****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
From my previous review of the Coming Home CD:"This concert was also filmed for a PBS special that initially aired on Friday, November 28, 2014 (check local listings). UPDATE: The special was terrific, though two songs on the album, Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow" and Stephen Foster's "Hard Times Come Again No More" (a sound clip of the latter was briefly played during the show's introduction) were left out of the special. The three Target bonus tracks were also omitted. Conversely, a song-and-dance number from Let Yourself Go, "Going To The Dance With You," was featured on the special, but was not on the CD. The concert DVD is currently available as a PBS pledge-drive thank-you-for-your donation gift; according to Kristin's Web site, Concord will release the DVD in February 2015."The DVD is here, and it is a delight. It has magnificent sound and picture quality. It features all of the songs from the PBS special, and about 30 minutes of bonus features, including some behind-the-scenes footage, which also appeared on the PBS special; the aforementioned performances of Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow" and Stephen Foster's "Hard Times Come Again No More" that were left out of the PBS special; and filmed performances of the three bonus tracks that were included on the Target Deluxe Edition of the CD: "I Will Always Love You," "Heart Of The Matter," and "I'll Be Home For Christmas." There is also a touching Father's Day video that Kristin made for her dad when she had laryngitis while on tour last summer and couldn't talk or sing, so she "sang" her Happy Father's Day message using homemade signs. The only thing that the audio CD has that the DVD does not are Kristin's spoken intros to some of the songs.As I wrote in my earlier review: "It's a shame that TV variety shows don't exist anymore. But if anyone could bring variety back, it's Kristin. With her singing, dancing (which I wish she would do more of), comedic, and acting talents, she would be a natural for the variety show format. Of course, I have no way of knowing if she would want to do that type of show, or whether the networks would accept it. Maybe she could make a pilot variety special and shop it around."If the NFL was smart, they would have hired Kristin to do the halftime show at last year's Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. I know Kristin is a big college football fan; being from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, her favorite pro team is probably the Dallas Cowboys. But no matter, a halftime show headlined by Kristin would be one that everyone could enjoy, and would be far more entertaining for most people than Katy Perry "singing" about kissing girls and liking it, or having Miley Cyrus or Ariana Grande in various stages of undress. Unfortunately, the No Fun League hired Bruno Mars of "Uptown Funk" fame (I'm sick of "Don't believe me, just watch!"), the execrable Coldplay, featuring Chris Martin (formerly Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow), and added Big-Butt Beyoncé to the lineup, where she dropped frequent F-bombs, lambasted police officers, and "sang" about hot sauce. Another Super Bowl halftime show that I detested, and I only watched some of the game between the Carolina Panthers and the eventual champion Denver Broncos. The halftime show for Super Bowl LI (won by the New England Patriots in overtime, 34-28, after overcoming a 28-3 deficit against the Atlanta Falcons) was performed by Lady Gaga, and while it was a big improvement over the Big-Butt Beyoncé and Katy Perry shows, it still wasn't that great. As her mentor Tony Bennett says, Gaga should stick to singing jazz. I didn't even watch Super Bowl LII, because of my year-long boycott of all things NFL (the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots, 41-33, to win their first Super Bowl and their first NFL title since 1960). For the halftime show, they recycled the forgettable Justin Timberlake, who did a forgettable tribute to Prince. No Janet Jackson sightings, and no wardrobe malfunction. Who's next? Miley ([sobbing] "Hillary, can I give you a hug?") Virus? Puh-leeeze. We want Kristin!Touchdown, Kristin! The hay's in the barn! Five stars all the way! I love you!I saw Kristin in person at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Virginia on August 28, 2015. She was superb, as always. This is the third time that I have seen Kristin live; the other two concerts were at Wolf Trap in 2003 and at Washington D.C.'s DAR Constitution Hall in 2012.
