Put three of Australia's vocal talents in the same room together, sell tickets for a packed audience and then get them to perform their greatest hits and you've got a recipe for an excellent show. John "I sacked my cleaning lady" Farnham, Olivia "I shagged Travolta" Newton-John and Anthony "this acid is burning my face" Warlow are those select three that have stood the supposed test of time.
With each singer performing their own signature songs with a supporting orchestral score and then providing duets amongst each other it is a collection of favourites that should keep any and all fans entertained for more than two hours. Having Farnham and Warlow sing a duet of You've Lost That Loving Feeling is 'interesting' to say the least. Fortunately Olivia turns up in the second verse to help rectify the scariness factor.
The track listing is as follows:
Opening
- Overture
- Age Of Reason
- Phantom Of The Opera
- A Little More Love
- Age Of Reason
Anthony
- Prologue
- Music Of The Night
- What Kind Of Fool Am I / World On A String/ I've Got You Under My Skin
- This Is The Moment
Olivia
- Magic
- If You Love Me
- Precious Love
- Hopelessly Devoted To You
John
- That's Freedom
- And I Love Her
- Burn For You
- Everytime You Cry
- Have A Little Faith
Olivia
- Don't Cry For Me Argentina
Olivia And John
- Please Don't Ask Me
- You're The One That I Want
- Two Strong Hearts
Olivia And Anthony
- Not Gonna Give In To It
- The Long And Winding Road
- Country Road
- I Honestly Love You
- Love Is A Gift
John And Anthony
- Help
- That's Life / Bad Habits
- Granada
Finale
- You've Lost That Loving Feeling
- Summer Nights
- If Not For You
- Let Me Be There
- Touch Of Paradise
- Raindrops
- Banks Of The Ohio
- Jolene
- Hearts On Fire
- Don't You Know It's Magic
Encore
- You're The Voice
Special Bonus
- Backstage At The Main Event
The concert was recorded live at Melbourne Park, Victoria on December 8th, 1998.
Produced for television and video, this DVD captures the performance exceptionally well and is going to look better than any TV broadcast or VHS version. The full frame transfer renders beautifully onto DVD with rich colours provided by the extravagant stage lighting - reds, blues and whites being your typical fare. Blacks are superb, sharpness and detail produce a very clean image and video noise is limited if there's any present at all. This has to be one of the better video sources transferred to DVD of late.
On the audio side, Roadshow has given us a 5.1 mix of the event in both Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks with both sounding exceptional and truly capturing the event. Vocals for all three singers are excellent to listen to and the forty piece orchestra is a great way to backup these talents. My preference leans toward the DTS soundtrack, which shines in its richness and range whereas the Dolby track seems a little harsher in the higher end of the frequency spectrum.
Extras-wise we are given a behind the scenes chapter where the three provide semi-interviews, showcase their off stage antics and mingle with other great singers such as Kylie Minogue and Michael Crawford.
One for the fans, and one that will keep them happy.
