Customer Reviews

Anaheim Live

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was with anticipation that i opened my copy of Anaheim today. His performance is engaging and spirited throughout and his interaction with the audience has improved since the '88 recorded ACL
DVD. However, what is lacking is the superior camera work we saw on the
ACL DVD....in fact, it's not even close!! For some reason, there are even
shots from the very back of the venue(or out in the street) so far away
that you can barely make out the band/EJ. When closeups come and you finally get to see Eric at work, we are thrust throughout the venue front
to back to side...etc. At times, it distracts excessively from Eric performace and that should not happen. I personally prefer his setup and sound from ACL to his current setup and Cliffs of Dover on a Gibson SG sounds at times hurried and out of tune(horrors). Still, he is my favorite artist...but there are much better performances that he has done(ACL in particular)that could/should be tapped into for their artistry and quality.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT GUITAR ORIENTED CONCERT performed by Eric Johnson at the "Grove" in Anaheim, California on May 3, 2006. Eric is a true guitar master!!! If you like good guitar music, you'll LOVE every minute of this one. This is a "must-have" for any Eric Johnson Fan or any Guitar Rock Fan. If you like great guitar play, buy this, you'll love every minute of it, I know I do!!!

Eric Johnson is a Grammy Award Winning Guitarist and performer!!!

The total approx. run time is 1 hour and 14 minutes.

This is the only comtemporay Eric Johnson stage performance. It features Eric on lead vocals and excellent electric guitar play, Tommy Taylor on drums and Chris Maresh on bass guitar. This includes the only recorded Eric Johnson performance of Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression". Eric is an outstanding guitar master!!! This concert performance is simply outstanding in all aspects!!!

The songs are as follows:
1. Summer Jam
2. My Back Pages
3. Trademark
4. Manic Depression
5. On the Way to Love'
6. Rocktopus
7. S.R.V. (A special song dedicated to the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan).
8. Little Bit Me Little Bit You (A Monkey's Classic done Eric Johnson style).
9. Cliffs of Dover

Also, you get bonus acoustic performances some on piano of "Wind Cries Mary", "Song for George", and "Song for Lynette". Also, you get bonus interview with Eric and it contains some more electric guitar performances.

This is a welcome release from Eric. It shows a mature Eric performing exceptionally well!!! I highly recommend it!!! Thanks for reading my review and may God Bless, thanks.

I'm going to give this two stars instead of one because Eric Johnson is an incredible guitar player and I'd even watch an Eric Johnson concert in black & white.

The camera work is pathetic. Also this was intended as a home video release, so why was it shot in 2:35:1? Concerts are shot in 1:85 or 1:78. Not only does the camera work suck but the quality also sucks. I realize that this DVD probably wasn't given the same buget as say The Foo Fighters BluRay or The Police Certified but the Jeff Beck DVD that just came out blows this away.

I've seen Eric Johnson probably a half dozen times in concert and he's never played for less than 2 hours. So why is this DVD only about an hour of music?

The standards have gone way up for what a concert DVD or concert BluRay should look like and this falls way short of expectations.

Love Eric but there's something missing from this production. Maybe I was expecting too much but this show is under an hour and the "acoustic" performances include Eric on piano.
Granted the Austin City Limits DVD is roughly an hour but I'll grab it for my Eric fix.

Eric Johnson live in Anaheim is a nice video if you could not be at the show. I bought the new Jeff Beck CD 'Appearing this week at Ronnie Scotts' at the same time. As astounding as EJ is he sounds like a child next to Mr. Beck. I liked Eric's Austin City Limits DVD better.

Another brilliant performance by Eric . Great job on the cover tunes by Dylan , Hendrix and the Monkees . The acoustic sampler at the end of the DVD was a NICE addition as it features Eric playing piano on 2 of the songs .
This DVD shows just another side of this truly AMAZING performer ! I've seen Eric play live 4 times and I can't wait for # 5 .

It's nice to see Eric becoming more comfortable with the mantle of guitar hero and finding more joy in his incredible gift. This is a stylistically varied set that really shows off his guitar mastery. His rosewood strat sounds beautiful and impossibly thick and creamy; Tommy Taylor and in particular Chris Maresh sound amazing as well.

After reading some of the reviews here I was afraid that this would look like a home video...I think the picture quality is fine and the camera work is not distracting to me either. I was pleasantly surprised.

The acoustic piano set is of interest to me because it's a side of EJ that I haven't seen before. Been a fan since '84 and it's nice to see someone you're so familiar with in a new light. I really enjoyed 'Wind Cries Mary' on the piano...very cool.

The second solo on 'Rocktopus' is another revelation only found on this DVD. Fluid wide-interval scale work and lyrical liquid arpeggios take me 20,000 leagues down in EJ's stratocaster 'Nautilus'. Wicked awesome.

On a personal level, it feels good to see someone you've come to know and admire enjoying themselves. It pleases me to see Mr. Johnson enjoying the friuts of his obvious hard labors. This guy is one of the greats of all time and this captures a great performance by him and his band...what's not to like?

This is Eric's best live performance (purchase the video). Absolutely outstanding and he is playing with a confidence that I have not seen before. The interview section was quite revealing regarding why he seems to be at peace with his playing at this point in his life.
Must buy. Enjoy.
Steve

I love EJ's big 3 releases: Tones, Ah Via Musicom, and Venus Isle. Also have others but nothing has ever equaled those three, including what I've recorded of him playing on TV over the years. He's been one of my fav electric players for years, partly because it's hard for me to play like him (why try, right?!).
This disc is OK but lacks much excitment.......kinda "ho, hum" to watch. Nice that he's interviewed but he rambles too much as though he's tired or can't quite think of anything very significant to say.
One way the disc might have been more interesting was if Eric (or someone) revealed, and it could be just a voiceover in post production, exactly what equipment he is going through on each song.
I hope someday Eric releases another CD in the vein of those great three with some singable numbers and some great straight ahead, but not bluesy or jazzy, rock guitar.

Anaheim Live is a concert DVD that shows how detail and complex Eric Johnson guitar playing is. The DVD is a masterclass for guitar aficionados who are eager to see in great detail Johnson's guitar work and rig.