“Ted Nugent: Motor City Mayhem” Blu-ray Review
In recent years it seems as if Ted Nugent has become more popular for speaking his mind on political issues and being associated with guns, hunting and cowboy hats. This is completely ignoring his origins, however, as he started out as a musician and as this 2008, six thousandth show makes evident, this isn’t a man who has lost his knack for entertaining over the years. While he definitely has a very unique and choice group of fans and followers, there’s little denying that there’s a bit of a cult following surrounding Ted Nugent, what with his various nicknames and his opinions speaking louder than his music at times…but no matter which way you cut it, seeing him perform is a sight to see.
Synopsis
July 4, 2008 was a landmark night at the DTE Energy Music Centre in the 40+ year touring career of Detroit’s own Ted Nugent, as he performed his 6,000th show to a raucous hometown crowd. For the 20,000+ that attended, this show was an affirmation that a Ted Nugent show is not just a show…it is a celebration. A celebration of life, a celebration of Motor City rock n’ roll and, on this night, a celebration of over 40 years of touring to all corners of the Earth.
Ted Nugent…well, what can I say about him? His name is more famous than his music (think real hard for awhile and, unless you’re a fan, you won’t even be able to name a single famous song he’s done), but his stage presence is certainly formidable. I’d never heard the man’s songs and only seen him in his random television appearances so I didn’t exactly make myself familiar with his works prior to watching the concert, I just knew of his reputation more than anything. Still, it was an interesting session to sit down and check this concert out and although I’m a fan of the rock genre, this music really kind of floats in between areas of the genre that I don’t particularly enjoy…but, man, that Star Spangled Banner rendition really was quite a goose bump raiser at the very least.
Really it takes a fan to enjoy the music, as after just a few songs into this twenty-three song set, I began to almost tune it out. It all ran together; I have this issue with a lot of songs the first time I hear them, but considering this is supposed to be a kind of “overall / best of” style concert spanning the man’s career, I expected a little bit more variety…but was kind of surprised by just how…well, the same it all sounded. I suppose it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since I’m not a fan of his (after all, anyone who listens to Metallica will think it sounds the same…whereas I’ve listened to it so much I can pick it all out).
Tracks include:
01) Ted Nugent Intro
02) Star Spangled Banner
03) Motor City Madhouse
04) Wango Tango
05) Free For All
06) Stormtroopin
07) Dog Eat Dog
08) Need You Bad
09) Weekend Warrior
10) Love Grenade
11) Honky Tonk
12) Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
13) Bo Diddley / Lay With Me
14) Baby Please Don’t Go
15) Geronimo And Me
16) Jenny Take A Ride
17) Soul Man
18) Hey Baby
19) Cat Scratch Fever
20) Stranglehold
21) Great White Buffalo
22) Fred Bear
23) Outro
Overall this is a solid and Recommended concert for fans, but if you aren’t already familiar with the Nuge, then you won’t really enjoy this concert a whole lot; like I said, I knew him from reputation but not from music and the music, while certainly powerful and entertaining, just didn’t do a whole lot for me.
The Blu-ray
Eagle Rock Entertainment has unleashed Motor City Mayhem in a standard Elite Blu-ray case set with a double sided insert advertising other Nugent goodies. The disc art is appropriately cheesy looking, while a two-page booklet serves as our only extra that is written (I assume, anyway) by Ted Nugent. His writing style is interesting, as he tends to go on with…well, I don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s interesting.
Video arrives in the form of an AVC encoded 1080i transfer and, as can be expected with a production that’s less than a year old, it looks pretty damn good. Why it wasn’t recorded in 1080p since it was just done last year I don’t know, but in any case it looks nice and clean from start to finish. The usual selection of LPCM Stereo, DD5.1, and DTS-HD Master Audio is included as well, although, as usual, the Master Audio mix takes priority over the others as it has the cleanest sounding track. They all sound fantastic, but the DTS-HD edges out the others if you have a surround set up; otherwise the LPCM is very, very solid for a stereo outing (and also very loud).
There are no extras aside from the aforementioned two-page booklet.
Overall a decent release but strictly for fans only.
Ted Nugent – Motor City Mayhem is now available on Blu-ray.