Following the release of his album "Mm
Food", that metal finger villain Doom takes his show on the road, Crisscrossing the United States of America, Doom performs to audiences in small venues while encouraging everyone attending to bring an item of tinned food with them to the gig for collection and donation to local children's groups. This film follows his performances from LA, NY, Boulder, Minneapolis and beyond.
Having seen The Roots live in Birmingham recently I must confess that my bar for live music has been raised somewhat after seeing Black Thought et al come straight on and do their thing at a high level for over two hours. However when "Mm...Food" was re-released recently I took the opportunity to get it along with the tour DVD. The album itself was interesting and pretty enjoyable for what it was. Having come to Doom via Dangerdoom, I already knew what he was capable for and I was a little disappointed that a chunk of the album were tracks mixing in old Fantastic 4 and other clips without Doom being on it, however as part of the idea of this rap character, it worked.
Indeed I do like Doom because he has this super villain personae and I've not really seen him outside of photos and a video screen at a Gorillaz concert that I saw last year. So when he first came onto stage as a chubby little fellow in the urban uniform of his hip hop peers (but with the mask on) I must admit to being a little disappointed. On albums and video (All Caps being a good example) he has this great character and it is a weakness that he lacks the character of his lyrics whenever he physically steps onto stage losing a bit of weight and dropping the unimaginative basketball vests would be a start. It jars particularly because the DVD has cool mock wartime newsflash moments on "The March of Doom" cut across the DVD, which again backs up this personae.
Despite this the DVD is actually pretty good and I enjoyed it more than the album, mainly because there were few weak tracks or moments and lyrically Doom can offer enough and tight enough flows to hold the interest. The beats are mostly strong although there are some real high points within each venue with the New York show being the heaviest. It is also the show that has one of the better crowds too, although most of the venues seem to offer pretty good reactions. It is only Philadelphia that are a terrible crowd and this maybe because the start of the DVD is the start of that actual show and the crowd had not yet warmed up but still, apart from a few frantic hands waving around generally they seem apathetic right through to a guy right at the stage slumped on the stage nearly asleep.
Despite the few problems like this and the image thing, the performances from Doom are good and small venues and mobile cameras help to keep the atmosphere even on the DVD. Fans of Doom should use this DVD as a reason for getting the re-release of this album.
Having seen The Roots live in Birmingham recently I must confess that my bar for live music has been raised somewhat after seeing Black Thought et al come straight on and do their thing at a high level for over two hours. However when "Mm...Food" was re-released recently I took the opportunity to get it along with the tour DVD. The album itself was interesting and pretty enjoyable for what it was. Having come to Doom via Dangerdoom, I already knew what he was capable for and I was a little disappointed that a chunk of the album were tracks mixing in old Fantastic 4 and other clips without Doom being on it, however as part of the idea of this rap character, it worked.
Indeed I do like Doom because he has this super villain personae and I've not really seen him outside of photos and a video screen at a Gorillaz concert that I saw last year. So when he first came onto stage as a chubby little fellow in the urban uniform of his hip hop peers (but with the mask on) I must admit to being a little disappointed. On albums and video (All Caps being a good example) he has this great character and it is a weakness that he lacks the character of his lyrics whenever he physically steps onto stage losing a bit of weight and dropping the unimaginative basketball vests would be a start. It jars particularly because the DVD has cool mock wartime newsflash moments on "The March of Doom" cut across the DVD, which again backs up this personae.
Despite this the DVD is actually pretty good and I enjoyed it more than the album, mainly because there were few weak tracks or moments and lyrically Doom can offer enough and tight enough flows to hold the interest. The beats are mostly strong although there are some real high points within each venue with the New York show being the heaviest. It is also the show that has one of the better crowds too, although most of the venues seem to offer pretty good reactions. It is only Philadelphia that are a terrible crowd and this maybe because the start of the DVD is the start of that actual show and the crowd had not yet warmed up but still, apart from a few frantic hands waving around generally they seem apathetic right through to a guy right at the stage slumped on the stage nearly asleep.
Despite the few problems like this and the image thing, the performances from Doom are good and small venues and mobile cameras help to keep the atmosphere even on the DVD. Fans of Doom should use this DVD as a reason for getting the re-release of this album.
