Iggy Pop's Post Pop Depression: Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Iggy Pop's Post Pop Depression: Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 28, 2016

I may be alone in this wish, but in listening to Iggy Pop Post Pop Depression Live at the Royal Albert Hall, I kept thinking how kind of weirdly wonderful it would be for the erstwhile James Newell Osterberg, Jr., to collaborate with Tim Burton on a stop motion musical. Iggy’s sandpapery voice but often oddly plaintive melodies and stream of consciousness lyrics would seem to be at least as at home in a Tim Burton spectacular as Danny Elfman’s music inarguably is. This 2016 concert finds Iggy, now pushing 70, still up to his antics, dancing and strutting onstage while performing a wide array of material. Iggy is backed up by Joshua Homme, Dean Fertita, Matt Helders, Troy Van Leeuwen and Matt Sweeney in a concert that isn’t especially strong on stagecraft but which delivers on a pure performance level.

Iggy's set list for the concert includes:

Lust for Life

Sister Midnight

American Valhalla

Sixteen

In the Lobby

Some Weird Sin

Funtime

Tonight

Sunday

German Days

Mass Production

Nightclubbing

Gardenia

The Passenger

China Girl

Break Into Your Heart

Fall in Love With Me

Repo Man

Baby

Chocolate Drops

Paraguay

Success

Iggy Pop's Post Pop Depression: Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Iggy Pop Post Pop Depression Live at the Royal Albert Hall is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a very appealingly sharp presentation, and one that is not hobbled by typical concert videos bugaboos like posterizing and banding. The stage is frequently lit in blues and purples, hues that can create problems at times, but here everything looks at least decently detailed, and often excellently detailed, especially in close-ups. Iggy's shirtless body may not exactly be everybody's idea of what high definition "splendor" may be, but it can't be argued that everything from his downy body hair to beads of sweat are detailed with extreme precision during close-ups. Black levels are strong and while there is occasional lackluster shadow definition, overall this is a really great looking transfer.

Iggy Pop's Post Pop Depression: Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Iggy Pop Post Pop Depression Live at the Royal Albert Hall features nice sounding LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. Iggy's music tends to emphasize the lower registers, especially when he's "singing" in his guttural registers, but there's appealing clarity and spaciousness, especially in the surround mix. The thumping rhythm section adds consider energy to the harder rocking tunes, and some of the whimsical synth patches add a kind of almost humorous aspect at times.

Iggy Pop's Post Pop Depression: Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray disc contains no supplements, but the digipack also includes two CDs which contain the complete concert.

Iggy Pop's Post Pop Depression: Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Iggy's in fine form throughout this concert, and his band plays with a lot of energy and power. Technical merits are strong, and Iggy Pop Post Pop Depression Live at the Royal Albert Hall comes Highly recommended.