The original lineups breakup wasn't very nice- they rarely are- but now all these years later the original trio is back, touring, and creatively sparked again with a new album "The Beyond." So, one assumes the bad blood has been diluted with maturity. J, who was always the bands main songwriter and voice, kept Dinosaur successful plus did some solo work. Lou created a massive catalog of music, including solo work, and his Sebadoh, Sentridoh, and Folk Implosion projects. Murph, well, I don't know what the Hell he was doing, so he probably benefitted from the reunion more than anyone other than the fans.

The concert on this DVD lasts an hour and twenty-three minutes and contains a healthy mix of material from the bands first three albums, with the bulk coming from their heralded, sophomore album "You're Living All Over Me", as well as one post-Barlow Dinosaur song. The set list is: "Gargoyle, Kracked, Bulbs of Passion, Little Fury Things, Lose, Forget the Swan, The Post, Budge, The Lung, The Wagon, Raisins, Sludgefest, Mountain Man, Chunks, Freak Scene, In A Jar, Repulsion," and finally the show ends with their cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven."

Dinosaur Jr. is a notoriously loud band. I've seen them in three totally different venues, mid size amphitheater, a huge outdoor festival, and a relatively tiny club. Each time the band was blisteringly loud, shaking the foundation of the enclosed locations and reaching to the very outer edges of the outdoor locale with such force that people at the far perimeter of the field had to yell in order to have a conversation. That last time, in the little club, they actually drove people away because the amplification was just too much for many patrons ears (Me, being an allergy sufferer, just stuffed some kleenex into my ears. Thank God for dark clubs, huh?).

The Middle East concert is pretty good. The location appears to be pretty small and the stage is tight. The songs are not all perfectly played, a missed or off key vocal here and there and the occasional miss strummed note, but the flubs are more caused by the band being loose rather than half-assing it. The middle portion of the set works best, and the highlight, for me, was the crescendo that ends "The Lung." Murph and Barlow arrange the beautiful rocking backdrop while Mascis adds the flair, still after all these years proving he is one of the most brutal string punishers in music. There is no travel or behind the scenes footage or banter between songs. They are not a banter band. The set keeps moving with nary a pause. The opening credits show a little, nonsensical, immaterial backstage stuff, but mostly it just gets to the music and that's it.

The DVD: Image

Picture: Fullscreen. Standard. Grainy, low light DV. Mostly floating, handheld cameras, but some fixed angles too. The stage is small, the lighting simple, keeping to some basic blue and purple accent light. It's a fuzzy filmed show of a fuzzy sounding band. Good fit.

Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks.

I feel empathy for any Dinosaur Jr. sound engineer. "You really want the guitar to redline that much?" The band, especially that guitar, is L-O-U-D.

Now, if you were to gauge this sound mix by most standards, a purist would tell you the vocals are way too low. But, having seen the band live a couple of times, I can safely say its not upfront vocals that concern them. This DVD gives you a good recreation of the Dinosaur Jr. live sound, which is a screeching wall of guitar, accent oriented drums and bass, and the vocal melody becomes almost a background afterthought. To truly capture the live experience of a Dinosaur show you need to take your surround speakers and duct tape them around your head and crank your system so your ears will be ringing for a few days afterward.

Its an okay mix. J's guitar is the dominator, taking up most of the left speaker as well as some of the right. Bass stays to the right and rear while the drums are flattened across the back and sides. Vocals are kept centered, struggling underneath the wall of the three piece bands melodic noise. My only real complaint is a technical issue, that there is too great a disparity in the volume between J's clean and distortion channels.

Extras: Interview Footage (15:24). Nice round of interviews with the likes of Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Steve Albini, Kevin Shields, and (strangely) Mat Dillon talking about Dinosaur Jr., the dynamics that make them a great band, and some nice anecdotes about their early days, breakup, and subsequent reunion. Albini gives the best three word description of the bands sound I've ever heard, "Bummer Hard Rock." -- Live at WXPR's World Café (7:00). The band gives a brief radio interview and then plays "Bulbs of Passion" which is only shown in excerpt. J downplays the Neil Young comparison/influence, striking it off to his voice because while he likes Neil Young, he's more into Nic Cave.-- "Chunks" Live at Koko, 2005 All Tomorrows Parties. Basically just an enthusuiastic performance of the song with some on stage calamity.

Conclusion: Fans should enjoy the disc, good presentation with a nice round of extras. Its an interesting case for DVD when you have a band that doesn't demand crystal clear, precise clarity as much as an overall harness for their distorted melodic beauty. Nice to add to your library even if it only gets played start-to-finish in its entirety for a spin or two, Dinosaur Jr.: Live in the Middle East is a fan worthy purchase.