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Rating: 
Summary: Not Quite As Bad As all That
Review: Actually you might rate this 2.7 out of 5. The sound quality is bad mono, but for those of us who actually went to a Beatles concert, that's pretty good. That you can hear them play at all is what makes this disc worth collecting. As my memeory serves me, I kind of recall McCartney's bass and Ringo, a bit of high harmonies and then a wall of screaming. Like it or not, the shows were only 25 to 30 minutes (saw them twice) and yet, and yet...... there was definitely something about them that set them very far apart.
What you get from this DVD is the sense of the context and the whole of a performance that you never got from Ed Sullivan. Just a few days after their incredible TV debut, they performed in DC. Lennon still looks like a deer in the headlights, much as he did on Ed Sullivan, while McCartney seems to have recognized that his partner's drive to get to the toppermost of the poppermost had hit its apex and John had no idea where to go from there. It seems very clear that from America onward, this was McCartney's band. No doubt the resentment Lennon bore him at the end of the decade may have begun at this point. He was about to become an extra in his own movie, as he would later say of HELP. It is written all over Lennon's face that he sensed that this was bigger than he had imagined and that he was not equipped to take it from here. Harrison is much more than just the quiet one: when he sees McCartney kick in, he's right there with him seeking to take this juggernaut as far as it will go and Ringo seems to relish in the prospect of working with such a very tight band. And at this point, it is definitely McCartney's musicality that will inspire and drive them forward.
There's a lot of filler in this to stretch it out to 40 minutes, most of which involves interviews that are chronologically later than this tour, but nonetheless, it is what it is, and to that extent, with an appropriate caveat emptor, this is a decent enough document of what it was like at the very beginning.
Now, if the boys and the estates of 2 of the boys would just release the entire rooftop concert from January 30, 1969......
Rating: 
Summary: Rip off! Get the Beatles First Visit instead.
Review: I got this thinking that I would be getting the Closed Circuit version film that has been cleaned up. I also thought I'd be getting the whole show uninterrupted. It cuts away before and after each song and then puts the publishing info up on screen at the start and finish of each song(like MTV does...) It still cuts the concert footage short and doesn't have "Long Tall Sally" which was the show closer.
Then to add insult they have a stupid triva game at the last segment of the DVD.... Don't Waste Your Money! Buy the Beatles First Visit to the States instead. Much better quality picture and audio. This looks like a bad bootleg video copy.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable...
Review: I've been collecting and dodging bad Beatles video for decades. I thought I'd seen it all.Until this... This is, without question, the WORST excuse for a grey market Beatles rip-off I have EVER seen. There've been numerous knock-offs of this show for as long as there has been home video. Boot VHS, quasi-legit VHS, the "official" comps on "Anthology" and "First Vist"...I've seen them all. But I have never, EVER seen anything this wretched. The video "quality" of this is unbelievable. It's like a copy of a copy of a copy of a bad dub from someone's 25-year-old boot copy. I'll grant it that some nitwit has tweaked the audio to some degree, but visually this is virtually unwatchable. Not to mention that the edits are ridiculous, it's not in order, two songs are missing...and I'm STILL being kind to it. "Anthology" has most of this, in incredibly better quality (sadly, incomplete). If you own "Beatles First Visit" DVD or VHS, you've got a bit more. Heck, the Goodtimes DVD of "The Beatles Unauthorized" that you can find here is 250 times better than this. I cannot believe how bad this is. I thought I'd seen it the worst, but as of today, the worst has hit a new low. This concert is wonderful and historic - so get "Beatles Unauthorized" if you want most of it, and if you've got "Anthology" and/or "First Visit" you've got the best of it. But do not, under ANY circumstances, buy this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: A nice bit of history....
Review: Mostly for beatle-maniacs like myself. It's short but sweet. The very first beatles concert in the U.S. - six songs, some soundbites and a trivia game. I got this as a present and am happy with it. But like I said 'For Collectors'
Cheers,
Russ Garrett
WWW.YARDBIRDS.US
Rating:
Summary: Warning!
Review: This is one of the worst quality dvd's I've ever seen. The fact that The Beatles are on it is the only reason I made it through the thing 1 time. I realize that the grainy film can not be avoided and that's not what bothered me. It's the cheesey incidental music and "video" quality of the DVD. I'm sure you could find an original vhs that would look better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Do not waster your money!!
Review: This is the first review I have ever written on Amazon and find it necessary to tell people NOT to waste their money on this DVD! I was very disappointed in everything about this DVD.
1. Picture quality is poor!
2. Sound quality is poor!
3. DVD is SHORT! Has only 9 songs and lasts like a 1/2 hour!
From now on, I will never pre-order a DVD, especially a concert, until it has been out and I can read reviews on whether it is worth it or not! BOTTOM LINE---DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!
Rating: 
Summary: Do Not Buy This DVD
Review: What can I say, I was expecting a nice high quality DVD
of this concert. However I am sorry to say that this DVD
was not as good as several pirated "bootleg" versions
of the same concert that I already have. To make the situation worse, the "Bootleg" versions that
I have are the complete show (including the song, "Long
Tall Sally"), however this DVD is missing many songs.
When you consider that the show was only about 30 minutes,
it makes you wonder why the company that put this DVD out
did not include all of the songs. Save yourself the money and buy the pirated version,
it is better and complete. Lets hope someday that someone will issue
this concert with all of the songs
as well as the film being restored
for higher quality.
Rating:
Summary: The Beatles Live in Washington DC 1964
Review: What can I say, I was expecting a nice high quality DVD
of this concert. However I am sorry to say that this DVD
was not as good as several pirated "bootleg" versions
of the same concert that I already have. To make the situation worse, the "Bootleg" versions that
I have are the complete show (including the song, "Long
Tall Sally"), however this DVD is missing many songs.
When you consider that the show was only about 30 minutes,
it makes you wonder why the company that put this DVD out
did not include all of the songs. Save yourself the money and buy the pirated version,
it is better and complete. Lets hope someday that someone will issue
this concert with all of the songs
as well as the film being restored
for higher quality.
Rating:
Summary: It's good to have an "official" version of this concert.
Review: What I can say is, this is a black and white program, recorded in 1964, and the sound mix in every version I've seen is a bit rough, done on the fly. Some instruments come through louder than others, some mics are somewhat distorted, some don't come through much at all. For years, this concert has been circulating on film, from scratchy prints, missing the last song, "Long Tall Sally". However, a few years ago, the original video tape was located, and if it is used for this DVD, the picture and sound should leap up by quite a notch. Portions of the videotape were used for Beatles Anthology, I'd suggest you have a look at that, and see if the footage meets the standards you mention. What I will say is, this is historic footage, representing The Beatles' first full concert in the USA, and despite it's flaws, it's a very energetic, exciting performance.
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