Customer Reviews

Bond: Live at the Royal Albert Hall

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was unaware of this group until I came across them being played to demo a surround sound system in Fry's Electronics in Anaheim, California. I don't recall the brand of the home theatre system they were advertising, but I was sold on Bond! I had to hunt down a sales associate to find out who they were and then without hesitation I bought the DVD. I like classical and rock music. This DVD is a great blend of both. Don't miss it.

Listen once to "The 1812" and you will understand my one-star rating. The 1812 Overture is, admittedly, a little cheesy, but nothing deserves the treatment Bond give it.

Classical instruments do not need a dance beat and electrification to be cool. Listen to anything by the band Apocalyptica, or even Godspeed You ! Black Emperor (who use celli)--there is music out there that pushes the boundaries of traditional classical music, and does it well, without resorting to electronic beats and scantily clad women.

If you must order this, order Apocalyptica's "Cult" with it, for purposes of comparison.

I'm over 40, but this is the kind of video that lets me understand why teenagers are drawn to MTV. It hits my demographic with a sledgehammer. The music is great, juiced up classical music played by talented, classically trained artists that just happen to be beautiful.

As Haylie says in the concert, "This is the very first live performance ever".

Being a fan of Bond's, I love the music. To see the music being played visually by the 4 members of the classically-trained quartet, was amazing. It's always nice to see the people behind the sounds of the music, and in the case of Bond, not bad at all.

The DVD features tracks from their first album, "Born", "Dallas", and a mix of "Victory".

The DVD itself has some extras, one music video of "Wintersun" and another of a performance of "Viva [Orion Mix]". There is also an inteviews with the members of Bond, and even a short 10 question quiz. Answering correctly on all questions unlocks a video of "Victory" and their stay in Cuba where they had taped the music video for "Victory". The questions themselves are not hard to answer, if you make a mistake you can always re-take the quiz. It has the same questions again.

The actual concert was quite a drag in sense of excitement, visuals, performance, and prescence. The girls walk around and dance when they are not playing their instruments, I don't think having an actual dance choregraphy would have helped either sides. It was understandable that they would remain rigid and still to play their instruments. The girls played their songs back to back.. there was no real scene changes or clothes changes. The stage itself didn't lend much help as the lighting was simple and the stage itself, very small and bare. The one thing I liked about the concert was that it was truly live.. there was a small group of people playing in the background, with the band consisting of a guitar, bass, drums, percussions, and a keyboard/mixer. In between songs however, one of the girls would say something about the concert or say something about themselves. Gay-Yee introduced the members of the band, though I thought that was unneccesary. After all, do they introduce the characters in a play mid-way? They could have kept the mood going, without interruptions. It was basically just song after song that were played.. "Duel" was interesting to watch as Haylie and Eos "dueled" with their instruments while they played. "Victory" and after that was "Victory (Carnival Mix)" which I did not notice a difference between the two songs. During the Carnival Mix, a bunch of dancers come out, clowns come, lights go crazy.. it's pretty bland. Their attempt at making that songs "carnival-like" and more "fun".

It was awesome to see Bond actually perform live.. but the performance lacked so much. As they are going on tour in the U.S. of the summer of 2004.. I hope they improve greatly on the performance itself, because the music, especially their new album, "Classified" does not need any work, and never had.

well i as well saw/heared the DVD playing at a local electronic store and was tempted to buy it.
after the first time playing it i was dissapointed to find only a couple notes worthy of listenign to.
after the 2nd round the dvd became old.
the impressions looked fake and the energy everybodys talking about somehow didnt show on my DVD.
to sum it up, i expected something new and exciting and i found an early 80`s like band playing on a cheap movie.
not really recomended.

I had never heard of "Bond" until I saw the concert being played on a HD plasma TV in an electronics store. The sound was great (of course, they were using one of the high end audio systems). The picture was excellent. Based on this, I decided to purchase the DVD and watch it at home on my Samsung DLB HDTV. The picture was excellent, just like in the store. But when the young ladies talked to the audience, I could barely hear them and had to turn the sound up. Of course, when they started playing, I had to turn the sound down.

I was surprised that the concert was so short. I might have given it a higher rating if they had a larger musically selection to play and the audio when they talked was better.

Looking at four lovely ladies helped the rating, but I won't recommend the DVD to others.

I watched this DVD after I was already addicted to Bond's music so I knew the songs and how they would sound. Bond is a fantastic group, way surpassing the like of Vanessa Mae, but there were a few problems with the DVD.

1. The concert was good, but for the Albert Hall the acoustics were terrible, at some points it is very hard to hear the girls at all.

2. It is obvious that the cameramen were not string players. As a violinist I love watching Hayley and in her supreme performance of Korobushka the camera is directed almost solely on her face and the movement of the bow. Now Hayley is a pretty girl, but I wanted to see her hands move!! It was frustrating to know that her fingers were moving a hundred times to the second and I couldn't see a thing!!!

3. Someone mentioned in an earlier review about the weird looks on Hayley's face - well to answer that. You try playing those pieces at that speed and try not pulling a face!!! *LOL*

As a whole, I LOVE this DVD. As a first go, its excellent and I've lost count of the number of times I've watched it. I had to import it to Australia and believe me it was well worth the cost.

As a note to fans new to Bond, if you haven't listened to their CDs especially Born, I would recommend doing so before watching the DVD to get the most out of it.

Happy listening!

4 gorgeous ,classicaly trained girls mix classic with pop on string instruments with backing from a small rock combo.
The performance at Albert Hall goes from movie/TV themes(James Bond,Dallas) to classical music(Tchaikovski's 1812)and to the great ending with a carnaval style performance of Victory.
My favourite piece from this album is Korobushka.
Take 4 talented ,good-looking and sexy girls ,add catchy tunes and you have great enertainment.
The sound and picture are very good,and you get some extra's-pictures ,interviews and 2 video's(one of Victory ,but only after you go through a quiz).
If you want to know why I gave it only 4 stars-it's because it's very good entertainment but not great art(after all it's classified as classical music DVD).

Walked into Fry's Fountain Valley, CA and saw the performance on big screen. Astounding! I stood there for the next few repeat performances of Victory. The stack of DVDs next to the screen was reduced to the last one so I grabbed that one. A few days later I played the concert at home in full and a few days later watched the 2 bonus tracks.

These girls are all accomplished musicians; they all have degrees in music. See http://www.deccaclassics.com/artists/bond/biog.asp
From what I've been reading on the net Gay-yee Westerhoff and Eos started it all when they got fed up with working backup for other groups.

My honest opinion? They are gifted, educated, beautiful, high-energy and will contribute much to musical entertainment. I can't wait to see them live in a concert and I usually don't like concerts because they are boring, but I will most definitely want to see Bond.

Here is a bonus video on their website:
http://www.deccaclassics.com/artists/bond/biog.asp
Look for the Dec 2, 2003 item under Bond News. That video is great! Anyone know where I can get the Japanese DVD version?

One minor gripe--why did they pick the name "Bond?" Searching is a royal pain cuz James Bond shows up a lot on Google and Ebay :)

Exciting music, classical yet rock and alternative with a hint of ethnicity! So much to listen for.... and the costumes were sleek and eye catching. Watching them perform on stage is so much fun and they're so energetic! WoW.