first official release of the 24-year-old song "Permanent Vacation") to satisfy fans rabid for something different.

The venue chosen for the featured concert is gorgeous. Shots of the fountain and buildings surrounding the Bowling Green in Wiesbaden, Germany make for much more pleasant scenery than the insides of the dark Summit stadium in Atlanta where their last concert video, "Road Movie," was shot. Image quality, too, is wonderful.

The thing that stands out most about "Perfect Square" is that it actually feels like a concert - you can even see the progression of time as the sun sets. R.E.M.'s past concert videos have been noticably pieced together, taking a song from here and another from there. This time, finally, it's a single show, and as such it gives you much more of an idea of what it's like to be there.

The bonus documentary "A Stirling Performance" chronicles the production of a trio of concerts the band performed at Sterling Castle in Scotland during the "Up" tour in 1999. It was quite interesting to see what sort of planning had to go into such a major production. The documentary unfortunately suffers from grainy picture quality and even worse sound quality. It made understanding the residents of the tiny tourist town, already with thick with Scottish accents, very difficult. But it was nice to get to see a bit more concert footage, regardless.

Since Amazon doesn't have a track listing, here's the setlist for the "Perfect Square" concert:

Begin the Begin
What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
Maps and Legends
Drive
Animal
Daysleeper
The Great Beyond
Bad Day
The One I Love
All the Way to Reno
Orange Crush
Losing My Religion
At My Most Beautiful
Electrolite
She Just Wants to Be
Walk Unafraid
Man on the Moon
Everybody Hurts
So Fast, So Numb
Country Feedback
Permanent Vacation
Imitation Of Life
It's The End of the World As We Know It

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Oh, yeah
Review: Seems like there are two kinds of REM concerts: those when they're on fire and awesome, and those where Stipe doesn't want to be there and the whole thing blows. I was lucky to see the latter type of concert during the Monster tour, and this DVD is along the same lines in terms of quality.

When you're one of the greatest bands in rock and pop history, you're spoiled for choice in terms of what to play, and the list here is pretty good. To see these fortysomething guys tearing through the relatively obscure and punky as hell "Permanent Vacation" is enought to put a big dumb grin on your face. Of course they do the obligatory "Country Feedback" (even though it's not the best live version of this song that I've seen them do) and "Losing My Religion" (which is great). "Walk Unafraid" is awesome here, with real balls. And of course the inevitable set-closer of "End of the world" is terrific as the band just let it all out.

Complaints? Not many. It's just my personal belief that they should retire "Man on the moon" because it is such an average song for such a great band, but besides that it is hard to pick holes in this.

The documentary "A Stirling Performance" is also a welcome addition, especially as it will give American viewers a real headache working out what is being said :-)

Great stuff.


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