Customer Reviews

Blast!: An Explosive Musical Celebration [VHS]

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I watched this tape a few weeks before I saw the actual show in Bloomington, and although the two were somewhat different, both were WELL worth the time and money spent. I was a little apprehensive when I first heard about the production, "A Drum Corps show on an auditorium stage? Riiight." But, being a fan I went ahead and gave it a chance just to see. Almost needless to say, I was blown away. The show on the video was a work of creative genius. My hat is off once again to Jim Mason and Bill Cook for their ever-outstanding work. I recommend this show, video or live to anyone interested in theatre, music, Drum Corps, marching band, or just having a blast (pardon the pun). There is really nothing like this out there, but the closest comparison I can make would be Stomp (with winds and a guard) or a full out DCI show... An awesome experience!

I just received my DVD version of Blast! The Show. If you've seen the VHS version (or on PBS, during their fund raisers), then you haven't SEEN Blast!.

They've mixed it in Dolby 5.1, the sound on the DVD is awesome. They were careful about the sound levels, so that the soft parts were soft - the loud parts loud - with no clipping (over loudness). This release really shows off the DVD's capabilities.

The picture is FABULOUS! None of the VHS tape limitations on quality are evident. It is crisp and superb!

The behind the scenes special feature is very interesting. As a musician, I appreciate ALL of the technical things that the performers exhibit while on stage.

I *strongly* recommend the DVD version to any music enthusiast / home theater nut.

Ballet, modern dance, marching bands, drum and bugle corps, flag dancers, bell ringers, army drill teams and more are what you can expect from this original and fascinating visual display of music.

This collection of music and movement does its best to avoid classification. There is simply nothing like it. Imagine seeing the following:

A drum team with the precision of Riverdance
A trombone player riding a unicycle
Dancers dancing with giant blades of grass
Colorful flag throw across stage in musical precision
Officer Krupke done in a way that makes West Side Story look dull
A xylophonist playing while chasing his instrument
Drum rolls so fact the sound like bees
Beautiful ballet and precision dance while playing instruments
Swords and rifles used for dance and as drumsticks
Blindfolded drummer who change drum sets without missing a beat
Some of the best horn playing around
A dozen tubas gyrating to a rhumba beat
More more more...

There are two themes that thread through all of the productions. The first is the use of color. Flags, lights, costumes and props take the production through the rainbow. The second is that these performers really love what they are doing. Just look at their faces.

The camera work is well done. Angle change to show what is going on without being to spastic like in Lord of the Dance. There is even an intermission where several performers join the audience and use stools for drums.

My only complaint is that some numbers are actually several pieces in a row without their own separate tracks. So when watching the drum battle, if you want to see the precision blindfolds, you will have to watch the pieces before it (at least until you set your own bookmarks).

My whole family really loves this one from my wife and myself to my one-year-old and my four-year-old. The visuals are gripping and unbelievable. While the music itself is great, anyone who just gets the CD is really missing out.

I saw Blast! live on stage, and was thoroughly impressed by the whole thing. The performers (musicians and dancers alike) have an energy and spirit which is hard to capture fully on television or video. Although the VHS is nothing like the show, it is the very next best thing (still better than ANYTHING you will ever see again) and well worth buying. Sadly, as I live in the UK, I cannot watch this version of the show on my VCR. My only hope would be a DVD release, as I have a multi-region DVD player. People of America- You have no idea how lucky you are to be able to buy and watch this musical and performing arts phenomenon! I loved it, so will you!

I saw the show in New York and loved it. The DVD is of the London version which has been improved somewhat for the Broadway performance extended for six months, and new second cast that is now at Epcot.

Blast is of special interest to those who have an interest in Drum and Bugle Corps or Marching Bands. It is an example of what a drum corps can do with all the time in the world, a professional cast (almost all have degrees in either music performance, dance or music education) and a bottomless pot of corporate money. The performances are flawless and the show has been put together with a lot of imagination. This is likely a precurser of what we will be seeing in band and drum corps performances in the future.

The particular advantage of the DVD, in addition to the expected superb picture and sound are the several sections that have the director's voice-over explaining how the show was created. Several opportunities for alternate camera angles let you see the show in wide angle if you don'te want the more creative closups.

For sheer excitement, you cannot beat this DVD. The music is exciting, arranged well for brass ensemble, and recorded with high quality. But that's only the beginning...

In Blast, the band vigorously acts out all the pieces they perform. How they manage this energy level will flat-out amaze you. I can honestly say that, after just seeing these performances, you are as happily exhausted as the performers must be.

Prepare to be thrilled...

Unfortunately, I must disagree with all the reviewers who write, "If you're in marching band, you'll love this DVD!" That is such limited praise that it almost insults the performers. Truth is, Blast! cuts across all lines of musicianship -- and nonmusicianship. I took my parents, my wife, and my 4-year old daughter (none of whom can toot a single note) to see the mini-version at Disney's California Adventure (Bolero, Land of Make Believe, Malaguena), and they were blown away.

When we got home, I rented the DVD, and my daughter was up and dancing around throughout most of it. She told me afterward that she wants "to play a horn like that." Later she confided that she wanted to learn to "play the drums like that," too. I suppose there is little praise that is higher than that. To inspire another to take up the art that you have just presented.

Get this DVD. When the touring company comes to your town (or nearby), go see it. You and your nonmusician friends and family will not be disappointed.

So, why just four stars? I tive the performance 5 stars and more. The DVD lacks in sufficient special features. The insightful commentary track covers just 4 numbers out of 20. The "Making of Blast" featurette is better than most that you find on movie DVDs. There are more interviews with the performers here. Still, I would love to have seen more footage of show preparation and behind-the-scenes stuff.

Score one for Amazon's "people who like this also like..." feature! I'd never heard of "Blast!", but upon ordering "Stomp Out Loud" it was recommended, and I clicked. I'm glad I did!

I do think that people who enjoyed "Stomp" will love "Blast!", but that doesn't mean that this show is a clone of Stomp by any means!

While boasting its fair share of excellent percussion, "Blast!" is much grander in staging and more of a melodic experience (with fabulous music choices) than the pure rhythmic blitzkrieg of "Stomp". I also doubt very much that you'll see a trombone player on a unicycle in Stomp anytime soon...

The staging and choreography are creative, flawlessly executed, and well-photographed. The musicianship is outstanding (and all the more astonishing given the complexity of the choreography), the musical choices and arrangements are delightful, and the sound reproduction on the DVD is first-rate. Fans of brass instruments will especially appreciate this disc.

I'm already ordering copies for friends.

Can you throw a 10 foot pole high in the air and catch it at the exact same time as a dozen other people catch theirs? Can you play a drumset blindfolded? Or can you perform masterpieces by Ravel and Copland while holding up a 20 pound instrument, running backwards as fast as you can and all the while staying in perfect formation with the 50 other people on stage?

The performers in Blast! can. For anyone who has ever mildly enjoyed a marching band's halftime show, this performance will be incredible. Their repertoire includes favorites that can be easily recognized by almost anybody, such as West Side Story's "Gee, Officer Krupke" and masterpieces many bands don't dare to attempt, such as Ravel's "Bolero." But even the lesser known songs are entertaining, such as "Split Complementaries" where several performers with mellophones (marching french horns) twist and contort their bodies around eachother to form pure musical art.

Many people can play instruments, but few can march with them, and even fewer at this level. Throw in some dancing, incredible acting, and even some singing (the cast performs a joyful yet subdued rendition of Copland's "Simple Gifts") and you have some truly talented performers. I have seen this show twice on stage. How many shows have you seen get a standing ovation at the end of the performance? How about at the end of the first act before intermission?? Or how about in the middle of the first act???

Buy this DVD and be prepared to be blown away by the sheer talen of these performers. It is what "band nerds" (like myself) everywhere dream of becoming, but even those with little or no musical talent will find this show simply amazing.

If you have seen the show live then the DVD is a must have. Turn it up loud and try to ignore the truly amateurish video directing (more on this in a moment). The cast is in top form in this performance, done before a live audience in London. Ben Harloff, flugelhorn and trumpeter extraordinaire, steals the show on several occasions including in the amazingly soulful Don Ellis tune "Loss", and the upbeat Mangione (no, despite the Amazon titling, Chuck is not on the DVD) chart, "Land of Make Believe" (watch for his circular breathing trick where he plays a note without breaking for what seems like minutes).

The drumming is spectacular, the visual ensemble "brilliant" (as Londoners like to say of the show), and the brass are, well, POWERFUL, is the best term to describe them. If you have not seen the show live, it is worth seeing. The cast is in Japan over the summer of '05 but will be back in the states come fall of '05. (...).

As for the DVD itself. It is a directorial mess. Oh, the audio is very well done but the video looks like it was directed by a guy more used to doing Yani concerts than Drum and Bugle. And this is a variation, if rarified version, of drum corps and as such, should be presented with that in mind. The whole idea of a show like Blast! is to let it play on your senses without video gimmicks. It is choreographed in such a way that the show is intended to wash over you, at times come at you unexpectedly from your peripheral vision, and generally present itself as a unified whole, not as a series of clever video moves.

Much like drum corps, where the performers are often acting as one organism, so too the cast of Blast! works together in amazing harmony. However, to watch the video you would rarely know it. The director has a dozen cameras (and he's not afraid to use them). Although the video is not as horrific as Riverdance, where you never get to see any more than about a second of continuous video from one angle, Blast! is not a whole lot better. Rather than give us a general overview of the action, the director has the cameras follow individual cast members across stage, give us side shots of action when we should be seeing it head on, panning, spinning, rotating, he uses every cheesy move possible as if he thought the show wasn't interesting enough so he thought he might spice it up a little. But the directing is too clever by half; key action is missed due to an unending stream of extreme closeups of horn bells, sweaty brows, and audience members.

Rarely is the viewer treated to, what one might hope a DVD of this type would be good for, a view from the best seat in the house. Live, Blast! is best seen from the center of the Mezzanine level. From this viewpoint one can appreciate the high level of synchronicity that is involved with indoor drum and bugle corps antics. However, the DVD only gives you this view on rare occasions, opting instead for oblique shots from the cheap orchestra level seats, front row seats, on stage with a steadicam (some of the most irritating shots imaginable), and from overhead.

True, there are a few songs ("Land of Make Believe", "Loss", and "Spiritual of the Earth", that are not completely ruined by the incessant cuts and idiotic camera angles but this is because there is less large unit choreography to these numbers. Most of the others, most notably, "Lemon Techno" are COMPLETELY ruined by the tasteless video directing. "Techno" simply has to be seen from the center of the auditorium to appreciate the amazing flag handling done by the visual ensemble. Instead, the DVD emasculates the harmony of the movement by interjecting endless closeups, tracking shots of individual performers, and generally ignores the wide angle cover shot that one so desperately hopes will come (but almost never does).

Fortunately, there are three songs that allow the DVD viewer to select the "angle" which gives a less frenetic editing pace and more wide angle shots so you can actually see what is going on. It's too bad this option was not available for the whole DVD.

All in all, the video is a mixed bag due to the problem of the video director forgetting editing 101: "KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE AND MATERIAL". The audience for Blast! wants to see the performers working together as a unit. That is what Drum and Bugle is all about. Close-ups and fast paced editing in a show like this just proves how poorly prepared the director and producer were for the show. Next time, save the fast cuts for a Kenny G concert where there is nothing really going on.

Blast! does not need to be hyped with unnecessary video tricks. It stands on its own quite well.