Description
Concert films are tricky things to capture. How on earth do you manage to recreate the adrenaline rush that comes from watching a great band live, actually in the flesh, performing songs in front of thousands of people? The simple answer is that you can’t, you can only hope to do the next best thing and capture the event as candidly and as honestly as possible. Red Hot Chilipeppers Live At Slane Caste was taped at their second show at Slane Castle in Ireland, the Foo Fighters also played as the opening act, on August 23, 2003. The show is a strange one, as far as concert films go, as it begins in daylight. Not the obvious choice for filming, as the atmosphere at daylight concerts is usually lacking but it works rather well, and the sight of the 80’000 sell-out crowd certainly looks breathtaking. This gives the film a natural sort of lighting effect that actually makes perfect sense in that as it progresses it gets darker and the lights come on and so forth and the effect is quite stunning. The music itself is, of course, outstanding. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the best live bands in the world at the moment and there’s nothing here to bring that reputation into dispute. They look so disgustingly healthy as the leap and cavort around the stage, using every spare inch. Highlights include a wonderful version of The Ramones’ Havana Affair. Throw Away Your Television, Give It Away and By The Way all sound absolutely fantastic and the sound mix is superb, with real depth and clarity throughout. One way in which this disc stands out from other concert films is in the editing. The editors here seem to fully understand the medium and the editing reflects that. The cuts are all in time to the music, and the film really flows well. There’s a rhythm that ebbs and flows as the film progresses and the bullet-time thing, it has to be admitted, does work very well. It suits the band, these little hyper-kinetic movements, as they are all so active and the whole show is based around movement and motion anyway. You’ll gasp as you zoom around a leaping Anthony Kieidis and a jigging Flea; it’s an idea that could so easily have gone horribly and laughably wrong if overused. As for the show itself, from what is presented here, it looks like this dvd is the best way of seeing it. The sound at an open air concert would never, ever sound this clear and you wouldn’t be able to see very much due to the huge number of flags present. Yes, flags look very good on TV, but if your stuck standing behind one, you might consider the TV aesthetics to be of slightly less value and happily murder the thoughtless unwashed who decided it would be a jolly wheeze to bring one. Ah, but it’s all about atmosphere, though. The dvd shows the full concert except for the Donna Summer song I Feel Love covered by guitarist John Frusciante and “Soul to Squeeze”, because Frusciante broke a string during that song. Additionally, a mistake made by Frusciante during “Maybe” has been edited on the dvd. Overall this title is highly recommended for any Chili Pepper fan. It’s a little too similar to their earlier concert film, Off The Map, though, so if you only dabble in them and already own that then it’s not really an essential purchase but for those that love them, they’ve probably ordered this already. It works as a live film because of the care in editing that is evident from the very start; the bullet-time thing is interesting, but little more than a novelty.
Track list:
1. By The Way
2. Scar Tissue
3. Around The World
4. Universally Speaking
5. Parallel Universe
6. Zephyr Song
7. Throw Away Your Television
8. Havana Affair
9. Otherside
10. Purple Stain
11. Don’t Forget Me
12. Right On Time
13. Can’t Stop
14. Venice Queen
15. Give It Away
16. Californication
17. Under The Bridge
18. Power Of Equality