PNYC: Portishead - Roseland New York (1997) User Reviews

One of the best!

[tab-4 · 10/10 · 12 August 1999]

I bought Portishead's album "Dummy" when it came out. It has since then been one of my favorite records in my collection,But when I saw this recording from Roseland it gave the name Portishead a whole new dimension! It is one of the few bands that actually can play their songs live without improvising half the hard parts. I could not spot one single weak point in vocals or instruments! If you like Portishead but have never seen them live...what are you waiting for?!A new experience is waiting...the Portishead experience!

A moving experience through the use of many different types of sound.

[GeDan · 10/10 · 28 June 1999]

This recorded concert brings forth angles of Portishead that cannot be found in just listening to their music. They provide the viewer/listener with an ambush of the senses, and watching how their incredible music is made makes it even more amazing. The ability to tie into one the numerous different sources of their sound proves that Portishead is not just one of the most ground-breaking musical acts of the 1990's, but also one of the most talented. Beth Gibbons shows off her beautiful voice and the rest of the musicians follow suit. There is so much one can say about how simply awesome this concert is, but the best thing to do is buy it and watch it over and over!

Damn, I Love PORTISHEAD!!!!

[EVOL666 · 10/10 · 11 June 2006]

This review is a BIG departure from the normal horror/gore/sleaze that I review - but I must say that I'm a HUGE P-HEAD fan and am mad at myself for not coppin' this DVD earlier. As far as "live" music is concerned - I've seen literally thousands of bands live, from SLAYER to STEELY DAN - and if there is any one single band that I never got to see live and could make it happen - it'd be these guys (and girl...)...

Backed by a full orchestra - PORTISHEAD does every song that you want to hear done live - and does it spot-on...period...

If you're a PORTISHEAD fan - you MUST see this. Make sure to also peep the "special-features" as it showcases all of their commercially-made videos and their short film - TO KILL A DEAD MAN. If you are even a marginal P-HEAD fan - pick this joint up immediately. If I had to have any gripe about this DVD - it would be that the songs are so well done that they sound straight off of their albums. You can take that as a good or bad thing. I was hoping for a little more "improvisation" - but it didn't much happen. I also think that PORTISHEAD is deserving of a little more of a "stage-show" which this concert is not - it's a pretty straight-forward showing of them doin' what they do best - but backed with a full orchestra. In other words - even with my minor gripes - this has already become one of my "most-watched" DVD's in my collection...15/10

No one sentence can summarize its brilliance.

[Mooby · 28 October 1999]

I am a Portishead freak. I doubt you would have come to this particular corner of the IMDb if you weren't either. If you have seen this tape, I'm winking as I type. If you haven't, make all the necessary, desperate attempts you can manage to make in your new life mission to get it. Beth Gibbons is like a New Age Shirley Bassey, squeezing all the OOMPH! she can out of every lyric and hissing it into the mic, she prowls Roseland with her intensity. Geoff Barrow, Adrian Utley, and Dave McDonald assist Miss Gibbons in her quest to touch souls with dead on choices. No song from either of their first two albums sound as good as they do when performed on PNYC. When assembled as one, the songs are musical paintings of relationship despair, like Beth's tragic torch songs to the boyfriend that failed to keep her. Every artistic motive is made to compensate from making a simple one shot of the band doing their thang, but in actuality, when you're dealing with what I consider (for my money) to be the greatest album of all time, all you need is a camera, an audience, and a couple of geniuses who call themselves Portishead.

Shocking

[Lucas-21 · 10/10 · 5 June 1999]

This is one of the best video document of the 90's of a band.And also one of the best group...together with some other, Portishead prove in this film to be one of the most emotional, deep and liric group. Beth Gibbons is just amazing singing, able to move a rock with her voice.