The 46664 program is a project by Nelson Mandela to draw attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. The 46664 in case you don't know was Mandela's prison number when he was held at Robben Island, Cape Town for 18 years. The culmination of the project was a giant concert, or even as they like to call it, which came to fruition in November of 2003 in Cape Town. Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen along with Dave Steward of the Eurythmics helped organize the concert which features a huge list of musical talent who came together to make the concert quite an event to remember. Now available on DVD is an impressive 2 disc collection of footage from the concert with over 4 hours of material. Along with the concert footage is a number of extras that shed light on the AIDS epidemic in Africa plus a whole lot more.
Here is the lineup more or less of who took part in this historic concert event, or at least what all made it to DVD:
Crazy In Love - Beyoncé
Speech - Bob Geldof
Redemption Song - Bob Geldof
Say It`s Not True - Queen/David A Stewart
Starry Eyed Surprise - Paul Oakenfold/Shifty Shellshock/TC
Ready Steady Go - Paul Oakenfold/Shifty Shellshock/TC/Amampondo Drummers
Baayo - Baaba Maal
Njilou - Baaba Maal
Africa Dream Again - Youssou N`Dour
Wild World - Yusuf Islam/Peter Gabriel
In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel/Youssou N`Dour/Angelique Kidjo
Biko - Peter Gabriel/Youssou N`Dour
American Prayer - Bono/The Edge/ Beyoncé /David A Stewart
46664 (Long Walk To Freedom) - Bono/The Edge/David A Stewart/Abdel Wright/Youssou N`Dour
Speech - Nelson Mandela
Invincible Hope - Queen featuring Nelson Mandela
46664 The Call/The Show Must Go On - Queen/Treana Morris/Zoe Nicholas/Chris Thompson
Afrika - Angelique Kidjo
Umqombothi - Yvonne Chaka Chaka
The Way - Bongo Maffin
Asimbonanga - Johnny Clegg and Guests
People - Johnny Clegg/Jimmy Cliff
Many Rivers To Cross - Jimmy Cliff
I Can See Clearly Now - Jimmy Cliff
Breathless - The Corrs
Toss The Feathers - The Corrs/Roger Taylor
Leliungelo Elakho - Ladysmith Black Mambazo/The Corrs
Homeless - Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Is This The World We Created? - Andrea Corr/Brian May
Loose We Now - Abdel Wright
Hurts So Bad - Danny K
Indigo Girl - Watershed
The Great Song Of Indifference - Bob Geldof
(What`s so funny `bout) Peace, Love and Understanding - Bob Geldof
Everybody`s Got To Learn Sometime - Zucchero/Queen/Sharon Corr
Here Comes The Rain - Eurythmics
7 Seconds - Eurythmics/Youssou N`Dour
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics
Don`t Throw Your Life Away - Ms Dynamite
One/Unchained Melody - Bono/ The Edge
Amandla - Queen/Bono/Anastacia/David A Stewart /Andrews Bonsu
Bohemian Rhapsody/I Want It All/I Want To Break Free/Radio Ga Ga - Queen/Zucchero/Thandiswa Mazwai
We Will Rock You - Queen/Anastacia / Amampondo Drummers
We Are The Champions - Queen/Anastacia/The Cast
46664 Chant - Soweto Gospel Choir/The Cast
As the show was filmed for broadcast TV, the presentation is much like what you would expect to see on TV only a slight bit better. The video is sharp enough so you can constantly see what is going on. Given each performance has a ton of onstage stuff going on, it is a plus to be able to see it all clearly. No issues here. Colors look and accurate but the lighting and all does lend itself to a bit of glowing and soft edges. It is what it is and it is true and accurate to its roots. No reason to complain about the visuals at all.
The audio is more important than the video and here the audio delivers fine for a strong concert like sound. You can choose between stereo or Dolby 5.1, and well the latter is the better choice. The 5.1 really brings forth the bass, the crowd response, and just has better response and a wider feel.
Extra are spread out over each disc. What we get is the press release where Nelson Mandela announces the concert event to the world's media, a pretty thorough backstage documentary that shows us what all was going on behind the scenes for the week preceding the concert, and an extensive photo gallery of all the artists who took part in the concert. Other extras include artist interviews (about 20 minutes) plus a Spirit of Africa documentary that lets us see how the epidemic is hurting the country and how so many are working so hard to fight it. Also present is 12 one minute short films by different contemporary visual artists giving us a glimpse into their perspective on HIV/AIDS as well as a quick look into the work that Mothers 2 Mothers-2-Be are doing as well as the Baphumelele children's home projects and their impact.
The 46664 Concert is pretty remarkable that such a thing can get done with such a wide number of stars. Gone are things such as egos and paychecks, this just big name talent getting together to help out a worthy cause. Good for them and good for music fans to get to see such all-star lineups perform. I was really impressed with the Eurythmics perform together again and sound like they haven't slipped a bit. For DVD fans, this is a nice set with good video and audio. If you are a fan of any of the artists involved then this would a good item to pickup. If you aren't all that fond of too many of them then you enjoyment might not be that high. If you don't like the band well then you don't like the band. What works here is that the lineup is quite diverse so many should find a lot to like, both new and old, and of many genres of music. Definitely one to check out.
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