The Corrs are a folk rock band that has a genuine claim to be a "family" band: the four members (Sharon, Caroline, Andrea, and Jim) are all siblings. Together they've created a solid list of albums in just a few years, including Forgiven, Not Forgotten; In Blue; Talk on Corners; and Borrowed Heaven. This concert DVD is from The Corrs' Borrowed Heaven tour, with the band playing to an enthusiastic audience in Geneva.

The Corrs: Live in Geneva offers a solid set from the group's musical repertoire, opening with one of my favorites, "Humdrum" and continuing with a mix of lively, up-beat songs and more low-key, melancholy ones. All the members of the band seem to be having a good time with their performances here, and there's particular energy when Caroline (who had been absent from earlier shows on the tour) is brought on stage to take her place at the percussion section.

Overall, the show is an engaging one. While there are short introductions to many of the songs, these are kept quite short, so in general there's minimal chit-chat mixed in with the music. (I suspect the language barrier motivated them to stick to the universal language of music.) It seemed to me that these live versions of the songs were fairly similar to the studio versions, but they do still show some of the natural variation we'd expect from a live performance.

The visual presentation of the concert is quite interesting. Rather than sticking to a straightforward filming of the concert, the filmmakers have taken a more artistic approach. Some of the shots are deliberately out of focus for effect, and others are in slow motion or shown in an artistically grainy black and white. In addition to the conventional shots of the stage from the middle distance and sides, we also see some distinctive camera angles used here. The results are quite good, giving the concert some of the visual liveliness of a music video, while not going overboard in the process.

The concert runs 104 minutes, with the song list as follows:

The DVD

Video

The Corrs: Live in Geneva is presented in an attractive anamorphic widescreen format, at the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Concerts are always tricky to film, given the challenges of dramatic stage lighting at night, but overall the image looks quite nice here. The picture is somewhat soft overall, but colors are bright and clean, and it's pleasing to the eye.

Audio

Three audio tracks are provided here: an L-PCM stereo, a Dolby 5.1, and a DTS 5.1. The L-PCM stereo track offers a nice, full sound that is of course missing the surround separation of the other tracks. I preferred the two other tracks, which are very close to each other in quality. Neither the 5.1 nor the DTS tracks make as much use of the side and rear channels as I'd have expected, but in both cases the different elements of the soundtrack are nicely distinct, giving a "you are there" feeling. Both of these tracks are clean and have a rich, full sound; the DTS offers a bit more depth.

Extras

There are no special features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts

The Corrs: Live in Geneva is a good choice for either new potential listeners or die-hard completionists, though probably not for middle-of-the-road fans. If you've heard one or two songs by The Corrs and liked them, then the Live in Geneva DVD is a nice "best of" sampler that will let you get a feel for their work over several albums. If you already own their studio albums, the live concert doesn't offer a whole lot, since these performances aren't that much different. Completionists will want to have the concert in their collection, of course. Overall recommendation? This is a straightforward and reasonably well done program, and it gets a "recommended" rating.