Madonna-Drowned World Tour 2001 (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Gallery-Photo Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	105:43
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (40:03)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Hamish Hamilton
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Madonna
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$39.95	Music	Madonna

    There's no doubt about it - Madonna can certainly put on a show. The pace and energy of this production are never lacking and it's hard to understand how the 'Material Girl' can dance with such high energy and still manage to belt out a song!

    The Drowned World Tour of 2001 took in many cities (unfortunately none in Australia) but this DVD captures the performance at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan on August 26th 2001. Michigan is also Madonna's home state and the audience provides plenty of support for the home town girl.

    Musically, Madonna has managed to cover a wide selection of her vast collection of songs and musical styles in this concert, from ballads (even one in Spanish - Lo Que Siente La Mujar) through pop/rock to techno. She performs no less than 24 tracks including a couple of movie theme songs: Beautiful Stranger from Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me and an instrumental rendition of Don't Cry For Me Argentina from Evita is performed while she is off stage doing a costume change.

    If you're a fan, this is a worthwhile addition to your collection and even if you are not you could not fail to be impressed by the sheer energy of the performance and the versatility of this performer.

Video

    A very pleasing aspect of this transfer is that I didn't spot any edge enhancement. I hope this is the start of a trend to do away with this nasty.Overall, this would have been an excellent transfer but for a flaw in the area of sharpness.

    This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. As far as I'm aware this is the original aspect ratio.

    There was only one real problem with this transfer and that was in the area of sharpness. The picture was very noticeably soft. In fact, I would almost say blurry. While it was hard to appreciate this fact a lot of the time because of the constant camera changes and the very energetic nature of the show, it became very evident the moment there was a close up shot of Madonna or of the other performers. There were a couple of instances of moire on the video screen at 0:45 and on the veil at 20:32. There were no problems with shadow detail nor was there any low level noise.

    The colour was vivid and bright in the manner you would expect from stage lighting, covering the full spectrum of stage lighting colours. Under white lighting, skin tones appeared natural.

    I didn't see any MPEG or film artefacts in this transfer. Film-to-video artefacts were limited to some very minor and very rare aliasing.

    Only English subtitles are provided on this disc. I watched about 15 minutes worth and found them to be perfectly accurate. While a song was performed the subtitles are used to display the lyrics. When Madonna speaks to the audience, they display the dialogue. The subtitles are clear and easy to read.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed just a few seconds before the end of Chapter 10, at 40:03. It is perfectly placed during a fade to black and was very short. It was so good I almost missed it and had to go back to check the exact time.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio transfer on this DVD was excellent and is sure to be appreciated by Madonna's fans.

    There are 3 English audio tracks on this DVD: dts 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded which is also the default track. I listened to the entire dts 5.1 track and sampled both of the Dolby Digital tracks. It was difficult to make a direct comparison between the tracks as the disc prevents you from changing audio tracks on the fly which means tracks can only be changed by returning to the menu. My overall impression is that the dts track was slightly more detailed in the mid-range and top end compared to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Both 5.1 tracks were significantly better than the 2.0 track with respect to frequency response and fidelity.

    The vocal levels were well balanced with respect to the instrument levels and except for one or two words here and there that got lost in some of the special effects there was no problem understanding the lyrics or the dialogue when Madonna addressed the audience.

    I wasn't aware of any particular problems with audio sync.

    The surrounds were used extensively to provide the ambience necessary to make you think that you were actually at a live performance.

    The subwoofer was used very effectively to support the bass elements of the soundtrack. It was nicely integrated into the overall audio so that while it contributed to the sonic experience it never called particular attention to itself by overpowering the rest of the audio elements.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The only extras are a Photo Gallery and Web links.

Menu

    The menu, which features both animation and Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded audio, is displayed in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

Photo Gallery

    This displays 91 black and white as well as colour photos of Madonna in a large variety of poses. Is is displayed in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. There is no audio.

Web Link

    Links to two Madonna websites containing the usual sort of fan club material:  www.madonnamusic.com and www.wbr.com/madonna

    The Region 4 and Region 1 versions of this DVD are identically featured.

    This was definitely an enjoyable concert, with a great performance by Madonna and her entourage, and featured the complete variety of musical styles that she has in her repertoire. Fans of Madonna will want to add this title to their collections.

    The video quality would have to be considered only adequate due to the significant lack of sharpness.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    The extras are very limited.

    Overall, this is a great concert on a DVD with excellent audio. The only let down is the video quality, which suffers from a very significant lack of sharpness.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall