DESCRIPTION:
While Swedish band The Hellacopters are best-selling artists in Scandinavia, they're only a moderately successful cult act in the United States, and this documentary was filmed during the last ten days of their 2002 US tour - around the time when their fourth full-length album High Visibility was released. By consequence, Goodnight Cleveland offers nothing of the material that makes up so many rock 'n' roll DVD's: excess, wild parties, fireworks, boredom, practical jokes, hotel room thrashings, make-up and other nonsense. It's not an account of how a band triumphantly conquers a new continent, nor is it a diary capturing the wide-eyed disbelief of a bunch of rookies in awe of the birthplace of rock 'n' roll. If anything, this DVD is so normal, so humble and down-to-earth that it almost comes as a shock. What you get instead of the grand hubbub is the story of five guys that are happy to get the opportunity to play overseas and try to make the best of it - and the camera crew basically captured them while travelling, checking the sound, checking into hotels, playing live, hooking up with fans and doing interviews. The footage feels very improvised, but is nicely shot and the sound of the live shows is quite excellent. Because it's so unpretentious, there are no surprising revelations (except for the one tart showing her breasts backstage after a show) and no cheap gimmicks that detract from the main thing: the music. "No Song Unheard," "(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!," "Soulseller" and several other songs are delivered with style and energy, which has several fans claim the band does their kind of stuff better than their American contemporaries (and the band shrugs their shoulders). If there's one random "highlight" that cannot be missed it's the embarrassment of guitar players Nick Royale ("This just doesn't feel right...") and Robert "Strings" Eriksson during a photo shoot for Guitar World magazine. At roughly 45 minutes, the documentary is frustratingly short, but this is partially made up for by 70 minutes of bonus footage (most of it live), with the footage recorded during their last show (in New York) serving as the 30-minute highlight, the jam with Detroit rock legend Scott Morgan being a nice bonus. Finally, the DVD also includes lo-fi footage of a few of their earliest gigs - when they were much less disciplined - and a Swedish festival appearance, with the band playing a messy cover of "Search & Destroy" with The Hives' Pelle Almqvist on vocals.
It ain't no Spinal Tap, but Goodnight Cleveland is a pure refreshment after you've had enough of the self-indulgent, overproduced and over-hyped drivel that's often sold as the real deal nowadays. And I'm really not a cynic