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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, but could be better, 13 Nov 2004
Having attended this tour in Manchester, I couldn't wait for the DVD. However, this is not Mary at her best - that's not necesarily a bad thing.The concert, on the whole, was good. Mary's voice is good, and so are the band. On the other hand, some of the songs seem tired, and sometimes it seems as if Mary is just going through the motions. Her live appearances on TV (eg Jools Holland etc) far outstrip some of the lacklustre attempts on this DVD (esp. most of the 1st half and notably family affair). Don't get me wrong, they are well sung, but they lack the power and ferocity usually present in Mary's performances.
There are other times though, when Mary seems to have a lack of control and soulful growling often becomes tedious gurgling. Otherwise superb performances of My life and Your child fall prey to this towards the ends of those songs. Having said all of that, I fully recommend buying this DVD - partly because it is the only DVD with Mary J Blige live (and anything is better than nothing when it comes to hearing this woman live recently), and mostly because it features a 'hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck' performance of Children of the ghetto. Here lies Mary J Blige's potential. This is where she stops being a competent performer and becomes superb artist who merits being compared with the likes of Aretha Franllin. Other highlights include Not gon' cry (which is inexplicably edited down), No more drama, and Everything. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of Mary J Blige's music, I have to take my hat off to her capabilities singing live - it's much better, especially of late. She appears to have learned to make better use of her voice to express the seam of pain that runs through her. This is why I find it bizare that this concert was chosen above others, as I can personally vouch the Manchester gig was better.
I do recognise however, that even at the Manchester performance didn't 'quite' gel, and I think it's simply down to the venues - Mary J Blige doesn't suit arenas. I think we could see Mary's best vocal come from a more intimate venue (eg. the Glasgow Barrowlands). And that kind of sums up what I think about this DVD. It's great, but it could be better. You'll probably come away thinking the same as me, that the best of Mary J Blige is yet to come, and this serves as a tantalising trailer.
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