Distributed by
Pinnacle Records

Cert:

Cat.no: IX 0622 PXUKD

Running time: 68 minutes

Recorded: 2001

Pressing: 2002

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 19

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)

Languages: English

Subtitles: None

Widescreen: 16:9 (1.77:1)

16:9-enhanced: No

Macrovision: No

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras: PETA propaganda

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Director/Producer :

Joel Gallen

Performers:

Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, The B-52s, Sarah McLachlan

Paul McCartney's PETA Millennium Concert for Party Animals is a 68-minute look at working out which singers and Hollywood stars you are going to ignore for the rest of their working lives because they're so wrapped up in vegetarianism and saving the planet, which is obviously affecting their ability to perform and make any new decent output.

Don't get me wrong. I do like animals, used to have a dog and now have two cats, but I also love a good kebab and wear a leather jacket and nothing will make me stop doing that, however many people come on stage and tell me how the animals are put to death by the uncaring ones who kill them. I'm certainly not going to relay the messages given in this concert to my friends since they'd send me to Coventry.

The whole affair runs a disappointing 68 minutes so it's obviously been heavily edited down, but I hope all the music still remained. Sarah McLachlan sings Angel, most recently covered by Westlife, the B-52s perform Love Shack, Roam and Rock Lobster, Chrissie Hynde drops in for I'll Stand By You and Paul McCartney, who hosts the event, ends the gig with Run Devil Run as well as a few other numbers along the way.

The full list of tracks are included below, but the songs begin at track 6, before jumping to No.9 onwards. Before that is various PETA bits and pieces, stand-up routines from Ellen and Margaret Cho which might be funny if you have the same frame of mind as the intended audience, as well as a "salute" to Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in from the 70s, as long as you're old enough to remember it and find it humourous.

At the end Alicia Silverstone says "We don't need animals to survive". Well, Alicia, yes we do and they taste great and, to quote the late great Troy McClure, "if a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you ever cared about!"

1. Salute to "Laugh-in" 2. Introduction with Paul McCartney 3. Ellen DeGeneres 4. Margaret Cho 5. Emotional Moment 6. Angel 7. Mo Gaffney and Chris P Carrot 8. Humanitarian Awards Highlights 9. Love Shack 10. Roam

11. Rock Lobster 12. I'll Stand By You 13. Honey Hush 14. Brown Eyed Handsome Man 15. No Other Baby 16. Try Not to Cry 17. Lonesome Town 18. Run Devil Run 19. End Credits

Alicia Silverstone:
she likes cows, but she talks a lot of bull.

There are no artifacts on show, but the concert looks like it has been shot on NTSC film and the conversion to PAL gives it that soft look that you'd expect, which isn't helped by the lack of an anamorphic transfer (how did this happen?). The ratio is 16:9.

The sound is in basic Dolby Surround, although while the music is fine it's fairly uneventful.

All the extras are 67 further minutes of propaganda for PETA ranging from a music video, Tame Yourself, from some dippy hippy band about why animals are on an equal footing with human; various Exposes, featuring Pamela Anderson, Alex Baldwin, Stella McCartney, Todd Oldham, Charlize Theron and James Cromwell, all talking about the fur trade, puppy mills and pig farms. Finally, there's commercials for FixCats.com, about spaying and neutering your cats so they don't propogate unwanted felines and a public service announcement compilation.

Most of the above footage would probably get this DVD an 18-cert due to the disturbing nature of it, but each such clip contains a warning beforehand with an option highlighted to go back to the menu.

There are 19 chapters to the disc, as described in the track listing above and while most menus are static, the main one contains music from the concert and some animation in the form of clips. The disc contains no subtitles.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.