Rainbow: Live Between the Eyes - The Final Cut (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have the PAL version of this DVD. I just saw the first (Live Between the Eyes) of the 2 DVDs this set has and felt strongly compelled to share my opinion with other Rainbow fans. (I will post a review of the second DVD later).
The first DVD covers a concert held in San Antonio, TX. to support the release of Rainbow's "Straight Between The Eyes" album. Here's what they played:
Overture: Over the Rainbow
Spotlight Kid
Miss Mistreated
It Cant' Happen Here
Tearin' Out My Heart
All Night Long
Stone Cold
Power
Blues Interlude
Beethoven's Ninth:Ode to Joy
Long Live Rock'n'Roll
Smore On The Water
IMHO, great concert. Ritchie Blackmore gets plenty of close-ups (to the detriment of the rest of the band). He is definitively energized for this concert (as opposed to others in which he seems to be far away and detached from everyone!). Joe Lynn Turner delivers a great vocal performance on all tracks except on Smoke On The Water and Long Live Rock and Roll (well, he does not measure up against Dio or Gillan). He does a good job at covering "All Night Long". As usual, Ritchie destroys a guitar towards the end of the show. Roger Glover delivers as usual.
You can see on this DVD how much control Blackmore exerts over the band: there is a constant stream of verbal, eye, and body contact/cues with the rest of the band (drums and keyboard, especifically). All so that they could keep up with what he (Blackmore) had in mind. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I did not see a single time when Blackmore cued Glover (I guess they have known each other for so long that there is no need for that). Having been a semi-professional musician, covering these very songs, I did notice a couple of instances in which the band indeed failed to follow him. Most will not be noticed, but perhaps you could discern the mistake they had while playing Smoke On The Water.
Strange fact: the DTS mix is louder and clearer than the Dolby 5.1 mix. I double checked my home theater settings just in case, but I guess it just came out like this.
Second DVD:
This has a compilation of video clips and it was released when Blackmore called Rainbow quits and he and Glover reformed Deep Purple with Gillan, Lord, and Paice. [There are pictures of Rainbow's "Finyl Vynil" album]. Clips are as follows:
Spotlight Kid (This one is a repeat from the 1st DVD)
Death Alley Drive (Blackmore dressed as an evil man following Turner)
I Surrender
All Night Long (with G. Bonnet! great voice this guy had!)
Can't Happen Here
Difficult to Cure
Can't Let You Go (Blackmore again playing as an evil man)
Power
Since You've Been Gone
Stone Cold
River of Dreams
There are no clips from Dio's stint with Rainbow. I enjoyed this DVD only because I barely remember some of these clips... (nostalgia!).
If you are a Rainbow fan, this one is to own. Seeing this line up in action was a great Christmas gift. This DVD set complements perfectly the Live In Munich concert DVD.

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NTSC/Region 2-6. Two long deleted Rainbow home video releases make their DVD debut on this double disc set.Live Between The Eyes is a concert that was filmed in San Antonio, Texas, in August 1982 during the Straight Between The Eyes tour. The Final Cut, first issued in 1987, contains eight of the later Rainbow promo videos, plus two songs from the Japanese tour of 1984. A must have for fans of Deep Purple and Hard Rock in general. Universal. 2006.

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