After watching the whole thing several times now I think it's kinda bitter/sweet...
The documentary - which was the thing I was looking forward to seeing most - wasn't as good as the previous two. I did like the the focus on Somewhere in Time, I loved the humour with regards to the stage clothes, shell suits and Spinal Tap-esque set etc and it was graet to see a bit of footage from 86-87. But surely it could have had more content?! More from Martin Birch. More from Ross Halfin. Clips of the Adrian demo's he talked about. Nice to hear from Rod about the SIT cover but get Derek Riggs to go through it. I know he's a bit odd and they don't use him any more but if you're going to do something, do it properly. It all seemed a bit half arsed. More amusing than the previous 2 but not informative enough. And who the hell put the whole thing together? A 14 year old kid on Powerpoint? The small screens, that grainy film effect, the way the album covers were depicted. Seriously, really poor. The Early Days DVD, which is nearly 10 years old now, looks better than that! This era of my favourite band merits so much more...
As for the concert... I remember getting this video for Christmas in 1989 and it was the best present I ever had. I wore the thing out. In hindsight, I honestly think the way it was shot falls short of the mark. I would much rather see the whole thing done the way Jim Yukich shot LAD. I know I'm in a minority but Donington 88 was the moment to capture that tour. A never-to-be-repeated moment. Donington 92 was shot in a more interesting concept, but the material, the overall performance and the lack of Adrian killed all that... Someone said earlier on the Forum that Bruce sounds dodgy on Donington 88. His voice on Run to the Hills on the unreleased encores is far worse than anything on the Donington 88 recording.
And that's my era done... As for Janick, Blaze and the lack of Mr Smith, whatever they throw out for that period will do nothing but depress me...
*cranks up Live After Death, and shakes head in slight disappointment*...