There is truly nothing as triumphant as a bands homecoming gig and the DVD for Avenged Sevenfold Live in the LBC captures the group doing just that. The concert film comes not long after the band headlined the Rockstar Taste Of Chaos tour in 2008 and this is a great way to close out the bands musical year. Having never seen the band perform myself, I felt that this was a great way to get in on the action and I had to admit that I loved getting the chance to do so during this incendiary performance in front of home town fans. Collectively the set list that the guys deliver for this show primarily comes from their self-titled Avenged Sevenfold album and City Of Evil. These two releases have proven very popular and far reaching for the band so I don't think anyone who picks up this live set will actually mind. The band demonstrates a tightness in the live sense that comes from their consistent touring and they seem very in touch with their fans as we find singer M. Shadows talking to the crowd on a number of occasions. Visually the set is rather interesting as all of the "big concert effects" are pulled out and used to add numerous levels of drama to the performance. There is a lot of fire blasts going on and for a few moments I thought I was watching a KISS show because of them. This was a really great production as far as the audio went as well and the whole show runs just over 100 minutes and is sure to satisfy all of the bands fans. I found myself easily sitting through the whole show as opposed to skipping around and that is always a good thing. My favorite tunes from the show were "Bat Country", "Seize The Day" and "Almost Easy". The film is marked for some use of adult language so the parents of those younger listeners should be aware of that, and kudos to them as well for letting the wee lads and lasses enjoy the Metal as well.
CD: "Diamonds In The Rough": Demons, Girls I Know, Crossroads, Flash Of The Blade, Until The End, Tension, Walk, The Fight, Dancing Dead, Almost Easy, Afterlife (alternate mix).
*** To make the DVD purchase all the more special the band has included a bonus CD in the package which delivers not only unreleased tracks but also a couple of covers and some reworked versions of their existing material. The music that is considered the "b-sides" will appeal to their fans because it puts a bunch of these tracks together in one place and saves them some I-Tunes or Amazon.com searching and from them I felt that the best selections were "Demons" and the covers. It was interesting to find this particular Iron Maiden track being performed as it's not even a band staple these days, but they did manage to do justice to "Flash Of The Blade" just the same. As far as the Pantera "Walk", well, I am a little mixed on this one for while its good, it seems that Shadows is trying just a little bit too hard at being Anselmo but this is the kind of tune that is requiring a specific attitude and mindset.
The package comes with a booklet that has some really interesting art presented on it, but outside of the production credits there is nothing that discusses the performance from the bands point of view. There are no real photos and instead re-touched ones that make the band appear as animated monsters of some kind. I definitely felt that this was different enough to keep my interest in flipping through its pages. I can safely recommend this to fans of bands like Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine since many of the same melodic Metal aspects exist in these bands, and should you like them but not be clear on Avenged Sevenfold then you should give them a chance and use this DVD film to bring you up to speed. That being said should you like what Avenged Sevenfold is doing and don't have an idea about those other two, then get cracking on some of their recent releases as well. This was a fun way to spend a couple of hours and if more bands from the USA strive as hard to do something then the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal is in good hands.
Track Listing DVD:
1. Critical Acclaim
2. Second Heartbeat
3. Afterlife
4. Beast And Harlot
5. Scream
6. Seize The Day
7. Walk
8. Bat Country
9. Almost Easy
10. Gunslinger
11. Unholy Confessions
12. Little Piece Of Heaven
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