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| John Mayer - "Where The Light Is: Live In Los Angeles" (Blu-Ray)
Video=3.75 of 5 Audio=4.75 of 5 The title of this film by Danny Clinch might bring about thoughts of previous "concert performance / band documentary" hybrids. But unlike, say, Radiohead's "Meeting People Is Easy" or U2's "Rattle & Hum", the content found here on "Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles" plays out fairly close to a regular concert video---a good thing, in my opinion. But that's not to say there isn't anything "film-like" about it; it's just presented in a somewhat unobtrusive way. The disc starts out with Mayer driving around town talking about himself: His early success and his desire to keep challenging both himself and his fans. Then the first of three musical segments begins. First is an acoustic set with Mayer mostly playing alone. Second is a bluesy set with the "John Mayer Trio". And, finally, the third set has Mayer rocking out with his full band. There are numerous 'documentary-type' breaks scattered throughout; but, thankfully, each of the songs is played in its entirety, which should please those of us who would've preferred a straight-forward concert video. The audio quality on this Blu-Ray is very good. It sports a 96khz/24-bit TrueHD surround track, and I believe the 5.1 TrueHD improves upon the stereo by a significant and meaningful amount. A quick listen to most any song, such as "In Your Atmosphere" from the acoustic set, reveals that, whilst the stereo track is pretty good, it is relatively flat compared to the surround version. And this isn't because the 5.1 mix is overly discrete or gimmicky. Nah... It's just a nice ambient mix. Mayer's voice and guitar are primarily in the left/right front channels; thus, the center simply supports (rather than overpowers) and the surrounds pick up the echoes of the soundstage plus the obligatory audience roar each time Mayer does something to excite the crowd. Speaking of crowd, you see them; but it's not overdone. The focus is on Mayer, not on a bunch of fast-paced (and dizzying) edits that cut between the crowd and the stage. A good thing, too, because it would otherwise have been fairly easy to miss out on the additional detail that the Blu-Ray disc provides. For instance, during the first song, "Neon", it is somewhat surprising to be able to read, even just a little, the very small print of the lyrics on Mayer's teleprompter. Additionally, the clothing Mayer sports, the barstool he sits on, and even the steering wheel of the car he drives are benefiting from the additional resolution provided by high definition video. But, with that said, I'd be remiss not to point out that Mayer's face is often washed out by the spotlight and much of the video could easily be mistaken as regular DVD off of an upconverting player. This would be especially so for those who aren't going out of their way to discern the differences. And so it is that I definitely recommend this Blu-Ray disc. It probably won't convert anyone to the ways of Blu-Ray video and high-resolution surround sound, but it should make for a respectable addition to the collections of those of us who already believe. ***** Note: This release is supposedly BD-Live compatible, but it always claimed my internet connection was bad, even though I've used BD-Live before. So... I can't say if the "Belief" backstage performance promised on the box was any good or not. (Arrgh!) To me, BD-Live seems like a rather over-hyped feature that will ultimately prove to be worthless. I mean, really, if they were gonna have additional material ready from the "get-go", it should've just been included on the physical disc. |