Live At Slane Castle [DVD] [2003]

Iam an enormous Chili Pepper fan; I love all the work they have ever produced; own all their albums and DVDs, and I would tell you with the upmost confidence - forget about Live in Hyde Park or the Greatest Hits album, Slane Castle is the ultimate celebration of the Chili Pepper's contemporary work.

Quite apart from the band's breathtaking performance, the quality of the filming and sound recording really sets this DVD above most other concert footage - it truly looks like properly directed and coordinated piece of film, while seeming to retaining the organic, super charged atmosphere of the day. All the shots of the band, and the pan-outs of the whole concert are expertly pieced together, and in some places, even livened with some Matrix-like special effects to make this concert as pleasing to the eye as to the ear. If you doubt that the visual quality really adds to enjoyment of the music, watch and have your breath taken away by Don't Forget Me and By the Way, or witness the almost touching chemistry between the band, particularly John and Flea as they jam and play out the hits.

Musically, the band are on fire. Anthony's singing is the best I have ever heard it, both John and Flea milk their instruments for the most inspired and flawless solos (see The Zephyr Song or Don't Forget Me)and Chad remains the funk master. John's backing vocals at this show take the songs to a whole other level- his studio harmonising pales next to his live singing. By the Way, Otherside, Venice Queen are all given new feeling and depth with Frusciante's amazing voice. I really hate to talk down other Chili Pepper work, but this performance makes Hyde Park seem slap dash and amateurish!

Here are a few comments on a random selection of the songs played:

Scar Tissue - more upbeat than the album version. Crisp and clean and broken up with 3 great solos. It's also seriously cool the way it flows on from By the Way via an outro jam.

Universally Speaking - stripped of it's superflous studio effects, it's leaner, meaner and punchier. Even although it's quite a simple song, John and Flea play brilliantly, and John's little guitar licks make you want to bounce thru the roof when the chorus hits.

Don't Forget Me - just amazing. It's so expertly done, both by the band and in terms of the filming, that it sends shivers up my spine. Anthony's vocals are top notch, and John rips the air apart with some devasting guitar playing. The extra solo that he adds onto the end of the song is haunting and very affecting - just watch Anthony's face as Frusciante tinkles it out across the sea of swaying lighters.

Otherside - maybe my favourite performance on the DVD. Like all of the tracks, it's given extra life by Flea and John's clever licks. Great harmonising, and another simple but affecting solo.

The above though are by no means the best tracks, just ones that I chose to say something about. Every song is brilliant, each with it's own distinguising feature - e.g. the class intro to Parallel Universe, the unbelievable harmonising in Venice Queen, the great solos in the Zephyr Song and Around the World. The list goes on. Well, if you havent guessed yet - this is the best DVD ever produced.

The only things I would say against it are that 1) set list is heavily based on Calaforniacation and By the Way - there's not a lot of older material and 2) after hearing it, when you go back and listen to the album versions of the songs, they seem so stale in comparison!

When I watched this DVD i was stunned. I've seen other chili pepper gigs on telly but this was something unbelievable. The thing that made this so special is the jamming in between the songs. John Frusciante poured his heart and soul into this concert, Flea, as always, showed the world that he is the greatest bass player in the world, chad smith was superb and played some thundering drum beats and as for antony keidis, he rocked the whole of slane castle. I loved this DVD and made me truly, madly, deeply appreciate these guys who started back 20 years ago. My favourite song has to be 'around the world' as I loved the bass solo leading into it. If you are chili's fan and you haven't got it, buy it now because you will not be dissapointed.

When I bought this DVD I was very anxious to find out how good it was as I had never bought a music DVD prior to this. But after watching this I couldn't believe how amazing it actually. There is no doubt that I am jealous of anyone who went to this concert but my god do you feel like you are in Slane when watching this. As usual, the chilis did not disappoint. They started off with a jam that involved an astounding combination of Jon's guitar and Flea's bass and also some outrageous drumming by Mr Chad Smith. After this 90 second act of brilliance, Anthony kiedis cooly struts onto the stage like no one is out there. But then again, they have been around for the best part of two decades. The first song was 'By The Way' which was typically brilliant. During the next song, 'Scar Tissue', I could not believe what I was hearing from Jon's guitar, it was just unbelieveable and unreal. The next four songs, 'Around the world', 'Universally Speaking', ' Parallel Universe' and 'The Zephyr Song' were played how they should be played, if not better. The next song 'Throw away your television' stood out to me like a Bentley in a 3rd World country. I found this even more so amazing as I didn't particularly like the original song on the album. Following this, the chilis cover of The Ramones' Havana Affair was quite frankly exceptional. The next three songs that they played, 'otherside', 'purple stain' and 'don't forget me' were played with brilliance, especially chad's little solo at the end of purple stain. I am amazed how the song 'can't stop' didn't do well in the british charts as it is an outstanding song and this performance proved it. 'Venice Queen' and 'right on time' were brilliant but the chili's had deliberatly saved the best until last. 'give it away' (my personal favourite song) was world class, 'californication' was a worthy live version of the classic and 'under the bridge' truly deserved an oscar. But the chili's weren't finished, they had another remarkable remake of an average album and that was 'power of equality' off the album 'bloodsugarsexmagik'. I have to say that this was the best song of the night and it was all down to the duo of flea and jon. Overall this IS a must have for any chili's fan or for anyone fond of music. The thing that just finishes it is the matrix-style effects throughout the songs. I can't believe how they did this it was remarkable. One thing is for sure, every single person poured their life and soul into this gig and you just have to witness it to believe it. YOUR DVD PLAYER NEEDS THIS DVD, YOU NEED THIS DVD AND SO DOES EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE WORLD IF THEY ARE TO KNOW THE TRUE MEANING OF LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!