Shout! Factory have announced that they will release Amnesty International’s ¡Released! The Human Rights Concerts 1986-1998 — which features performances by U2, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Radiohead, and Miles Davis, among others — on DVD and CD on November 5.
The DVD has movies shot at four different Amnesty concerts or concert tours, starting with a five-and-half-hour long look at the 25th anniversary tour in June 1986, which included performances by U2, The Police, Miles Davis, Lou Reed, Joni Mitchell, Joan Armatrading, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed and others.
Next is the Human Rights Now! world tour undertaken in September and October 1988, a three-hour-long highlight reel which featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Sting, and Gabriel.
This was followed by a show held in Chile in October 1990 to celebrate that nation’s liberation after seventeen years of dictatorship, with the seventy-two minute video featuring appearances by Sting, Sinead O’Connor, and Gabriel, among others.
Finally, this has the concert staged in Paris in 1998 on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (which happened in Paris). This two-and-half-long video has performances by Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, and the dynamic duo of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
While these shows and tours were broadcast on radio and TV at the time, only the Paris show has been previously released on video.
In addition to the music, the DVD will also include a new documentary called Light A Candle! which include new interviews with Springsteen, Sting, Bono, Gabriel, Pete Townshend, and others; additional interviews with Springsteen and Sting about their support for Amnesty International; home movies of the 1986 Amnesty tour shot by Gabriel, which include backstage moments; archival interviews and TV news coverage; an animated film about human rights which includes music by David Byrne, DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh, Laurie Anderson, and Danny Elfman; performances by Sting and Pete Townsend from the Secret Policeman’s Ball concerts that inspired the Amnesty shows; and performances by Green Day, Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Jeff Beck, Seal, Ozzy Osbourne, Joe Perry, Bono, Damien Rice, Pete Seeger, Evan Rachel Wood, David Byrne that happened at Amnesty events over the past ten years.
Besides the DVD, highlights from these shows will also be released on CD, with the dual disc set including songs by Gabriel, Page & Plant, The Police, Springsteen, U2, and Sting.
Amazon currently has the DVD available for pre-ordering for $41.99, while the CD is $24.08.
