[.ca] The Who - Live At The Isle of Wight Festival 1970

From Amazon.com:
Filmmaker Murray Lerner's documentary Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival--The Movie took more than a quarter-century to make it to theater screens. But when it finally did, Lerner's footage of the Who's incendiary performance at that open-air show proved to be a real highlight. Lerner's complete coverage of the group's appearance, generally considered by true believers to be among their greatest shows, can be seen in this excellent concert film. A full year after the band's ragged concert at Woodstock (at which guitarist Pete Townshend, according to legend, was suffering the ill effects of a drug-spiked drink), the Who brought their potent act to the troubled Isle of Wight fest, making rock & roll history with a magnificent noise. Except for an allusion or two by singer Roger Daltrey, there's no mention in the film that the band was between their lengthy tour in support of Tommy and the recording of an album they would eventually scrap (substituting it with the epochal Who's Next). This concert contains three then-new tunes from the aborted project (and they're so awful you'll instantly understand why it was dropped), but much more important is the band's rendering of an abridged but thrilling Tommy and full-blooded shouts of some old warhorses: "Shakin' All Over," "I Can't Explain," and "Magic Bus." Comic relief is provided by the late Keith Moon, whose exchanged witticisms with Townshend grow lengthy enough at one point to demand an actual, discrete, click-to scene of their own on the DVD release. Otherwise, as far as the DVD goes, there are no other goodies; this great concert speaks for itself. --Tom Keogh

Is new version coming out on Aug 10, 2004?:
Buy.com has "Who Live at Isle Wight" dvd with a scheduled release date of August 10, 2004 that is available for pre-order. Have they re-done this dvd, or have the Who played a festival there in recent years that is being released?

High energized but shorter than expected:
Before going through the actual DVD review, first a note. The back of the case states that "the complete high-energy 85 minute performance...." is not the complete performance. It is the same concert as the 2-CD edition issued by Sony. It lacks 2 tracks from the non-Tommy material. The Tommy section is almost cut in half lasting around 40 minutes in length. I suspect the missing footage was damaged beyond repair or missing (but to say "complete"?). Now the actual review. The DVD shows about 85 minutes of footage. As the DVD did say, it is a high energy concert. You don't see the specs of whatever that have shown up in other DVDs. So the video has been cleaned up. the audio is in Dolby 5.1, DTS surround sound or in stereo. The sound is excellent. In addition, you are "treated" to a 40 minute interview from Pete Townshend (audio remix supervised by him).

Excellent concert, very poor DVD:
The Who were magnificent in this concert film, but ... well, perhaps I've been spoiled by having my introduction to The Who on DVD be the remastered The Kids Are Alright. The sound quality was respectable during the songs, but was so muddy during between-song dialogue that most of the band's banter was unintelligible. Camera work was nothing short of bizarre (what on earth was the point of faking special effects by just zooming the focus in and out?), and - my pet peeve! - crowd shots seemed to be used that weren't actually in synch with the music ... the crowd would be shown standing and pumping their fists in the air, and then SECONDS later, standing with their backs to the stage! It wasn't until I realized I'd seen the same girl doing the exact same thing for the THIRD time that it dawned on me that the editors had just inserted random 'crowd scene' clips between bits of footage of the band. And, as a few people have mentioned, some of the songs were absolutely butchered. Very frustrating. By all means, watch this to enjoy an excellent band putting on a wonderful performance, but if you ever meet the director in person, please slap him for me.

all the who:
The one good thing about this DVD is that all members are present. The sound quailty is good, but the camra work is of poor quality. All in all it has a good selection of songs,tempo and raw energy. For Who fans it is a must, as the latest Who material has a great big void, no John, as he was the driving force of the band and he will be missed along with Keith.

all the who:
The one good thing about this DVD is that all members are present. The sound quailty is good, but the camera work is of poor quality. All in all it has a good selection of songs,tempo and raw energy. For Who fans it is a must, as the latest Who material has a great big void, no John, as he was the driving force of the band and he will be missed along with Keith.