Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 23, 2019

There might be two no stranger bedfellows than Sheldon Cooper of television’s The Big Bang Theory and a headbanging rock musician like Slash, but those who are prone to perusing credits of concert videos may be momentarily gobsmacked by the “Produced and Directed by Jim Parsons” credit that is included in Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour. Of course, it’s not “that” Jim Parsons, but instead a regular provider of concert fare who has a long track record (no pun intended) as both a producer and director in this particular genre. This Jim Parsons brings some rather interesting stylistic flourishes to this concert captured at London’s iconic Hammersmith Apollo in 2019. The concert offers a relentlessly high energy set from Slash, Myles Kennedy, Todd Kerns, Brent Fitz and Frank Sidoris, one that doesn’t veer very far from accepted rock norms, but which is often surprisingly melodic and just as unsurprisingly well played and sung.

The following tunes are offered on both the Blu-ray and the 2 CDs included in this package:

• The Call of the Wild


• Halo


• Standing in the Sun


• Ghost


• Back from Cali


• My Antidote


• Serve You Right


• Boulevard of Broken Hearts


• Shadow Life


• We're All Gonna Die


• Doctor Alibi


• Lost Inside the Girl


• Wicked Stone


• Mind Your Manners


• Driving Rain


• By the Sword


• Nightrain


• Starlight


• You're A Lie


• World on Fire


• Avalon


• Anastasia

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. As mentioned above in the main body of the review, there are some interesting stylistic flourishes on display of here, some of which can at least be partially gleaned from the screenshots accompanying this review. Both the stage and even sections of the audience are often lit with some rather unusual tones, ranging from purples to blues to reds, and it appears that those lighting regimens or perhaps some tweaking in post may have led to slightly desaturated parts of certain framings so that, for instance, the audience still appears "in color" (in more ways than one) while the band almost looks like it's in black and white. Generally speaking when lighting is less flagrantly unnatural, and when no "bells and whistles" are being employed, detail levels are quite excellent, especially in close-ups. There are some deficits in shadow definition, especially toward the sides of the stage, where things are often bathed in darkness and can be slightly hard to make out at times.

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour features engaging LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks (as tends to be the case with many Eagle Rock concert Blu-rays, the disc is authored to default to the stereo track). Considering the massed emphasis on guitars that is a ubiquitous feature on most of the tunes included here, the overall mix is quite spacious sounding in the surround version, offering a bit of breathing room between the rhythm section and Myles' voice. Vocals are well mixed throughout, though I personally wouldn't have minded some of the backups to have been mixed a little higher at times. Fidelity is excellent and there are no problems of any kind to report.

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Live in London - Behind the Scenes (1080i; 10:33) has some fun candid footage of some of the "glamour" of show business like setting up the stage and technical aspects of arranging the lighting, along with some interviews.

Additionally, as mentioned above in the main body of the review, this release comes with 2 CDs of the concert.

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a really high energy effort from Slash, Myles and the boys, and there's an obvious rapport not just between the band members, but between the band and the very enthusiastic audience. The lighting of this concert is really very interesting and gives the proceedings a rather distinctive look. Technical merits are solid, and Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators: Living the Dream Tour comes Recommended.