Foo Fighters: Live at Wembley Stadium on Blu-ray Disc Review
By Brandon A. DuHamel
"breathe out so I can breathe you in
hold you in
and now I know you've always been
out of your head
out of my head I sang"
- "Everlong," Foo Fighters
The Performance
After the sad death by suicide of Nirvana's lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Kurt Cobain on April 5, 1994, it seemed like grunge was over. No one suspected that Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl would have something of his own to say about that. Building up a collection of around 40 of his own songs written on his guitar while touring with Nirvana, Grohl held back his material from the group feeling too intimidated by Nirvana's larger-than-life front man Kurt Cobain.
So, in 1995 when Grohl started the Foo Fighters as a one-man project, he had an abundance of materials to draw upon. Grohl did the unexpected and stepped out from behind his drum set, becoming the front man and guitarist for Foo Fighters. He would record all of the parts for the Foo Fighters 1995 self-titled debut album, before drafting Pat Smear (guitar), Nate Mendel (bass) and William Goldsmith (drums) as his backing band. The album would spawn four singles, thus ensuring Foo Fighters' and Dave Grohl's post-Nirvana success.
This Blu-ray disc release captures the band live at Wembley Stadium on June 6 and 7 of 2008, two dates that sold out within 24hours. The performance contains songs from all six of the band's albums and they prove themselves worthy stadium headliners. In a way, Dave Grohl's song's, heavily influenced by '70's hard rock, are more well suited to such large venues than Nirvana ever was. The memorable melodies and cranking guitars make for engaging sing-alongs and the band's energetic performances rile the crowd up.
The standout moments of the show, however, are the re-worked version of "Everlong" that has Grohl turn the song into a mid-tempo power ballad with just his vocals and electric guitar for ¾ of it before ending with the full band cranking out the final chorus, and the guest performances of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones doing their old Led Zeppelin tunes "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On" with the help of Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins both switching off on vocal and drumming duties.
This is a marvelously energetic rock concert that no Foo Fighters fan should miss.
The Picture
Originally shot in high definition,
Foo Fighters: Live at Wembley Stadium comes to Blu-ray disc in a spectacular high-bitrate AVC/MPEG-4 high definition 1080p/24 encoding that continues Sony-BMG's trend of great picture quality after a few less than stellar looking releases from them in the early days. There's hardly a flaw to mention in this release -- the blacks are inky and consistent, detail is superb, from the strings on Dave Grohl's guitar to the beads of sweat in his face, everything is visible and nearly three-dimensional. Flesh tones are natural and contrast is only occasionally hot, but only as a consequence of some incredibly bright stage lights. Video noise is present but very subdued and there are no compression or processing artifacts to mention.
The Sound
What truly makes or breaks a concert disc is its sound, and
Foo Fighters: Live at Wembley on Blu-ray does not disappoint. The disc comes with PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), PCM Stereo (48kHz/24-bit) and Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kbps) audio options. The 5.1 PCM mix is big and expansive in its sound, capturing the larger Wembley performance space well. The surround channels are full of ambience and subtle crowd noise. The vocals are balanced clearly and full, drums thump with healthy assistance from the LFE and the guitars sound big, raw and well defined. The recording could have been improved with a higher sampling rate as high frequencies, such as cymbals and the upper ranges of the guitars sometimes sound grating and tizzy, but overall this is a pleasing, energetic soundmix that can be cranked up -- just don't annoy the neighbors.
The Extras
There are no extras available on this release.
Final Thoughts
Cranking guitars, memorable songs, multi-platinum albums and numerous hits define the career of Foo Fighters. Years after the sad demise of Nirvana, Dave Grohl is still proving that he was more than just the guy behind the drum kit. This Blu-ray release is a definite must for rock fans everywhere.
Where to Buy
Product Details
- Performers: Foo Fighters
- Audio: PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), PCM Stereo (48kHz/24-bit), Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kbps)
- Region: ABC (All Regions)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Studio: RCA/BMG
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: November 18, 2008
- Run Time: 120 minutes
- List Price: $29.98
