Black Stone Cherry: Thank You Livin’ Live Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Black Stone Cherry: Thank You Livin’ Live Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 14, 2015

Despite having placed eleven singles in the Top 40 of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart, including one that made it into the Top 10, Black Stone Cherry still seems to be something of a cult experience for some fans. The band is a hard charging outfit from Kentucky, and in fact Black Stone Cherry’s energetic (and fun to watch) drummer John Fred Young happens to be the son of guitarist Richard Young who brought a certain amount of fame to the same state as part of The Kentucky Headhunters. While the band has been touring for years, often in support of ostensible A-listers like Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Nickelback, they have also been headlining as well, and Thank You: Livin’ Live Birmingham, UK October 30th 2014 finds the band performing for an enthusiastic audience across the pond, offering several of their chart hits along with at least snippets of other classic rock songs like “Sunshine of Your Love” and "Layla". Highlighted by the gruff but lithe vocals of Chris Robertson, Black Stone Cherry may not break any new ground musically, but they’re consistently vigorous and seem genuinely excited by the response they’re receiving by the hooting and hollering fans.

The concert’s set list includes:

1) Rain Wizard
2) Blind Man
3) Me and Mary Jane
4) In My Blood
5) Holding On. . .to Letting Go
6) Maybe Someday
7) Such a Shame
8) Things My Father Said
9) Fiesta Del Fuego
10) Sunshine of Your Love
11) Like I Roll
12) Bad Luck and Hard Love
13) Drum Solo
14) Hollywood in Kentucky
15) Hell and High Water
16) Soul Creek
17) White Trash Millionaire
18) Blame it on the Room/Layla
19) Peace is Free
20) Lonely Train (Can’t Judge a Book)

Black Stone Cherry: Thank You Livin’ Live Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Black Stone Cherry Thank You Livin' Live Birmingham, UK October 30th 2014 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Music Group and Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. While there are relatively few issues like banding or posterizing afflicting this release, overall this a pretty soft and not very well defined release, something attributable in part to quite dim stage lighting at times, plus the ever present emphasis on washes of tones like blues and reds. There are also occasional actual focus pulling problems that enter the fray. Some of the footage looks like maybe it was captured by Go-Pro cameras or the like, and the resolution seems less sharp than the bulk of the concert. Anemic contrast and milky blacks also add up to a less than optimal viewing experience which is nevertheless never less than watchable.

Black Stone Cherry: Thank You Livin’ Live Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Stone Cherry Thank You Livin' Live Birmingham, UK October 30th 2014 features boisterous sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes. The 5.1 mix adds a significant amount of punch to the low end, something that tends to give the hard rocking ambience of the band more propulsive momentum. Occasionally Robertson's lead vocals get just slightly buried underneath the onslaught of the rhythm section, but generally speaking fidelity is top notch and there are no problems of any kind to warrant concern.

Black Stone Cherry: Thank You Livin’ Live Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Tracks (Download Festival 2015

  Blame it on the Boom Boom (1080i; 8:56)

  In My Blood (1080i; 4:47)

• Download Festival Interview (1080i; 19:26)

Black Stone Cherry: Thank You Livin’ Live Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Black Stone Cherry may not be especially innovative, but they give their fans a good old fashioned rockin' and rollin' good time in this high energy concert. Watching drummer John Fred Young beat his trap set into submission is probably worth the price of admission alone for at least some head bangers. Video is a little spotty at times, but audio is excellent. Recommended.