Filmed in front of a sold-out audience at Dalby Forest in Yorkshire (although selling out the whole forest is probably an exaggeration) the show is all good fun, even if it becomes strangely unsettling that every member of the audience knows every word to every song. The band are laid back and badly dressed – they have nothing to prove and make very little effort to prove anything at all. That’s not to say the performance is cold, but until the very end when Paul Heaton and Co. really get into it that there’s any sense of excitement except in the aforementioned fanatical sing-along audience.

All the songs you’d expect are here: ‘Perfect 10’, ‘Rotterdam’, ‘You Keep It All In’ and the superbly sarcastic ‘Song For Whoever’. Despite the band not going in for much bopping about the stage, pyrotechnics or whatever, if you love these songs then you’ll really enjoy the performance. Two encores later and you’re done but for the features.

Which are rather sparse, but with music DVDs you take what you can get. The interview with Heaton is interesting in a nostalgic kind of way, although there’s not very much controversial or particularly exciting to see here. The Sound Test (is this a feature really?) is just that – the band play a song whilst smoking and showing even less zest than in the main show.

Well, another music DVD, another so-so review. There’s something very odd about the whole genre: you want the music, yes, but without being the crowd there’s always a sense that you’ve missed out on the atmosphere of the event, leaving you a little cold. Still, all those memories will come flooding back and you’ll find yourself singing along before you realise – The Beautiful South are a lovely little band and long may they remain.

(3½/5)

Release Date: 21 November 2005

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Live In The Forest

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