Dozens of luminaries from rock, soul and country gathered at the Meadowlands Arena on October 3, 2012, for an incredible tribute to Levon Helm, The Band s late drummer/singer/mandolin player (who passed away in early 2012). The concert, directed by bassist Don Was, was an opportunity to say a final farewell and, in the process, raise money for the ongoing Midnight Ramble series of concerts still held at The Barn, Helm s famous home-studio in Woodstock, New York. One at a time or, sometimes, in pairs, rock-royalty took turns in the spotlight over the course of the evening, singing songs associated with Levon Helm and The Band including "Up On Crippled Creek," "The Shape I m In," "Life is a Carnival," "Ophelia," "The Weight," "Rag Mamma Rag," "I Ain t Got No Home," and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
V**L
I wish that I could give this DVD set 10 stars!!!
Leave it to me to find out about such wonderful releases like this one more than 8 years after it's initial release. Better late than never. I was searching for music from Grace Potter and this was recommended to me by Amazon. I thank them forever!!!! And her performance and interview are stellar!!!As another fan of The Last Waltz, I have to say that this one even tops that one, which is saying a lot! This is a who's who in the realm of real musicians, with each song changing guests 27 times. The guests are too numerous to mention and there are no weak spots at all. The concert itself runs for 2:40 with nearly another 2 hours on the second disc for interviews backstage with each artist presented with pretty much the same questions on what they thought about Levon and how much his music meant to them. There are no wasted footage at all!And for those who gave bad reviews because they bought the wrong format and tried to play it on their Blu-Ray player, please ignore those fools.
B**A
Sound Quality = Epic Failure!
I have never looked forward to Blu-ray release more and then been so disappointed. The audio on this Blu-ray is atrocious -- so much so that I returned the product to Amazon for a refund. The various audio problems are discussed in some detail in this Amazon discussion thread:http://www.amazon.com/Buyer-Beware-High-Resolution-Blu-ray-Version/forum/Fx3M135PL47AO10/Tx1QCGQKG05E183/1/ref=cm_cd_ef_rt_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B00B08FLT6Quick summary: No high-resolution audio content, only 48kHz Dolby Digital 2.0 and Dolby Digital 5.1. The two lossy audio tracks are horribly compressed with little dynamic range or top end to speak of. To make matters worse, at some point in the concert, the audio simply drops out from the 5.1 track's right surround channel.The video quality and musical performances are very good to excellent, but for me the entire production is ruined because of the horrendous sound -- hence, my one-star review.I emailed mastering engineer Doug Sax about these problems on March 27th. The text of my email is reproduced below. (As of April 21st, I still have not heard back from Mr. Sax.)* * * *"Good afternoon, Mr. Sax. As a music lover and audiophile, I have long been a fan of your outstanding mastering work. That is why it pains me to have to write about the "Love for Levon" Blu-ray that just came out. The sound is horribly compressed on both the 2.0 and 5.1 layers, with little dynamic range or top end to speak of.To make matters worse, there is no high-resolution audio layer, only Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 (and at only 48 kHz, no less).Finally, there is an apparent defect on the 5.1 mix. Specifically, at some point during the concert the sound drops out on the right surround channel. (I read about this drop-out issue on Amazon and tested "It Makes No Difference" by My Morning Jacket. Sure enough, the audio was gone in the right surround channel.)I attempted to contact Time Life though its 800 number and its web site to report these problems, but was given the brush-off each time.I have arranged a hassle-free full refund through Amazon, so this is not a money issue for me. The reason I am writing is that I love Levon Helm's music and am a big fan of many of the "Love for Levon" performers. I am hoping that something can be done to get this Blu-ray re-issued with defect-free and good-sounding high-resolution audio (either DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD or uncompressed PCM). Anything you can do in that regard would be greatly appreciated.Thanks very much.Sincerely yours,"
T**E
Love for Levon
I'm so glad this is coming out on DVD. Here's the setlist1."The Shape I'm In"feat. Warren Haynes2."Long Black Veil"feat. Greg Allman and Warren Haynes3."Trouble in Mind"feat. Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Mitterhoff4."This Wheel's on Fire"5."Little Birds"feat. Garth Hudson6."Listening to Levon"feat. Marc Cohn7."Move Along Train"feat. Mavis Staples8."Life is a Carnival"feat. Allen Toussaint and Jai Johanny Johanson9."When I Paint My Masterpiece"feat. Garth Hudson and John Prine10."Anna Lee"feat Bruce Hornsby11."Ain't Got No Home"feat. Jakob Dylan and Rami Jaffee12."Whispering Pines"feat. Lucinda Williams13"Rag Mama Rag"feat. John Hiatt and Mike Gordon14."Don't Do It"feat. David Bromberg and Joan Osborne15."I Shall Be Released"feat. Grace Potter and Matt Burr16."Tears of Rage"feat. John Mayer and Ray LaMontagne17."Rockin' Chair"feat. Dierks Bentley, Jon Randall and Jessi Alexander18."Chest Fever"feat. Garth Hudson, Dierks Bentley, Jon Randall and Jessi Alexander19."A Train Robbery"feat. Eric Church20."Get Up Jake"feat. Eric Church21."Tennessee Jed"feat. John Mayer22."Up on Cripple Creek"feat. Joe Walsh and Robert Randolph23."Ophelia"feat. My Morning Jacket24."It Makes No Difference"feat. My Morning Jacket25."The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"feat. Roger Waters, G.E. Smith and My Morning Jacket26."Wide River to Cross"feat. Roger Waters, G.E. Smith and Amy Helm27."The Weight"feat. all guest musicians
F**N
Still love Levon!
I had the great fortune to be at the Love for Levon show and pre-ordered the CD/DVD as soon as I heard it was coming out. It did not disappoint. The DVD let me see stuff going on on stage I would never have seen from my seats. The interviews with some of the performers were informative and touching. I thought the DVDs and CDs sounded great and took me right back to the concert experience - definitely the concert highlight of my life so far. The only thing I thought was strange was that the CDs did not include most of the introductions or Roger Waters' great story towards the end. The songs are not listed on the CDs themselves either.I would recommend this CD/DVD to new and old Levon fans alike. You also get a lot for your money with this purchase. Personal highlights of the show for me were the performances by Garth Hudson, Lucinda Williams, Grace Potter, Roger Waters, the guest drummers, Joe Walsh with Robert Randolph, the Midnight Ramble Band and every time Larry Campbell was on the fiddle. The whole experience was a wonderful tribute/fund raiser in memory of an amazing man with an incredible lineup of musicians.
M**N
If you love Levon you won't be disappointed. It's a great DVD
Absolutely wonderful DVD. 150 minutes of great music from great musicians, All The Bands great hits and some that Levon did on his solo albums. just one singer didn't reach the standard of the others but I wouldn't dare say which Hee Hee! The copy I bought was advertised as being Region 1 only, needing a multi region player to watch it in Europe, but that was not the case it was multi region. I am thrilled to bits with the DVD plus its great packaging and bonus DVD withe extensive interviews. If you love Levon just buy it folks, you will not be disappointed
D**R
A lovely tribute to one of my heroes
This is a very moving tribute from a wide spectrum of performers from Allen Toussaint and Mavis Staples to Dierks Bentley and My Morning Jacket.The younger artists seem to do better than some of the old timers although everyone's performances are heartfelt. Jacob Dylan tears it up on "Ain't Got No Home" and country stars Dierks Bentley and Eric Church are excellent on "Rockin' Chair" and "Chest Fever" (by Bentley) and "A Train Robbery" and "Get Up Jake" (by Church). Ray Lamontagne sounds remarkably like the late Richard Manuel on "Tears Of Rage" and My Morning Jacket give excellent performances on "Ophelia" and "It Makes No Difference" and when they back up Roger Waters on "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Rogers tells a touching story about Levon giving Waters his hat after The Band played a concert of "The Wall" with Waters in Berlin.The high points for me are Grace Potter's version of "I Shall Be Released" played by her on organ accompanied only by Nocturnals drummer Matt Burr and by Don Was on bass. Grace seems close to tears at the end of her performance. The other highlight is seeing The Band's Garth Hudson playing for Levon one last time on organ on "Chest Fever" and on piano during the all performers finale of "The Weight".Not all of the performances are perfect but it's for a worthy cause and everybody's heart is in the right place.(Some nice interview segments on the bonus disc particularly the ones with Amy Helm; Joe Walsh who says he had to do the benefit so he wouldn't miss Levon so much; and with Mavis Staples who envisions Levon looking down from heaven with his mandolin accompanied by Pops Staples on guitar and with Mama Staples cooking up a sweet potato pie.)
N**N
Genial concierto
Que se puede de decir del gran Levon Helm, pero si ademas le añadimos que es el concierto de homenaje con todos los artistas cantando sus canciones, es realmente espectacular.
C**N
Love For Levon...
A great tribute..To a great man...Great musician.
D**O
Musical History Lesson
Excellent musical contribution from some well know and some unknown artists! Production and Audio 1st Class A fitting Tribute to a Musical Icon
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