Live in Dallas, TX 2002

The options are watching the show in its entirety (“PLAY ALL”), chosing a specific song (“SONGS”), checking out bonus material (“BONUS”) and adjusting the audio (“AUDIO”). You’re most likely going to go for “PLAY ALL” first or you may even go to "AUDIO" first. "AUDIO" has 3 options, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 and DTS 5.1. I'm not a major audiophile. If you are an audiophile, choose the best audio option that you find perfect. The show starts off showing the Superjoint Ritual banner that’s on stage at the venue in Dallas, Texas. The venue is a bit dark with the audience cheering, you get a view of the audience with light for a second. The audience seem to be quite energetic and pumped up seeing SJR. At times, you will see how the crowd interacts to the music being performed live. The audience happens to be having a good old time in the mosh pit and then you’ll see some crowd surfing as well. The audience is definitely happy seeing Superjoint Ritual. My guess is a lot of fans were there for Phil Anselmo due to him being Pantera.

Anselmo makes a quick introduction by stating his band’s name, also says “goddamit” as well and then the band get into the first song in their setlist (which happens to be It Takes No Guts from Use Once and Destroy, the first full-length album). SJR happens to be energetic while they perform the first song on the setlist and all of the other songs they perform live All of the songs they perform are from the first full-length album, no covers or any older songs. The band is definitely in the zone as they perform their fast-paced modern crossover songs. There are some certain songs that incorporate sludge, they have slow parts and they sound ultra heavy like on Superjoint Ritual and 4 Songs. I would call these performances as ultra heavy sludge metal. They sound so disgustingly heavy while performed live, slightly different from the way they are performed on the recordings.

Everything sounds fantastic. The band’s instruments are in tune and they sound clear. Everything sounds balanced. The instruments are loud enough and one instrument doesn’t overpower other instruments. Vocals are loud enough as well. The band is headbanging while they perform up on the stage. Anselmo even headbangs too and he had hair at this point in time. That’s fantastic, I love it when bands are energetic and they’re banging their heads while performing on stage. Audience members are banging their heads too, you can see that when the camera shows the audience members. III (Hank Williams III) really knows how to headbang and he’s the best one headbanging on stage. He’s the grand son of a big time country man and I’m sure his grandfather would be proud of his grand son performing in a metal band. Awesome stage presence from the rest of the members of the band. The audience members are pumped up while SJR is performing live and you can tell when the camera points to the audience members.

In between the songs, members talk about the history of SJR. Interesting and informative to those who don’t know the band well. I’m sure back when this DVD was new, many new fans learned a great deal about the band. For the diehard fans who knew SJR before their first full-length, they might have known already. I know I learned a lot when I watched it for the first for the time since I was only more familiar with Pantera at the time. As time went by, I actually liked SJR much more than Pantera thanks to this DVD and then the second full-length album that was released a year after this DVD.

It sounds like they practiced is extremely well before they performed this show. You can definitely tell since the songs they perform sound the way they do on the first full-length album. I personally like it when the band sounds different live. SJR doesn’t sound different when they perform live. Bad? No, I personally don’t find it an issue at all. There’s some little differences here and there as you watch & listen to SJR performing live.

Can’t get enough of this DVD? There’s bonus material, but only three things. There’s two music videos, The Alcoholik music video and Fuck Your Enemy music video. The third thing in the bonus stuff are photos. There’s a couple of photos you might be familiar with, but then there’s some photos you’ve probably never seen before. The music video for The Alcoholik is probably the best music video found in the bonus material. They put in a lot of effort with a lot going on. It shows a guy who is an alcohol maniac and his world is crazy as an alcoholic. It’s quite brilliant. It shows the band playing at times.

The music for Fuck Your Enemy is not that great. It’s shows the band performing the song and it’s shot in black and white. Not too much going on. You only see the band performing. It’s an awesome song that’s action packed and full of energy. I enjoyed this DVD the first time I watched it. I never got to see Superjoint Ritual live in person, but I did see them live as Superjoint (without Ritual in their name) a decade after this DVD was released. For the SJR fans who never watched this DVD, I totally recommend you watch it. You will not be disappointed. Want to watch a good sludge/crossover band perform live? You may want to check out this DVD.