AC/DC-Stiff Upper Lip Live (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-(10:34)
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	127:32 (Case: 140)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (68:56)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nick Morris
Studio Distributor	Festival Mushroom	Starring	Angus Young Malcolm Young Brian Johnson Cliff Williams Phil Rudd
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Angus Young Malcolm Young Bon Scott

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.0 (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Song Lyrics	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Recorded live in Munich, Germany in 2001, this fabulous stadium show displays this seminal rock band striding through their trademark standards with a giant Angus statue (curiously nicknamed Junior) behind them. Angus and Brian dominate the stage and make the spotlight operators earn their money, while the other three lads plod away, keeping a very solid rhythm. If you've seen this line-up perform before, you know what to expect.

• Angus Young (Lead Guitar)
• Malcolm Young (Rhythm Guitar)
• Brian Johnson (Vocals)
• Cliff Williams (Bass)
• Phil Rudd (Drums)

    I had the pleasure of seeing the band at Sydney on this tour, and I recall their cannons that are fired during For Those About To Rock were the loudest thing I'd ever heard. The guys perform a lot of songs from their Back In Black album, and obviously a few from their most recent effort Stiff Upper Lip. With such a large catalogue of material to draw from, there will always be some great songs left out. Classics such as Jailbreak and Sin City would have been great to hear, but the set list does have a good balance of Brian Johnson and Bon Scott numbers.

    AC/DC are due to release a new album in 2007, their first in quite a few years. Lets hope it lives up to their past material.

Video

    This is a mixed bag as far as video transfers go. The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement. The video quality is good, however the cameras vary greatly in quality. Some cameras are digital and appear very sharp, while others are obviously analogue. The crane shots are the worst, with familiar horizontal banding across the screen resulting from exposure to loud noise (92:36, 72:18). There is very poor detail in some distant shots of the stage (24:56).

    The digital cameras have a pleasing image, with good detail and no problems concerning shadow detail. This is contrasted greatly by a handful of analogue cameras that spoil the experience with limited resolution and weak depth in colours and blacks. Jagged edges can be seen in guitar strings and the like. Some extreme grain can be seen in the dark background at 59:33, providing a good example of the flaws in the analogue cameras.

    Colour rendering also varies, as shots cut from digital to analogue sources the oversaturated reds and poor handling of the bright stage lighting are plain to see.

    MPEG blocking is frequent and highly noticeable during fast motion, smoke and strobe flashes. At 21:15 macro blocking can be seen in the smoke behind Angus during his solo, while at 120:16 the falling confetti introduces an absolute mess of MPEG compression issues.

    An English subtitle stream comprised of song lyrics is available and appears to be relatively accurate. The subtitles were activated by default, so I had to switch them off manually.

    This disc is dual layered (DVD9), with the layer transition placed between tracks 13 and 14 at 68:56. The transition was transparent on my system.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are three soundtracks to choose from. The default soundtrack is the least impressive, being a thin Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s) effort. English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) and English dts 5.0 (768Kb/s) options may be selected on the fly or via the setup menu.

    Generally speaking, this is a fairly good mix that has been mastered intentionally loud. The mix by Mike Fraser favors the vocals and lead guitar at the expense of any decent separation in the rhythm section. The bass guitar is barely audible throughout the concert, unfortunately. Some would say Cliff spends most of his time thudding away on the 'A' string anyway, which is a fair observation. Having said that, Let There Be Rock is a good example of the shortcomings of this mix.

    The surround channels feature guitars, cymbals and crowd noise, with Phil Rudd's right hand twenty-inch crash cymbal fed directly to the rear left speaker.

    The stereo default soundtrack is the least desirable, as I mentioned above. The Dolby Digital 5.1 option is good and bright, but I suggest the dts as it clearly has superior depth in the guitar and drum tones.

    The subwoofer accentuates the kick drum and the loud cannons, but as I said above the bass guitar is not represented all that well.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Featurette- Interviews (10:34)

    This short piece is available with a selection of European subtitle languages and English. Included are interviews with band as they travel around Munich and we see the crew preparing for show, as the band performs a sound check. This featurette is 16x9 enhanced.

    The video transfer varies in quality.

    The audio transfer is good, but neglects the rhythm section of the band.

    The extras include some interviews with the band.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall