""270 Miles from Graceland - Bonnaroo 2003" Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Talkatif
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals - Temporary Remedy
Warren Haynes - Beautifully Broken
The Polyphonic Spree - It's the Sun
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon - William Powell
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Sleeper
Widespread Panic - Papa Johnny Road
Medeski Martin and Wood - Uninvisible
My Morning Jacket - Lowdown
Robert Randolph & the Family Band - I Need More Love
Jack Johnson - Mud FootballTortoise - Tin Cans & Twine
Nickel Creek - I Should've Known Better
Sonic Youth - Bull in the Heather
The Roots - You Got Me
The Dead - Sugar Magnolia
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot
North Mississippi Allstars - Be So Glad
Yonder Mountain String Band - Mother's Only Son
Ben Kweller - Walk On Me
The Allman Brothers Band - Desdemona
James Brown - I Feel Good
Scratch - FreestyleDon't forget the great Bonus Footage:
-Backstage Pass with artist interviews and practice sessions
-Press Pass with artist interviews from the press tent
-Photo Gallery
-Artist Info with pictures, bios and setlists
-Portraits with a montage of unused video from the film
-Film Trailer"
Mediocrity
wpo497 | Japan | 01/10/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Oh boy, twenty-three performances! That's a feature? That's twenty-three songs from how many hundreds that were performed? And there isn't one untouched live song with the crowd heard, no slow motion, all the words matching the singer's mouth, etc. Filming creativity is fine, but give me a few moments completely live. And since the producers were too cheap to give us a decent insert with a correct order of performances or song names, I took out the second dvd thinking ooh, maybe some better songs on this one. Wrong. No songs on this one. A performance schedule, some photos, and other useless - but mildly interesting- filler. People want to see live music. A legend like Neil Young plays at Bonnaroo, and a concert movie trailer is more important? Weak! On two dvds there should be hours of performances for this kind of money."
Great music, but not as good as last year's installment
abrenkus80 | Ashtabula, OHio United States | 11/04/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"To those who don't know too much about Bonnaroo and the importance of it, I say one thing: "buy everything with the Bonnaroo name on it!" You'd be hard pressed to find any better collection of music than any of the 3 CD's (one single disc and two double's) or either of the double DVD sets. This is modern music's Woodstock. Along with all the classic acts' opportunity to show the world why acts like The Dead, Allman Brothers and James Brown have been entertaining millions for decades.This DVD features great song highlights by groups like Ben Harper, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Jack Johnson, The Roots, The Dead, Flaming Lips, Allman Brothers Band and James Brown among many others. The only complaint I have is that with this 2003 DVD the video director took a lot of artistic liberties which draw away slightly from the enjoyment of the pure musicianship that was the sole focus of last year's Bonnaroo 2002 DVD. Aside from this minor difference the DVD still highlights the great performances and the over-all enjoyment of all involved with this festival on behalf of both performers and audience alike. This a must have great music/festival DVD that should only be passed up for only one reason: Buying the 2002 DVD first. -peace"
2nd Place among Bonnaroo DVD's
Richard J Duke | 11/06/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"It would be hard to match the content of last year's DVD, and this one does not do it. It contains some awesome performances: Warren Haynes, Polyphonic Spree, Flaming Lips, etc. But last year's truly documented the performances while this year's takes those performances and makes them serve as sort of a music video for the entire festival. There are songs cut short here: Yonder Montain and Robert Randoph have longer versions of their songs cut short in the interest of keeping things moving along.I will not complain about the missing performances. You always will have someone mad about one performance or the other being shafted (and moe. got the shaft this time around), but my complaint is that the DVD is more about cool looking images during songs and not about the actual performances.I thought it was very well made. It had some good backstage stuff with the Dead and Ben Harper. And the segue from Nickel Creek to Sonic Youth was pretty cool.One last thing. When they actually do talk to people in the campgrounds, think about this. There are 80,000 people there, but they use the same fat guy in two different segments. Was there NO ONE ELSE to talk to?"
Awful documentary of a great festival
Kevin | NJ United States | 12/25/2003
(1 out of 5 stars)
"The bonnaroo 2002 dvd was great, but this dvd features too many pictures of hippies on the swingset and not enough shots of the bands who are actually playing. My thoughts on Bonnaroo have always been that the music is awesome, but the Superfly-related aspects are clearly an exploitation of the fans (more in 2003 than in 2002, and a trend that I expect will continue), and this dvd is an example. They cut some songs (such as YMSB's "Mother's Only Son"), and the camera sometimes made me dizzy as it went from hula-hoops to bubbles to dreadlocks without really showing the crowd or, most importantly, the bands. Also, the bonus disc is useless (worth watching once I guess, but only once), and was clearly made to make even more money off the dvd. As someone who attended this festival, I must say that I was severely disappointed by this dvd. They made some bad choices of which bands to feature, but I guess that is a matter of each reviewer's opinion (still, you would think that headliners such as the legendary Neil Young would be on it). I guess Superfly just assumes that everyone who attended the festival will buy the dvd, and they are probably right, but those who do will also be unhappy with it. I was frequently trying to find myself in the crowd shots, or see the band playing up close, only to find that there are few shots of either. I'll see you at bonnaroo 2004, but only for the music, and I don't think I'll be buying the dvd to that one (unless I see it first, which I urge everyone to do with this one before buying it)."