Willie Nelson: Live in Amsterdam

Playing at Amsterdam's Paradise Theatre on June 7, 2000, under a banner promoting WWW.WILLIENELSON.COM, the 5-decade career country legend, backed by a 7-piece band (including sister Bobbie on piano), works his way through a generous 30 song repertoire of originals and covers, including Nelson favorites "Crazy," "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," "Stardust" and "On the Road Again" (with the notable omission of "Hello Walls") and crowd-pleasers such as "Always on My Mind," "City of New Orleans," "Blue Skies" and "Georgia on My Mind." Visually dull (almost amateur looking at times), the concert itself--although long and offering a solid retrospective--is hampered by Nelson's lackluster, tired performance. While never the most energetic of artists, here he methodically launches into one song after the next, half-singing/half-speaking the opening lines (with his trademark banged-up and multi-autographed guitar occasionally sounding a bit out of tune) to signal the band to start playing. Diehard fans will certainly enjoy this nearly two hour Dolby Digital 5.1 enhanced offering, but others will be disappointed. Still, given Willie Nelson's huge fan base, consider this a strong, optional purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)