Growing up in the Eighties, one of my favorite bands was Cheap Trick. In fact, I think owning Dream Police was a requirement in my high school. Now over 20 years later, I see that Cheap Trick has continued to release albums and tour. I've seen them live a couple times myself, and I am glad they have released many concert DVDs.

Silver is a concert DVD of the band celebrating 25 years of rock n roll in their home town of Rockford, Illinois. The band plays hits from their entire career.

Set List

Ain't That a Shame, I Want You to Want Me, Oh Candy, In the Street (theme from That 70's Show), Voices, If You Want My Love, She's Tight, Can't Stop Fallin' Into Love, Gonna Raise Hell, I Can't Take It, Take Me to the Top, It All Comes Back to You, Tonight It's You, Time Will Let You Know, World's Greatest Lover, The Flame, Stop This Game, Dream Police, I Know What I Want, Woke Up With a Monster, Never Had a Lot to Lose, You're All Talk, I'm Losin' You, Hard to Tell, Oh Claire, Surrender, Just Got Back, Day Tripper, Who D'King

The Performance

Robin Zander vocals and guitar, Rick Neilsen lead guitar, Tom Peterson bass guitar and Bun E. Carlos on drums. I don't need to look the names up on Wikipedia, I've known them for 25 years. The band performs and performs well. This concert was recorded in 99, and Zanders voice still sounds terrific. Neilson's guitar antics and variety of guitars are always entertaining. Petersons bass and Carlos's drumming provide a solid back beat for their more visible band mates. This was clearly a fun show for the band, it was literally recorded in a street that was closed off in downtown Rockford, Illinois, Cheap Trick's home town. Neilsen had his fun collection of guitars. On "Shes Tight" he had the familiar Neilsen shaped guitar.

The band had many special guests including Rick Neilsens son, Zak. He played the marracas on "I Can't Take It". On "Time will Let You Know" the band was joined by a full chorus and string section. It worked very well, the song sounded great with the strings of the symphony. The string section stayed for "World's Greatest Lover" which Neilsen sang and Zanders touching ballad "The Flame".

The violins seemed a little odd on "Stop This Game" but the band and strings made it work. They added an eerie sensation to my favorite song "Dream Police". Slash joined the band on stage for a rousing rendtion of "You're All Talk". He traded licks on his Gibson Les Paul with Neilson on his Hamer guitarOn "Oh Claire" Neilsen brought out the checkerboard five neck guitar. Near the end of the show, the band did a great performance of "Surrender". I also enjoyed the band's cover of "Day Tripper". All in all, the bands performance was outstanding, a solid five stars.

Audio Quality The show is in stereo or Dolby Digital Surround, but I wasn't crazy about it. I suppose that since this was filmed outside on a closed off street, it may have been hard to record. I evaluated this in pure mode, Dolby Digital, but ended up playing with my Yamaha Receiver's digital surround fields to get a pleasing sound. There is not a lot of spatiality in the stage setting, and it has a barrel like sound quality to it. I didn't get a sense of depth from the stage. Bass was boomy and not natural sounding. The audience was properly placed in the surround channels anyway. I have to give sound 2 stars here, it was really below average.

Video Quality VHS quality in 1999? Why? The show is shot in full screen 4:3 format, but everyone is washed out on stage. The band is either in shadows or overlit by the spotlights. The cameras did a good job pointing their cameras on the right musicians anyway.

Summary

An excellent performance was marred by poor video and audio brings this show from five stars to three.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD