POLL: DOES ANYONE WATCH CONCERT DVDs MORE THAN ONCE?

The state of the concert film industry is sad. Over the last decade or so concert DVDs have become a last ditch effort by record labels to milk one last bit of money out of each album cycle. It used to be that a concert video was a special thing that came around only once or twice in a band’s lifespan while these days it’s a predictable part of the cycle that follows every proper album: Album Release –> “Deluxe Edition” Re-Release –> Live DVD. Inevitably all the superfans go out and buy it right away. Perhaps a few stragglers pick up copies in record stores, if record stores even stock metal concert DVDs anymore. But really the concert DVD is a surefire way to capitalize on the fact that superfans will buy anything and everything having to do with a band; for a label, it’s a relatively predictable way to make a certain amount of money, no more, no less. I’d wager that bands themselves rarely if ever actually recoup and earn royalties on concert films these days.

Fittingly, there seems to be less interest than ever in concert DVDs from the fan side. The “long awaited” concert DVD finally comes out; the superfan gets home, smokes a bowl or whips out a 6-pack, and watches; and then onto the shelf it goes, never to be seen again. Of the two dozen or so concert DVDs I own I can honestly say I’ve only ever watched two of them more than once, and one of them more than twice. That one is Alice in Chains’ haunting unplugged concert, because it was a special show. Today’s concert DVDs may have better production value but do they really posses the same magic? With every band ever to exist touring constantly these days you may as well just wait to see the real thing in person anyway.

So: Do you watch concert DVDs more than once? BE HONEST! Note that we’re only taking about the concert portion of DVDs here and not the documentaries, music video collections or other extras.