Immagine In Cornice - My Review

In the mail the other day I received my long awaited copy of the new Pearl Jam DVD, Immagine In Cornice (a.k.a. Picture In A Frame). When I opened the mailbox and saw that brown envelope with the Ten Club return address on it the excitement built rapidly. I hurried into the house and carefully cut open the envelope with scissors so I didn't risk any damage to the DVD packaging. From the moment I held it in my hands and paged through the accompanying photos I knew I was in for something special when I finally got to watch the video. It wasn't until Tuesday that I had some free time to sit down and take it in. What an absolutely amazing piece of art!! The concert footage is absolutely crystal clear and sound quality is superb! The real treat however is the behind the scenes footage of the band and fans that makes this something special! Mike McCready describes how he used to wait outside the concert venues for bands like Def Leppard and Motorhead in hopes of catching a moment with the band members while footage of him signing autographs for some lucky fans is displayed. Jeff Ament is shown jumping the fence to a skate park to get in some board time while on the road. I thought it was especially cool to see how the guys come up with the set list for a show and talk about how they really go by the feel of the crowd when choosing songs for the encores. The footage of Ed and Mike jamming out to Lukin on acoustic guitars outside one of the venues is priceless as is the small snippet of some fans jamming out to Porch out on the sidewalk before the show!

I have to say that this is the best DVD Pearl Jam has released. It's not often you get to see the real human side of these guys. We tend to put them on a pedestal but they're just human like the rest of us. They laugh, they cry, they get scratchy throats from singing every night. They have children (the footage of Ed and daughter Olivia is truly moving). I came away just wanting more and more. So I watched it again and... I appreciated even more the second time. The sites and sounds of Italy are captured magically. The joy of the fans is overwhelming. Ed playing Immortality to an empty arena is chilling. Boom playing the organ inside an amazing, old, empty church is haunting... you can tell he was moved almost to tears. And then of course there's the music. The reason we are all drawn to these few human beings in the first place. Absolutely solid performances of some true classics. Really nice to see Alive on a DVD for the first time! You find any rarities on this disk but one can't deny the power of songs like Blood and Comatose or the intimacy of Comeback. This is a beautiful DVD. If you were thinking of passing on this one because the track list is not so diverse do yourself a favor and just go get it. You won't be disappointed. You've never seen the band like this before. Amazing!

Here's a bit of teaser...