Sasha & John Digweed: Delta Heavy
System Recordings DVD

Essentially a tour diary, the Delta Heavy DVD documents Sasha and John Digweed's 2002 DJ tour throughout North America. No doubt the 85,000 people who attended the ambitious event in 31 arena-sized dates went home satisfied but the video itself may only thrill diehards eager for a tour memento. The footage tracks the DJs and crew as they present shows in various cities (Miami, Austin, etc.) and travel by bus from one gig to the next. We see adoring fans await their heroes' arrival outside the venue and then surrender to sweaty, fist-pumping abandon during the show, watch Digweed body-surf, and witness the DJs treating the crew to dinner. Yep, it's a lovefest all around and certainly Sasha and Digweed seem like decent blokes—none of which makes for compelling viewing. Which isn't to suggest we want debauchery either (if there isn't yet a moratorium on tales of heroin ODs and shark-and-groupie episodes, the moment can't come too soon), just something of dramatic substance (Sasha's major sin appears to be—horrors!—habitual lateness). The DJs' tunes sound great but we only hear snippets; too often the music's treated as a backdrop with the greater share of screen time devoted to the mundane business of touring and traveling.

So if the main course is merely so-so, is the release redeemed by accompanying features? Well, the interviews aren't terribly insightful or provocative, and you'll learn next to nothing about the 'artistic process,' which leaves four videos, two by Sasha (“Golden Arm,” “Boileroom”) and two by Bedrock (“Forge,” “Emerald”), all of which sound fine and all of which include the kind of spacey graphics you've come to expect from the genre (“Emerald” does, however, feature some imaginative type effects) but at least the four-song “Visual Mix” gives us the songs straight-up. A little more of that and a whole lot less of the 'diary' would've made for a considerably more rewarding viewing experience.

February 2006