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Oingo Boingo - Farewell (Live from the Universal Amphitheatre)

Oingo Boingo - Farewell (Live from the Universal Amphitheatre)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Have the CDs. Want the DVD.
Review: "Who do you want to be today? Who do you want to be? Who do you want to be today? Do you want to be just like someone on TV?" Oingo Boingo is amazing and Danny Elfman's god. A lot of you are probably familiar with Danny's colaborative work with Tim Burton. Remember the score to Batman? Well, there ya go. Oingo Boingo is versatile, smart music.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No Bands Last Forever .....
Review: ..... but our beloved Boingo's immortal soul is captured lovingly in this, their final and only video concert recording. Along with generous amounts of concert performance, this two-tape set WHICH SHOULD REALLY BE MADE INTO A DVD (hint hint MCA) also includes a bit of Boingo history recap. Some of us in the Los Angeles area were fortunate enough to be witness to Maestro Elfman' s curiously evolving ensemble, which had its genesis as far back as the mid-70s, and it is indeed unfortunate more of those early years were not captured for posterity.

Anyway, along with Frank Zappa's "Baby Snakes", I would have to call "Farewell" the ultimate Halloween party video. The music is also available on CD, but the true Boingo enthusiast would not want to miss out on the live experience. Danny Elfman's stage presence was always formidable, sometimes imposing; when you consider this man's overall musical output, in both rock and film soundtracks, and then watch what he does on stage, his consummate brilliance really hits home. The way he utilizes theatrics, exotic dance moves (quasi-Balinese on "I'm So Bad") and good old bad-boy playing (his onstage roughhousing with bassist John Avila on "No One Lives Forever"), elaborate props (the gargantuan skeletons on "Dead Man's Party"), digressive instrumental line ups (accordion and troubador drum on "Helpless"), and yes, even the inevitable light show (on the psychedelic homage "Change") provides a showmanship that crosses genres, rivals anyone in any style of concert performance.

The other members of the ensemble deliver as well: trusty sideman and guitarist Steve Bartek is a low-key, confident performer of controlled intensity; the horn section of Dale, Leon and Sluggo are a vital element of the Boingo sound, though not on hand for every number, provide that element flawlessly and with high energy, and even the odd vocal (Sluggo on "Reptiles and Samurai"); drummer Johnny Vatos, whose rhythmic precision seemed almost mechanistic in the early days, offers thunderous fluidity in this outing with his own spark of mischief; and John Avila on bass comes closest to matching Elfman's stage energy, proving himself an indispensable buffer and contributor to the legend that was Boingo.

The familiarity and quality of the song selections depends on how closely one has followed the band. I'd say they hit most of the winners here, touched on a few obscurities to the delight of the more hardcore ..... I'd say they could have gotten away with more of the latter: this being their final bow-out, a three tape set would not have been too long. Overall, this collection is a flawless legacy to an American musical treasure, another one of those that will endure and be rediscovered again and again, because REAL music, regardless of genre trappings, is TIMELESS. The fact that this concert was filmed as opposed to merely taped does it proper honor, and the overall production ranks with works like "The Last Waltz" and "Stop Making Sense". "Farewell" is a concert, a documentary, a shared event, a transcendent video treasure.

It is so deserving of a digital transfer. I think I can speak for all Boingoites in urging "Farewell"'s release on DVD. The Mystic Knights command it!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: boingo farwell
Review: can`t be to upset that they put this on dvd! same as vhs but the benefits of dvd. i watch this when ever i have boingo concert withdraws so dvd is the way to go. my vhs is in bad shape! any real boing fan will buy this, it`s a must! compared to my bootleg boing stuff this is crystal clear!so boingo fans rejoice! this concert was amazing and a good sample of the years of shows i have seen from the lads. just hope the music video collection skeletons in the closet with (out of control on it) maybe next!wishes wishes!only real comlaint is no new feature beyond the vhs. more music videos ,us fesival footage,anything everything.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: boingo farwell
Review: can`t be to upset that they put this on dvd! same as vhs but the benefits of dvd. i watch this when ever i have boingo concert withdraws so dvd is the way to go. my vhs is in bad shape! any real boing fan will buy this, it`s a must! compared to my bootleg boing stuff this is crystal clear!so boingo fans rejoice! this concert was amazing and a good sample of the years of shows i have seen from the lads. just hope the music video collection skeletons in the closet with (out of control on it) maybe next!wishes wishes!only real comlaint is no new feature beyond the vhs. more music videos ,us fesival footage,anything everything.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: best o' Boingo
Review: Fan boys rejoice!
Finally, an Oingo Boingo DVD is available.
From Only a lad, to Insanity, this concert covers all of their best.
Even if you're unfamiliar with Danny Elfman and his band, give this disc a go. It's packed with all of Elfman's best songs throughout Boingo's sixteen-plus year career.
Their music covers all tastes, from Ska and Punk, to Rock and even Reggae. The band also boasts a fantastic horn section. Elfman's songs are musically dense, but also very melodic, with well crafted, witty lyrics . Many may be familar with Elfman and his vocal talents through his role as Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Highly recomended.....
Do yourself a favour....buy this DVD today.
A fitting farewell

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Poor sound
Review: I have been a Boingo fan since the release of Good for your soul. They have actually been my favorite band since. The Farewell show was a special show indeed. The song list is excellent. The show is incredible. My only problem is the latest release on DVD. The sound quality is below average. The sound is slightly better than the VHS version. Dolby Digital 2.0 is a weak effort. What could have been!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT
Review: I won't talk people to death about this tape. If you know Boingo You know what kind of wild live show they have. If you LOVE Boingo you probably already have this tape, otherwise I will recommend it. As I said; I think it's Great.
But then again, I'm a fan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: worth it
Review: I would say that if you buy this set, just the performance of "Grey Matter" alone is worth the price. "Who Do You Want to Be Today?" is alot of fun too. It's great to see these guys out there running around so much...I can't keep up! haha The little extras of the Mystic Knights are fun, and the 2 videos at the end are cool too. Get ready to dance!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: So-So
Review: It was about time they put a Boingo item out on DVD, but they could have done alot better. The sound is kinda weak, 'Insanity' would sound so much better with BOOMING bass out of the subwoofer. And yes it is pretty much exactly like the VHS copy, but hey, I bought it anyhow. Hopefully a COMPLETE video collection will soon follow, with remastered sound & picture, plus commentary. But for now, this DVD will have to do. Show the the BIG companies BOINGO merchandise still sells well! SUPPORT BOINGO, show them we want more! Buy it today, you know you want too!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great show. Mediocre DVD.
Review: Let me start my review by stating that I love Oingo Boingo. I think they are the greatest band ever! I have been a fan since 1978 (the Mystic Knight days) and have seen them at least 60 times live, as a matter of fact I went to all 5 nights of the farewell tour including the Halloween night show, this DVD, look for me in the pit!

Review of the DVD, not the content (the content is amazing!):

Shame on me to ever say anything bad but this DVD was a big disappointment to me, BECAUSE I own the VHS version, which was released about 3 years ago. It is clear that the only thing Universal did with this release was to take the VHS transfer and put it on a DVD. The picture quality is the same and they released it in 2-Channel Dolby, you read it right, 2-Channel Dolby. Now I'm going to assume that most people that have DVD players have a surround sound system and 9 times out of 10 it's going to be at least a 5.1 channel surround system (2 fronts, 1 center, 2 sides and a sub), and over 3 years have gone by since the VHS release and they can't even remaster the audio to 5.1, shame.

The extra features on the DVD our cool, but they are the same exact extras as the VHS release, nothing new. Come on, if they wanted to do something cool for this DVD release they should have put Audio Commentary with the band, how great would have that been and it's not like Danny has done that with other DVD's he scored music too, Edward Scissorhands & Nightmare Before Christmas to name a few.

Well, if you don't have the VHS or the DVD version, I'd recommend dropping everything and buying this DVD, but if you have the VHS version, save your money, it's the same thing transferred to a DVD without any improvements. The picture quality and the sound are a tad better just because it's a DVD (Digital vs. Analog), but it not worth the extra money. Maybe they'll come out with a Collector's Version for next Halloween that will have some new features and remaster audio to 5.1, or better yet, come back for another Halloween tour, I can only hope.


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