Until this...

This is, without question, the WORST excuse for a grey market Beatles rip-off I have EVER seen. There've been numerous knock-offs of this show for as long as there has been home video. Boot VHS, quasi-legit VHS, the "official" comps on "Anthology" and "First Vist"...I've seen them all.

But I have never, EVER seen anything this wretched.

The video "quality" of this is unbelievable. It's like a copy of a copy of a copy of a bad dub from someone's 25-year-old boot copy. I'll grant it that some nitwit has tweaked the audio to some degree, but visually this is virtually unwatchable.

Not to mention that the edits are ridiculous, it's not in order, two songs are missing...and I'm STILL being kind to it.

"Anthology" has most of this, in incredibly better quality (sadly, incomplete). If you own "Beatles First Visit" DVD or VHS, you've got a bit more. Heck, the Goodtimes DVD of "The Beatles Unauthorized" that you can find here is 250 times better than this.

I cannot believe how bad this is. I thought I'd seen it the worst, but as of today, the worst has hit a new low.

This concert is wonderful and historic - so get "Beatles Unauthorized" if you want most of it, and if you've got "Anthology" and/or "First Visit" you've got the best of it. But do not, under ANY circumstances, buy this DVD.


Warning!   November 29, 2004
mirrortime (Central, Oregon)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

This is one of the worst quality dvd's I've ever seen. The fact that The Beatles are on it is the only reason I made it through the thing 1 time. I realize that the grainy film can not be avoided and that's not what bothered me. It's the cheesey incidental music and "video" quality of the DVD. I'm sure you could find an original vhs that would look better than this.


Buyer Beware!   October 15, 2003
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

I just had a chance to review the Washington concert on DVD, and I was expecting the DVD to be mastered from the original master video from CBS, which does exist. Instead, it appears to have been mastered from a poor copy of a copy of the master film. Also, two songs from the original concert are missing. In my opinion, while this may be an okay gift for someone with a passing interest in The Beatles, any die-heart Beatles fan would be disappointed with this version of the concert.


Incompleat Beatles   October 13, 2003
T. G. Vellini (Beach Park Illinois Usa)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

While nice to finally own this document of the historic Washington D.C. Beatles concert on DVD I was disappointed. Why? Because it is not the complete concert for one thing. I have an old VHS copy of this event which contains the entire show. Missing from this DVD are both "Long Tall Sally" and "This Boy". And for me, "This Boy" is the highlight of the entire show. John Paul and George share a single microphone while harmonizing flawlessly under difficult conditions. (horrible noise, no monitors etc.) And when John belts out his solo vocal in the middle of the song the emotion and feeling is staggering. But for some reason this number was cut from this DVD. The DVD also chops up the show and sticks little interview bits between the numbers, often from years later with no connection to this show. So we also miss the frequent turning of Ringo's drum kit after every couple of songs. The interviews destroy the continuity of the show. The disc would have been better had the show gone on uninterrupted. Still, this is better than nothing, and it's all we've got for now. The trivia game section was fun and fairly well put together. (I never knew what John Lennon really wrote on that reporter's pad in "A Hard Day's Night" before...shocking!). The End.


DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!   October 15, 2003
20 out of 21 found this review helpful

THE AUDIO AND VIDEO OF THIS DVD IS TERRIBLE.
THE ONLY USE FOR THIS DVD IS AS A COASTER.
THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY VERSION IS OF MUCH HIGHER QUALITY.