Starring The Pietasters, Crew Members, Friends, and Fans
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: Music Video Distributor
Buy on Amazon.com link

Bands take notice, if you want to make a great live DVD, do exactly what the Pietasters did!

The Pietasters have been a band for over 12 years now and play soulful ska music. They were one of the first bands I liked when I got into ska, back in ’96. Their album “” is still one of my favorite ska albums but I also liked their other CDs as well. I was anticipating this DVD, ever since the news was announced they were releasing a live DVD. The band puts on one hell of a show and any ska fan should go see them when they play in your town.

This DVD starts off with the opening credits, which is a fitting camera shot. It’s a shot from a tray as the waitress brings the band their booze. The band plays a song (forget which one), then the band introduces themselves. The band takes the stage and starts off the show with “Set Me Up” and then play “Rachel.” After every song or so, the band members recall past memories and stories. Some of them are quite amusing like: how they got the name Pietasters, watching a porno shoot until the Bouncing Souls ruined it, club brawls and more. There is also a sad memory, with the sudden death of their bassist Todd Eckhart. The ‘Tasters had a lot of kind words to say about him and some of them got a little choked up, which is understandable.

I think the video footage is top notch and looks really awesome! Some live DVDs, the live footage is either in pieces & at different locations. This concert was filmed in the same place, at the 9:30 Club in DC. Some of the songs get cut off because the band starts to talk about stuff, which could be frustrating at times since I wanted to hear the full version of “Maggie Mae.” At least I think it got cut it off, can’t remember. I’m not really a fan of their newest CD “Turbo” that much, but hearing those songs live makes me want to revisit that CD. I think the best song they played on this DVD is “Out All Night.” Towards the end of the set, Selah came out and danced around and provided some toasting and dancehall for them.

The extras are kind of slim, but there is some extra song footage of “Can’t Stand It” and “DC Sniper,” featuring Selah. There’s a montage of footage to the song “Drunken Master” and I would have liked to see more of this type of footage. There’s also band commentary but I wanted to watch the concert instead. I’m sure the band made fun of themselves and were goofballs like they usually are. I wished they would have included some more extras on here. Like music videos, and other misc. footage from over the years. They probably ran out of space on the DVD.

The Pietasters are a bunch of party animals who play fun soul ska, and everyone should check this DVD out. It’s probably one of the best live DVDs I saw, in terms of quality and the way it was done. Now if only the band would go out and make a new album, i’ll be a happy guy.

Features:
Interviews
Tour Footage
Band Commentary

Audio:
5.1 Dolby Digital, Stereo

Video:

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: Rachel, Girl Take it Easy, Biblical Sense, Out All Night, Maggie Mae
Rating:
Running Time: 100 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: