PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Ronan-Ronan Live (2000)

Ronan-Ronan Live (2000)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD
Released 4-Dec-2001
Cover Art

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Access All Areas: Pre-show interview with Kate Thornton Featurette-Acoustic Session: Simultaneous web and broadcast of 4 songs Gallery-Concert Stills: 10 photos of the 'man' Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	73:29
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (54:49)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Declan Lowney Calum MacColl
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Ronan Keating Steve Jones Calum MacColl James McNally Kieran Kiely Liam Bradley Jo Bryant Janet Remus
Case	Amaray-Transparent	Starring
RPI	$36.95	Music	None Given

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

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

Ronan Keating - Live at the Albert Hall was filmed in 2000 as the climax of the tour to promote his first solo album, Ronan. Better known as front man to the group Boyzone, this tour and album represents Ronan's desire to concentrate on music rather than image. The music comprises 15 ballads with a distinctive Irish flavour provided by the two tin whistles of the keyboard players. The songs include three Boyzone hits; Picture of You, Father & Son, and the theme hit from the movie Notting Hill, When You Say Nothing at All. There are also cover versions of the Bryan Adams song Way You Make Me Feel and the old Irish ballad Whiskey in the Jar better remembered from the Thin Lizzie version. Judging by the audience, teenage girls are the principal market for Ronan's songs. Described as the "role-model popstar", he certainly comes across as Mr Nice-Guy with no on-screen profanity or lewd behaviour other than some low-key pelvic wiggling received enthusiastically by the fans. The songs are melodious, soft and make for easy listening.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Track Listing

1. Heal Me
2. If You Love Me
3. Way You Make Me Feel
4. When The World Was Mine
5. Addicted
6. In This Life
7. Believe
8. Picture of You

9. Father and Son
10. When You Say Nothing At All
11. Keep On Walking
12. Lovin Each Day
13. Rollercoaster
14. Whiskey in the Jar
15. The Long Goodbye

Transfer Quality

Video

The concert was recorded on video and is mostly of good quality. The video edit was very professional and highlighted Ronan well with sufficient inserts of the concert hall and audience to convey the feel of a live show. The only real let-down was over-zooming stretching the resolution of the video resulting in severe grain in some of the audience shots, such as at 10:53.

The movie is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced, thus optimising playback on widescreen TVs.

Most of the video is sharply defined bar the grain of the audience zooms mentioned above: The show displays nicely on domestic TV but viewing on a larger screen reveals appreciable low-level noise commonly seen in concert footage. Shadow detail is reasonable and spotlight over-saturation of the transfer is infrequent.

The colours were rich and vibrant with no demonstrable bleed or noise.

Aliasing is very mild and infrequent and only visible on the edge of the stage at 68:12. Quite severe moire effects were seen on a mixer at 52:45 and keyboard at 63:25.

There are no subtitles.

The disc is single sided and dual layered, with the RSDL transition occurring between tracks 12 and 13 at 54:49. Although quite a noticeable delay, this did not detract from the concert.

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

Audio

Overall the quality of the soundtrack was average and lacking in bite, in keeping with the generally soft nature of the music. There was a mains hum breakout at 65:54.

There is only the one audio track present on this DVD; English in Dolby Digital 5.1. Whilst the 5.1 mix is effective in conveying the rich soundstage of a 6 piece band plus backing vocalists, playback in two channel via domestic stereo TV or Hi-Fi is disappointing with an over-prominence of percussion and a lack of the the richness of the 6 channel surround mix. It is unusual for a music video to lack a PCM 2-channel track and this oversight will penalise those listeners without full surround sound.

The dialogue was very clear and lip-synching was spot-on.

The surround channels were exclusively used to relay atmospheric audience feedback and were quite effective in this, although sometimes a little over-utilised.

The subwoofer is tastefully used to effectively extend the depth of the sound and was not overdone.

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

Extras

There is a rich selection of extras which will delight Ronan fans and will provide interesting background information to the non-devotee.

Access All Areas

25 minutes of interviews with Ronan by Kate Thornton and backstage and pre-show footage of the concert and interior of Albert Hall. It includes the music video of Way You Make Me Feel recorded in Dolby Digital 2.0.

Acoustic Session

Enjoyable 4 song set performed 'unplugged' at a commercial radio station for simultaneous live broadcast and webcast.

Concert Stills

10 rather distant stills of the singer.

Web link

Link to the Ronan Keating web-site.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

As far as can be ascertained there is no current R1 release of this DVD.

Summary

This is a well-presented music video of Ronan Keating's live concert at the Albert Hall featuring a plentiful collection of songs marking his solo debut. The video is mostly of good quality and will present well to the target audience. The lack of a 2 channel audio track is disappointing, although the surround sound version sounds good through a home theatre system. The extras are well presented and plentiful and will delight fans. Overall, a 'must-buy' for Ronan Keating teenage fans and quite a few of their mums as well I suspect.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Toshiba SD-900E, using RGB output
Display	Pioneer SD-T50W1 (127cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio Decoder	Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Amplification	Denon AVC-A1SE
Speakers	B&W 602 front/rear. B&W LRC6 Centre / Solid (AKA B&W) 500 SW

Other Reviews
The DVD Bits - Damien M
DVD Net - Adrian T