George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 12, 2013

George Thorogood makes some interesting comments in the brief interview included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, where he muses about needing to experience the “buzz” of energy from the audience whenever he walks into a room, as that is (according to him, anyway) the sign that his relevance as an artist is still alive and kicking. While Thorogood has had a long and successful career, he hasn’t experienced a Top 10 single since the early nineties, so perhaps this questioning spirit is understandable. If one were to judge things solely on the reaction of the 2013 Montreux Jazz Festival audience, though, there is still plenty of “buzz” for Thorogood, and he returns the favor by offering a balls to the wall tour through several of his big hits as well as some good cover material and a few underappreciated gems.

Thorogood’s offerings with The Destroyers has often seemed like the epitome of good time party music, and that’s exactly the ambience that spills through this relatively short but effective set. Thorogood sounds great, if occasionally growly, on vocals, and his guitar playing is as assured as ever. His backup band, including Jeff Simon on drums, Bill Blough on bass, Jim Suhler on guitar and vocals and Buddy Leach on sax, keeps things firmly in the pocket and maintains a driving, propulsive force to keep the crowd—and Thorogood—energized.

The songs included on this Blu-ray are:

1. Rock Party
2. Who Do You Love?
3. Help Me
4. Night Time
5. I Drink Alone
6. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
7. Cocaine Blues
8. Get a Haircut
9. Bad to the Bone
10. Move it on Over
11. Tail Dragger
12. Madison Blues

George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

George Thorogood and The Destroyers Live at Montreux 2013 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. Once again, stage lighting gets in the way of a concert Blu-ray receiving a higher video score. While the image here is nicely sharp and generally well defined, the ubiquitous use of purple and blue lighting repeatedly causes problems with fine detail and even occasionally contrast (see screenshot 3). Additionally, occasionally some of the upstage projections suffer from minimal though noticeable moiré. Otherwise, though, this is a strong presentation, especially in close-ups, where fine detail—even in the unfortunate lighting choices—rises to excellent levels.

George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes on this Blu-ray sound fantastic, giving a really nice sonic edge to Thorogood's often straight ahead blues rock. The 5.1 mix features a noticeably more aggressive low end, as should be expected, but the good news is clarity is not at all compromised, and even with the added "oomph" on the low end, Thorogood's voice is never buried in the mix. Fidelity is excellent on both of these tracks, though dynamic range is somewhat limited due to the setlist.

George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (1080i; 3:54)

George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perhaps surprisingly, the 2013 Montreux Jazz Festival performance by George Thorogood and The Destroyers was their first at the vaunted venue, but they made the wait well worth the while. This is a high energy show that Thorogood is obviously loving. The buzz continues. Recommended.