I thought it was over, but it wasn't as there was much more to see...

Introduction

The Feeling appeared to come from nowhere. Releasing debut album Twelve Stops & Home in 2006, it appeared that The Feeling and their unabashed love of harmonious pop music had appeared overnight. Not so. Now hitting their thirties, the band learned their craft in Meribel, a ski resort town in the Alps, a cover band playing in bars. Consisting of Dan Gillespie Sells (vocals & guitar), Richard Jones (bass), Kevin Jeremiah (guitar), Ciaran Jeremiah (keyboards) and Paul Stewart (drums), The Feeling have hit a chord with music lovers, selling nearly a million copies of their debut and it's likely that the followup will have the same effect. The Feeling also won the 2007 Ivor Novello Award for Songwriters Of The Year.

Despite being packed to the gills, there are two main portions to this release. The first is a full 50 minute live performance from London's Porchester Hall where the band showcase songs from their new album (at the time) Join With Us as well as throwing in some old favourites for the crowd.



The second portion is a documentary that follows The Feeling as they revisit their roots in Meribel, the town were they learned their craft as a bar-playing covers band. Narrated in part by Keifer Sutherland (he seems to be a fan), this documentary shows the band as they travel to Meribel and play some secret gigs as an unknown band covering The Feeling (this cover doesn't last long…) and climaxing with a full blown concert in aid of a local charity.

Audio/Visual

Nothing to say about the picture, it's fine.

Mix of audio on this release. 5.1 Surround for the main concert, the rest is in 2.0 Stereo but that's also ok. It's big and loud whatever you're listening to.

Extras

More than you can shake a stick at…

Full live performances of Sewn, Never Be Lonely and Love It When You Call from the The Feeling On Ice documentary. These are contained outside of the documentary, which contains fragments of these tracks.

Acoustic version of I Thought It Was Over, filmed in Abbey Road's Studio 4.

V Festival performances of Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star, A-Ha's Take On Me and Love It When You Call

Behind The Scenes: Join With Us - epk for the 2008 album Join With Us

Promo video's for the following tracks: Sewn, Fill My Little World, Never Be Lonely, Love It When You Call, Rose, I Thought It Was Over, Without You, Turn It Up, Join With Us

Overall

I have to say that I love The Feeling. I only discovered them this year when I caught I Thought It Was Over on the radio, and oddly it was the little synth riff at the end that made me decide to check them out. Their second album Join With Us is superb and so I jumped at the chance to look at this. What I like about this band is that they're clearly having fun and want to make music as it was made in the 70's by the likes of Queen, ELO and Supertramp. That's rare in these days of super serious rock stars and cool indie bands. I'm pretty sure that this is at the heart of their appeal as well.

To be honest, I was not expecting to find so much on this DVD, it really is value for money and stuffed to the gills with lots of things. The Feeling are clearly a live band and thus there are more live performances than you can shake a stick at. There's clearly repetition, but not as much as you'd think. The acoustic version of I Think It's All Over from Abbey Road's Studio 4 strips the song down to Dan Gillespie Sells' vocals and piano playing (not just a guitarist…). The V Festival performances hark back to their cover band days with fantastic versions of Video Killed The Radio Star and Take On Me. Live they are a very tight unit and sound fantastic.



The Join With Us epk is a nice promo piece that accompanies and gives the backdrop to their latest album, while the documentary is a well made piece that gives you a real insight into the band.

For fans of the band, this is a must buy. There is just so much on here, it's worth much more than you'll be able to pick it up for and is an ideal present with Christmas just around the corner.

Recommended.