Van Der Graaf Generator - 2005-11-05 - Leverkusen, DE (2xDVDfull pro-shot)

(2xDVDfull pro-shot)

WDR Rockpalast

Date: 5. November 2005
City: Leverkusen, Germany
Location: Forum (as part of a Jazz-Festival)

Broadcast date complete concert: 19. August 2007
Broadcast date edited concert (on disc 2): 16. January 2006
Lineage: Astra 19.2E satellite: WDR German TV ('WDR Test A' for the complete version) -> Technotrend dvb-s2 pci card -> ts transport stream -> pvastrumento 2.10.17 -> mpeg2schnitt -> DVD authoring

This is a lossless dvb-s recording. What you get is EXACTLY what was broadcasted over Astra 19.2E satellite. DON'T BE FOOLED by the filesize of a re-encoded standalone DVD-recorder!

TV Format: PAL (720x576) 25 fps
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 & mpeg stereo (edited version on disc 2 only mpeg stereo)
Bitrate video: complete concert about 7,7 mbps - edited version about 3,633 mpbs
Bitrate audio: DD 2.0 track 448 kbps - mpeg stereo track 192 kbps

DVDs include artwork, menus and are fully indexed.

Tracks:
Complete Concert (104:25 Mins.):

Peter Hammill: vocals, guitar, keyboards
David Jackson, saxophones, flute
Hugh Banton: organ, bass
Guy Evans: drums

DVD1:
01 - The Undercover Man
02 - Scorched Earth
03 - Every Bloody Emperor
04 - Lemmings
05 - Darkness
06 - Childlike Faith In Childhood's End
07 - The Sleepwalkers
08 - Nutter Alert

DVD2:
01 - Man-Erg
02 - Killer
03 - Wondering

Concert Short Version (58:59 Mins.):
04 - Darkness
05 - Interview
06 - The Sleepwalkers
07 - Every Bloody Emperor
08 - Interview
09 - Man-Erg
10 - Killer
11 - Lemmings


As the location is only 3 miles away from my home, I went to this show after I have been thrilled by the re-union show I went to in Amsterdam a few months earlier. As I knew that this day of the Leverkusener Jazzfestival was presented by "Rockpalast", I expected that the show would be recorded for a later broadcast.

I think I don't have to spend much time on the music. This show is a perfect concert (both musically and technical in the sense of picture and sound quality) of the 2005 VDGG reunion line-up. This is a must have not only if you're a VDGG fan. There was the speak of releasing this show officially a while ago, but it seems that these plans are cancelled.

An edited version of this concert (about 59 minutes) was broadcast on WDR, 16. January 2006. It had 6 tracks, plus 2 portions of an interview with Peter Hammill. You'll find this version on Disc 2.

Finally, on 19. August 2007, the complete show was broadcasted on WDR. In the meantime there's a 'WDR Test A' station on Astra 19.2E, which carries exactly the WDR program, but has a Dolby Digital audio track in 448 kbps and most of the time a much much higher bitrate. The result is a perfect picture and a bitrate over 7 mbps. So without doubt, this DVD provides the best SD quality of this show that you can find.

I included the mpeg stereo audio stream as well (you can choose audio in the menu), there's also a second mpeg audio stream included (not reachable through menu), while I don't know how and if it differs to the other ones - there was space for it left on the DVD anyway ;-).

The first aired edited version of the concert is included in this torrent (on Disc 2) mainly for the interview portions. But also -because of the high bitrate of the complete broadcast- I had to split the complete show onto two DVDs and there was place for the edited broadcast on Disc 2. You see that I'm kind of a completist ;-). Sorry for those of you with a slow connection.