Alter Bridge: Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Alter Bridge: Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie Review

It isn't easy being Creed.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 28, 2012

Sometimes even being a multi-platinum Rock God isn’t enough to guarantee “success”, at least as defined by critical response. Take the case of Creed, for example. Despite huge sales, sold out tours, and ardent fan acclaim, the band became something akin to the Rodney Dangerfield of rock, “never gettin’ no respect,” to slightly paraphrase Rodney’s iconic mantra. The band was accused of everything from ripping off Pearl Jam (something that is actually kind of funny, given Creed’s much more “glossy” power ballad approach) to subtly infusing religious themes that were at odds with their supposed head banging proclivities. By the time an “I hate Creed” Facebook page became something of a phenomenon, it seemed the band, despite its commercial appeal, just couldn’t catch a break from the critics. Creed’s lead singer Scott Stapp came in for added brickbats, especially after his onstage behavior became more and more erratic, culminating in a famous meltdown in December 2002 in Illinois which ultimately led to Creed disbanding. The incident also resulted in one of the strangest class action lawsuits ever brought in the United States court system, when four disgruntled fans sued for a complete refund of their ticket prices and parking fees (luckily, concession sales were left out). All of the members of Creed, their managers and their concert promoters were all named as co- defendants and had damages been awarded, the suit would have totaled in the multiple millions of dollars. Stapp initially came out in full defense mode, insisting his behavior was a “choice”, not the result of drugs or drink, though the skeptical response from everyone, including his band members, was rather deafening. The lawsuit was ultimately thrown out on a technicality, but the damage was done, and even Stapp ended up doing a half hearted confession about his behavior during the ill fated concert. In the meantime, however, the three other members of Creed, guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips decided (probably wisely) to just move on and formed Alter Bridge, named after a river crossing in Tremonti’s home town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

Washington native Myles Kennedy joined the boys as rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist, and provided the band with a charismatic front man, though Alter Bridge had a pretty rocky road, commercially speaking, for at least a couple of years after its formation. The band built its reputation the old fashioned way, through relentless touring, when its “up close and personal” ethos slowly but surely built a rabid fan base that may not have initially resulted in huge album sales or gigantic hit singles, but which established the band as a future arena draw in the making. The brief liner notes included in the insert booklet accompanying this Blu-ray – CD release state that the band had always dreamed of selling out England’s Wembley Stadium, a kind of odd choice, given the gamut of huge venues available for such a goal. But as evidenced by this concert filmed on November 29, 2011 in front of more than ten thousand screaming fans, the band is all about making dreams come true.

At the risk of alienating hordes of Alter Bridge fans the world over, the question needs to be asked, is there really much difference between Alter Bridge and Creed? Well, yes and no (how’s that for splitting hairs?). The band has a tendency to rock out a little more than Creed ever did, with some good, blistering riffs and all out sonic assaults that aren’t exactly power ballad radio friendly fare. On the other hand, it must be faced that with three of the four members of Creed in this band, there’s bound to be a certain similarity, not just in approach but also in sound. What Alter Bridge Live at Wembley proves most admirably is that the band is prone to high energy, quasi-head banging fare, but rather ironically, perhaps sounds best when it quiets down a little. In fact, Kennedy’s solo moments, with him sitting on a stool just singing with his acoustic guitar, are some of the most effective tunes of the entire concert.

It also can’t be argued (at least not very believably) that the band, for all its musicality and charisma, engages in any number of hoary clichés, both in terms of its musical content and especially its staging. Kennedy repeatedly turns his microphone and urges the audience to sing along, one of the oldest rock star tricks in the book. He does seem genuinely touched by the audience's adulation, though he also seems to think repeatedly dropping the F-bomb somehow gives him added street cred. We also get the full seventies rock star arena show here, replete with laser effects and of course giant pyrotechnics that have huge eruptions of flame reaching up to the sky. It’s kind of silly, really, and surprisingly retro, but so frankly is some of Alter Bridge’s music. It’s as if the Creed guys got sick of being slapped around in the 1990s and early 2000s and decided the easiest way to ameliorate the situation was to reach a bit further back into rock history.

The band’s set list for the concert is comprised of:

1. Slip to the Void

2. Find the Real

3. Ghosts of Days

4. Before Tomorrow Comes

5. Come to Life

6. All Hope is Gone

7. White Knuckles

8. Brand New Start

9. Metalingus

10. Broken Wings

11. I Know It Hurts

12. One Day Remains

13. Coeur D’Alene

14. Buried Alive

15. Blackbird

16. Wonderful Life

17. Watch Over You

18. Ties That Bind

19. Isolation

20. Open Your Eyes

21. Rise Today

Alter Bridge: Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Alter Bridge Live at Wembley Stadium is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of EMI Label Services (Alter Bridge has a distribution deal for their independently produced media with EMI), with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in .1.78:1. Despite the challenges of capturing this performance in such a live gargantuan venue, this high definition presentation is for the most part astoundingly clear and precise looking, with great fine detail, excellent contrast and solid black levels. Once again, as has repeatedly been the case with several recent live concert outings, the choice to bathe a lot of the proceedings in a hazy blue lighting scheme often results in quasi-posterizing, especially on the heads of the audience, as well as some banding issues when the cameras are directly facing the lights. Similarly, some of the green and yellow lit moments add a bit of diffuseness to the proceedings, making them seem softer than they really are (see some of the screencaps of drummer Phillips for good examples). Otherwise, though, this is a remarkably consistent presentation that really gives the feeling of being at the concert. (There is a brief montage that starts out the concert culled from various television broadcasts, and some of that frankly looks pretty ragged. Screencap 6 is a good example.)

Alter Bridge: Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Alter Bridge Live at Wembley Stadium features two great sounding lossless audio options, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix and an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. Both of these tracks offer superior fidelity, though of course most audiophiles are going to want to opt for the fantastic sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, which adds a whole new level of spaciousness to the proceedings, as well as significantly more low end (as should be expected). The band sounds excellent throughout, with no muddiness in the lower frequencies despite the tendency toward unison riffs by the guitars and bass. Drumming sounds clean and precise and crowd noise, while evident, is only occasionally overwhelming. Kennedy's voice is always front and center and very well prioritized in the mix. Perhaps most surprising is this track's awesome dynamic range, which easily handles everything from the sonic assault of the flat out rock numbers to the really nice quiet, acoustic mini-set that Kennedy performs.

Alter Bridge: Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Road to Wembley (HD; 54:56) is a decent, fairly in-depth look at the band's touring, with lots of interviews with all of the band members as well as some of the technical crew and roadies.


• 3D Trailer (HD; 1:50)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 8:48)


• Bonus CD includes the following tracks:
  
• 1. Slip to the Void
• 2. Find the Real
• 3. Ghosts of Days Gone By
• 4. Come to Life
• 5. All Hope is Gone
• 6. Metalingus
• 7. I Know It Hurts
• 8. Coeur D'Alene
• 9. Blackbird
• 10. Wonderful Life
• 11. Watch Over You
• 12. Ties That Bind
• 13. Isolation
• 14. Rise Today

Alter Bridge: Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alter Bridge Live at Wembley Stadium shows the band to be in fine form, able to rock convincingly but also handling quieter acoustic moments with aplomb. Is this band anything "special"? Well, its fans seem to think so, though more jaded observers may accuse Alter Bridge of being derivative—of Creed. (Yes, that's a joke, kind of.) There's nothing especially innovative in either the music or the show here, but for fans of the band this is certainly a great document of their 2011 European tour. With really solid video and amazing audio, as well as some nice supplements, this release comes Recommended.