The Doors of the 21st Century - L.A. Woman Live
Image Entertainment, 2004



Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger reunited in 2002 to perform with Ian Astbury on vocals in place of Jim Morrison. They were joined by Angelo Barbera (bass) and Ty Dennis (drums) from Krieger's solo touring band. Original Doors drummer John Densmore did not participate (there are varying accounts as to why this is). After numerous lawsuits over the name of the group, they settled on the "of the 21st Century" addendum to satisfy the lawyers.

While Astbury certainly cops Morrison's look, to his credit he doesn't try to be a pitch-perfect imitation of the studio recordings. More than anything, this sounds like what it is; The Doors with Ian Astbury fronting the band.

This DVD was recorded in a relatively small venue (I caught them on this tour at a much larger outdoor amphitheater). The sound is excellent, and the performance is too. It was great to see Manzarek and Krieger on stage together, playing off of each other. Both of these guys were still at the top of their game. It would have been better to see Densmore playing with them, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

A lot of Doors purists hated this lineup, and i can get where they're coming from. As a die-hard fan myself, I actually loved it, and feel lucky to have been able to see them play firsthand. If you can find this DVD around, it's worth picking up and deciding for yourself where you stand on the issue.

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^I checked out the first couple songs and it didn't sound bad at all. Astbury seems to be restraining his vibrato and his voice generally a bit to fit the songs. FWIW I like Astbury and the Cult but I was hugely skeptical when I heard about him performing with any version of the Doors. I'll have to check this out eventually, but my live Doors collection is non-existent right now so there are other things I need to get first.

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GG Allin & The AIDS Brigade - Live In Boston 1989
MVD Visual, 2010



If you're not familiar with the living ball of chaos that was GG Allin, be warned now that this video is not for the faint of heart, and certainly not suitable for family viewing.

The main show on this DVD was recorded at The Middle East Cafe in Boston in 1989. There are also two shows from Allin's final 1993 tour as bonus features. The difference between the dates is startling. While the '89 show is raucous and confrontational, the later gigs show GG's declining mental state in graphic detail. The Boston recording demonstrates that he and his band could craft some quality punk rock while putting on a challenging show that dared the audience to either love it or go home. By the time you get to the shows recorded in '93, they have changed into a brutal display of the toll that years of drug abuse, imprisonment, and general depravity had taken on him. I'll link a video of the Boston show below. If that one is too much for you, don't bother going looking for later gigs.

This is extremely graphic and quite possibly difficult to digest for some. I'm not endorsing his lifestyle or even his music, but GG Allin was nothing if not a true punk rock original.

Boston Show 1989

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^KILLER!

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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Phish - It
Elektra, 2004



Here's a 2 DVD set recorded at a two day festival Phish put on in Maine in August, 2003.

Disc 1 is a PBS documentary on the show with footage of the sets the band played and some of the mayhem from the crowd. There are some bonus interviews as well. The second disc has and additional 2 1/2 hours of uncut footage of songs the band performed across the two day show.

If you ever have the chance to attend one of the festivals these guys put on, do not miss it. There's nothing else quite like it these days, and it's worth the minor annoyances and inconveniences that are bound to happen to be able witness a band as dedicated to the craft of making music and putting on an amazing show as Phish is.

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