Reviewed December 18, 2007
Nelly Furtado: Loose The Concert
by Ron Hollywood

Produced by Nelly Furtado, Chad Smith, and Phoebe Salvador

running time 1:36min

directed by Raphael Ouellet
Here’s the first ever live Nelly Furtado recording. It comes as a two disc DVD/Cd combo pack which gives you a great front row seat to her Loose Tour. I say that because there are some great camera angles and shots from the front row. Director Raphael Oullett has done a great job and capturing this show in it’s finest moments. Opening with Say It Right is an odd choice because it’s a hit but lacks the energy of a more upbeat number. Powerless is grooving with nice audience participation as does an acoustic cover of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy. It’s the 80’s Madonna sounding Do It that really kicks things off and might have been a better opening song. Nelly and her dancers move around the stage or up and down the mid stage stairs. One thing remains constant throughout and that’s the ranging beauty in her voice especially with In God’s Hands or Try. It’s a show that really has it’s highlights in the last half hour or so. The song and stage energy on Forca and Promiscuous are worth watching over and over.

Nelly gives plenty of credit to her band and dancers which is really nice to see especially since they are a tight band. Rapper Saukrates is a great MC and his onstage presence is more of a front man than a background musician. One of the DVD highlights is Party where Nelly and drummer extraordinaire, Dave Langguth, have some fun and let loose on a drum/vocal duet. This is surely missed on the CD. Make sure to check out our interview section with a full Dave Langguth interview.

Not too sure how I feel about Nelly on guitar either. I must admit I liked her playing electric on the opening of Maneater over the acoustic on All Good Things (Come To An End). Her guitar on Maneater is unfortunately edited out on the Cd. There is also a very different reworking of her hit I’m Like A Bird.

There are some mistakes on the packaging that should be addressed. The DVD track listing has 17 songs listed but on your DVD there are 18. Track 1 is listed as Afraid, 2 as Say It Right, however on the DVD itself Afraid and Say It Right are combined as track 1. On the DVD Do It and Wait For You are one track as a medley but on the Cd these two songs are seperate tracks. On the DVD track listing it reads Glow / Heart Of Glass, but on the Cd it’s only listed as Glow, but the Medley of Heart Of Glass is actually there. So if a fan looks to but just the Cd and sees no Heart Of Glass they could be deterred from it. Especially if they see it listed on DVD.

On the Cd there are some interesting song choices and omissions. Showtime works great on the DVD because dancers Natali Reznik and Rodney C. Morgan do some great ballerina style dancing while Joel Joseph plays a piano intro. At least it’s interesting to watch, but on Cd it seems to get boring quickly without the visuals. Whereas the DVD is from the Toronto show at Air Canada Center, the Cd is from various locations like Oakland and New York City. One thing that is the same on both DVD and cd is the excellent audio sound in the ‘live’ context of things.

World Tour documentary Directed by Aaron A 30 min
Here is a black and white documentary all about the Loose tour. before the opening night in London we see Nelly talking with the band about adding a cover or more slower songs to the set. When she gives a tour of her bus as she explains exactly what the show is all about in regards to playing her hits and songs from Loose. She mentions how it’s a perfect length and fun show and that it is. She gives an emotional speech in Victoria B.C. on Nelly Furtado day.

There are plenty of fun backstage hijinks that continue to emphasize how much fun the tour is even off stage. This includes Nelly dressed up as an alter ego Tia Maria and sneaking backstage where security kick her out totally unaware it’s Nelly herself. it ends with a comedic sketch where Nelly receives a call from her manager asking for a sexy song. She dreams up a kooky video reminiscent of Dee-Lite for Promiscumess (that’s no spelling error).

This is available in 3 formats as a single DVD, single Cd, or the limited edition DVD/Cd combo. Go for the package if you can.

DVD listing
1. Afraid 1:27
2. Say It Right 4:08
3. Turn Off The Light 4:46
4. Powerless
5. Do It / Wait For You 8:02
6. Showtime 7:07
7. Crazy 4:03
8. In God’s Hands 4:39
9. Try 5:43
10. All Good things (Come To An End) 4:28
11. Give It To Me 2:53
12. I’m Like A Bird 5:22
13. Glow / Heart Of Glass 5:31
14. Forca 4:52
15. Promiscuous 6:21
16. Party / No Hay Igual 8:25
17. Maneater 7:51

Cd listing
1. Afraid 1:37
2. Say It Right 4:10
3. Do It 5:04
4. Wait For You 3:28
5. Showtime 7:48
6. All Good Things (Come to an End) 4:40
7. I’m Like A Bird 5:51
8. Glow (medley that includes “Heart of Glass”) 5:46
9. No Hay Igual 4:57
10. Promiscuous 6:56
11. Maneater 5:43

Visit nellyfurtado.com

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