Customer Reviews

Nine Inch Nails Live - And All That Could Have Been

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This review is to tell all of you loyal NIN fans how to get to the "Beneath The Surface" secret menu, to enjoy even MORE than the 2 disc concert that you all abosolutely love. It's also to inform people on how to get to it, whom didn't even know it existed, so they can enjoy MORE than just the 2 DVD concert and still photos.

The EXACT way to gain access to the "Beneath The Surface" easter egg menu is as follows:

"BENEATH THE SURFACE MENU INSTRUCTIONS"

Select the song "Head Like a Hole" on DISC 2.

At the "11:20" mark on your DVD player timer, hit the number "7" on your controller, then, press "Enter" on it.

You will then be treated to the SECRET "Easter Egg" and or "Beneath The Surface" menu. The Beneath The Surface menu contains the following:

1.) A LIVE performance of the song "Reptile." (A superb version done live..It's cool when it hits the quiet point and Trent is saying "please don't hurt me..." This performance is live, but during most of the performance, none of the audiance can be heard.)

2.) The scrapped Music Video for the track, "The Day The World Went Away." (The video is kind of boring, but the music video version of the song is really awesome. It's the live version, but without the live audiance in the background during most of the instrumentals. It also ends LIVE.)

3.) NineTyNine commercial.

4.) A promotional commercial for, "The Fragile."

5.) A promotional commercial for, "Things Falling Apart."

6.) Marilyn Manson & Nine Inch Nails doing "Starf**kers Inc." live. (But only the end of it...Manson comes in right as the song ends. Not to mention, the clip starts just about as the song ends...nothing too special.)

7.) Marilyn Manson & Nine Inch Nails doing "The Beautiful People" live. (Whole song...Trent on Guitars! Very cool song to see Manson and Trent doing together! Don't skip this!)

That's it for the Beneath The Surface menu. But here's some extra secret stuff you may want to consider trying out. Not that important, but fun to try.

"WIDESCREEN STAGE SHOT INSTRUCTIONS"

On DISC 1, select the song "Gave Up."

At around the "26:58" mark on your DVD player, press "Enter."

You will then get a wide shot of the stage, for the song being performed. (Some people can't get this to work, but I assure you, it'll work if you just keep trying.)

And there you have it my fellow Reznorians, all of the secrets of the And All That Could Have Been DVD have been revealed. Try them out, and have fun. They're defanantly worth the discovery if you're bored of the concert, and didn't know about the hidden extras, or aren't bored of the concert, and just want something new to add to the flavor of the DVD set.

I was very excited for this DVD and it has not let me down. The video quality is superb and the sound is incredible. The way the video is shot you do feel like you are there and it is full of energy.
Now, on to the extras. At first I was dissapointed for the lack of extras considering it is on two disks. Well, knowing Trent Reznor, I was expecting more, and I was right. There is a hidden menu on disk two that contains lots of extras. How do you get there, it's pretty simple. During "Head Like A Hole," around the 11:20 mark hit "07" and "enter" (if it does not work try just "7" and enter, but play around with it because it really works). This will bring you to the extra menu. It includes:

"Reptile" live performance
Video for "The Day The World Went Away"
ninetynine commercial
"The Fragile" commercial
"Things Falling Apart" commercial
NIN and Marilyn Manson doing part of "Star***kers" and "Beautiful People".

On Disc One, while "Gave Up" is playing near the 26:58 mark, press enter on your remote. You then get a wide shot of the stage for the song.

Because of this there is no reason as to why you should not buy this. It is worth every cent you pay for it.

This DVD seriously rocks. From the excellent titles and menus to the sweet stage show the band puts on, this DVD maintains a technically stellar feel throughout the performances. I look forward to watching this over and over, with or without even turning the TV on. There are also hidden features and multiple viewing angles for your pleasure.

Trent Reznor sounds very good, and the 5.1 Dolby Digital mix puts out some great audio. I was not able to see them when they toured, but that's ok because this DVD seemed to be designed to replicate the experience. They certainly do a great job doing so. Unlike some other concert DVD's I have bought or rented, the vocals and music sound very rich and .

I would highly recommend this DVD. No really, I would. I am placing it ultra high on my must-have DVD list. 5-stars baby!

I miss the curtained performance of "Somewhat Damaged" I saw at the Minneapolis show, but this DVD is the closest a concert show has ever come to duplicating what it feels like to be in the audience.

I saw a few people complaining about the lack of extras, so I'll let you all know what they are and how to find them:

Insert Disc 2
Go to Supplemental Information
Move down to Main Menu
Press LEFT then UP then ENTER
Now, immediately move up or down chapters to access the following (you have
to do this quickly, i start mashing on the track down button immediately
after hitting enter)
title 5 chapter 3 reptile
title 5 chapter 4 the fragile trailer
title 5 chapter 5 things falling apart trailer
title 5 chapter 7 manson footage (starf*ckers/beautiful people)
title 5 chapter 9 ninetynine trailer
title 5 chapter 10 the day the world went away video (live performance mixed in with the unreleased music video that Trent scrapped, very cool)

Admittedly, there are no interviews with bandmembers or backstage scenes, but that certainly is a decent ammount of extra stuff in there.

I enjoyed this DVD very much, and the DTS version has absolutely great sound. If you have a capable reciever and the proper set-up, I recommend it over the DD version.

This concert was excellent. I usually prefer a more polished, studio quality production over rough live performances. But the raw energy and excellent production quality of this DVD overcame its small imperfections. If you want to see NIN in its natural state, check this out. And look out for the rumored upcoming Downward Spiral DVD release that was previously only available on VHS.

I have to say I must take issue with the recent review by "The Thorn". First of all I should say that I am not a rabid Nine Inch Nails fan. Although I feel that much of Reznor's work is amazing, almost as much is little more than pretentious sonic ramblings. In fact, it was my wife who bought the tickets for this tour putting us in the 1st row directly behind the baracaded mosh pit. I have seen hundred's of concerts beginning with the Steve Miller Band back in 1976, and this was hands down the most amazing concert performance I have ever seen.

I personally own 20 + musical performance DVD's ranging from singer song writers such as James Taylor to Classic Rock such as Cheap Trick's Silver, to electronic music like Underworld Live. This Nine Inch Nails DVD is quite possibly the best sounding concert DVD ever made! From a video perspective, it may not be as polished as some others I've seen but I think it very effectively recreates the concert experience.

Personally I was a little leary when I read the liner notes describing how the concert was shot by crew members using personal video recorders and edited on a personal computer. I've seen what can result from this approach. A perfect example is Pearl Jam's "Touring Band". The video quality is horribly grainy thoughout and the sound quality is both poor an inconsistent (partially the result of being recorded at so many different venues and partially due to a total disregard for improving sound quality in the mixing process).

The video quality is actually excellent on the NIN DVD considering the method of recording (not the least bit grainy), and the superb job of video editing has reproduced the frenetic energy of a NIN show in a way I didn't think possible. Reznor has over the years proven that he is a master when it comes to sound engineering, and he has taken it to a whole new level on this DVD. He has taken full advantage of 5.1 surround capability by truly utilizing each available channel for instruments, sound effects and more subtle ambient effects such as crowd noise. He also managed to exploit this technology to great effect without getting too gimicky.

I too was initially perplexed by the need for 2 DVD's for this concert. The extras certainly weren't enough to explain it? But after watching and listening, I do have a theory. DVD's can be mastered at different bit rates, the higher the bit rate, the better the sound quality and correspondingly the more storage space used. I think it's quite possible that these DVD's were mastered at a significantly higher bit rate than is standard. This would also explain why the sound quality is so significantly better than any other concert DVD out there. Unfortunately there was no technical information in the packaging or in the credits to either confrimn or discount this theory.

I will agree that the two DVD's does hurt the flow of the concert somewhat. But if that's what it takes to achieve the superior sound of this set, then in my opinion it's completetely worth it. It's also less of an issue if you have a DVD changer as opposed to a single disk player.

My guess is that this particular reviewer does not have the quality of equipment required to get the full impact of this sets magnificent production. As far as the 80 minutes goes, sure I'd like to have more. But, in my opinion, I'll take quality over quantity any day. I can't tell you how many concert DVD's I have struggled with just to make it to the end. To me the fact the you're left wanting more just speaks to what an amazing concert experience it was! I felt the same way when I was at the actual show!

"And All That Could Have Been" is a two-DVD concert film that chronicles the Nine Inch Nails Fragility tour of 1999 - 2000. By culling clips from various shows into one presentation, it pulls together a performance that best captures the raw energy of this incarnation of the band.

Footage was gathered using multiple digital video cameras and the visuals look great on the DVD. The direction and editing give a good balance of wide-angle setup shots and up-close action. The 5.1 DTS sound is powerfully mixed but still highlights each of the individual tracks that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

The setlist is a little on the predictable side - all of the one-off tracks that appeared on this tour ("Somewhat Damaged", "The Big Come Down") were skipped in favor of the hits with broader appeal. Some staples that were seemingly left out ("Reptile") actually appear as bonus material if you seek out the easter egg menu - see the spotlight review above for instructions on getting to it.

The performance itself now stands as the apparent close of a chapter in NIN history - that of the theatrical makeup-and-corn-starch phase. All of the subsequent shows for last year's "With Teeth" album have been much more straightforward performances. As has always been the case, you get a great light and visuals show. The juxtaposition of huge video panels backing a tiny Reznor during quiet songs like "La Mer" and "The Great Below" is particularly effective.

This is a must-have for any NIN fan and also a great introduction for anyone who's looking to find out about this band and their phenomenal stage shows.

[...]. In my opinion this is the BEST music concert dvd I have ever seen, made all the more so because of the shaky camerawork - giving it a raw, immediate feel that is not present on most of the concert performances i have seen on the format. The inclusion of only 3 songs with multiple angles (on a dvd where the camera angles change countless times) is due to the fact that those particular songs are performed in front of enormous LCD screens displaying video footage, and the impact is increased only if you can see all of the screens during the performance. i'm not actually sure WHICH other angles the reviewer would like to see..

[....] Trent Reznor spent the last 2 years working on the arrangement of the songs, cutting footage from over 20 full concerts, and editing it together to create the DVD. For me, the fact that the DVD was edited by Trent himself (with others) ensures that it is the best approximation of what he was trying to get across in the concert experience, and that itself makes this release all the more important for fans of the band.

As for the difference in the number of tracks between the CD and DVD, Trent himself has commented that certain *extra* tracks were included on the DVD for their visual nature, rather than being REMOVED to fit onto the CD.

Anyway, the lighting is fantastic on this show, with 3 enormous LCD screens suspended above the stage (used to sometimes creepy effect : the scanning blue light during 'the wretched'; the yellow-strobe pulsing during the instrumental of 'closer') and the sound quality is phenomenal.

[...].

Buy the DTS version if you have the capabilities! It is better than the Dolby one. Unfortunately I ended up with both, because the DTS one wasn't released in Canada for a couple months after the Dolby one came out, but of well. There really is no advantage to owning the Dolby version. On the dolby version you can switch angles on 1 or 2 songs to see the stage from far off, however, this option exists on the DTS version, but you can't access it while the song is playing. Basically, everything is on the DTS version that is on the Dolby, but it's presented slightly differently.

The audio quality is where the difference is. You need a good system to hear the difference, but the difference is definately there. The separation on the DTS version is much better, and sounds are clearer. The low frequencies are also more defined, and this is essential for this sort of band. The crossover is also excellent.

As far as the content goes, this is the most amazing concert video I've ever seen. It's almost better than being there (and I have been there). No wonder it took trent a couple of years to edit and mix. Awesome

It's hard to think that this performance can be topped, and it is even harder to think how Trent was able to give up this much of himself night after night.

This is a killer DVD, can't get enough of it.

On "Head Like A Hole" at the 11:20 mark hit 07, then enter for a hidden menu...you'll be treated to a killer "Reptile", and a performance at Madison Square Garden with Marilyn Manson, among other cool stuff.