Customer Reviews

Dinosaur Jr.: Live in the Middle East

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

 

 

I'm not a huge Dinosaur Jr. fan, but living in Boston I saw them a few times in the 1980s, and in 2005 at one of the shows on this DVD, and I certainly appreciate their unique, powerful live sound. As concert DVDs go, this is just about as perfect as you could hope. The track list is all vintage classics, and the band played better on these 2005 shows than in the old days -- J. Mascis' guitar playing is much more confident, and loud as ever, and drummer Murph is as fluid as in the old days, often not the case with drummers when old bands reunite.

The shows are shot well, with a good sound mix and plenty of guitar and the right vocal level for Dinosaur Jr. (I listened in 2.0.) Almost all of this set comes from the smallish basement club, the Middle East, and a final few tracks from NYC's midsize rock club Irving Plaza. There are also some neat, subtle director's touches, like the between-encore backstage shot where the band just stands there, seemingly wondering if they've waited long enough yet. But mostly you just watch the band on stage. The DVD's cover shot of Mascis as "Cousin It" is a still from this set, and it's a good representation of the program.

I haven't watched the bonus features yet, but the main show alone is worth picking up if you're interested in this.

This dvd is pretty great and is an interesting, fairly well shot club show. The sound mix is solid although I would have preferred a bit more kick drum. The band is definitely tighter than when I saw them in the 80's! This is shot on their first reunion tour leg,I think. The extras are nice but it would have been cool to have the full World Cafe bonus performances. Anybody expecting a slick, super professional DVD will be put off by the slightly low-fi quality of the interviews and bonus footage although the people interviewed really seem to express what makes Dino Jr. such a special band. A Dinosaur Jr. fan knows what to expect and they'll get it in this raw and rocking DVD.

This DVD has really captured the punk and rawness that is a Dinosaur Jr. club gig!! Dinosaur Jr. screetches through many songs off of their first three records w/ J, Lou & Murph reunited for the first time in years. The only thing I found different from the actual live shows was the fact that my ears did not ring for three days after viewing this DVD! Hardcore Dinosaur fans MUST OWN this!!! Newcomers, buy it and put on your seatbelt!!

When I saw the set list for this DVD, I thought this would be golden. Instead it was as I remember seeing them live in 92, kind of bland. I enjoy listening to their albums, but Dinosaur Jr. live lacks energy. I was excited when they started playing Chunks, but Lou had no aggression, sure it is 25 years later, but it just sums up what I thought of this performance, bland.

The strobe lights in the video are very annoying. It gets old fast and even if you don't have Epilepsy you still might have a seizure.

If you are a die hard fan, you might like this much more then I did? I enjoy them and consider myself a fan, but prefer to listen to their albums vs. watching them live.

I would have loved to see footage of them in their pinnacle in the late 80's. If this DVD would have been a mix of live shows from years past to present, I think this would have been so much better.

Rock on!

Dinosaur Jr is a vastly underrated band that everyone should look into. It's hard to label them. They have elements of grunge, indie, hardcore, jam band, and stoner rock. The singer/songwriter J Mascis wails on guitar and plays blistering solos and pierce yr gut from every angle. The songs have pop elements with intelligent indie mastery. They combine unique smart rock with extremely catchy pop melodies...

This dvd does total justice for the bands sound. I'm very picky with live recordings. But this has very high quality especially regarding the sound. Dinosaur Jr doesn't release much live stuff and this is the only official live dvd. The songs sound much heavier than on the albums, and I'd argue they sound better on this dvd. I usually think live recordings have problems with sound quality, but this one is the opposite.

You HAVE to get this one especially if you like anything Dinosaur Jr related...And if you don't know the band, but love music and rock, PICK THIS UP. I'm very picky with live recordings but this one is absolutely perfect. It has a TON of songs and great picks for the band. It's heavy, intense, yet catchy as hell. I'd argue that this is the must have Dinosaur Jr item out of everything they've done.

GET IT!

This DVD is brilliant and all Dinosaur Jr fans should own it - from start to finish - great songs with good camera angle's used plus it keeps that raw sound that makes Dinosaur Jr so damn great! the live gig ends with a great cover of The Cures "Just Like Heaven"

finally something that caputers just how good they are live. i love this dvd.