Overall thoughts on Fan Club DVD

[sockii]

Getting away from all that nasty coughing in the other threads, a few quick impressions on the fanclub dvd.

- Definitely some footage we've seen before on thepolice.com site, though not the "complete" clips that were there (for example, the feature on the Rolling Stone shoot is not the full one that we saw already, though there might be a few new bits in it as well).

- Some new stuff (I think?) as well (I didn't watch *every* clip posted on tp.com while I had a membership there, but still). My favorite is from Dodgers Stadium with the Foo Fighters - some cool stuff with Dave & Taylor talking about opening for the Police, Taylor backstage with Stewart (including discussing plans to recreate Stew's old tube sock-and-tight-shorts look), Dave grumbling about the difference in their catering. Awesome stuff. Fellow Foo fans will be quite happy.

- The Japan footage on the train is super-cool, if just because it seemed like a direct reference to the old footage from "Around the World"

- Lots of familiar fan faces, though could have been more. The big "photo gallery" at the end is pretty skimpy (even repeating some images?) though there's one shot of the flag on stage at MSG. I guess some of us weren't the only ones a little reticent to hand over our pictures without any recompense or credit for them.

- The video overall is completely schizophrenic, far more so than "Better Than Therapy." They're in Italy! They're in France! They're in Las Vegas! They're in Italy again! They're at Dodgers Stadium! My head was spinning. There's no real narrative to it, just lots of random bits from here or there.

- Again, WHY IS THERE NOTHING FROM JAPAN '08 ONWARD? Did Jordan not film anything after that? It just feels so...weird. Especially not having ANYTHING - either on Certifiable or here - related to MSG and the big finale. Nothing about all the shows with Elvis. It just feels very incomplete to me without all of that, no real sense of "closure" to either film because the story really does stop mid-way through.

Overall, still, very happy to have a copy of it. Very glad I didn't spend $100 to get it, though.

[secretjourneyranch]

Great review.
Its silly sometimes to think that the folks who slap these things together really don't even have an idea of what the fans want to see. How great would it be to watch 5 rehearsal songs uncut and unedited. That is what we are dying to see! They are aware of the setlist change that occurred both from the US to the UK and then again from 2008 onward. How about throwing in "Demolition Man" and "Bed's Too Big" or any other song not currently available to the fans. They really have no idea how to make these things exciting. I've said it before, they just need to look at the marketing juggernauts that are making millions for the Stones and U2 amongst others. I think the Four Flicks Stones movie has 4 angles of Jagger making a sandwich at one point.

Thanks for the review

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Gio, Dietmar and Conroy within the first 60 seconds.

What's not to love?

DAMN it. Now I miss the tour horribly....and I'd been doing pretty well so far....:*

Edits: Why so much Bonnaroo? Honestly, I don't think that was the high point of the tour. I guess that one was easiest to get colorful crowd footage...?

Loving the homage to ES:TPIO at the beginning of the Tokyo segment. The part where Stewart's talking about his stop-motion vid cam...

Foos at 34:10! Jesus, Taylor at 35:35 talking about tube socks....I just busted out laughing...

[DirtyMartini]

Sounds about as expected. Thanks for the reviews, sock and Dive. And word, SJR.

[TOWOS]

Weeeelll, there is always the sc.net dvd in the wings!!!
With all the leakage from tp.com I would have expected no less than a schizophrenic rehashing of It All.

I'm all for Taylor and the Foos (and what's with Dave and food???)

[samburusunset]

FINALLY got my DVD today. YAY!
Having just seen this (and not having particularly high expectations) and having seen Better Than Therapy last week (and having great expectations) I must say I'm not disappointed. There are lots of familiar faces (Dang! I think Gio and Analia hold the record for the most appearances!! ) and, like Sockii said, lots of clips we've mostly seen before. The behind the scenes stuff is great. It's like a supplement to BTT. Loved the bit with Andy in the stairwell. Wish there had been more of that with Sting and Stewart.

I think the latest shows it covers are Japan in Feb. You'd think they could have included some of the shows in May or June. I understand they'd need to have the filming done and edited by a certain time so they may not have been able to include the finale. The did have time, however, to include someone's photos from the last show. The FC, or PBS anyway, should've done a film on that show ---pre and post.

I think you all will definitely enjoy it. Make sure you check out all the extras.

[AnaliaFer]

[quote="samburusunset"] I think Gio and Analia hold the record for the most appearances!! ) [/quote]

Hahahaha I know there are some pics of me and Ana (Stinging in the rain) too...Cant wait to see it..I am really missing the whole tour, I need more and more!! Today is a year of the second day of Buenos Aires show...Still can´t believe it!!!

[Susan]

My copy arrived today and I watched it right away. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Some material looked familar from tp.com but it was nice to see it on a bigger tv screen. It could've been longer or had other stuff but it's fine. The clips that were included were nicely chosen and it was fun to see people we know. They caputured the spirit of fun and joy that we felt during the reunion.

[empty]

aaaaaaaaah, relief.

tis bittersweet.

[smax]

i meant to say this earlier but... can you imagine being in a small plane with stewart playing the fucking tuba!!!! ha ha ha........sheeesh.

[DirtyMartini]

Finally got to watch this.

Meh.

One question, though: final photo (of MSG! holy crap!) in the gallery: scattered around the floor are Thank Yous and flags -- and at stage-left/Andy-side, 10/15ish rows back, is someone holding a poster of a tree or a lobster or something?

Now, I grant that we were the dorks with the green signs. But wtf was that?!?


[ETA removed -- because my photographer/timeline brain was non-functional earlier.]

[luddite lady]

Now that I finally got to see this I'm going to chime in. It's lots of fun, which I guess is what a fan club video is supposed to be.

In the footage of the Vancouver concert there is a brief crowd shot featuring the flag. I played it super slow and do believe I glimpsed a Martini holding the thing. Is this shot actually from Vancouver or some other random concert? If it IS Vancouver, holy shit! A picture of flaggy in action at its first concert! That's kind of the holy grail of flagdom. Thanks Jordan!

[luddite lady]

D'oh! I watched the DVD again last night. The shot is not of the flag, but something close. My attention was so given to seeing who was holding the thing that I didn't notice there's a cirlce around the sc.net logo. Was somebody waving around a T-shirt or a flag substitute? Hmmm...curious!

[njperry]

I wantched it a few days ago throughly.

I really enjoyed it.

One thing that was good was the emphasis on Stewart including showing the flag, the don't care shirt, and the discussions of Stewart and the Foos.

This is not a Sting based film and I am thankful for that. The file had plenty from and about all three.

Still, wonder why nothing of note past Japan and wished it were longer.

[visions]

Loved it Loved it Loved it

Great to see so many faces from here

would loved have seen something of Australia though.....like Sting mooning Stewart
like some crazy nutter with flag

as usual Stewart always entertaining......

Sting's home looks so lovely......sigh

foo fighter.....so funny.......lamb! all we get is hot dogs.....

Stewart you are handsome and it does come naturally!!!!

That smile is a killer...............twang goes my heart again.....deeper sigh....dropping to my knees swooning again