Concert videos: A growing, cost-saving alternative to seeing shows live

Leonard Cohen live at Royal Albert Hall, London [Photo: Wonker]

Though I’m an ardent music fan, I expect to buy fewer tickets than usual during the imminent summer concert season. It’s not just the recession, middle-aged ennui, and the hassle of getting seats for some shows. I’m also driven by a boom in concert videos, including recent recordings by some artists I might otherwise have seen live this summer.

Watching performers at home is of course less exciting than seeing them in the flesh—though it also avoids the possibility of, say, the guy behind you singing along loudly with every song, as I once had to endure at a solo acoustic performance by Neil Young. And music-performance discs certainly vary in how well they approximate the concert experience. But the savings over buying a ticket can be substantial, and you can see a lot more  than you do from your seat at a large venue (especially if you’re a cheapskate like me who buys the least pricey seats).

I recently passed on seeing Leonard Cohen at Radio City Music Hall in New York, a stop on the folk legend’s comeback tour. The cost of seats even in the back rows topped $100, including hefty handling charges, and the view of the Canadian chansonnier from there was distant indeed. (You can see what I mean by clicking on “Third Mezzanine” on the Radio City seating plan, mousing over the back rows, and viewing the photos of the view from each section.)

Compare that to the intimate camera work on Cohen’s new Live in London DVD. (view a video of one song here.)  Recorded a few months before Cohen’s current North American tour, and featuring the same musicians and an almost-identical setlist, the video is currently selling for $14.99 on Amazon. A seat with even a shot at a comparable view for the Radio City show would have cost $254.50, plus service charges.

Other artists on tour this summer with recently-recorded concert videos out or coming soon include Wilco, the Jonas Brothers, a reunited Bad Company, and Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. (I found about a video by the latter while browsing for a ticket to see them on their upcoming tour; Ticketmaster tried to upsell me on a new 2-DVD set of the two performing last year at Madison Square Garden after I selected—and subsequently declined—a seat to a June New-York area show.)

Don’t care if you own the disc? You can rent concert videos from stores or Netflix, which has a large selection. (Netflix scored well in our Ratings of video-rental stores and services, available to subscribers.) Or you can borrow them free from the library.

Alternatively, many concert videos released on disc are now also being broadcast in high-definition— including that Clapton/Winwood recording, which is on PBS’s Great Performance series, beginning this week (check local listings). Cable and satellite channels, such as Palladia, even specialize in concert recordings. You can also rent online from iTunes and other sites.

A few artists are even upping the immediacy by offering concerts live on TV (a Dave Matthews Band show airs tonight on the Fuse network, for example) and online (a $125 subscription allowed you to view 15 Allman Brothers shows live from New York this spring; shows are now being re-streamed for $15 apiece.)

Weigh in, fellow music fans. Tell us why you do or don’t watch concert videos, and share any other tips. —Paul Reynolds

Comments

[Roge Ullrich]

If you want an outstanding concert on DVD, check out the 3-DVD set of Genesis' concert in Rome, 2007. The "old" guys got back together and were even better than in the 70's.

[Nicholas Kolman-Mandle]

Steve, it's funny you mention people who talk through a show. I was at a Dave Matthews concert not long ago, and toward the 30th minute of the band's "jam" session, there was a noticeable buzz in the stadium.

At first I thought it was feedback from the sound system, but as it grew louder we realized it was actually the thousands of fans who had grown bored and were chatting with each other!

I like DMB, but that was one set I would have fast-forwarded through if I could.

—Nick (Asst. Editor, electronics)

[Steve P]

I go to very few concerts these days. Both the venue and the artists have to be right. I do buy quite a few concert DVDs, though. As pointed out, the sound is better, the venue intimate and with a few friends along, it can make for an all round better experience for 1/10th the cost. All you give up is aggravation and bragging rights.

Maybe as a result of this, I find when I do go to a concert more and more people in the audience talk right through the show. It's bad enough to have the tone-deaf singalong - how about top-of-the-lungs what-I-did-on-the-weekend or WHERE-ARE-WE-GOING-AFTER-THE-SHOW? These idiots think they are home alone. They paid $200 to chat?