Customer Reviews

The Official Inaugural Celebration

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

 

 

At at time when DVDs of major movies are released on DVD within weeks of appearing in theaters, I was surprised to see that HBO took 14 months (!) to release this DVD set. It's not that they created anything new. What is here are two previously aired shows which had their credits attached when they were aired in January 2009. The first - of two- discs contains the 4 minute invocation and then proceeds to the "We are One" Concert at the Lincoln Memorial. It was a great concert - featuring once-in-a-lifetime groupings like Jon bon Jovi & Bettye Levett, James Taylor & Jennifer Nettles & John Legend plus long numbers by U2, Garth Brooks, John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen PLUS Springsteen and Pete Seeger singing "This Land Is Your Land". I didn't have HBO and so I'm glad I got to see it now. There are actors like Jamie Foxx and Steve Carrell who read narratives between the songs. Well done and the reason to get this DVD.

Disc two has the Obama Inauguration speech (19 minutes) plus the broadcast version of the Balls (71 minutes) with performances by Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Mariah Carey and Beyonce among others.

The packaging leaves a lot to be desired. There's not even a DATE for these evebts printed anywhere on package and no insert with track list or at least something about the events. IF HBO had gone a bit further this would be a true historic document to preserve for history. But they are really selling the concert. If you haven't seen the "We Are One" concert, I can recommend this. Otherwise, it's a documentation that is showing its age already as we go through the budget crisis and health care reform at a much slower rate than we thought would happen in January 2009.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

This is not the broadcast of "The Neighborhood Ball" that was shown on ABC. The great performance by Shakira has been cut, the dj has been cut, the backstage interview with Obama has been cut.

Excellent. Most comprehensive version of the inauguration of Barack Obama. Great item to save to commerrate a moment in history that took a long time to happen. Never thought I would live long enough to see a man of color as president