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Oasis: Familiar To Millions
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Although I'm not terribly familiar with the music of Oasis, I've always enjoyed hearing their music if it comes on the radio. I am aware of the anger that has been previously brewing (and occasionally exploding) between the Gallagher brothers that lead the band - Noel and Liam. The two came together for this massive concert in London's Wembley Stadium in front of 70,000 screaming (and as you can see on the included documentary - quite a bit crazy) fans. The resulting show is a highly entertaining and energetic effort as the band goes through many of their hits, with a few amusing between song comments by the band, mainly directed towards the audience.
Songs: F*****' in the Bushes, Go Let It Out, Who Feels Love?, Supersonic, Shakermaker, Acquiesce, Step Out, Gas Panic!, Roll With It, Stand By Me, Wonderwall, Cigarettes and Alcohol, Don't Look Back in Anger, Live Forever, Hey Hey My My, Champagne Supernova, Rock 'n' Roll Star.
The DVD
VIDEO: (layer change: 56:48 - between songs) "Familiar To Millions" is shown in its original aspect ratio of about 1.85:1, and is actually anamorphic. Although not the most impressive concert presentation I've seen in terms of image quality (as I've been more impressed with some of Image Entertainment's recent work), the majority of it still looks excellent. Sharpness and detail differ throughout the concert - the close-up camerawork looks sharp and well-defined, absolutely crystal clear. Some of the far shots looking towards the stage over the crowd tend to look a little bit on the soft side, but not hugely so.
Some noticable flaws are visible, but rarely. Some light pixelation and shimmering appears, but again, these are infrequent problems. Colors are strong as the stage lighting comes through crisply and cleanly, with no problems. Not without a few concerns, but overall an above-average presentation.
SOUND: As with any concert presentation, the audio quality is likely to be considered the most important element. I have to say though that the Dolby Digital 5.0 audio here came up lacking, in my opinion. Although the intended effect of feeling as if you're enveloped by the noise of the stadium worked fine, the music seemed to suffer somewhat.
Although instruments came through clearly and warmly, vocals seemed somewhat lost in the mix. Although certainly not completely lost, they had a muffled, far-away quality for the majority of the time. Surrounds mostly added crowd noise and some light reinforcement of the music, making for that "standium show" feeling.
After switching over to the PCM 2.0 audio version, I actually found that I thought it provided a slightly more enjoyable experience. Vocals seemed more up-front, and the music seemed crisper, richer and slightly more defined. Although neither presentation would be what I would consider one of the better concert (or music in general) presentations that I've listened to lately, the PCM 2.0 presentation provided a slightly more enjoyable experience.
MENUS:: Menus have background animation, plus music from the band playing. Short clips from the concert serve as transitions from the main to sub-menus - I could have done without transitions between every single menu, but oh well.
EXTRAS:
Documentary: The biggest of the extras on this DVD is the documentary filmed by Grant Gee (who also filmed the documentary "Meeting People Is Easy", about the band Radiohead - if you haven't seen that, check it out). The camera mainly serves as a document to the chaos of the concert, as rowdy (and that's putting it very lightly) fans seem more than eager for the show to begin - and that's only part one.
Part two takes us in and around the crowd while the band is playing. It's somewhere in this area that I (and maybe few others) began to get a little tired of fan after fan running up to the camera and screaming. Credit Gee's stylish work and interesting black and white photography for at least keeping this interesting for a little while before it becomes more and more tiring and eventually irritating. Thankfully, the DVD splits the documentary into chapters - the last chapter ("the Chat") is really the only piece that focuses on the band - I'd recommend skipping to that directly.
This documentary can also be played at different times during the concert, as you can select "The Tambourine". A small logo comes up that you click on and it takes you to part of the documentary before bringing you back.
Multi-Angle: A multi-angle (5 different camera angles) presentation of "Cigarettes and Alcohol" is available. The main picture is in a larger box, and all of the angles are also visible in small boxes along the side of the picture.
The Visuals: Watch 4 of the graphics/films that were provided for the stadium shows.
Discography: A discography for the bands albums and singles with some short song clips available.
Final Thoughts: Not being that much of an Oasis fan or knowing a great deal about them, I still found the concert very entertaining. The audio though isn't up to what I would expect as the PCM 2.0 presentation provides a clearer and crisper audio experience than the Dolby Digital 5.0 audio does. Still, strong image quality and a handful of interesting extras do at least make up for it.
Although I'm not terribly familiar with the music of Oasis, I've always enjoyed hearing their music if it comes on the radio. I am aware of the anger that has been previously brewing (and occasionally exploding) between the Gallagher brothers that lead the band - Noel and Liam. The two came together for this massive concert in London's Wembley Stadium in front of 70,000 screaming (and as you can see on the included documentary - quite a bit crazy) fans. The resulting show is a highly entertaining and energetic effort as the band goes through many of their hits, with a few amusing between song comments by the band, mainly directed towards the audience.
Songs: F*****' in the Bushes, Go Let It Out, Who Feels Love?, Supersonic, Shakermaker, Acquiesce, Step Out, Gas Panic!, Roll With It, Stand By Me, Wonderwall, Cigarettes and Alcohol, Don't Look Back in Anger, Live Forever, Hey Hey My My, Champagne Supernova, Rock 'n' Roll Star.
The DVD
VIDEO: (layer change: 56:48 - between songs) "Familiar To Millions" is shown in its original aspect ratio of about 1.85:1, and is actually anamorphic. Although not the most impressive concert presentation I've seen in terms of image quality (as I've been more impressed with some of Image Entertainment's recent work), the majority of it still looks excellent. Sharpness and detail differ throughout the concert - the close-up camerawork looks sharp and well-defined, absolutely crystal clear. Some of the far shots looking towards the stage over the crowd tend to look a little bit on the soft side, but not hugely so.
Some noticable flaws are visible, but rarely. Some light pixelation and shimmering appears, but again, these are infrequent problems. Colors are strong as the stage lighting comes through crisply and cleanly, with no problems. Not without a few concerns, but overall an above-average presentation.
SOUND: As with any concert presentation, the audio quality is likely to be considered the most important element. I have to say though that the Dolby Digital 5.0 audio here came up lacking, in my opinion. Although the intended effect of feeling as if you're enveloped by the noise of the stadium worked fine, the music seemed to suffer somewhat.
Although instruments came through clearly and warmly, vocals seemed somewhat lost in the mix. Although certainly not completely lost, they had a muffled, far-away quality for the majority of the time. Surrounds mostly added crowd noise and some light reinforcement of the music, making for that "standium show" feeling.
After switching over to the PCM 2.0 audio version, I actually found that I thought it provided a slightly more enjoyable experience. Vocals seemed more up-front, and the music seemed crisper, richer and slightly more defined. Although neither presentation would be what I would consider one of the better concert (or music in general) presentations that I've listened to lately, the PCM 2.0 presentation provided a slightly more enjoyable experience.
MENUS:: Menus have background animation, plus music from the band playing. Short clips from the concert serve as transitions from the main to sub-menus - I could have done without transitions between every single menu, but oh well.
EXTRAS:
Documentary: The biggest of the extras on this DVD is the documentary filmed by Grant Gee (who also filmed the documentary "Meeting People Is Easy", about the band Radiohead - if you haven't seen that, check it out). The camera mainly serves as a document to the chaos of the concert, as rowdy (and that's putting it very lightly) fans seem more than eager for the show to begin - and that's only part one.
Part two takes us in and around the crowd while the band is playing. It's somewhere in this area that I (and maybe few others) began to get a little tired of fan after fan running up to the camera and screaming. Credit Gee's stylish work and interesting black and white photography for at least keeping this interesting for a little while before it becomes more and more tiring and eventually irritating. Thankfully, the DVD splits the documentary into chapters - the last chapter ("the Chat") is really the only piece that focuses on the band - I'd recommend skipping to that directly.
This documentary can also be played at different times during the concert, as you can select "The Tambourine". A small logo comes up that you click on and it takes you to part of the documentary before bringing you back.
Multi-Angle: A multi-angle (5 different camera angles) presentation of "Cigarettes and Alcohol" is available. The main picture is in a larger box, and all of the angles are also visible in small boxes along the side of the picture.
The Visuals: Watch 4 of the graphics/films that were provided for the stadium shows.
Discography: A discography for the bands albums and singles with some short song clips available.
Final Thoughts: Not being that much of an Oasis fan or knowing a great deal about them, I still found the concert very entertaining. The audio though isn't up to what I would expect as the PCM 2.0 presentation provides a clearer and crisper audio experience than the Dolby Digital 5.0 audio does. Still, strong image quality and a handful of interesting extras do at least make up for it.
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