7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
On the 31st December 2015, Mötley Crüe took to the stage of the Staples Center in their home city of Los Angeles for their last-ever live performance. It was the culmination of a farwell tour which had started in July 2014 and traveled around the world taking in North and South America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Europe and the Middle East. The band had signed a legally binding cessation of touring contract that prevented them touring as Mötley Crüe beyond the end of 2015 and so this concert truly was The End. Being Mötley Crüe, they did of course go out in style with a spectacular light show and stage set, pyrotechnics, Tommy Lee's incredible rollercoaster drum solo and a set list packed with Mötley Crüe classics. They may be gone, but they'll never be forgotten.
Starring: Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee (VI), Mick Mars, Allison KylerMusic | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.90:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 CD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Forgive someone who has lived through supposed “goodbye” tours only to see bands or individuals turning around to say “hello” again once they realized their coffers might need restuffing, but I’m not totally buying this “the end” part of what was ostensibly Mötley Crüe’s literal swan song as a touring entity, captured here in a New Year’s Eve 2015 concert in Los Angeles in the Staples Center. My personal skepticism aside, it’s obvious from an opening montage which contains statements from some of the band along with a lot of tears and overwrought emotions from the gathered multitudes that this concert was seen as an historic event by the participants, both those onstage and those out in the audience. Graced (or burdened, depending on your point of view) with a completely hyperbolic production which includes everything from Nikki Sixx’s bass spitting fire scores of feet to a kind of cool “roller coaster” waggishly dubbed Tommy Lee’s Crüecify, this is a show that engages the eyes as well as the ears. The visuals are outlandish in a typically arena rock sort of way, but the sonics are often just as spectacular, though rather oddly presented at times (as discussed below in the audio section of the review).
Mötley Crüe: The End Live in Los Angeles 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 1.90:1. This is by and large a great looking presentation, though it tips right up to the edge of some issues with regards to huge lit displays behind the band, displays which, when combined with some strobe lighting effects, at least give the impression of leaning toward instability. Black levels are just a little milky at times, especially in some shots taken from out in the audience, but otherwise detail levels are commendably high, especially in close-ups. There's some pretty bad banding during the Eagle Rock masthead, but the actual concert never shows the same issue.
I'm just a little conflicted about Mötley Crüe: The End Live in Los Angeles' LPCM 2.0 and (especially) DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, since, while fidelity is excellent and clarity also great, it seems that whoever mixed this wanted to give it more of a sense of how things sounded in the Staples Center, leading to a somewhat diffused and even phased ambience (especially in the surround track). There's a kind of peculiar "distance" that includes what I consider to be an overly wet (i.e., reverb heavy) sound for Vince Neil's vocals, and the audience sounds are often pretty overwhelming and some might consider intrusive. Take a listen over the band's exit and closing credits for this concert, when a cheeky use of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" is utilized. The phasing and distance are quite marked in the surround version, though it's notable that amplitude spikes noticeably once the Sinatra pre- record starts up. I have to think this was done purposefully, and some may actually like the "real" sounding ambience, but I found I had to crank my receiver up pretty high (much higher than I typically do) in order to fully enjoy the sonics on display here. Others' mileage may of course vary.
To kinda sorta paraphrase one Jim Morrison, this may or may not be "the end", but it finds Mötley Crüe in fine fettle, giving a huge and rapturous audience both an eyeful and an earful. Video is excellent, but I personally had a few qualms with the audio on this release. Recommended.
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