My love affair with concert albums, and now concert DVD and Blu-Ray discs started back in the 70s with Frampton Comes Alive and Journey:  Captured. Since then I have listened to far more disappointing concert albums than good, but there are a handful of concerts I consider great in every way.

With the advent of concert DVDs and Blu-Rays, I am now able to place myself in the front row and let the experience envelope me. Based on my age I know many of these concerts will not appeal to the younger crowd but they are without doubt fantastic examples of what can be done when magic strikes on concert night.

When it comes to DVD and Blu-Ray concerts, I have a strict criteria for whether a disc gets my love or not. The disc must be a concert, not a documentary that continually breaks up the experience.

I found Peter Gabriel while I was going through my MTV, New Wave phase back in the 80s. Shock the Monkey received a lot of airplay and opened the door for me to experience what a master of epic concert drama is capable of. When I first popped Growing Up Live into my DVD player I had not given Peter a serious listen for several years. While I appreciate his work in the later 80s and early 90s, it was not something I listened to often. Growing Up Live changed that when I was blown away by not only the complexity of the music, but also the theatrical powerhouse of a show that unfolded.

Growing Up Live

became my reference DVD immediately, the picture quality is outstanding and the DTS 5.1 track is mind blowing. I have found few DVDs that can provide as quality a test for speakers. I take this along every time I look for speakers and can tell immediately if they meet my requirements. The music, the show, and the quality make this my number one pick.

Neil Young’s Live Rust is a powerful set that begins with an all-acoustic set before blasting off when Crazy Horse walks onto the stage. There is no denying the otherworldly, artistic talent that flows from the mind and heart of Neil Young and this is one of his best moments.

U2 caught my attention way back with their first two albums but lost me afterward. I was never offended by their music, it certainly was impressive but the rebel magic of Sunday Bloody Sunday was gone in my mind. I was lucky enough to live in Denver and see Under a Blood Red Sky but that isn’t my pick here despite being an amazing concert. My pick is U2 Go Home - Live from Slane Castle, it is a perfect evening that makes me understand what I was missing when I dismissed U2 during the 90s.

My wife is a huge Elvis Costello fan and while I have always enjoyed his music it wasn’t until she got front row tickets for an Austin show that I really gave him a serious listen. While that show was amazing the Blu-Ray, Elvis Costello & the Imposters: Club Date - Live in Memphis has the master in a very small venue and at his best. This one is not to be missed.

Tom Petty has been dragging my heart around for years and his music has only gotten better with each passing year. Tom Petty and The heartbreakers: Live in Concert catches Tom and the band doing what they do best for two discs. Blues and rock from his career and a selection of work from other artists make this an evening to enjoy. The sound and picture quality are superb. This disc deserves a night in your theater.

I know I am going to be hammered for leaving out the Eagles, Peter Frampton and many other fine bands. I can only say that this is my current top 5 and while it evolves with time, you can’t go wrong with any of these concerts.

More and more I hear, “there is no difference between DVD and Blu-Ray” and I am shocked, dismayed and can do nothing more than scratch my head. How can anyone with eyes not see the improvement over upscaled DVD? Is Toshiba working behind the scenes to brainwash people as payback for losing the format war?

I will admit to the fact that I do not always see the financial benefit to HD sound or 1080p source material but I sure as hell can see and hear the difference. I think a fly, with its multi-faceted view of the world can see the difference. When I have to consider budget however, many times the DVD wins out. I have discussed my buying criteria in previous articles so I won’t rehash it here.

I did find a clue to at least one person’s unfavorable review of DVD VS Blu-Ray however and just so no one else makes this mistake… You cannot connect your Blu-Ray player to your HDTV with a composite cable (the yellow one) and see 1080p or even good 480p. You must use at least a component cable (red, green, blue) for 1080i and HDMI or DVI cables for 1080p.

I understand that to many people, connecting anything to a TV or receiver is akin to launching the space shuttle, but you spent a lot of money for your system, read the manual and get what you pay for. If you don’t want to, can’t or the manual isn’t available in your native language get help from a friend!

DVD is a wonderful media and I still buy movies on it. The picture is great and for many of the movies I purchase, quite adequate. Blu-Ray is amazing and many of my purchased go to HD. The point is, there is in fact, a huge difference between the formats for movies that are well produced. I understand that Blu-Ray doesn’t fit into everyone’s budget and that many people do not have a display that is HD capable. Down the road when prices are right or there is a beautiful new HDTV in your living room, I hope you make the smart choice and jump onto the Blu-Ray train, it is better in every way.

Will using a receiver with a higher power rating than my speakers cause a problem? I remember worrying about the speakers in my first system as I had a 130 watt rated receiver with 100 watt speakers. There are several reasons I didn’t need to worry, and several more reasons why I should.

While very low end speakers are unlikely to show any benefit based on a higher powered, quality amp, better speakers can see a very big difference. At lower volumes the detail of the music or movie soundtrack become clearer, the bass is more powerful and the highs are light and enjoyable.

At reference volume the bass retains its form, is clear and distinct, never muddy. The highs never become shrill or strained, which is a sign of a struggling amplifier. More power gives you more headroom, which means the amplifier is breezing along through everything you throw at it.

The second reason I needn’t have worried is because I was under the misguided belief that power ratings were accurate, my 130 watt receiver was never capable of going beyond 70 or so watts. To learn more about amplifier power ratings click here.

Now to the reason I should have worried. Even inexpensive speakers can handle clean power well beyond their ratings. The enemy of any speaker however is power clipping, the act of a struggling amp or a poor power source that begins to cut areas of the frequency range out, send distorted  audio, or begin doing both in a on, off series of high power blasts. This will tear a speaker apart faster than using a sledgehammer. If you are hearing distortion of any kind TURN IT DOWN!

Using an amp rated well above the speakers rating requires some will power however, you don’t want to turn it up above the reference level, there is never a reason to turn anything up past this point, it is the exact volume the sound is engineered for, anything louder morphs the vision of the artist.

Amplifiers ramp up power by doubling the output at every notch. Turning the volume knob from 30 to 29 doubles the watts and creates 3 decibels more volume. This means that you are well below the amps power rating all the way to zero. In most amplifiers and receivers, zero marks the rated output of the unit. In a 100 watt receiver that means you jump from 50 watts at 1, then go to 100 watts at zero.

This of course assumes the manufacture is providing accurate power ratings, which is highly unlikely. Give your speakers what they crave, clean power and enjoy the clear, distortion free sound as the artist intended.