The Doors: Live at the Hollywood Bowl

You cannot find a more incredible performance than this one from The Doors... the band pushes all barriers and breaks them down piece by piece, song by song. The energy of the band can be felt though your speakers as it creeps into your soul. Simply outstanding!

10/10

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+

Jim sang the songs and got off the stage. There was no interaction with the crowd, just listen to a cd. I have researched this and apparently Jim dropped acid before the performance which might explain it. Ozzy osbourne was asked about singing on acid and said it's impossible but then the grateful dead always did. I just thought it was lame at least when he was drunk he shouted at the crowd. He sings all his hits and a lot of important people were in the audience like mick jagger. If you want a doors dvd I recommend feast of friends filmed by the doors themselves which is a lot more exciting and dynamic in my view.

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.

Have loved The Doors since I was a teenager and still do, despite not enjoying this.

I don't think The Doors were ever known for truly magnificent live performances. This isn't one of them either. I'm surprised by many of the rave reviews about this. I can only imagine those reviewers had dropped even more acid than Jim Morrison. Perhaps that was half my problem. Having 10 years of sobriety perhaps isn't the best preparation heading into this.

But you shouldn't need to be whacked on drugs to enjoy good music. This just came across like a bunch of young, pretentious art students who had discovered acid over their summer break. Unconvincing in its delivery, The Doors more closely resemble a garage band jamming in their Mum's garage here. Occasionally they seem to remember they're performing in front of an audience, which is where the sudden, occasional wailing screams of Jim Morrison abruptly jolt our attention back.

I loved Hello I Love You, Alabama Song and Back Door Man. Light My Fire was alright too, despite Morrison's clear dislike of it. I was relieved when the rest of the show was over though, which is disappointing. I'll stick to playing their records in my bedroom instead.