DVD Review: INXS - "Live Baby Live" (2003)

This concert DVD, released in 2003, is taken from a July 1991 Wembley show in front of 72,000 fans of the band. Their funked up pop-rock is in full display here through 21 tracks, focusing heavily on tunes from '87's "Kick" and 90's "X". All the big hits are here, from pretty much the whole first side of "Kick" (I'm dating myself) to "Mystify", the title track and "Never Tear Us Apart", and others like "Suicide Blonde", "Bitter Tears", "The Stairs" and "Disappear". And oh yeah, "What You Need" and "Original Sin" are there, too. It would have been nice to hear "Listen Like Thieves" or "Kiss the Dirt" but the lesser-known tunes like "Know the Difference" and "The Loved One" make up for it. The band is tight, crisp and very full-sounding, but I would advise watching this show from start to finish in its entirety before cutting between chapters because Michael Hutchence's between-song mumblings are incomprehensible. If you take it as a whole, it goes down a lot better. Interesting interviews taken from the other band members well after Hutchence's death shed light on the leadup to the day which are interesting considering what has transpired since. (I can't comment on JD Fortune because I haven't heard the album nor watched the show, Rock Star INXS.)

Good stuff all around.

Overall rating: 7.5/10