Customer Reviews

Megadeath: Rust In Peace Live

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, this was awesome!!!! I remember seeing these songs performed during the "Clash of the Titans" tour back in the 90s, and I'm glad Mustaine chose to do this album in its entirety. Not too many heavy metal albums rank next to this one, and I rank this album as one of the greatest of all time.

The musicianship is second to none. I would go so far as to say this is the best Megadeth lineup, as I think Shawn Drover is the best drummer Dave has played with in a long time (Gar Samuelson was probably the best). He is a solid drummer who can play the all the material. He has the chops and style. Chris Broderick is massive on the guitar. He really can move over that fret board and seems like a natural for all the parts. Personally I like to hear all the original solos played as they were originally written, but I don't mind when someone like Broderick adds his own flare because after hearing his work on "Endgame" I think to myself, "What would he have done with 'Rust In Peace?' Not dissing Marty, just giving respect to Chris.

I gave this 4 stars because of a few short comings. Take my following criticism more like suggestions for the future as I am really a diehard fan of Megadeth, and have been for decades (but I know Dave and Megadeth management will never see this review).

1) The vocals were overdubbed, and it is easy to see. My question is, "why?" Mix as you will, but let the true live experience come full force. The music sounded great, I'm sure the vocals sounded just as good. I have this problem with many live DVDs; don't funk with the mix so much.

2) Backstage footage was skimpy. This would have been a great opportunity to really go behind he scenes and see how the band sets up, check out the equipment, and do some solid up close interviews, especially with the other band members. Also, show some footage of the tour preparation rehearsals when the band was first playing all of "Rust In Peace" in a rehearsal studio (and when Ellefson just came back). The DVD creators could have even re-visted footage from "The Clash of the Titans," and do a retrospective kind of thing. That would have been awesome!! A nice biography would have been great, tracing the history of Megadeth up till now (something quick and creative). And last for this point, fan interviews. The screaming fans showed the energy and excitement, but do something more refined to really get the feel of the fans. Some of those fans came a long way. I would had loved to had heard their stories about Megadeth a bit more in depth. So much more could have been done, and it would have been worth the price hike. I felt the creativity with the DVD was lacking.

And 3) Again, with the bonus footage. I'm a bass player, and I love the drums, and the guitar work on "Rust In Peace" is genre breaking and defining, so why aren't there performance isolation angle options? This would have been great for the Blu-Ray DVD (as all this extra footage would need the space). Show the parts being played live, up close and personal. Dave Mustaine once said in an interview, where he was showcasing his signature Marshall stack, that the best way to learn a guitar part is to watch the actual musician play it (if you want to learn it note for note). This would have been a great opportunity for that to come true. But the bonus material really doesn't hold up to the what other bands produce. I think Megadeth could have taken a lesson from Dream Theater (actually Mike Portnoy) in this regard, and pack the DVD with every possible thing you could imagine, and sell the hell out of it. Mike Portnoy could have lent Shawn Drover his drumcam(s), so we could see his technique, etc. I would have like to see those drum parts, like on "5 Magics" and "Rust In Peace...Polaris." Again, the package could have been for the Blu-Ray only, or make it multiple DVDs, whatever, just give me more. I would have paid the price.

I'm obviously thinking with a fans mind, and maybe some of what I said could not have happened logistically or financially, but I think if minds and the powers that be had sat down and really thought out this process, and looked outside the box to give the fans the ultimate experience then more stuff could have been packed in to the DVD. In the end, the performance was awesome!!!! And for what the DVD offers, the price is right, but it could have been so much more.

Peace,
Fan from 'Back in the day'

the blu-ray version is the definitive version. the high-def transfer is perfect. the dts-master audio lossless sound puts to shame the plain and flat sounding dolby track on the dvd. as for the concert...immaculate. I loved this band since rust in peace came two decades and they still are better than anything this generation has come up with. I can't wait until the 20th anniversary of countdown to extinction so dave and the boys can play that entire album live. hopefully, marty is back for that.

Wow! I had rude awakening and thought it was OK. I think it is great when bands do an entire album live and release it on DVD. Slayer's Reign In Blood Live is a favorite DVD for me to watch, But the Rust in Peace one is just fantastic! The filming of this was awesome--great stage lighting and loved the close-ups of the guitar playing. This line-up of Megadeth is the best one since the "Symphony of Destruction" era. Great musicianship and the Rust in Peace album has never sounded so great until now. This performance was technically fantastic and totally gave justice to this Megadeth Classic! The way it was filmed and the sound recording makes you feel you were right there at the concert! I ordered the Beunos Aires dvd and hope that it will be as good as this one! A GREAT addiction to any Metal DVD collection! Great Job, Dave!!!!

I purhased this along with the 1 nite in Argentina DVD. As many have said, the audio mix is kind of funny. I have a Jamo HT top of the line with Reference monitors and the Kick and Bass are more prominent through the entire mix. I am surprised that the DVD passed such an important flaw. It sounds like a club mix than a live areana mix. The surround sound of the crowd is literally non existent. I would have given it 1 more star if not for the bad audio and another star for the pakaging.. For a 20th Anniversay DVD this was cheap.

I'm really not sure what the problem is, but this DVD sounds like it was recorded with a hand-held tape recorder from the back of the room. Granted, I was not using a blue-ray set-up, but that doesn't mean it should sound as horribly as it did.

At first, I thought there was something wrong with my home theater. It's a Denon DVD-558 player connected to a Marantz SR5600. I even double-checked to make sure I had "DTS" selected in the audio options. Still, the show sounded as though it was located 50 feet underwater.

So, I grabbed my Seinnheiser HD280 headphones to rule out my speakers or the power output as being the problem. Still crappy.

I unplugged the headphones and put "That One Night" in the dvd player. It sounded as great as it always did. So what gives? Simply put: this is a horrible recording of what otherwise would've been a fantastic show to hear through my home theater system. No, it isn't exactly THX certified state-of-the-art hardware that I'm using, but the set-up that I have has no problem making just about every other concert DVD I own sound awesome.

Too bad, really. Rust In Peace is hands-down one of my favorite albums of all time from any band. I was absolutely thrilled when I saw it at the store just waiting for me to buy it. It was as though the concert DVD gods had answered my prayers. It was almost too good to be true. I was thinking, "What's next? A Tool concert DVD?" But, I guess that would be too much to ask.

Terrible audio.

Buy the last Megadeth DVD instead (Rude Awakening) if you want to enjoy watching Megadeth from the couch. I can't wait until this trend of quick cuts for camera shots slows down in metal DVDs. You NEVER get to see a guitar solo anymore.

I like Megadeth, even more because Mustaine has shown a new way of life. However this blu ray has a very bad audio. The 5.1 DTS is terrible, with too much VOICE sound on LEFT BACK speaker (what???). This is really annoying. And in general audio is only bass, nothing clear or cristal. The stereo track is ok.

Very Frustrating...because the music was great, the guitar playing amazing...BUT the camera shots and fast editing is terrible. As a guitarist and big fan of watching concerts I was looking forward to watching them 'tear it up,' but the camera shots edit too fast and while Chris or Dave are soloing, you get shots of other stuff & not much of their playing!!! WHY????!!!???? Why do the Producers & Editors do this???
Any concerts that are edited this way really take away from the band's performances. Megadeth is exciting enough to just watch them play these amazing songs.
I wish we could get a message out to the editors that think they have to do fast/quick/frantic shots to make the DVD more exciting. It DOESN'T WORK!!! U2's 360 tour is another example of many where the edits are just TOO MUCH and TOO FAST!!! This concert was really disappointing to me. I love the 'Rust In Peace' album too.
I also appreciate when people give reviews & a "head's up" of this kind of editing. I wanted to get Iron Maiden's - "Rock In Rio" (2 DVD), but I'm going to pass on that too and save the disappointment. I love their "Flight 666" Concert and Movie!!! (that was done well)
Anyone else agree???

If you know anything about metal, then you know how important the album "Rust in Peace" is to the genre as a whole. I got this dvd after seeing Megadeth play live on the recent American Carnage tour. While I do believe that the vocals were overdubbed, I really don't give a crap. I can tell you from seeing them live, that the instrumentation is spot on. Relive this classic album by a legendary band and get this DVD!

In some of my other music DVD reviews, I take the tact of applying a set of standards to a release and establishing how the DVD in question measures up. Let me say in advance that when I take this tact, it usually means that I was disappointed in the release. Such is the case with Megadeth: Rust in Peace Live.

A memo should go out to all bands and music DVD producers that says at minimum: "1) Music DVD's should be produced to the highest standards. 2) The musical performances within should represent the talent that made the studio recorded CDs sell. 3) Theatrics are very cool too, as long as you can pull them off without deterioration in the quality of the music."

Let's break it down then for Rust in Peace Live:

1 - "Music DVD's should be produced to the highest standards." - The picture quality in Rust in Peace Live varies between very good at times to fair at times. It's a high-def recording that should be stunning in its clarity. Unfortunately, the producers apparently chose to indulge in what they felt was "cool production" versus giving the viewer a front row seat to the performance. The worst part about this release is that visual often jumps around similar to the music video format of "4 seconds then cut to another view". In fact there are segments where I couldn't count 2 seconds off before the camera angle switches. It was like staring at a strobe light. Then sometimes there's a kind of filter-effect on the lens; at first I thought maybe it was a lighting effect at the show, but it wasn't. It's not always there, but when it is it's more annoying than cool. These two gripes made for a viewing experience that ruined the illusion of having a front row seat to the show.

The sound is pretty good in Dolby DTS. You get your choice between Dolby Stereo or DTS. But oddly, the sound wasn't quite as clear as I've heard on other music DVDs in DTS; the raw live sound seemed to be missing, and I think that I have the answer for that which leads me to....

2 - "The musical performances within should represent the talent that made the studio recorded CDs sell." - The guys prior to hitting the stage must have huddled and committed to each other to go out and play the music true to the studio versions of the songs. All of the tracks on Rust in Peace Live are performed precisely...to a fault...because THE VOCALS ARE DUBBED! As another famous singer once said, "C'mon, Dave, gimme a break." Wow. How lame. Taking a page right out of Kiss Alive, and worse from the countless pop artists today that lip sync everything live, the vocals on the entire Rust in Peace Live DVD are dubbed. I saw Megadeth live way back during the Cryptic Writings tour, and Dave sounded great; I can't believe that he wouldn't use his live vocals on this recording. I'm pretty sure that the dubbing process is why the overall sound wasn't as up to par with that raw live sound that I mentioned earlier.

Overall, the band sounded great. Like I said, musical performances that mirrored the original recordings. But, geez, with all the dubbing going on with Dave's vocals one must wonder if that's because of some studio magic versus a reflection of the actual live show.

3 - "Theatrics are very cool too, as long as you can pull them off without deterioration in the quality of the music." - What's great is these guys just came out and played the music. Great for fans that want to come see some talented musicians play their instrument. But I guess you'd have had to have been at the show to really enjoy that, because the rapid camera changes prevented anyone from getting a good long look at anyone.

All in all...it's a good performance with a very very distracting choice in video and sound production. The 4-second video cuts took what could have been a great release down to a visual headache....Yes, it's really that bad.

If you are or ever were a Megadeth fan, I suppose you really can't pass on this. But if you have strobe induced Epilepsy, by all means skip this.