George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Live in ‘99

December 11, 2004

Rated: NR Runtime: 69 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Just when you think the world has been taken over by whiny alternative bands and grunge rock, George Thorogood pops up to remind us that there is at least one band who can still do good old fashioned rock and blues. He has many timeless songs that are still played in regular rotation on rock stations all around the world even though many of them are no 10-15 years old or more. And how many TV shows and movies have used “Bad to the Bone”?

Having seen George in concert many years back and seeing how good the band is live, I have been really looking forward to this DVD. All of his best songs are here, the crowd is good, the band does well, but unfortunately the mix for the DVD missed the mark. Whoever did the Dolby Digital mix needs a few more lessons.

The result is we get a really great collection of songs, but a really muddled mix that comes across very flat, and that’s a shame. I was able to help the mix a little bit by letting my receiver do some of the work and switching it to one of the “musical” DSP settings. It should be noted that for properly mixed concert DVDs I do not have to do that and they sound great in my usual catch-all THX setting.

I give this DVD 3 stars, but just barely. The mix of songs saves it from a 2 star rating. I didn’t have an urge to skip over a single song and despite the bad mix this DVD could make great background for any true Thorogood fan. However, mixed properly, this thing would’ve likely received 5 stars from me.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 3 Stars, DVD, George Thorogood, Music, NR, the Delaware Destroyers