This is without a doubt one of the best musical Dvd's I have ever seen. Period. It doesn't contain most of the stuff your typical Dvd of a band contains. For example, your typical Dvd would have a live preformance, a few music videos, and maybe 10 minutes of the band screwing around and being funny. "From Toledo to Tokyo" is so much more than that.
The Dvd is divided into three sections. The main one is a 1 hour and 40 minute documentary capturing Mae's entire first full year of touring. Included in this are the expected events of a first year on tour; van breakdowns, small crowds, and sleeping in random homes. Aside from the expected stuff, you get different interviews in between the other footage. Some really good questions are asked during the interviews that allow the band to really show their wonderful personalities. Another part I enjoyed is Destination: Beautiful was released during the tour. So you get to see the bands initial reaction to the album and watch them search record stores for the album. You also see glimpses of Something Corporate, The Starting Line, and Copeland during the film. This is hands-down the best documentary of a tour I've ever watched.
The second part of the Dvd is a live performance at Mae's hometown venue in Norfolk, VA, The Norva. It's your pretty typical concert Dvd. I'd say the film quality is better than average. Another plus of the live performance is that the band actually sounds good. A good number of live performances are just laughable. Mae performed with lots of energy and sounds really good during this show.
The final chapter of the Dvd is another tour documentary, this one being of Mae's overseas tour in Japan. It's only 25 minutes, but it is very entertaining seeing the guys in Japan for the first time. Three live songs from Japan are also included during this section.
"From Toledo to Tokyo" is a must buy for any Mae fan out there. Even if you are a casual listener of Mae or just curious you should look into getting this Dvd. You really get to know Mae better and what they are all about. "From Toledo to Tokyo" not only met my expections, it blew them completely out of the water.
4/4
