All I knew of these guys were those brief flirtations with the Pentium 3 commercials a while back and a guest spot in the couch gag of The Simpsons opening titles. So, naturally, I was waiting for a kind of freakish bunch of performers running around stage banging saucepans on their heads.

I wasn’t too far wrong there, but what I wasn’t ready for was the immensity of the rock experience these guys serve up hot. This is the purest of rock gigs, utilising everything about the stage and the whole rock concert experience, but doing it in a supremely humble way.

Consider the Rock Concert as you know it. This is a big, noisy affair in which rock stars become Rock Gods, glorified by 30-foot high screens and underpants being thrown on stage. Their minions before them, they spout their wisdom in archaic and clichéd ways, gnawing away at the rock show with their social conscience or their support of groupie’s unions or whatever. They become Super Worshipped Rock Stars, as does the band, and the music takes second place to the edification of the Band.

Here this is practically impossible. The four piece band of Blue Men (one reserve, I assume, as there are only ever three on stage) do not speak, they have blue skin and bald caps on and wear generic black outfits that zip up the back. They play as innocent aliens dropped among us trying to understand the whole musical experience. The group does find a voice though; a frequency-modulated disembodied voice that speaks in lyrical and eloquent volumes about the whole Rock Concert Experience. This introduces what they call Rock Concert Movements, a dissection of all the clichés embodied by the regular rock concert and stripping the whole hackneyed program back to bare metal.

And so all that is left is the music. No sexually suggestive thrusting of long-necked guitars here; instead we have a collection of PVC pipes shackled together and hit with spoon-like flat-headed sticks. They also have contraptions holding the pipes that they can walk around in and there can be no mistaking the removal of all self-consciousness here:

They look silly.

And that’s why the music and the experience of this show live would be dynamic – there’s just the music and it is amazing.

The Blue Man Group use a wide and varied array of instruments from airpoles (electronic whips) to anvils, the cimbalom, the dogulum, a dumpster and even a 1981 Casiotone. They also make humourous and subtle gags on modern society by employing mobile phones (why men without voices would need them is also part of the joke) and their ring tones plus the Piano Hammer. This is an amazing weapon in which a full grand piano is laid side on, has the lid removed and is struck with a monster mallet. Adding to the whole show (in a generic fashion) is the support band who are damn good at what they do and are treated like minor stars, though they are also obviously humbled by the brilliant explosion of musical noise the Blue Men create.

Although this review is a Quick Squizz, I amassed a full A4 page of notes here that I just can’t go into. This must be experienced for yourself. I do though wholeheartedly recommend this visual and aural feast for anyone who is after the Rock Concert from back in the days when rock stars weren’t Solar Rock Stars as they are today. Solar Rock Stars (to quote the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy) who leave the music – their very reason for existence as Rock Stars – behind in favour of the iconism of modern music.

Shot in a darkened arena, a lot of this film is in shadow. Naturally, to a group attempting to divert attention to the music rather than their stage personas, this is very important. And it works well with clever lighting illuminating just the essentials of any given piece. That being said, the stage also lights up with myriad oddly shaped TV screens, a dynamic light show and even a dress (worn by a guest singer in Annette Strean) made of strip lighting. This is one of the most dynamic moments of the film too, in which the BMG perform their Rock Concert Movement of paying tribute to other bands that paved the way. Devo and Blondie get a very nice homage treatment here, but for the most part this is all entirely original music delivered in exacting style by state-of-the-art recording technology.

Audiowise, what could be a better choice than Dolby Digital 5.1 surround or DTS 5.1 surround? There’s also a Dolby stereo mix for those without the speaker array, which sounds fine, but it truly can’t compete with the two other mixes. Both are clean and have been split-up brilliantly to make full use of the surround base and this works well with the constant percussive nature of the performance. If you ever wanted to show off the quality a DVD can deliver, you couldn’t really do much better than this set up. The subwoofer is in constant use and barely rests for a moment as it ably supports the depth of the musical range here.

Dialogue too, though there isn’t a lot, is lent voice by the aforementioned disembodied voice of Todd Perlmutter, and this is robotically clear and subtly accented. Guest singers appear in Venus Hum (of which Annette Strean is lead singer) and Tracy Bonham and they work well with the already swollen stage of up to eight band members (which includes three drummers on top of the Blue Men percussion).

As far as extras go there are some nicely animated and subtly intelligent maps to guide us about the disc with a full map given on the main menu. There are a couple of shorter video and audio bits available which includes About the DVD, Credits and three music videos for recent song releases of Sing Along, The Current and Exhibit 13, the haunting soliloquy to September 11. The three clips are fairly grainy and are the full versions either seen or unseen in the live show and played on TV video clip shows. Sadly, these are only in Dolby Digital stereo.

Flip the disc over and we get three remastered tracks from the new album The Complex specially split up for the surround speakers of a DVD player. These sound crystal clear again and are delivered in the choices of Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital stereo. These are accompanied by stills from the main feature on the reverse and are essentially designed as gift tracks from the album.

While parts of the live performance may find people having seizures with so many flashing lights, other parts are in near darkness. Naturally, this couldn’t compare to what is obviously a massive rock spectacle in the flesh, but this DVD is about as near as one could get without being there. I found myself hooked after the very first song and mesmerised by this amazing (mis)use of urban artefacts to create amazing music. You will need to be dead to not be moved into at least tapping your foot along here, but the visual spectacular is also a volatile treat.

From such humble beginnings in my mind, as computer salesmen and Simpsons gag stock, the Blue Man Group instantly grabbed me and made me a fan. This goes beyond much of the Rock Experience you will be used to, as there is not a moment’s narcissism here, but instead a kick-arse rock concert of epic proportions.

Thoroughly and highly recommended for any true lover of true music.