Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 21, 2025

Was it Led Zeppelin who claimed "the song remains the same"? Well, maybe yes, maybe no with regard to this particular song oriented release, at least insofar as Eagle Rock Entertainment is now Mercury Studios, so the label name at least has changed, but given the fact that this is another 4K UHD release from Mercury Studios without HDR, some wags (curmudgeons?) may therefore complain that this version is in essence not really all that much different from the original 1080 release of Steven Wilson: Home Invasion - In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

As mentioned above, what was then called Eagle Rock Entertainment brought out this release on 1080 disc in 2018, and those interested can head over to my Steven Wilson: Home Invasion - In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray review of that release for some information on the concert, as well as my reaction to the 1080 presentation. Supplements on this new 4K UHD disc are the same as on the old 1080 disc, but have been repeated below for convenience sake.

Steven and the band play the following songs during the concert:

"Truth" (Intro )
Nowhere Now
Pariah
Home Invasion / Regret #9
The Creator Has a Mastertape
Refuge
People Who Eat Darkness
Ancestral
Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
Permanating
Song of I
Lazarus
Detonation
The Same Asylum as Before
Song of Unborn
Vermillioncore
Sleep Together
Even Less
Blank Tapes
Sound of Muzak
The Raven That Refused to Sing

Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080. This is therefore not an accurate representation of the quality, and even without HDR, I'd argue that these screenshots offer a color space that is not completely accurate in appearance. Therefore, I recommend those interested to look at some of the screenshots in my old 1080 review linked to above for a probably better representation of the look of this release. Since this release does not include a 1080 disc, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Mercury Studios with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. I have no verifiable information on the source resolution, but I frankly didn't notice any huge upticks in fine detail levels on this release when compared to the older 1080 version from Eagle Rock Entertainment. That is not to say that anything is lacking here, because the older 1080 presentation was pretty consistently stellar in both detail and especially palette, and so even without any discernable "improvements", this is still an appealingly detailed looking presentation. That needs to be understood contextually, however, in that the concert is, as mentioned in my original 1080 review, a phantasmagoria of effects and visual blandishments like superimpositions, quick cutting and some probably close to seizure inducing strobe effects. I'm frankly at a loss as to why Mercury Studios isn't adopting HDR more consistently for its 4K UHD releases, as this is one live performance that could have definitely benefited from the added luster of HDR and/or Dolby Vision. There's beautiful vividness throughout this presentation, but once again it's really not noticeably different from the old 1080 presentation.

Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Steven Wilson: Home Invasion In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall features the same audio options as the old 1080 disc, with LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, both 96/24. The disc is authored to default to the stereo track, and as I often tend to experience with these releases, I found Steven's vocals a bit more forward in this version than on the surround track. He even talks in a kind of quiet voice between several songs, and even his spoken word I found a bit easier to make out on the stereo track. That said, the surround track is sumptuously spacious, offering superb breathing room for what often densely layered instrumentals underlying the equally stacked vocals. Fidelity is excellent on both tracks, and there are no problems of any kind to report. Optional subtitles in several languages are available.

Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Rehearsal Tracks are all interesting in that they not only document the band getting ready for the performance, they all include some of the cool drone work and projections that are part of the concert:

  Routine (HD; 9:03)

  
  

  Hand Cannot Erase (HD; 4:13)

  
  

  Heart Attack in a Layby (HD; 4:24)

• Interview (HD; 8:49) is a fun set of interactions with a barefoot Wilson.

The DigiPack also includes a small insert booklet with credits and some photos.

Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It was actually kind of a gas for me to revisit this concert video, as I recently returned from London where I attended the gorgeous Christmas Carols concert at Royal Albert Hall with my family, and in fact we were seated exactly where one of the balcony cameras that hovers over the audience is placed for several near aerial shots offered here. This is an outstanding concert on both musical and visual levels, which makes at least one element on this 4K UHD disc, the lack of HDR, a really potentially hobbling exclusion for this presentation. That said, if you didn't pick up the 1080 disc from several years ago, while this 4K disc may not offer anything substantially "new" or "different", it offers some nice looking video and especially vibrant audio.