Roy Orbison: Live from Australia 1972

I attended with my sister and it was a great concert, his voice was mesmerizing even in an awful metal building that was normally used for boxing fights. He was warm and engaging and hit all those fantastic high notes of his originals as well as covering popular hit songs from other entertainers. We all went home satisfied. His early death was a sad loss for all of us.

This is a great performance by Roy Orbison at the Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 3rd 1972. The footage is quite old but it still looks beautifully restored. Lots of classics such as "Only the lonely" and "Running scared" along with rarities like "Bridge over troubled waters" and "Sweet caroline". The DVD also has good special features including a gallery of Roy relaxing and performing at the festival hall, interview with the band which has lots of interesting stories on the road being with Roy, and digital restoration comparison showing how much better the remastered footage looks. This is a must have for your Roy Orbison or DVD collection.

Roy Orbison: Live from Australia 1972 (2005)

*** (out of 4)

October 3, 1972 had Roy Orbison hitting The Festival Hall in Melbourne backed by his band as well as an orchestra. This was part of a four month tour with this show being squeezed in the middle and featuring some rather rare songs performed by the legend. The classics like "Only the Lonely", "Crying", "Dream Baby", "In Dreams", "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "It's Over" are on display but we also get quite a few covers including "Too Soon to Know", "Blue Bayou" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". I'm not an expert when it comes to Orbison so I had to do some reading before watching this and as I expected many fans and experts look at this as a changing period for singer/songwriter. I was curious as to why a great songwriter like him would be doing so many covers and apparently this tour was an attempt to bring in a new audience like what had happened with Elvis in his later days. Does it work? In a way it does. There's no doubt the highlights are the beautiful classics with "Only the Lonely" still sending chills down my spine no matter how many times I listen to it. Orbison's voice is excellent throughout the show and he give a very good performance so there's no fear on that part. The strange thing is seeing (and hearing) him do all these covers, some of which he nails while others come off pretty bad. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is a great song but I can't say Roy handles it too well.

This is yet another in a series of recycled concerts that the family of Roy have released in recent years to cash in on his legacy.

This concert is basically a really poor quality kinescope of a TV-broadcast Australian concert.

The songs of course asre good for the most part. You've heard them all. The sound is acceptable. But the video is a really bad black and white digitized piece of garbage.