Black Stone Cherry DVD – Thank You: Livin’ Live

The UK holds a special place in the hearts of Black Stone Cherry’s Chris Robertson, Jon Lawhon, John Fred Young and Ben Wells, for this is where everything really took off for them and within the UK, one place has always been extra special for them and that place is Birmingham. During the concert recorded at the LG Arena, Chris says that when the idea of the long awaited Black Stone Cherry DVD came about, there was only one place they wanted to film it and it is evident from the crowd’s full voiced participation on songs such as ‘Blind Man’, ‘In My Blood’ and ‘Things My Father Said’ why that was.

Seven years ago, Black Stone Cherry were playing the 400 capacity Birmingham Barfly, now they are playing to crowds twenty times the size. “I remember our first gig headlining in Birmingham at the Barfly and I thought about that night many times as we were filming this DVD.  It was truly an amazing experience that we will cherish forever and we have to give all the credit to the amazing fans for showing up and making it all possible!” says Chris.

The DVD was filmed in high definition using it seems, hand held digital SLR cameras with a fast manual zoom, rather than larger video cameras which produce steady slow zooms, there are unsteady shots and snippets of film that a more polished DVD would have sent to the virtual cutting room floor. Whilst this may not appeal to everyone in terms of style, it gives a raw feeling to the footage and makes you feel as if you are in the front row watching the show, which is exactly what a live music DVD should do.

The cameras placed around John Fred bring a new unseen side of his playing to the fans during the concert. You see the road crew holding parts of the kit down as he launches into a drumming frenzy or the well-practised relationship he has with the roadie controlling his microphone, swinging it in for his backing vocal lines and then away again so that it does not become collateral damage from his drumming.

You see the concert in its entirety without being peppered with backstage footage, as is often the case in music DVD’s. It shows the relentless drive these four guys have for 90 minutes, they rarely stop and there is little talking, but when they do it is evidently heartfelt, we see Chris choke back tears as he tries to convey to the Birmingham audience how it feels for the four of them to be stood on that stage “Holy shit man, look at ya!…This whole experience is a complete dream come true.”

For those who have seen Black Stone Cherry in concert before, you’ll find the concert contains all your expected tracks from the killer opening of ‘Rain Wizard’ on a journey with ‘Mary Jane’ and a ‘White Trash Millionaire’ for some ‘Bad Luck and Hard Love’ through ‘Hell and High Water’ and ’Soul Creek’ on a ‘Lonely Train’. For those who have never seen them live it is a wonderful collection of tracks selected from each album, in their best live form, especially Black Stone Cherry classic ‘Peace is Free’.

The DVD also features interviews and additional live footage from when they headlined the second stage at Download Festival this year.

‘Thank You: Livin’ Live’ is a rocktastic way to show the rest of the world what Black Stone Cherry mean to UK rock fans and what the UK means to four guys from Kentucky. Jon said “We’ve worked very hard on putting all of this together for everyone and it was the crowd that made this a night we will not soon forget.” The fans are the be all and end all for Black Stone Cherry, especially those who have been with them from the club gig days and this DVD encapsulates that brilliantly.

Track Listing: Rain Wizard, Blind Man, Me & Mary Jane, In My Blood, Holding On…To Letting Go, Maybe Someday, Such A Shame, Things My Father Said, Fiesta Del Fuego, Sunshine Of Your Love, Like I Roll, Bad Luck And Hard Love, *drum solo*, Hollywood In Kentucky, Hell And High Water, Soul Creek, White Trash Millionaire, Blame It On The Boom Boom, Layla, Peace Is Free, Lonely Train.

The DVD/CD comes in numerous packages available via www.blackstonecherry.com and is released on 30^th October 2015.