Customer Reviews

Bad Religion - Live at the Palladium

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My advice to Bad Religion: Rip the audio from this, and release it as your next live CD. Like your labelmate's Dropkick Murphys did with Live At St. Patrick's (CD) and On The Road With Dropklck Murphys (DVD). Some of the songs here, were better than studio versions, in particularly Stranger Than Fiction and Along The Way. I liked Rise Against's singer's guest appearance as well. He didn't butcher the verse. Now, personally, I have a big hatred for barriers at punk shows, and thousands of bodyguards stopping kids from dancing/moshing, whatever. But that certainly doesn't affect the quality of the music, or the production. This is, without a doubt, the best DVD in my rather small, humble collection. Better than my DK DVD's, Sex Pistols, Dropkick Murphys, The Clash, my other BR DVD. None of them come close to this. A must have for any Bad Religion fan. And, once again I'd like to reiterate my point, release this as an audio disc Bad Religion. Seriously. Do it.

instead of "Los Angeles is Burning", it's rocking on this DVD(point to the cheap seats dramatically like Greg Graffin)...
Having virutally never read or seen any interviews from the members of Bad Religion in the 13 years I've been listening to them, I had to get this. The interview segments are really good and they cover just about everything you would want to know except maybe why they changed drummers in 2001/2002. They cover everything from joining Atlantic records on the verge of Epitaph's exploding success with The Offspring in the early 90's to why guitarist co-founder Brett Guirweitz(sp) left the band in the mid-90's and rejoined for 'The Process of Belief' CD. You even get to see their parents get interviewed...to me, that's so unhip it's COOL. Be different, and they always have been with thier lyrics in particular. The live show is great, although I was let down slightly that they totally ignored some great albums. They played nothing from 'The New America' or 'No Substance' and played a lot of old stuff I was not familiar with(I started listening to the band with '93's Recipe for Hate CD onwards). I would've really liked them to play the incredibly melodic 'Portrait of Authority', 'Marked', 'Shades of Truth' and 'A Whisper in Time'... too poppy I guess which Greg Graffin hints out in the interviews. There are some funny moments too when Greg changes microphones while on stage and Chad is doing a drumroll for 'dramatic' effect and then he says 'eat your heart out Metallica'... The biggest surprise of the entire DVD is seeing Greg Graffin sitting at a piano and doing a solo rendition of The Gray Race's "Cease"... very impressive. Other highlights are "10 in 2010", "American Jesus", "Infected", "Sinister Rouge" and the sligtly poppy "Sorrow". A must buy for any BR fan. I always wondered, however, how the smartest dude in punk rock(Graffin) continues to write incredible lyrics when his brain can do so much more(like his recent thesis on evolution). The best punk band EVER. Period. If you listen to Sum 41, Good Charlotte and the like, you really need to listen to a REAL punk rock band. 'nuff said. Buy it. Steal it. Burn it. Borrow it. Just get the thing.

This disc is great. Production is above par for this medium and genre. At first I thought some of the songs were gussied up with overdubs, but after watching the whole thing I now think otherwise. The live concert show speaks for itself.

Interviews are intimate and insightful. Pay close attention, though, and tell me Brian Baker DIDN'T put his first band MINOR THREAT above BR (in the "Legacy" section). Arguably, he's right but I digress ...

Perhaps most delightful about this disc is the inclusion of 5 songs performed on New Wave Theater, an old cable show which those of us who have followed this band for the past 25 years used to stay up late to catch on USA Network's Nightflight.

All in all, this disc served to remind me how great punk rock can truly be, and specifically, how great Bad Religion is as a band, as a group of individuals, and as an ethic.

Being a Bad Religion fan for over 15 years I have to say that this DVD is amazing and that you surely get 'value for money'. It was really fortunate that the set list didn't include too many songs from the newer albums (which I don't enjoy as much as the classics) and that the picture and sound quality was truly satisfactory. The DVD's extras were also more that I could wish for, besides the absence of some video clips.

My only gripe lies with the bands performance. Although the guys play really well, as always, they are getting older and it kind of shows. They have slowed down the pace of almost all songs from No Control and Against The Grain and Greg Graffin doesn't put too much edge or passion in his voice. This results in some songs not sounding as good as they could have but the playing is still top notch! Another drawback IMO is Graffins absence of movement, it seems that he concentrates too much on delivering the vocals 100% correctly and doesn't move much nor jump around as in the early days. This gives the impression of a band that plays really tight but it is kind of still in stage presence (although Hetson and Brett spice things up at a few instances). The last thing that bothers me a bit is that the guitarists have changed the solos to "Modern Man" and "I Want To Conquer The World" a bit...why?

Besides those few gripes the concert footage is amazing and the renditions of "Come Join Us", "American Jesus", "10 In 2010", "Recipe For Hate", "Do What You Want", "Cease" and "Sorrow" are some of the bands best ever! The crowd seems to be really crazy and that surely brings forth the feeling of energy that this amazing band transmits to its fans. The interviews were interesting also, although I would have liked to know what truly happened to the bands previous drummer Bobby (a medical problem with his arms?).

All in all a really great buy for any fan of Bad Religion, don't pay too much attention to my nit picking...Although I still believe that the bands best video is "Big Bang" which has never been released on DVD...

Finally a proper Bad Religion DVD for us all, and at a time when they are pretty much at the peak of their ability, rejuvenated with Mr Brett and Brooks and putting out the best albums of their career.
This is a definitive and enjoyable DVD. The interviews with band members answer most of the questions and break up the live show nicely, but you can just watch the live show if you want, cool. The extra's are good also, a fresh faced shy Greg Graffin belting out their early songs on a local TV show back at the beginning.
The song selection reads a bit like a greatest hits, with most of their singles getting an airing with a splatter of lesser known ones. I would've liked to hear a few more obscure songs, but how do you choose from a list so long? I guess the fact that most are previous singles might increase someone's marginal propensity to buy (love that term ;o) the DVD if they had only heard of the titles of the singles.
The "major label" years are pretty much ignored, explained as too poppy and not in the spirit of BR, but I quite like The New America and there are a few songs on No substance that would've been worth an airing, but really, 3hrs of 2-3 minute songs wouldn't work would it?

I have been a fan of Bad Religion since probably 1990 when I was in High School. From the first time I heard the Againt The Grain cassette I was hook till today. I mean every fan in the world knows that BR have the best lyrics and some great catchy hooks the grab you and dont let you go. Well 15 years later they have this great live DVD with superb sound (my neighbors are hating me, I watch it in my sorround sound sistem) and a long list of songs that you ll love. Brooks the drummer is the best by far thay had ( as much as we loved Pete and Bobby) and brian gives that a good addition to with his voice and their oozing ahhs sound great. The special features are very good with 6 videos( i would like to see more of them) and some vintage footage and pics, well overall go and buy it, wahct it and enjoy is the best BR can offer. I would love to have the version of Walk Away or Dont Pray on me , but still is a five stars.

Finally Bad Religion puts out a North American DVD with recent concert footage. Its only fitting seeing as how the band has been around for what -- 20+ years? The song selection is great, with many tunes pulled from their great catalog. The performances are top notch. (Although Greg is a LITTLE shaky in the first track, he quickly settles in.) My only beef is this: with 3 guitarists in the band, the guitars sound kinda low in the mix. 3 gits SHOULD be a wall of sound, but its not. (I guess they didnt want to bury the vocal, but still...) Also the actual recording LEVEL could be higher. I had to really crank the sound on my tv to really hear it loud, when it should be lound around 15 or so not 25. Also why not put EVERY music video on the DVD? I havent watched the interviews yet, but it IS worth the price for the show. Im being somewhat nitpicky here, but the footage is great, and this Disc is highly recommended.

this dvd both lived up to my expectations and dissapointed as well.

the concert footage is beautiful. it's very clear no expense was spared in shooting this thing. it's truly fantastic. (small gripe: since they shot with so many camera angles, it would have been nice to include viewer changable camera angles on the dvd.) the sound is really good (i'd say an 8/10). at times the mix is fairly 'eh'... generally in the guitar department.

the interviews and band history is pretty interesting but i feel like they could have done more. they either gloss over things quickly or don't talk about them at all (the loss of their drummers, brett returning to the band). also, there's just something about graffin that really rubbed me the wrong way... maybe it's toward the end when he's talking about being so distanced from punk rock today or how he can't really relate to the fans.

the song selection is ok, but tends to stear towards the newer stuff. i understand this was shot during the tour for 'the empire strikes first', but considering this is the band's first ever north american dvd, you'd have thought they would have dug a little deeper in to their catalog. oh well.

the bonuses are pretty good, though a bunch of videos are missing which is kind of a bummer. the old live footage is really cool and surprisingly good quality.

this dvd is a best bet for any bad religion fan.

Nicely-shot footage with a good set-list. Interviews intersperced between the songs. As much BR as you could hope for on a single DVD.

Recommended.

I totally recommend this DVD. If you are a BR fan you MUST have it, not only because it's the first professionally made BR live recording (the sound is great), but also because it includes interviews with all the members plus music videos and they play most of their best songs. As an extra there are some really old live performances. I loved it!