Savage Garden - Superstars And Cannonballs: Live On Tour In Australia (DVD)

Savage Garden was the first band I ever saw live and for that reason alone I will always have a little bit of a soft spot for them. Although the Australian duo are no longer together, their time in the music industry with the release of just two major releases amounted in sales of over 25 million albums worldwide, which is rather remarkable for a group who weren't officially together that much longer than four or five years.

Sadly, ...
...guitar background and one of Savage Garden's best sing-a-long moments, brought to life in a live setting. 'The Lover After Me', a ballad of lost love but realisation that it was the right thing to do, was the last guitar orientated track before the next four songs of mild melancholy. It sounded exceptionally like the album version to prove that the group weren't merely another boy band clutching at instruments or using machines to enhance their vocal ... more

Savage Garden was the first band I ever saw live and for that reason alone I will always have a little bit of a soft spot for them. Although the Australian duo are no longer together, their time in the music industry with the release of just two major releases amounted in sales of over 25 million albums worldwide, which is rather remarkable for a group who weren't officially together that much longer than four or five years.

Sadly, lead singer and now solo artist Darren Hayes has squashed any chance of him and former song writing partner, Daniel Jones, ever reuniting; after a pretty turbulent ending due to a severe lack of communication on both parts, fans will now only have the CD's and this Live DVD as a way to remember one of the most unrecognised yet fabulous pop groups of the last century.

With the sad ending to the fairy tale being said in reverse, it could plague how many would perceive the band but I would encourage you not to let the ultimately demolished relationship between the members get you down too much; if there was indeed trouble in paradise during this live performance, it barely showed. All in all, it's a magnificent display of music craftsmanship and is a pleasure to watch time and time again.

The 'Superstars And Cannonballs' DVD took its name from a lyric in the 'Animal Song', one of their later singles. I'd originally got the video copy of this when I passed my 11+ from my parents and when it was released on DVD some years later, we got it for my Mum. There is in actual fact very little difference; the only thing here is that there are more sophisticated features that you couldn't possibly get on a VHS copy, many that I will get to a little later on.

THE TRACKLISTING
As the Affirmation tour of 1999 was the same one in which I saw the band, it was great to glance over the track listing and be able to relive some of those memories without even loading the disk into the player. Containing 17 tracks, all of their own composition, it featured a good mix of both singles and album tracks from their debut album, 'Savage Garden' and their second - in fact their final album - 'Affirmation'.

1. The Best Thing (Affirmation, 1999)
2. Break Me Shake Me (Savage Garden, 1997)
3. To The Moon & Back (Savage Garden, 1997)
4. The Lover After Me (Affirmation, 1999)
5. I Don't Know You Anymore (Affirmation, 1999)
6. Santa Monica (Savage Garden, 1997)
7. Two Beds And A Coffee Machine (Affirmation, 1999)
8. You Can Still Be Free (Affirmation, 1999)
9. The Animal Song (Affirmation, 1999)
10. Hold Me (Affirmation, 1999)
11. Gunning Down Romance (Affirmation, 1999)
12. Crash And Burn (Affirmation, 1999)
13. Truly Madly Deeply (Savage Garden, 1997)
14. Chained To You (Affirmation, 1999)
15. I Want You (Savage Garden, 1997)
16. I Knew I Loved You (Affirmation, 1999)
17. Affirmation (Affirmation, 1999)

Obviously, the attention was mainly focused on the group's latest album but there were a lot of older favourites thrown in for good measure to keep the casual fans of the group happy. As it took place in their home country, it was obvious that there was going to be a pretty dedicated crowd there - throughout the whole performance, girls were screaming and crying whenever Darren came their way, which is always lovely to see but quite ironic as he is now in a Civil Partnership with a man!

THE PERFORMANCE
Starting out in style with the high energy 'The Best Thing', Darren's presence on stage is soon felt; he clearly loves bounding around in the tight leather trousers and urging the crowd to scream in his general direction. They obliged; as the colourful lights flashed on and off against an odd patterned background, the rockier of the bands work kept coming. 'Break Me Shake Me' had even more intensity on here than it managed to muster on the album version. It benefits greatly from a crowd being present, especially with the opening solo guitar effort and single finger clicking to create something absolutely spellbinding within the opening five minutes. Wonderfully sung by Darren, this was the start of many great vocal performances from the man himself all night long.

The next track, 'To The Moon And Back' was the group's first ever number one single in their homeland and is still a favourite amongst radio stations. It's mixture of an excellent, romantic but tragic story of a girl confused in life against a subtle guitar background and one of Savage Garden's best sing-a-long moments, brought to life in a live setting. 'The Lover After Me', a ballad of lost love but realisation that it was the right thing to do, was the last guitar orientated track before the next four songs of mild melancholy. It sounded exceptionally like the album version to prove that the group weren't merely another boy band clutching at instruments or using machines to enhance their vocal performances.

This next portion of the DVD was one that I remembered very well from the gig that I went to; with just the two official band members on stage, away from the fuss of additional performers to aid the live sound, it provided a good opportunity moment of reflection within the slower and slightly depressing offerings from either album. 'I Don't Know You Anymore' is a beautiful number with flows along in a similar vein of it's predecessor, being another solemn love narrative. On the album Affirmation, in which it is the final track, it was just the voice and piano so worked as well here as it had done previously.

'Santa Monica', which was their first album's last track, is a bit of a nonsensical dirge about being anybody you want to be out of eyeshot. It's never really been one of my favourite tracks, as it is a bit slow and non-descript, but worked well here and really showed 'Two Beds And A Coffee Machine' to be a wonderfully sad song, possibly a track about Darren's forlorn childhood and difficult relationship between his Mother and Father. An equally as powerful a moment follows in the first dedicated song of the night. 'You Can Still Be Free' was written about an incident involving an argument and gun attack that happened in Daniel's garden when he was younger. Darren's voice on this number is astounding; the way it ranges from dark and introspective to high and passionate is fine evidence that the band are at their best in a live setting.

The one issue that I have with these four piano solo tracks is the fact that they are not the full lengths of the songs; 'Santa Monica' only offers a verse and the chorus before venturing off into the next track so it comes across as needlessly rushed. Whether this was the case within the arena or it was just a product of cutting out some of the performance for the DVD release its anybodies guess but it's a real shame none the less as, from the little taster sessions that fans will have got here, they were some of the most inviting moments of the night.

As the rest of the band emerges back on stage, thudding elephant like stomps can be heard on the drum kit which means only one thing - 'The Animal Song'! Ok, so I was a bit over dramatic there; it's an average kind of song that I think many pop groups could have written but it went down well with the fans in the arena, so who am I to argue? Taking a more romantic strand once again, the opening chords to 'Hold Me' strike up and comes with the promise that a fan would get the chance to go up on stage a cuddle with Darren. Me? Jealous, pah! Anyway, the girl who they did pick was clearly ecstatic and began crying the minute she got back to her seat on the front row! Bless her. He seemed to enjoy himself too with the vocal performance once again resembling its initial release of a track that was about the confusion of a struggling relationship.

'Gunning Down Romance' allowed us the first glimpse at Darren's incredible dancing. By incredible, I mean incredibly bad. It was one of those moments where he indulged far too much into the idea of being the world's greatest musical storyteller and it ended up ruining the performance a bit. It came across as forced but at least the tunes and vocals were up to scratch. However, it did show Daniel Jones' vulnerability; one of the attributing factors into Daniel's leave from the band was actually down to the fact that he didn't like the whole notion of superstardom. With him stood centre stage in front of a black cloth until Darren danced his way back to take over, you could tell that he was trying desperately to block out any thoughts of the crowd and would sooner it just be him and the six strings in attendance.

'Crash And Burn', a song that apparently was not allowed to be played after the 9/11 attacks because of its darker themes and title connection, was just as good as on the album; being an inspirational track of never losing faith, even when it's tempting to, it fitting in well after Daniel's rather uncomfortable moment and Darren's questionable prancing. Possibly the band's most notoriously over rated number, 'Truly, Madly Deeply' was up next but was slightly different as one of the female backing singers of the night joined in every other line. Unless they'd completely re-arranged the music, it wouldn't have sounded right at all as it was originally recorded as like an echo with double vocals merging into one another. The young lady's voice went nicely with Darren's and made the song a little more interesting, into almost making it seem like a split story.

After a quick outfit change, the gang are back on stage but this time Darren is pretending to be childhood idol, Elvis. Oh dear. As he stumbles about on stage, he tried to impersonate a really bad American accent for 'Chained To You' which just sounded ridiculous more than anything else. Again, it's another attempt by Darren to add a little drama to the proceedings but it was just a bit stupid. As soon as the opening guitar riff began on 'I Want You', the crowd were on their feet and were no doubt reminiscing back to the earlier days of the band. This one was a lot more uplifting than on 'Savage Garden' as the backup singers made it come to life a bit more with their higher vocal abilities.

Before yet another outfit change and the final track of the night, the fans in Brisbane were treated to 'I Knew I Loved You', another pretty generic love song from 'Affirmation'. Not one of my favourites once again but Darren did a good job of spicing it up and converting it to a live atmosphere where the crowd could join in and have a little fun with it.

The last stop was the band's second album's title track. 'Affirmation' was a brilliant way to end the show; uplifting and truthful, it's one of Savage Garden's biggest triumphs, both in a live environment and on an album. Released in conjunction with this DVD set, as well as footage from the concert as a promotional strategy, it was one of the tracks where the lead singer took it as another opportunity to show boat and soak up the fan's overwhelmingly appreciative attitude. It was certainly a defining moment for the band and perhaps one that was never topped afterwards.

PRODUCTION
The way the DVD actually looked on screen was very well produced; all of the camera movements were solid and really showed the band and the stage in its best possible light, especially when you consider the fact that the backdrop was a mishmash of bold colours, almost like a sort of rainbow carnival. I do remember the massive 'SG' stage door at the very beginning of the show as the unlikely duo burst out onto the stage.

There were a few backstage kind of skits at the beginning of the show, as well as during the outfit change on 'Chained To You'. Darren Hayes came across as every bit the show man, albeit a nervous one, during these moments and you generally got the feeling that it's these nights of performance that he lives for. Having seen him once with Savage Garden and on three separate occasions as a solo artist, his anticipation and desire of getting out on stage and giving the fans a spectacle of a performance is very strong and happens to work rather well in his favour. Apart from when he's dancing.

EXTRAS AND SPECIAL FEATURES
The producers have done a fantastic job in compiling many worthwhile extras for the viewers. My favourite has to be the 'Parallel Lives' documentary, chronically the bands time on tour with backstage footage and interviews. It was also on the VHS version, and from what I can see there is no difference at all. The focus is of course on Darren but by the same token, he seems to be rather lonely and as a result acts like a bit of a child who constantly needs to seek attention. As the title infers, there is an almighty difference between the two band members, and although the lead singer does his best to disguise any ill feeling that there may be between the two, you can't help but wondering in hindsight whether their 'divorce' as a band was already on the horizon by the time the DVD was released.

When you do watch the 'Parallel Lives' feature, it does seem as if the only time Darren and Daniel are ever together is when they are on stage! The strain of a band, especially when you don't seem to have that much in common, must have been too much at times and when you read other interviews with Darren and see other productions with him in, you'll understand how easily he can rub people up the wrong way. He does take centre stage, perhaps willingly or perhaps not so much in retrospect, on this DVD as he ventures back to his childhood home and jokes around with the bands backing singers. It does seem completely natural and he does seem like a light hearted kind of guy but after watching his 'Too Close For Comfort' DVD, you may look back on this and think of it as a clever piece of marketing to disguise any cracks that appear within the bands facade.

Also included were three music videos from the bands latest album, including its title track 'Affirmation'. The other promos for 'I Knew I Loved You' as well as 'Crash and Burn' were a good addition, especially the latter one; the video is really surreal, done to a quick pace and features lots of messages of hope against the uninspired background of a dingy basement. These were not included on the video version and many people would think of them as a bit pointless considering websites such as youtube now exist but I think it's a good addition to make the set seem a little more complete.

The accumulation of the band's commentary on some of their most personal tracks was very good for casual fans who perhaps hadn't delved too deeply into the band's history. It was definitely a good listen on tracks such as 'The Best Thing' and the wonderfully sad 'You Can Still Be Free' but I think that once you've heard it, it's a little unnecessary to do so again. The Discography was my least favourite feature; it seemed as if it was just cobbled together just to display the bands momentous achievements together which, should be celebrated, but I don't think it was necessarily all that essential.

TECHNICAL FEATURES
There were yet more features to accommodate many viewers in the form of changing the sound and even the camera angles. Before you begin playing the concert, you will get the option of playing the DVD on its ordinary sound levels or as a part of the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound variety. I can't say how well it works on that setting but on the normal version, it offers a very good volume and atmosphere.

The ability to change the camera angle is only available on certain songs, most notably 'The Animal Song' and 'Affirmation'. It's quite easy to tell which tracks have this ability as a little icon pops up at the top of the screen with a camera and ¼ so it tells you how many options there are available. There is quite a big difference between these shots but I prefer to keep it on the normal setting as that's how the rest of the footage has been shot. However, it's a nice little bonus that some viewers will no doubt value more than others.

PACKAGING AND ON SCREEN PRESENTATION
Matching the colourful nature of the stage itself, on the front cover there is a picture of the two band members together and the same if you flip it over onto the back. It looks very professional and pop star like, fitting the mood of the band as well as the production itself.

The on screen presentation, although not matching the brash and bold colours on stage, is in itself amazing; the menus are animated, with pictures of butterflies that move and visually, you can tell that a lot of time and money has been invested in making this collection look as thrilling as possible. And overall it is very easy to use; you can search and then select tracks from the concert or play them all at once.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
Although I can't remember exactly what we paid for the DVD set a couple of years ago, these are the prices for it at the moment:

Amazon.co.uk - £4.97 (eligible for super saver delivery)
Play.com - £7.99 (free delivery)
HMV.co.uk - £3.99 (free delivery)
CDwow.co.uk - £10.99 (free delivery)
DVD.co.uk £4.95 (free delivery)
Zavvi.co.uk - £5.00 (free delivery)

OVERALL
'Superstars and Cannonballs' is one of the finest ways to remember Savage Garden. Edging away from anything you've read since their demise, through bitterness and a bizarre relationship, you'll be able to appreciate just how excellent they were at being able to create a believable and enticing pop sound whilst connecting with different audiences; there really is a theme that will appeal to most people along the way here, brought to life in their home country through tales of lost love, passion, escapism and hope.

One of the things that you cannot fail to commend Savage Garden on is their ability to play in an electric atmosphere and make it sound as good - if not better - than the album versions. Although Darren ruined a couple of tracks with a dodgy vocal performance, those moments really were few and far between, and the rest of the accuracy here is amazing. My one gripe would be that the lead singer did try and take over a bit; true, all front men are meant to have a bit of an ego but with his insistence of doing some outlandish dances along the way, it came across as needlessly forced and the music could stand on its own anyway, without some of the unnecessary naffness.

The DVD features were certainly a winner, particularly the documentary part as it was certainly easier to understand some of the methods that the band adopted in creating their music. Their final album was recorded from two sides of the world, Darren working on the lyrics in America and Daniel tuning it altogether in Australia. It's an odd thing, that and is kind of astounding to think that two men that didn't even sit in the same room to write their work together could translate such an epic performance onto the stage and into the homes of many is particularly impressive, especially with how well everything glued together not just between the duo but with their countless backing musicians and singers.

So whether you are a massive fan of the band of have just liked a couple of the songs you've heard, I would strongly recommend giving this DVD a try. Its range from being able to go from major stadium moments to intimate, emotional pieces is amazing and makes for not only excellent viewing but a fantastic listen too.

Quick Stats:
Year: 2000
Number of disks: 1
Approx. Running Time: 110 minutes
Website: www.savagegarden.com 

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