CeeLo Green Is Loberace: Live In Vegas Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

CeeLo Green Is Loberace: Live In Vegas Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 13, 2013

CeeLo Green certainly doesn’t have any problems with shyness, and his natural audacity may seem to be a more or less perfect fit for the glitz and “glamour” (if one is being charitable) that often defines floor shows on the Las Vegas Strip, but his new multimedia enterprise is such an example of glorious excess that even some longtime fans may find this new “concert” Blu-ray a bit of overkill. While some of the performance has relatively low key vocals by CeeLo, other aspects of this show are so completely over the top it’s hard to know exactly where to begin. When there’s a major element featuring a Boy George lookalike lip synching to Culture Club tunes, things are getting precariously close to camp, at least in my estimation.

Fans of the larger than life star are probably going to lap up at least some elements of this flashy, nonstop assortment of everything from projections to dancers to interactions with the audience. CeeLo is actually quite winning, as should probably be expected, but the show is frankly kind of silly in a typical “Vegas” fashion. There’s nothing quite like these hyperbolic Vegas spectaculars, and CeeLo fits rather snugly into the format, but those with a cynical point of view may wonder why there isn’t some mentor in a big red chair telling him to tone it down a little.

The performance includes the following:

1. Intro/Ladykiller
2. Bright Lights, Bigger City
3. Need You Tonight
4. Hot Thang
5. Do You Think I’m Sexy?
6. Boy George Medley: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?/It’s a Miracle/Karma Chameleon
7. Nothing’s Shocking Anymore
8. Side Show
9. Feel For You
10. Don’t Cha
11. Whoever Loves Me
12. Smiley Faces
13. Storm’s Coming
14. Freak Medley: Closet Freak/Le Freak (Freak Out)/Super Freak
15. Sophisticated Bitch
16. Goodie Mob Medley: Planet Rock/rlpache/Can You Feel It?
17. Crazy
18. Forget You

CeeLo Green Is Loberace: Live In Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

CeeLo Green is Loberace Live in Vegas is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. When the stage lighting is bright and natural, this high definition presentation pops quite well, with excellent fine detail and nicely saturated color. As with so many other concert Blu-rays, when the stage or audience is bathed in blue or red, posterizing and banding are quite prevalent and fine detail is minimized. There are also some passing issues with moiré swirling in the background on some of the light array projections.

CeeLo Green Is Loberace: Live In Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

CeeLo Green is Loberace Live in Vegas features both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and an LPCM 2.0 track. Both tracks offer excellent fidelity and the 5.1 does nicely open up the soundfield to give more of a representation of the live hall ambience (replete with quite a bit of audience noise at times). The mix has some occasional issues, especially as things toggle back and forth between pre-recorded and live elements, but overall both tracks sound very good, nicely clear and unhampered by any overt issues.

CeeLo Green Is Loberace: Live In Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (1080i; 7:05). Mr. Green has a tendency to make up words. Just sayin'.

CeeLo Green Is Loberace: Live In Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

CeeLo Green is Loberace Live in Vegas is lavish, spectacular, and almost unbelievably silly at times. Fans of Green will probably love this, others may simply want to get their fill of the star on The Voice.