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New Blood Live in London 3D

It takes something special to tease a roomful of seen-it-all-before, heard-it-a-thousand-times-over music and film journalists to break out into even the mildest peels of applause. So, when the recent press screening of Peter Gabriel New Blood Live In London In 3Dimensions prompted a spontaneous, cinema-wide outpouring of acclaim, you knew that the film had earned the plaudits. There were even a few modest whoops of appreciation.

The current vogue for 3D might suggest that presenting a concert performance in this format was just a cynical, bandwagon-jumping enterprise. Not so with New Blood Live In London. The 3D perspective is no mere gimmick. There's no trickery for trickery's sake. Instead, the principles and reasoning behind it are simple and straightforward: 3D is just a way of enhancing the concert film experience, to transport it to new levels.

And transported the viewer is, to that pair of nights last March when Peter and his orchestra took to the hallowed stage of the HMV Apollo in Hammersmith. The experience is far more than merely being plonked down in a front-row seat. Instead, you're given permission to wander on and around the stage. You go shoulder-to-shoulder with Melanie and Ane the backing singers. You get to gaze down on proceedings from the dizzy heights of the crow's nest. But, most thrillingly of all, you get dropped into the battle zone, right in the thick of the orchestral action. You weave through the rows of violins. Your skin gets prickled by the urgency of the horns. You're right in the face of the energetic conductor Ben Foster. For anyone who's never taken a place within an orchestra's line-up, this is a shortcut to what it's like among the massed ranks - the communality, the vigour, the passion.

That passion is felt at particular points through the show. Arguably it's most conspicuous in the titanic coda to The Rhythm Of The Heat, a whirling, swirling hurricane that hits you in all directions. You feel very much involved. Indeed, when everyone on stage bursts into euphoria during the celebratory stomp of Solsbury Hill, you're there alongside them. You've been invited to the party.

And everyone's been invited too, with the film shown in 3D in cinemas across the world. Then, on October 24, those with the hardware to watch 3D Blu-ray can replicate the experience in the comfort of their own homes. Those without the capacity for watching 3D domestically can, from the same day onwards, witness the same astonishing performance, this time in still-engrossing 2D Blu-ray and DVD format. All three formats are also available together as a triple pack. And for the true Gabriel completist, a Deluxe Book Edition contains the DVD; the 2D Blu-ray; Live Blood, a recording of highlights from the Hammersmith show; the New Blood album; and a 60-page book complete with photos of all stages of the project - the recording at Air Studios in London, the mixing at Real World in Wiltshire, the rehearsals for the live shows and the Hammersmith show itself.

In the history of the concert film, there have been several landmark releases that have significantly advanced the genre. The Band's The Last Waltz, for instance. Or Talking Heads' still-terrific Stop Making Sense. The three dimensions of New Blood Live In London - the first 3D film produced by concert film specialists Eagle Rock, incidentally - marks another bold step forward for the art form. And, as Peter explained after the press screening last week, the film could be a springboard for future similar productions. "Stereo was seen as very gimmicky at first, with trains and planes going from left to right speaker. But now we take it for granted, because we were born with two ears. But we were also born with two eyes. So I've always felt 3D will become second nature because that's how we see."

Here's a sneak peak...