On 20th and 21st of December 1980, Dire Straits played at the Rainbow Theatre, London. Both nights were recorded for broadcasting on BBC2 television. Cameras were on hand to film the return of Dire Straits from their triumphant 1980 Brothers in Arms world tour. The film features a superb concert they played and band members talk about their music and the pressures and the consequences of success. Rehearsals took place at the Whood Wharf studio in London as well, between March 4-7, 1980, as well as interviews Less than a year later, before the recording sessions for ‘Making Movies’ ended (after Mark admitted that he wished they would continue indefinitely), David would leave the band, never to return.
The film is a intimate diary of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of Britain, chronicling reactions as his tunes caught the nation off-guard, but ultimately won him critical acclaim and worldwide fame and fortune. Featuring interviews with various Sixties cult figures, including the man himself, his then-girlfriend Joan Baez and poet Allen Ginsberg.
Andrew Graham-Dixon continues his exploration of German art by looking at the tumultuous 19th and early 20th centuries, and how artists were at the forefront of Germany's drive to become a single nation. Andrew travels to the north and the coastal town of Griefswald, the birthplace of Caspar David Friedrich, the most influential of the German Romantics, to discover how the Baltic coast impacted his mysterious paintings of the German landscape. He also visits Berlin and explores the art of the powerful Prussian state, which would spearhead the unification of Germany in 1871. The episode ends with the outbreak of World War I and the attempts of the artists Franz Marc and Otto Dix to rationalise the catastrophic experiences of the world's first technological war, a war driven by the Prussian innovations.
Without doubt, the Eagles are one of the all-time biggest acts in popular music since the dawn of the rock'n'roll era. The band's roots go back to their role as defining artists in the phenomenally popular Southern California rock scene of the '70s, a decade in which they delivered four consecutive #1 albums. Their momentous 2004 farewell tour filled stadiums around the world, and this series captures one of the most stellar events from that now-historic global sweep. It was filmed in Melbourne, Australia at the Rod Laver Arena on November 14, 15 and 17, 2004.
Thirty songs over two and a half hours, with fine performances, great sound, and good visual direction: it's all here on this series. At one point, the veteran band seemed unlikely to even make it to the new millennium, but here they are, mostly intact, with a string of hits dating back more than three decades. The majority of them are performed here, from the earliest ('Take It Easy,' 'Desperado,' 'Peaceful Easy Feeling') through 'Hotel California' and 'Life in the Fast Lane' and right up to 'Love Will Keep Us Alive'.
The live concert also contain hits from Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Joe Walsh's solo careers, and a few new songs as well, including Walsh's 'One Day at a Time' and 'Hole in the World,' Frey and Henley's moving, almost gospel-tinged reaction to the events of 9/11/01. As for the somewhat cheeky title, well, there's always been a certain smugness to the Eagles' sense of humor, and it's no different this time, as Frey doesn't even pretend that there won't be a Farewell 2 Tour in the future. And why not? These are good songs, played beautifully by the quartet (plus supplemental musicians) to audiences that love them.
Rehearsals took place at the Whood Wharf studio in London as well, between March 4-7, 1980, as well as interviews Less than a year later, before the recording sessions for ‘Making Movies’ ended (after Mark admitted that he wished they would continue indefinitely), David would leave the band, never to return.