The Film
Peter Gabriel is one of those musicians who loves to take chances with his music; even if the end result isn't always what his fans want to listen to. His fascination with world music has produced some great music; his soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's awful and boring The Last Temptation of Christ was the only decent thing about that film. New Blood, which was a follow-up to his 2010 album Scratch My Back, where Gabriel released orchestral covers of other artists' songs, digs deep into the Gabriel repetoire with orchestal arrangements of his most popular songs and is genuinely quite interesting to sample. Peter Gabriel: New Blood - Live in London captures the essence of that tour in Blu-ray 3D and does not disappoint.
Filmed in March 2011 at London's Hammersmith Apollo theater, New Blood features 22 tracks in a concert that runs slightly over two hours. What makes the concert so unique is that it was rearranged for the New Blood Orchestra without any guitars, bass, or drum kit. If you are looking for a rock concert, you will leave disappointed, but the quality of the performance is so strong that you will end up watching certain segments multiple times as you have never heard Peter Gabriel sound like this before.
His voice still sounds as strong as ever and the sound quaity is quite simply; breathtaking. Red Rain Falling Down? More like the pictures on your walls if you don't pay attention to the bass levels.
The Picture
The concert was filmed natively in 3D (too bad others still release awful 2D-3D conversions) and the image on the Blu-ray 3D is genuinely free of ghosting with an outstanding presentation of depth. You certainly feel like you are closer to the performers in 3D and the specific effects work quite well; it doesn't feel gimmicky at all. No, there are no thrusting spears floating human reproductive organs (Piranha 3D, I'm referring to you) to distract from the quality of the performance. Hopefully, other musicians will use this release as a benchmark for 3D concert videos in the future.
The Sound
Peter Gabriel has always aimed high when it comes to sound quality, and this release is certainly one of the best lossless surround mixes released so far on Blu-ray. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is crystal clear and a dynamic torture test for even the best home theater. Vocals are wonderfully full sounding and you will never strain to hear what the performers are singing even at ridiculous listening levels.
The New Blood orchestra does a wonderful job with the tracks, but the musicians sound like they are on top of one another on a few tracks; it is hard to pinpoint individual instruments.
The surround channels are robust and in constant use creating a really enveloping presentation. The soundstage is quite wide; even on the LPCM 2.0 mix which is also quite full and dynamic sounding.
If you want to really hear what your subwoofer is capable of, turn up the volume on "Biko" or "In Your Eyes". The surround mix has some of the deepest, most resolute sounding bass you have ever heard from a concert video or feature film. Jurrasic Park? New Blood makes the T-Rex scene sound like a Barney cartoon. One of the most impressive surround mixes on Blu-ray so far.
The Extras
The Blu-ray 3D disc is bare, so you will have to pop in the Blu-ray/DVD if you want to watch the 20-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. Nothing really stands out unless you really want to know the technical aspects behind the 3D production.
Final Thoughts
It may take a few tracks, but once you get there, Peter Gabriel: New Blood - Live in London is one of the best concert video releases of 2011 thanks to Gabriel's fantastic performance and arguably one of the best surround mixes you will ever have the chance to sample. Beautifully filmed and orchestrated, this is a new benchmark for music concerts on Blu-ray. Highly recommended.
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