Destiny’s Child – Live In Atlanta (Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: C+ Concert: B
One of
the great moments in American Music, especially and specifically in the 20th
Century, has been that of The Girl Group.
Powered by the early Rock Era, Phil Specter, Motown and many a great
independent record label, the cycle left an indelible impression on music that
was recently revisited by The Raveonettes and continued by acts like The Three
Degrees, The Go-Gos, TLC, SWV, En Vogue, Salt N Pepa and most recently by
Destiny’s Child.
Originally
a foursome, they hit their stride when they became a trio and besides the great
solo career for Beyoncé Knowles, Destiny’s
Child – Live In Atlanta (2005) is one of their latter concerts before
breaking up to go their own way. The
concert is really good and the biggest surprise is that for those who were not
fans, fellow vocalists Kelly Rowland (whose solo debut album is one of the most
underrated in years) and Michelle Williams are more than formidable forces on
their own and ultimately are also the reason they became one of the most
impressive and important of the latter day Girl Groups.
The
tracks for this nearly 90 minutes include:
1) Intro/Overture
2) Say My Name
3) Independent Women Part II (from Charlie’s
Angels)
4) No, No, No (Part 2)
5) Bug A Boo
6) Bills, Bills, Bills
7) Bootylicious
8) Jumpin', Jumpin'
9) Soldier Dance Interlude
10) Soldier Featuring T.I. &
Lil’ Wayne
11) Dancer Break
12) Dilemma Featuring Kelly Rowland
13) Do You Know Featuring Michelle
Williams
14) Beyoncé Intro
15) Baby Boy Featuring Beyoncé
16) Naughty Girl Featuring Beyoncé
17) Band Introduction
18) Cater 2 U
19) Cater 2 U Dance Sequence
20) Girl
21) Free
22) If
23) Through With Love Featuring The
Choir
24) Bad Habit Featuring Kelly
Rowland
25) Dancer Ballet Break
26) Dangerously In Love Featuring
Beyoncé
27) Crazy In Love Featuring Beyoncé
28) Salsa Dance Break
29) Survivor
30) Lose My Breath
The
ladies were having a good night, or were they just this good every night? Either way, it is a shame they ended the band
at this point because if they had stayed together, the potential for more hits
and a few classics is obviously there.
Fortunately, this is a fine HD record of them at their best as it was
intended and
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image looks good for an HD production, with
some care taken to make it look top rate despite the limits of the format. If this looked any better, I would have had
to rate it higher, but it is lit somewhat darkly for the style of the stage
presentation. There are detail limits
even at this level, but is pretty good for HD of its type and age.
The sound
includes fairly good Dolby Digital 5.1, slightly fuller PCM 16bit/48Khz 2.0
Stereo and an especially impressive PCM 16-bit/48kHz 5.1 mix that may not be
SACD, but is as good as any HD concert disc we have covered so far to date. You can hear limits in the sound and it is
unfortunate this is not here in DTS HD or Dolby TrueHD. If this is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital)
recording that would come out on SACD, those tracks are the only way to deliver
the sound. We suspect there is more
sound fidelity here than even the PCM offers, but it is the best on this 50GB
disc. The Pat Metheny Group – The Way Up Live is still the best audio for
a concert in the HD formats (available in both as reviewed elsewhere on this
site) to date.
Extras
include Destiny’s Child – A Family Affair (running just past a
half-hour), Fan Testimonials (about 14 minutes in HD), Kelly Rowland Sophomore
CD album teaser, Dreamgirls Movie & Soundtrack Trailer and three bonus audio
pieces including Flashback featuring
Kelly Rowland, Check On It (Remix) featuring
Beyoncé (Bun B and Slim Thug) and Let’s
Stay Together Featuring Michelle Williams.
I only wished some of their Music Videos had been here in HD, but that
would also be an idea for another full-length Blu-ray.
The
record labels are finally catching up with Eagle Vision and Image Entertainment
in putting out music material in the HD formats. Sony is strictly doing Blu-ray, of course,
but have so many great HD-ready programs (some on film, some great concerts
from the likes of Sade) that as it had with regular DVD, music titles could
make the difference for the HD formats.
With CD’s very high in price for the limited content you get (80 minutes
if you are lucky), downloads bringing back the idea of the single and the
record labels in a tailspin in general, Blu-rays like this prove the long-form
concert and Music Video program are far from dead. That also means the album itself could live.
Destiny’s Child – Live In Atlanta is an early key title that could
change things for the better. It is now
up to the major labels to keep delivering the goods.
- Nicholas Sheffo
