Stereophonics - Day At The Races (DVD)

...I'd heard most of the Stereophonics singles before, and had heard the album played by other people. Kelly Jones's voice (lead singer) was awesome, so I bought this DVD in hope that it was as good live! And I was not disappointed.

'A Day At The Races' is a single DVD that comprises a collection of concert footage taken from their gig at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on July 21st 2002 and backstage footage from this and their gig at Donington ...
...a number of extras on the disc too, which will be mentioned later in the review.

On placing the DVD into your player, you will be taken through a series of stills and clips of the band before you reach the opening menu. Here you have the options of either choosing:
+ A Day At The Races - this plays through the full DVD from start to finish
+ The Running – the option to choose track-by-track performances
+ ... more

Having not seen any live music for far too long, I was in need of some decent concert footage to sit and watch to feed my obsession. I'd heard most of the Stereophonics singles before, and had heard the album played by other people. Kelly Jones's voice (lead singer) was awesome, so I bought this DVD in hope that it was as good live! And I was not disappointed.

'A Day At The Races' is a single DVD that comprises a collection of concert footage taken from their gig at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on July 21st 2002 and backstage footage from this and their gig at Donington Race Circuit on 14th July 2002. There are also a number of extras on the disc too, which will be mentioned later in the review.

On placing the DVD into your player, you will be taken through a series of stills and clips of the band before you reach the opening menu. Here you have the options of either choosing:
+ A Day At The Races - this plays through the full DVD from start to finish
+ The Running – the option to choose track-by-track performances
+ Extras – including documentary, photos and cutting room floor (see later details)
+ Set-up – audio and visual options

If you decide to play the DVD straight through, you will be greeted with both the live performance and the backstage footage, cleverly inter-linked throughout. Between every few tracks from the gig, you are taken to the documentary to see how the whole concert was put together. I personally found this very annoying, as I’d have preferred to sit and watch the entire concert through, then watch an un-interrupted documentary! However, this is only a minor gripe and doesn’t detract from the overall merits of the DVD.

To set the scene before reviewing the tracks, the stage is at one of the Millennium Stadium ion Cardiff. Either side are two huge videos screens. The band are well spaced out across the stage, with each having their own oriental rug on which they stand to perform. The set up is also very visual in that there are a multitude of different colour lights and lasers to add atmosphere to all the tracks. They certainly work!

The Tracks (The Running)
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‘Local Boy In The Photograph’ – This is their concert opener, and what a good choice it is! It is best described as a very cheerful, buzzing track, and very fast paced. As soon as the track begins, and the main guitar riff is played, the crowd begins to bounce rhythmically. It’s an amazing site to see the whole of the stadium jumping together with so much life in them! This energy remains throughout the track, and you begin to wonder how the crowd will be able to keep this up for the entire gig.

‘More Life In A Tramp’s Vest’ – Another track for which the crowd bounces, and another fast paced song. A good track for vocals, this seems to be one that the crowd loved, as every time the camera cuts to crowd members, they are passionately singing along.

‘Traffic’ – A slower starting track compared to the previous two, it opens with just light guitars and a slow drum beat. The crowd take over the vocals again, with Kelly and his guitar almost following their lead! This sound is awesome….what a live performance is all about. There is a real ‘swaying’ feel introduced to this track as the main rhythm and drums come in.

‘T-Shirt Suntan’ – Not one of the better tracks here when it is performed on stage, I’d have rather seen this performed acoustically (see more in documentary section). The strengths of this one lie in some of the guitar performances that happen in the song. Other than that, I can’t really say a lot more about it here!

‘The Bartender And The Thief’ - A very fast-paced, frantic track, with much heavier guitars than have been heard previously. A very popular track, mainly because it was one of the bands first singles, this again gets the crowd in a frenzy. There is also a very good bass guitar moment in the middle of this track.

‘Just Looking’ – A slow introduction to this leaves many unsure of what track is coming. Kelly’s vocals begin with just him and his guitar, and clapping from the crowd. The track gradually builds up to a faster chorus, and in my opinion is a very strong track to listen to Kelly’s vocal talents.

‘Pick A Part That’s New’ – Can best be described as an anthem for the Stereophonics, and one of their better tracks. This is one I find very hard to comment on. Anthem is the only word that comes to mind!!!!!

‘I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio’ – Now Kelly has his acoustic guitar out, and goes into a very happy sounding track that has what can only be described as a country and western feel to it. Very enjoyable!

‘I Stopped To Fill My Car Up’ – Probably one of the slowest tracks on the DVD, this opens with a guitar solo and a long pause. This is a truly haunting sound, enhanced by the smoke rising behind Kelly and the band. It is extremely mellow, yet may be seen as a slightly depressing track.

‘Mr Writer’ – A classic ‘Phonics track, with an amazing keyboard riff to kick things off. Another very haunting track, especially if you’ve seen the video, that has to be their best song here by a long way. It is slow paced with very powerful vocals. There is lots of passion in Kelly’s voice for this one, which is what makes it so good.

‘Have A Nice Day’ – A little light-heartedness here as Kelly talks of the band’s enjoyment making the video for this one! Another classic single of theirs, and a very cheery, happy feel is brought to the concert through its inclusion.

‘Step On My Old Size Nines’ – This track Kelly places whilst sat down with his acoustic guitar, which to me signals another very good vocal performance on its way!! A real chill-out track this one, and one you’ll find yourself tapping your feet to. The inclusion of a harmonica in the song is brilliant.

‘Roll Up And Shine’ – Much more of a rock feel to this track, harder and more powerful, something that I don’t think comes across in album or radio versions of the tracks. The powerful vocals in this make it another awesome song to see live.

‘Everyday I Think Of Money’ – Still with the acoustic guitar, and back to the slow, mellow track. You could almost say this would be a track you could stand and sway to! (If you watch, many of the crowd actually start to do, this!)

‘Watch Them Fly Sundays’ – A typical rock ballad, with heavy guitars yet a loving feel to the song as a whole. Not one of their better tracks, but still, it’s nice to have a completely different style of track every-now-and-then.

‘Vegas Two Times’ – Probably the heaviest track on the DVD, it almost has an Oasis feel to it (I can’t believe I’ve just said that! Aarrgghh!) This is not a good track to end the DVD on, and I just hope it wasn’t how the gig ended!

The Extras
========
+ Documentary
This is a very enlightening and interesting diary of the preparations leading up to the putting on of these gigs. It begins with the arrival at the venue, with ‘Phonics music playing over camcorder style footage. You are then taken to the sound check, a meet and greet with fans, stage construction, dressing room antics and final gig preparations. This involves footage, music and band interviews and is well worth watching. My favourite sections of the documentary are the Learning The Songs parts. You see the guys relaxed on sofas, guitars in hand practicing and ironing out problems with certain tracks. One track is ‘T-Shirt Suntan’ that I said earlier is best played acoustically. Here Kelly, sings the track with just a very basic guitar rhythm, and his voice is unbelievable and effortless…..my fave part of the DVD by a long way!
The documentary has it’s own menu when selected where each chapter can be selected individually.

+ Cutting Room Floor
Why this is here, I don’t know! It is 3 more live performances from the concert: Last Of The Big Time Drinkers, A Thousand Trees and Hurry Up And Wait. All three are great tracks and should have been put in the concert footage earlier. To make things even more odd, these tracks all have notably reduced sound quality. What’s going on here then, I ask!!!

+ Photo Gallery
Pretty self explanatory, you find a selection of pictures from the gigs, either as a slide show, or individually.

There are also a few track that have ‘multi camera angles’. I was hoping, as with many DVDs, to be able to watch certain band members. This was not the case! You could either choose between a normal camera and one with ‘special effects’ on it, or just a simple split screen view. Not very impressive at all, and slightly misleading on the DVD case I think!

Overall, I loved most of this DVD. The vocal talents of Kelly Jones were the true highlights for me, and these alone would be enough for me to buy it. The concert footage is all very impressive, as is the documentary. I was just a little disappointed with the two being spliced together, making it hard to just enjoy one or the other separately, without having to select each track individually from a menu. However, I urge you, even if you’ve only heard some of their singles, to check it out.
 

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