They open the show and really bang you over the head with two of their heaviest songs, "Haunted" and "Going Under". I had high hopes for the direction of this video seeing that it was done by famed music video director Hamish Hamilton, who did such a superb job on some of Peter Gabriel, U2, and Whitesnake's videos, but unfortunately he decided to turn this one into an MTV-style video with frantic-paced camera editing that takes away much of the live atmosphere. There are some moments that are filmed exceptionally well though, like when he pulls back and takes in the entire stage letting you breath in the entire light show during some of the most intense segments, or when he closes in on a band member from down in the crowd.
Since I first heard the Fallen album, I had wondered how Amy's voice would hold up live. She has such an intense delivery, and really hits some high notes. So, she would either have to have some genuinely powerful pipes, or a lot of studio wizardry was involved. This concert shows it is a little bit of both, but mostly the former. Her live vocals are much more raw than on the albums, and she struggles to stay on key at times, but I think much of it can be attributed to her being a little out of breath from gyrating all over the stage during most of the performances. Where she really impresses is during the softer segments such as when she sits at the piano for some gorgeous acoustic versions of "Breathe No More", and "My Immortal".
Aside from some of Hamish Hamilton's production missteps the picture is presented in widescreen format and looks very good. The video is generally very sharp and the colors are vivid. The audio mix, on the other hand, is terrible. Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and PCM stereo mixes are provided and they both sound muddy, and lack any real instrument separation. The bass is mixed very loud, the guitars are missing in action, and Amy's vocals sound like they were recorded from any microphone other than the one she was singing into. The center channel was not even active during the surround mix. Very disappointing.
Article comments
1 - evfan
Actually, the during part where they're singing karaoke, Amy's ex-boyfriend and Seether lead-singer Shaun Morgan is who is singing Amy's vocals.
2 - Sara
It's Shaun Morgan from Seether singing BMTL with her stylist ;)
3 - Paul Roy
Thanks for the correction. I'll see if I can get an editor to fix that one.