Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night

I had the honor of touring with Roy Orbison as a roadie way back in 1980. He had just won a Grammy for "That Loving You Feeling Again" and was touring to promote it. After being on the road for 6 weeks with him, I developed a true love of his music. His vocal range was amazing. He would drink iced Grand Marnier out of a silver goblet onstage. He said it helped his voice.

As an amateur musician, I truly appreciate great music, and this was one of the best hours of television I've ever seen. Everyone was great, especially Roy, Bruce and the other guitar players and musicians. I especially liked Jennifer Warnes, K.D., and Bonnie as backup singers.

To sum it up- a truly inspiring hour of music and a tribute to Roy, who passed away way too young. There should be more shows of this caliber- TV would be a better place.

I couldn't help but comment on "nonconformist's" comments. For a concert video the editing was not that bad. But his slams on "has-beens" is awful. Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raite, KD Lang, Jennifer Warnes, JD Souther are NOT has-beens. They are treasures who are still making great music. His crack about Springsteen's overbite was just plain mean. His comment about the "has-beens almost faking orgasms" is just plain stupid. These folks are obviously enjoying jamming with a legend, Roy Orbison. If you don't enjoy the performance you should keep quiet and not show your ignorance and mean spirit.

As for Brian Greenhalgh's complaint about the sound being out of sync...was this a legitimate purchase or more likely an illegal copy? If so you have no reason to complain. If legitimate you can exchange it.

In this concert Roy Orbison was surrounded by an aristocracy of stars in their own right from a younger generation. But almost completely self-effacing they were there to pay tribute to the master himself and to be present at the great occasion. And what an occasion it turned out to be. The world is familiar with Orbison's classic songs recorded from 1960 onwards and most remember how he then sang them. The surprise was that at this, what was to be his last, concert he brought enhanced interpretations to his established classics There was more expression, sometimes in places more power and real unexpected drama. The climax at the end of Running Scared was absolutely electrifying. All participants paid verbal tribute in their own ways to Orbison in pieces to camera at the end. k d lang said it best: Orbison didn't sing songs, he sang epics. Of all that younger generation she was perhaps best placed to make that judgement.

The local PBS station just showed this gem for its infernal pledge drive. What a find! The audio is great and the band is very tight. KD Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen -- quite a band, and about the same time the Traveling Wilburys were born. And a hell of a guitarist named James Burton puts all the instrumentalists to shame -- look up his pedigree.

Really strong performances from an all star band in a live performance, very nicely videoed in b&w.

Also fun to pick out the LA luminaries in the studio audience.

This REALLY needs to come out on DVD. Great stuff!

/rich