Ash - Tokyo Blitz DVD (Ash - Videos)

Member Name: hugon

Product:	Ash - Videos
Date:	16/02/02 (426 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent live perfromance, Excellent extras, Brilliant menu system

Disadvantages: Shots aren't always most interesting, A little over produced soundwise

Ash have had a fantastic 2001, five top 30 singles, a number 1 album, plenty of festivals and a number of UK tours. The people who managed to catch them live will know that one of the best ways to hear Ash is to listen to them live, and Ash brought out this live performance of them at the Akasaka Blitz in Tokyo in September 2001.

I?m reviewing the DVD, but it is also available on VHS. The first thing that struck me about this DVD is the way it?s presented - plenty of bright, vibrant colours for the menus, with neat animations as you traverse the menus. Ash have really embraced technology on their recent releases, their album contained a PC video mixer to allow you make your own Ash videos on your computer, and their last few singles have also had a DVD version with a documentary of sorts, showing the life of Ash as they tour.

The main feature of this video is the concert itself, which is presented in 5.1, stereo, as well as an ambient mix. The ambient mix is a kind of dreamy mix, but it a bit of a pointless addition. The 5.1 mix is very good; the satellite speakers are put to good use for crowd noises and also for songs like Jesus Says and Submission which make use of samples. The only criticism I would have about the sound is that it is perhaps a little on the over-produced side, and which takes a little of the energy away from the performance. I have seen Ash 7 live now, and heard numerous bootlegs and radio broadcasts, and this DVD seems a little sterile compared to those. The guitars are a little to low in the mix, the bass should be a little higher, and for a lot of the time the cymbals sound very muted.

The picture itself is presented 16:9 widescreen format, and there are a few wide shots from the back of the venue which allow for all the members to be seen at once. There are cameras on each member, as well as shots from the back and side of the venue, and a crowd camera. The shots are functional if not exciting all the time, but the
y vary them frequently to try and keep interest up. The lighting renders some of the shots murky; there is a little too much red light used through out the performance, bathing the members in red light during the close up shots for most of the gig. The light show itself is fairly impressive, lots of flashing colours, and strobes which I always like, though not as impressive as the show they had at their recent Christmas 2001 tour. The actual picture is very sharp and cannot be faulted.

The set is a very strong one:

Burn Baby Burn
A Life Less Ordinary
Submission
Shining Light
Goldfinger
Cherry Bomb
Walking Barefoot
Oh Yeah
Candy
Kung Fu
Girl From Mars
Only in Dreams
Wild surf
Jack Names the Planets
World Domination
Lose Control
Jesus Says
Numbskull

It's a standard Ash set, with a nice balance between their older and newer material, and their heavier and more poppy material. I'd have like Sometimes, There's A Star and Petrol to have made an appearance, but on the whole it's a strong set, they do play well and Only In Dreams is such a fantastic song live, swirling and crashing, the way it is shot and lighting manage to capture the passion and pain of the show. Tim always seems to forget the odd line here and there wherever he plays, and on this DVD he seems to do it a little more than often, but this can be forgiven.

You can either play the gig the entire way through, or select a certain track. When selecting an individual track, the track plays then you are returned to the track selection menu - ideally I would have the gig continue on once your track is selected, but as I rarely use this feature its pretty irrelevant.

There's more to the DVD that just the performance itself - there are a few features, mostly shot and edited by Mark, the bassist from the band. There's a brief section on Charlotte shopping in Tokyo, and as Charlotte i
s lovely, this was well received by me. There's a short section on them meeting with the press in Tokyo itself, as well as them getting ready for the gig. The performance itself is actually prefaced with backstage shots of them waiting to go on stage, and ends with them making their way back to the dressing room after the gig.

There's also an interview section on the DVD, with interviews with each band member. These are probably only of interest to major fans like me, other people might only watch these once and then forget about them. I found the interviews useful as they talk about what it was like to be written off after their second album, NuClear Sounds performed poorly chart wise, and how it felt to have proved those who had written them off wrong by coming back with the fantastic Free All Angels.

The most boring part of the DVD for me was the Fan cam, a section on two of Ash's most loyal Ash fans, who often follow the band on trips round Europe. It's basically them going to the Ash gig, their thoughts on it, and I found it rather uninteresting, but it must be nice for them to actually be on their favourite bands DVD!

One of the highlights is part 5 of the "Back From the Edge" saga, which is the documentaries presented as part of the DVD singles. It's basically the band and crew having fun whilst on tour, and you have shots of what they got up to on the Japanese tour, living the rock and roll lifestyle. It's probably an acquired taste, and you might wonder what's going on if you've missed the first four episodes, but it is quite funny, Rick, the drummer, and Lief, Ash's guitar tech are two very funny people and they have a unique double act going on. Probably best avoided if you're easily offended though.

As a huge Ash fan I enjoyed this DVD immensely, I would have bought it for the performance alone, it's nice to watch a DVD quality performance for a change rather than g
rainy bootlegs. The extras are a real bonus, and do give a real insight into the band and what life is like on the road. If you have never experienced Ash live, this would be an excellent place to begin, and if you're an Ash fan, I doubt you'll be disappointed. It's almost worth the price alone for the wonderful performance of Only in Dreams, which makes my neckhairs stand on end every time I hear it.

Summary: