Product Details

• Actors: Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band
• Format: DVD, Live, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sony
• DVD Release Date: June 5, 2007
• Run Time: 130 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000P12LX8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,717 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > Artists > Springsteen, Bruce

Editorial Reviews

From the Director
1. Atlantic City
2. Eyes On The Prize
3. Jesse James
4. Further On (Up The Road)
5. O Mary Don't You Weep
6. Erie Canal
7. If I Should Fall Behind
8. My Oklahoma Home
9. Highway Patrolman
10. Mrs. McGrath
11. How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live (Bruce Springsteen Version)
12. Jacob's Ladder
13. Long Time Comin'
14. Open All Night
15. Pay Me My Money Down
16. Growin' Up
17. When The Saints Go Marching In
18. This Little Light Of Mine
19. American Land
20. Blinded By The Light
Special Feature: TWO BONUS TRACKS
Love Of The Common People
We Shall Overcome
Video/Audio
Mastered in High Definition
PCM Stereo
PCM 5.1 Surround Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Product Description
Bruce Springsteen With The Sessions Band Live in Dublin' features 23 songs drawn from the band's performances in Dublin, Ireland at The Point on November 17, 18 and 19, 2006. Songs include fan favorites from 'The Seeger Sessions,' radical interpretations from the Springsteen songbook and rare songs appearing for the first time on any Springsteen release. The DVD captures the band during the finale of its multi-leg 2006 tour.
The Word Magazine (UK) said of a concert on this tour, "I have never, make that NEVER, seen a show better than the one mounted by Bruce Springsteen and his (Sessions) band." The Washington Post declared, "It was the best live show I've seen in at least five years. (And I've seen a few.)"

Documented with nine cameras, the concert was filmed in High Definition (HD).

Atlantic City
Eyes On The Prize
Jesse James
Further On (Up The Road)
O Mary Don't You Weep
Erie Canal
If I Should Fall Behind
My Oklahoma Home
Highway Patrolman
Mrs. McGrath
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live (Bruce Springsteen Version)
Jacob's Ladder
Long Time Comin'
Open All Night
Pay Me My Money Down
Growin' Up
When The Saints Go Marching In
This Little Light Of Mine
American Land
Blinded By The Light

Special Feature: TWO BONUS TRACKS
Love Of The Common People
We Shall Overcome


See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent music, rousing performance, questionable editing, June 18, 2007

By	ShriDurga (Japan) - See all my reviews

Mix in hot jazz, a bit of gospel, blues, zydeco, bluegrass and country. Season with Bruce Springsteen and bake at high temperature in an Irish oven for what is perhaps the tastiest concert video of 2007.

This is not your anthemic, rock-til-you-drop, Born-in-the-USA Bruce. That energy is still there, but directed here into the American folk songbook, music written between mid 19th to mid 20th century and reflecting the concerns of the agrarian and working class, from the Oklahoma farmer of My Oklahoma Home, to the slave Old Dan Tucker, to African American dock workers of Pay Me My Money Down. This music was appropriated in the 1950's and 60's by politically conscience singer/songwriters such as Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, and through them the music comes down to us in the 21st century through Springsteen.

Ten of the songs from the original 2006 Seeger Sessions disc are here, as are a handful of new numbers and songs from the extended Seeger Sessions release (How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live, When the Saints Go Marching In, This Little Light of Mine, American Land, Long Time Comin'), as well as new arrangements of some of Springsteen's less well-known songs (If I Should Fall Behind, Growing Up, Blinded By the Light, Atlantic City, and Highway Patrolman).

For long time fans the old songs in new-old clothes will be unrecognizable by the opening melody alone. It's not until Bruce starts singing that your mind begins racing to place that particular set of lyrics with a title. All of these newly outfitted tunes show some inventiveness, but the ones that worked best for me were If I Should Fall Behind and Highway Patrolman, quiet performances showcasing the lyrics, and Blinded By the Light, which like it's original rock incarnation is a wild, foot-stomping show closer.

In fact most of this show will have you tapping your feet and signing along. This is a joyous performance, and you can see that the musicians are enjoying themselves as much as the audience. If you have some room in front of your television, clear out that space and get ready to dance.

About the only downside to this release is that it's not a document of one evening, but a compilation of three. In itself that decision was not as critical as the one to delete all on stage banter, including song and band introductions, often one of the more enjoyable parts of any Springsteen show. The editing work is also noticeably poor at times with the action not in sync with the sound, presumably where the director chose to insert shots from nights other than those from which the sound was recorded.

Otherwise, this is a great DVD and watching it was the most fun I've had in front of the television in months.

#

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing the Celebration Back Home, June 5, 2007

By	Soulboogiealex (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

Roughly a year ago Springsteen surprised a lot of people when he released We Shall Overcome: the Seeger Sessions. A record that was not so much a tribute to Pete Seeger but more a celebration of American musical history. The record was uncommonly loose for Springsteen's standards, the song basically being the result of impromptu sessions. Musically the album mixed damn near every style in American folk music between New Orleans Gumbo & Blue Grass. A highly unorthodox style that would raise the eyebrows of purists but sounded catchy as hell. The song selection on the record went back hundreds of years but had a strong connection with today and Bruce's own catalogue.

Even before the album went on sale, concerts were announced and tickets were sold in Europe. Again, nobody quite knew what to expect from this evening of gospel, folk and blues performed by Bruce Springsteen & his 17 piece Seeger Sessions Band. Nobody knew what to expect but the shows in Europe sold out in minutes. I think few who went were disappointed.

Live in Dublin is a registration of what this tour was about, not necessarily a registration of the concert experience. The DVD clocks in at a mighty two hours, the shows were often pushing the two and a half. Some concessions seem to have been made to make the show fit on one disc. Concessions that'll no doubt bother a lot of fans. Two tour staples were cut from the set. John Henry and You Can Look were played every night, yet didn't make the DVD. A totally redundant track as Love of the Common People did, as a bonus. Springsteen has always made strange choices when it comes to releasing his live material and this is certainly one of them.

Despite those odd choices the Live in Dublin DVD gives you a pretty good sense off how good these shows were. The tour was in part a explicit political rally with anti-war songs as Ms McGrath or the New Orleans tribute How Can a Poor Man (stand such times and live). Yet most of the time its message was more subtle. Songs as Eyes on the Prize, a recast to the civil rights movement, or When the Saints Come Marchin' In served the same function, but in a more subdued manner.

The political issues that the tour tried to get back on the agenda weren't its greatest achievement by no means. The celebration of music was. Springsteen's own material fitted in seamlessly adapted to the style of the tour. Open All Night became a stomper in the style of Louis Jordan, Highway Patrolman revoked the images of Hank Williams, Louis Armstrong was omni present in the horn section and if you didn't know any better Jesse James felt like it had been in Bruce's catalogue since mid eighties.

The DVD captures all the musicians on stage in all there glory. Seldom did Springsteen give his band so much of the lime light. And during no tour he did before did the audience play such a crucial role. The band sung, danced and played with the audience. Pay Me My Money Down was sung minutes after the band left the stage, until they came back for the encores and even the most convinced atheist would belt out the words to Jacob's Ladder. The Seeger Sessions Tour was a celebration and this DVD brings it all back.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER missed opportunity for a Springsteen DVD, June 15, 2007

By	Mr. Cj Jothi (London, England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What has happened to concert films? Very rarely do you find one that compliments the music. Hark back to The Last Waltz and you see the director (Scorsese) planning every shot for every song. In the 21st century every director is getting 20-25 cameras, putting them all over the place and in the edit room is just jumbling the shots all together with little regard for the music.

Springsteen and the Sessions Band were nothing short of miraculous when they toured the world last year. Critics and long term fans were taken on a glorious musical journey that will never be experienced by any other tour. In Dublin the band are in great shape and it is deserving of this enormous release from Sony (CD, CD+DVD, DVD, BluRay, you name it).

But the problem is not in the music. It's in the picture. The stage lighting is pitiful for a concert that was being filmed. Everyone, including Bruce, is lit hard from one side leaving the rest of their face covered in shadows (which may work in some cases, bit here looks terrible). Everyone is underlit and the stage is murky (sorry, this does not convert into moody and stylish, it's just rubbish). When I was at the Hammersmith and Wembley the stage was awash with crisp, coloufrul lighting. For some reason this has not been converted on screen, despite the latest HD cameras being used.

Then you have the choice in camera angles and editing. The beauty of this music is the collective contribution of each musician. It isn't about Bruce. It's about the band. He knows that and was always giving the band members space to take centre stage, with countless solos. It isn't about 1 second on the piano player, 1 second on the drummer, 5 seconds on Bruce, and around we go again. Instead, this video needed a wide angle, center stage, covering the whole band, lingering for 10 or so seconds, and then cutting to appropriate musicians and of course the main man. Focus on the finger picking, focus on the brass players with their cheeks getting larger and larger as they blew into their instruments. Focus on the crazy hair of the banjo player and his beautiful smile. All the nuances of these great players, from the banjo player to the gospel singers to Bruce are caught in rare glimpses (if only by chance) where they should be focused on. And if I see one more cut from Bruce to Pattie (YES, THEY'RE MARRIED, CAN WE GET BACK TO THE MUSIC PLEASE!!!) I might shoot myself. Thom Zimny (editor) and Chris Hilson (director) produced far greater work on the New York City DVD. Here, they have missed out on making a legendary DVD which is what it could have been, one for the ages.

Despite Hilson's attempts of botching this release in every way it still remains an enjoyable experience because of the music. A stunning performance (across 3 nights), and one that deserves to be seen and heard by everyone. Thanks Bruce, and see you on the road.