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Category:    Home > Reviews > Concert > Soul > Pop > Hip Hop > Beyonce – The Beyonce Experience Live (2008/Sony Blu-ray)

Beyoncé – The Beyoncé Experience Live (2008/Sony Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B     Sound: B     Extras: C-     Concert: B-

 

 

Is Beyoncé overexposed, overrated or both?  Actually, the overexposure waters down how good she can be, even as she branches out into film acting.  Some wondered if Destiny’s Child folding would be a bad thing, but she survived that into a fine solo career, but the songs are not always consistently good.  This is on display in her new concert The Beyoncé Experience Live (2008) as she sings just about every hit she ever had, including with her former group.  Even when the songs are not always memorable, she gives it her best, even when the vocals could be a bit better.  Now on Blu-ray, those tunes include:

 

1)     Crazy In Love (Crazy Mix)

2)     Freakum Dress

3)     Green Light

4)     Baby Boy (Reggae Medley)

5)     Beautiful Liar

6)     Naughty Girl

7)     Me, Myself And I

8)     Dangerously In Love (He Loves Me Mix)

9)     Flaws And All

10)  Destiny's Child Medley (Cops And Robbers Intro)

11)  Independent Woman, Part 1

12)  No, No, No Part 2

13)  Bootylicious

14)  Bug A Boo (H-town Screwed Down Mix)

15)  Bills, Bills, Bills

16)  Cater 2 U

17)  Say My Name

18)  Jumpin’ Jumpin’

19)  Soldier (Soldier Boy Crank Mix)

20)  Survivor (Destiny's Child Reunion)

21)  Speechless

22)  Ring The Alarm Intro Skit (Jailhouse Confessions)

23)  Ring The Alarm

24)  Suga Mama

25)  Upgrade U (feat. Jay Z)

26)  Bonnie And Clyde (Prince Mix)

27)  Check On It

28)  Déjà vu

29)  Get Me Bodied

30)  Welcome To Hollywood

31)  Deena/Dreamgirls

32)  Listen

33)  Irreplaceable

 

 

Needless to say the money is also up there on the stage in the musicians, dancers, her clothes, the backup singers and sets.  There is not doubt she is a class act and this is the kind of A-level production all the record labels used to deliver when they had dozens of such talents they knew how to market.  That is one of the reasons why Beyoncé is the hit she is, because she is good at a time when so many are not, which gives her less competition, so that is part of what seems like overexposure.

 

However, on top of the points where things become less engaging, it is odd to think her hits with her group are now nostalgia already and despite all of her current hits, not enough of them seem like they’ll hold up in the long run.  I will say that some very good songs like Freakum Dress could have been larger hits and even become an amusing catch phrase of some kind, so some fun is not happening here despite her best efforts.  So that leaves the playback of this disc to elevate its shortcomings.

 

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is the biggest disappointment is how flat the detail and depth are here throughout.  I expected this to look better than her Destiny’s Child Blu-ray, but it is sadly no better and is sometimes worse.  What happened?  The liner notes say this was filmed, but in what?  Color can also be undermined and if this were any worse, I’d lower the rating.  Sound was the problem with the Destiny’s Child Blu-ray, but the PCM 2.0 48/24 Stereo and PCM 48/24 5.1 mixes are better, but there were still sonic limits that held back what is otherwise a good-sounding show.  There is also a lesser Dolby Digital (640 kbps) 5.1 mix, but unless you love the picture problems, skip that mix. 

 

Extras include the paper pullout with liner notes with very tiny print and a jukebox function so you can rearrange the songs any way you want.

 

 

For more Beyoncé, try our coverage to the Blu-ray Destiny’s Child – Live in Atlanta at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5110/Destiny’s+Child+–+Live+In+Atlanta

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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