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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
  • None
  Extras
  • Featurette - Destination Everywhere
  • Photo gallery
  • Animated menus
  • Web access
Ronan - Live Destination Wembley '02
Universal/Universal . R4 . COLOR . 89 mins . E . PAL

  Feature
Contract

For those unfamiliar with Ronan Keating, please take a look at a review of his previous DVD concert release Ronan Live. This will give you a bit of background on the Irish pop star and is also a good concert to compare this release to.

At the beginning of his Destnation Everywhere world tour, Ronan Keating returned to London's famous Wembley Arena. This is not to be confused with the more famous Wembley Stadium, home of the FA Cup Final in soccer and Live Aid. This venue is next door and, although smaller, can still hold a large audience. For this show the audience is a 10,000 strong predominantly female throng, there to see if this talented singer can replicate his records live. In his earlier DVD release, Ronan Live, he proved he could sing live, but did slightly disappoint as a performer. This is not to say he lacks stage presence, more so that he was not too active on stage. For this concert he seems to have addressed this issue and spends a large portion of the show dancing and wandering from one side of the stage to the other to see his fans up close.

His singing ability was never in doubt and since his previous release he has had several more hits worldwide, which are included here. He also does some interesting covers of songs making this 89 minute show very enjoyable. Covers of note are the Anne Murray classic You Needed Me, Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl, the Elvis ballad In the Ghetto and his current single release, the Bob Seger track We’ve Got Tonight. The single release of the last song features Lulu on the recording, but it's performed here with one of his backup singers. All covers are performed well along with a mixture of previous hits and those not so familiar tracks.

Track listing:

My One Thing That's Real
Blown Away
Lovin' Each Day
The Way You Make Me Feel
Someday We'll Know
Time For Love
Nothing at All
As Much As I Can Give You Girl
Come Be My Baby
You Need Me
We’ve Got Tonight
Love Won't Work
Joy & Pain
If Tomorrow Never Comes
Brown Eyed Girl
Love it When We Do
Rollercoaster
In the Ghetto
The Long Goodbye

Being the beginning of a world tour, Ronan and the band are very fresh and enthusiastic. Ronan is a talented singer and never struggles with the pace or demands of this show. Backed by an able band that is tight and who have been performing together for a while, they are a little restricted by the elaborate stage, but still form a large part of the show. The stage is quite impressive too, consisting of a slope with holes housing band members, backed by a massive oblong video screen showing various images throughout.

Ronan is quick to point out that the next leg of this tour after the UK was to be Australia and New Zealand. He did tour here earlier this year and was extremely well received. With the two singles currently in release Love it When We Do and We’ve Got Tonight, he looks stronger than ever and along with Robbie Williams is in that very exclusive group of ex-boy band members who have achieved a solo career. His appeal is widespread and this appeal doesn’t look like waning anytime soon, so take a look at this fine concert performance.

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

The video transfer, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced, is a little disappointing for this concert feature. Firstly there is grain, and lots of it, this is pretty much a constant throughout the show and added to over-saturation of colours and pixelisation it doesn’t make for a good transfer. Aliasing is also an issue and lack of detail is constant on audience shots. Many of these issues are common with concerts, but the disappointing aspect of this is that it had the potential to be so much better. It is by no means the worst out there, but taking into account the decent quality transfer of Ronan’s last concert DVD, the expectation was there for more and ultimately this fails. There are no subtitles supplied and no layer change as this is a single layer disc.

The audio is much better than the video and does make the concert reasonably enjoyable. It is supplied in default as English Dolby Digital 5.1 and stands up quite well. Vocals are reasonably clear and the overall concert sound is captured well. Separation is effective with the rears being used predominantly for concert ambience, but with some occasional use for additional music separation to great effect. The biggest problem with this track is the level balance, as vocals are occasionally drowned out by the band. The subwoofer is utilised to great effect with subtle usage unless asked for more, giving the concert a terrific live feel. There are also a couple of instances of feedback, but this is not the fault of the transfer of course. Meanwhile, audio synch is never a problem.

There are two extras of note supplied with this release and these can be accessed from the very impressive animated menu. First is the featurette Destination Everywhere, which runs for 22 minutes and looks at life on tour. It is an interesting feature and a welcome addition, even though it is slightly amateurish production-wise. Next is a photo gallery which contains a montage collection of photos of the Irish pop star and the concert. There is also a weblink, but as most would agree this is not really an extra these days.

Overall this is an entertaining show from a talented singer. With reasonable video and decent audio, Ronan - Live Destination Wembley '02 is an enjoyable show full of hits and covers of familiar songs. The extras are nice and fans as well as those with a casual interest in Ronan should be happy with this release.


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  •   And I quote...
    "A great concert performance from the nice guy of pop, this will more than satisfy fans."
    - Adrian Turvey
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DVP-NS305
    • TV:
          AKAI CT-29S55AT 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Sony STR-DE685
    • Speakers:
          Sony SAVE815ED
    • Centre Speaker:
          Sony SAVE815ED
    • Surrounds:
          Sony SAVE815ED
    • Subwoofer:
          Sony SAVE815ED
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