The Doors: Live at the Bowl '68 (2012)

Fantastic!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the greatest concert films - a mesmerizing performance.A truly brilliant concert, expertly captured on film. The Doors' performances were notorious for Jim Morrison being drunk and/or stoned, and behaving in erratic, even provocative, fashion. Here he absolutely captivates the audience with a blend of theatrics, lyrics and cool calm menace. He is in control of everything and everyone throughout.Backing the incredible stage presence of Morrison is some musicianship of the highest order. The camera and microphones capture well the sheer brilliance of Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore. While Morrison supplies the darkness and thought, the other three provide the light, craft and rock.There's a sense of something big, magnificent and important in progress all the way through. This is as much a visual experience as an audio one - you can't look away.

A concert can't get a lot more epic than this one, plus it's accompanied by a pretty interesting registration. They could have gone for the classic, no nonsense, nearly East-German approach, but I think there's a fair amount of style in it. I especially like the slow-motion which gives it that temporary feel, it captures the idea that the band in this line-up isn't around anymore. The music is great, obviously. From the first note to well, the credits, this is brilliant material. Best version of "Alabama Song" I've ever heard. Best version of "Light My Fire" I've ever heard. Best version of "Five To One" I've ever heard. I might as well go with the entire setlist. That rendition of "The End" is really something special, a rock meets poetry affair I was quite into. Amazing performance.

To see a complete concert from the Doors is like taking a wild trip into a different frame of mind in rock and roll, when you could see just about anything on stage creatively. This concert, from 1968 in Hollywood, is the band in their utmost prime. With the Doors you get the strange, overpowering presence and lead-man power of Jim Morrison, who gets in such a frame of mind during his sets one wonders if he puts himself in a trance (or maybe not- before 'The End' plays, he tries to tell the lighting people to fix something, and it becomes a little comical). Bottom line is that the concert features the best of the Doors live, and for especially the more blues-driven rock fans, there are some great numbers of 'Alabama Song', 'Back Door Man', and 'Five to One'. But mostly, and this was the pleasure for me, the highlights include the longer songs- the slow, pulsating 'When the Music's Over', the classic hit 'Light my Fire' (as many times as I've heard it on the radio, it never gets old live), 'The End' being one of the Doors most notorious and beautiful epics, and their most stream-of-consciousness work 'Celebration of the Lizard' which has the distinction of having Morrison's poetry overcoming the rock parts of the song. Basically, it's one of the purest rock concert videos out there, and it may even turn on some casual observers of the Doors to check out more of the non-radio stuff like 'Lizard' and 'Spanish Caravan'. A+

The Doors' concert at the Hollywood Bowl was very easily one of their finest moments. This performance was once thought to have been lost but I for one am very grateful that it was discovered and released on video for all their fans to see because it's an awesome showcase of the Doors captivating their audience as only they knew how. Most definitely a must have for any fan.