Live In London 2011

I was watching this as I typed. The disk editor/author, madhasse, has done his usual fine job of of producing a top-notch DVD. He tells us in his notes that this is "This year's greatest capture, no competition." By this, he is probably referring to the fact that Mr. Stealth's camera is steadily focused on Dylan from the waist up from the left balcony. With this orientation for both the 20 and 21 November shows, we can see plenty of Tony, Donny and Mark when Bob's at the piano and at center stage. The camera swings left often enough to give views of Charlie, George and Stu, but they are generally out of the picture because the camera never zooms back to give a full stage shot.

Madhasse also notes that "[this is] not the sharpest, not the best resolution, but the best capture..!!!!" Watched on a computer screen or blu-ray player, the video quality leaves this viewer little to complain about vis a vis sharpness and resolution, so perhaps madhasse's comment is true only for standard DVD players. A small problem that I've noticed with blu-ray viewing of madhasse's products, however, is that there are occasional freezes. This is possibly indicative of the need for a firmware update so the player can determine the recording type. That said, blu-ray up-scaling of standard DVDs yields a dramatic improvement to both video and the audio quality and is highly recommended.

If one had to make a criticism of this item, it would be to complain that there's not more of it! We get only ten songs in all, three from November 20 and seven from November 21. Fortunately, four of the songs feature Mark Knopfler, including the great "Forever Young" during which Mark gestures to Bob when he sings the "May your song always be sung" line and the crowd goes wild.

The sound for both shows is terrific, as we've come to expect from romeo recordings. There is a drop and some distortion for the "Thanks and Goodbye" track, probably because the audio is taken from the camera sound track.

All in all, this is a first-rate DVD and a wonderful holiday gift from one of DVDylan's most cherished authors.