Gorillaz-Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Audio Featurette-Visuals
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	69:53
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (56:21)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Grant Gee David Barnard
Studio Distributor	EMI Music	Starring	2D Murdoc Noodle Russel Damon Albarn MF Doom Neneh Cherry Shaun Ryder Dennis Hopper De La Soul Ike Turner Roots Manuva Martina Topley-Bird
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Gorillaz Daniel Dumile David Jolicouer

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Gorillaz currently hold the record as the most successful virtual band in history. They might also be the only virtual band in the world, but these animated geniuses put most real bands to shame. Featuring the slightly dazed 2D on vocals, Satanist Murdoc on bass, ten year old wunderkind Noodle on guitar, and possessed drummer Russel on drums, Gorillaz burst on to the scene with their self-titled album in 2001 and had a huge hit with the single, "Clint Eastwood." Demon Days marks their return in 2005 with even greater success, including several high-charting singles, "Feel Good Inc", "DARE" (both in the top 5 of Triple J's Hottest 100), and "Dirty Harry."

    The man behind the band and 2D's vocals, Blur frontman Damon Alburn, finds himself in fine writing form for this album, aided in no small measure by the excellent production work of New York DJ, Danger Mouse. A long list of guest artist were also brought in to contribute both vocals and songwriting talent, including Danger Mouse collaborator MF Doom, Neneh Cherry, Madchester icon Shaun Ryder, Ike Turner, Dennis Hopper, and many others. The blending of different styles and genres of music is highly successful and alongside the (now overplayed) singles are some dark and clever gems (Dennis Hopper's monologue in particular stands out).

    Becoming a successful virtual band, though, raises some difficult logistical problems: like how do you go on tour? Gorillaz have appeared "on stage" several times, but this DVD release marks their first full concert "appearance" at the Manchester Opera House. I leave appearance in inverted commas because the band don't actually turn up on stage per se. The real artists behind the characters remain hidden in silhouette for the entire concert (until Alburn steps into the spotlight for an encore performance). 2D and Murdoc do manage an appearance in the stalls, incarnated as life-size puppets, much to the audience's excitement.

    The concert itself is first class and assembles most of the album's collaborators on stage (MF Doom and Dennis Hopper appear in video and audio form respectively). There is not a wrong note to be heard and the blend of live and recorded elements is completely seamless. 2D/Alburn performs perfectly and the children's choir especially have a lot of fun. The only near stumble is Shaun Ryder who bounces on stage with a bottle of special juice in his hand and spends most of his song looking for something in his pockets. He still manages to sing/shout his lines though and the proceedings go off without a hitch. Each track from the album is performed in order and a special encore includes the beautiful "Hong Kong" from the War Child album Help: A Day in the Life and a tribute to the recently passed Ibrahim Ferrer in "Latin Simone."

    I had a great time with this concert. Gorillaz caught my interest with their first album, but after hearing "Feel Good Inc." played to death, I wasn't so sure I wanted anything to do with Demon Days. After seeing this concert film, I hang my head in shame for doubting and will shuffle off to buy the album pronto. A highly recommended performance of an equally praiseworthy album.

Video

    A very good effort, although the few issues that do exist might have been limited by dropping one of the audio tracks. The concert is presented at a ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced which appears to be the original aspect ratio.

    Sharpness is excellent and shadow detail is also very good. Depending on camera positioning and lighting, grain is often visible. Blacks are very deep but exhibit some digital noise and even macroblocking. Colours are typical for concert footage: skin tones are rendered well when taking lighting into account and the blue backgrounds are solid and well saturated.

    MPEG artefacts are limited to the aforementioned blocking and noise: the transfer is otherwise spotless. There are no film artefacts, but there are some rare moments of edge enhancement.

    No subtitles are included. The layer change occurs at 56:21.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is excellent. Three tracks are included: Dolby Digital 5.1 (default), dts 5.1, and Dolby Digital 2.0 (surround encoded). I listened to the dts track in full and sampled the others. The dts and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks sound very similar and I would be satisfied with either. By comparison the 2.0 track sounds positively wimpy. Skip the 2.0: it's good enough if that's all your setup is capable of, but you'll miss a far more realistic experience with the 5.1 tracks.

    The vocals come through clearly but are mixed at a suitable level so as not to draw attention from the band. Audio sync is accurate.

    The sound stage is very solid and immersive. No hiss or crackle at all (other than its deliberate use in "Feel Good Inc."). The surrounds are very active, producing nice echo and reverb and good crowd noises. You can even hear several people having conversations - a tad annoying but realistic. Some music effects also appear discretely in the rears, while others shift around the entire sound stage. Most of the action is up front (as it should be), but on the whole, the audio is very immersive. The subwoofer thumps along and gets a good work out with the excellent bass lines, but is integrated seamlessly.

    All tracks are composed by Gorillaz plus several other contributors.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu Audio

Featurette

    Visuals (52:02) - Most songs feature visuals (animated and otherwise) as part of the performance. These visuals can be viewed separately with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio from the concert.

    Region 1 and Region 4 releases are identical.

    Gorillaz' excellent album Demon Days translates into a great concert.

    Video and audio are excellent.

    The single extra is a nice inclusion.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall