By Orren Merton

Videos of live concerts are always fighting an uphill battle. Do they attempt to capture a single performance journalistically? An entire tour? The rapport of the band offstage? Do they try and capture the show from the audience's vantagepoint? From the stage? Do they show no footage of the audience? Tons of audience footage? And the worst part is, not only do they have to answer all these questions, but no matter what choices they make, they are guaranteed to fail at least someone, who was hoping for something different.

In 1983, bauhaus released Archives, which was more or less straight footage, shot from near or on the stage, of a show in England. Luckily, it happened to have been a great show, and Archives stands as a wonderful postcard of a moment in time. If you are a hard-core fan, it might stand up to repeated viewing, otherwise, it's a fun rental or party video.

The year 2000 sees the release of Gotham, a filmed version of their NYC reunion shows. It is not nearly as much a "straight" shoot, they have audience footage, audience interviews, band interviews, black and white and other cinematic effects, etc. They obviously tried to make it more than a simple show Souvenir, but more of a complete "bauhaus" souvenir--including some very early footage of the very young bauhaus filmed for what seems to be British TV.

Were they successful? Well, considering most of the market for this video is probably hard-core bauhaus fans who know every song they've ever done by heart, it was great to give them something extra. While bauhaus likes to insist they are more than simply goth, they manage to interview and film some of the most gothic-looking New Yorkers you are likely to find. As with any live footage, inevitably the part where you wish you could look at the guitarist or the drummer, the director chose to only film the bass player, or visa versa.

And lastly, the DVD does a good job of capturing the show--but unfortunately, the New York show was not one of their best. Here in Los Angeles and Orange County, for example, they played better, longer, and seemed more "on." True bauhaus fans will not be disappointed, however, as they play almost all the favorites, and seem to be legitimately enjoying themselves.

While I reviewed the DVD version of Gotham, it should contain the same material as the VHS version. The sound quality on the DVD is better, however, and isn't that the whole point of live rock?