''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' is the first live long-form video by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was first released on June 9, 2008 by

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

release features Rihanna's concert at the

Manchester Arena Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

held on December 6, 2007, as part of her

Good Girl Gone Bad Tour The Good Girl Gone Bad Tour was the second overall and first world concert tour by Barbadian singer Rihanna, in support of her third studio album '' Good Girl Gone Bad'' (2007). The setlist was composed of songs mostly from ''Good Girl Gone Bad ...

(2007—2009) which supported singer's third studio album ''

Good Girl Gone Bad ''Good Girl Gone Bad'' is the third studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on May 31, 2007, by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. Rihanna worked with various producers on the album, including Tricky Stewart, The-Dream, Neo d ...

'' (2007). Most of the concert's set list originates from ''Good Girl Gone Bad'', however, Rihanna also performed songs from her previous albums ''

Music of the Sun ''Music of the Sun'' is the debut studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on August 29, 2005, by Def Jam Recordings. Prior to signing with Def Jam, Rihanna was discovered by record producer Evan Rogers in Barbados, who helped Ri ...

'' (2005) and '' A Girl like Me'' (2006). It also contains a special Documentary Feature that presents Rihanna discussing her experiences during the tour. Critics were divided on ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live''; they praised the show, dancers, Rihanna's vocals and contrast levels of the video, however, there was criticism towards some technicalities including the close-up frames. At the

2009 Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

, the video album received a Grammy nomination for Best Long Form Music Video. Commercially, ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' peaked within the top-ten in nine countries, including at number one in Austria and Switzerland. On the US ''Billboard'' Music DVD Chart it peaked at number six and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over 25,000 copies.

Background and release

Following the release of her two studio albums ''

'' (2005) and '' A Girl like Me'' (2006), in late 2006 Rihanna started working with songwriters and producers on her third studio album. She worked with some of the producers who were involved on her previous albums including

Evan Rogers Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers are New York–based songwriters and record producers. They have produced hits for Ruben Studdard, Wild Orchid, Christina Aguilera and Evelyn Champagne King and helped build the career of Rihanna. In addition to ...

and

Carl Sturken Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers are New York–based songwriters and record producers. They have produced hits for Ruben Studdard, Wild Orchid, Christina Aguilera and Evelyn Champagne King and helped build the career of Rihanna. In addition to ...

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

, J.R. Rotem,

Sean Garrett Garrett Robin Hamler, known professionally as Sean Garrett, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is responsible for a series of chart-topping compositions, most notably Usher's " Yeah!" which ranks second on the ''Billboa ...

and Norwegian duo Stargate. Rihanna also collaborated with new music producers on the album such as

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

and

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

. Most of the album tracks were recorded in Westlake Recording Studios in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, parallel to the recording sessions of her second studio album, ''A Girl like Me''. Rihanna began working on the album in late 2006 and was almost finished recording in late February 2007. On June 4, 2007 she released the album under the name ''

''. During an interview with MTV News, Rihanna explained the meaning and reasoning behind the album's title: MEN Arena

Upon its release, ''Good Girl Gone Bad'' received generally positive reviews from most music critics and earned Rihanna a

Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration The Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance (awarded as Best Rap/Sung Collaboration until 2017, and Best Rap/Sung Performance from 2018 to 2020) is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and original ...

for the lead single "

Umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...

". It became a huge commercial success and spawned eight singles that attained chart success. To further promote the album, Rihanna embarked on her first worldwide and second overall tour entitled

(2007—09). During the tour, Rihanna performed in Europe, North America, Oceania, Asia and Africa in a total of 80 concert shows. ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' was filmed at the

show in

, United Kingdom; the show was part of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour and held on December 6, 2007. The ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live''

was released on June 9 and June 13, 2008 in the United Kingdom and Germany through

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

and

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

respectively. It was digitally released via iTunes on June 16, 2008 in several countries including Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Universal Music Canada Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to UMG official site, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Bravado, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammopho ...

and

released the DVD of the concert in Canada and the United States on November 4, 2008. A

format of ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' was released in France on November 24, 2008. In late 2009, the same Blu-ray was also released in the United States and Germany.

Technicalities and synopsis

''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' was directed by Paul Caslin and captured with a 14-camera High Definition shoot. The Blu-ray edition of the video album is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with

MPEG-4 AVC Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distr ...

and grants a

1080i 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scre ...

transfer. ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' contains two audio tracks

DTS-HD Master Audio DTS-HD Master Audio (DTS-HD MA; known as DTS++ before 2004) is a multi-channel, lossless audio codec developed by DTS as an extension of the lossy DTS Coherent Acoustics codec (DTS CA; usually itself referred to as just DTS). Rather than being ...

5.1 and

LPCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the am ...

2.0. According to a reviewer of Blu-ray.com the LPCM 2.0 is very strong, but it is not as convincing as the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. He stated that "The crowd noise, for example, is pushed back quite a bit when Rihanna sings, yet between the songs, it is as prominent as it is on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track." It has a length of over 90 minutes and contains five subtitles: English, French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' opens with a black-and-white

video interlude A video interlude is an interlude during a performance that shows a video. Video interludes are often played in concerts, showing a music video (often made specifically for the show), usually featuring the artists while the artist takes a break or ...

of Rihanna putting on and zipping up leather clothing. Scenes are intercut with an aerial view of the audience in the arena. As the audience is waiting for her to perform, scenes of Rihanna approaching the stage are shown. As she says "Let's go" the music begins to play. The concert opens as Rihanna emerges from a portable floor behind a giant curtain and starts performing her debut single "

Pon de Replay "Pon de Replay" is the debut single of Barbadian singer Rihanna, from her debut studio album ''Music of the Sun'' (2005). It was written and produced by Vada Nobles, Alisha "M'Jestie" Brooks, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers. The song was released ...

". The show continues with her performing "

Break It Off "Break It Off" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna from her second studio album '' A Girl like Me'' (2006), and features guest vocals from Sean Paul. It was written by Donovan Bennett, Paul, K. Ford and Rihanna, while production was handled b ...

" and "Let Me". Before performing " Rehab", Rihanna reveals that the song was written by Justin Timberlake who is her "very good friend and hopes that the audience like it". Then, she performs "Breakin' Dishes" before rendering a cover of " Is This Love", a song by Jamaican reggae singer

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

and his band

The Wailers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. "Is This Love" is mashed-up with "Kisses Don't Lie". The song is the last from the first set and ends with Rihanna leaving the stage at the portable floor from which she entered. The second set opens with Rihanna performing " SOS", accompanied with dancers wearing Ancient Egypt inspired outfits who through the performance change their clothes. Rihanna then sits on the stairs on the stage together with her back-up singers Ashley and Erica who are about to help her with the next songs, "Good Girl Gone Bad" and " Hate That I Love You". Rihanna finishes the set with the performances of the ballad " Unfaithful" and "Sell Me Candy". In the next set, the

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

asks the audience are they ready to party and then Rihanna emerges from behind the stage to perform " Don't Stop the Music" and "Push Up on Me"; the latter features Rihanna and the dancers climbing on assembled rods. Before the performance of "

Shut Up and Drive "Shut Up and Drive" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna for her third studio album, ''Good Girl Gone Bad'' (2007). It was written by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers while the produc ...

", the back-up singers run through the stage carrying finish

racing flags Racing flags are traditionally used in auto racing and similar motorsports to indicate track condition and to communicate important messages to drivers. Typically, the starter, sometimes the grand marshal of a race, waves the flags atop a flag ...

. As Rihanna enters the stage, the dancers also come together with chairs which are set to represent

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...

seats. Rihanna performs "Question Existing" on a leopard-leather inspired sofa which is climbed on a pedestal. The concert ends with the performance of "Umbrella". Before performing the song, Rihanna speaks to the audience telling that she will perform her "biggest record so far all over the world". The concert ends with frames of the audience and the fans.

Documentary Feature

''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' contains a Documentary Feature of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour during her course. It begins with the performance of "Umbrella" at the Manchester show when the scenes are intercut with Rihanna talking about how her fans are coming to watch her on the tour concerts. Other scenes of Rihanna and her crew members, dancers and band are also shown backstage. Rihanna then continues with the interview telling about how she went to some places that she never heard in her life including

Ischgl Ischgl () is a town in the Paznaun valley in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Its ski resort is connected with that of Samnaun across the border in Switzerland to form one of the largest in the Alps. Ischgl was a major hotspot of the COVID-19 pandem ...

and

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

. She also explains how flying in private jet with her team like "one family" is fun, but very rare. Scenes of Rihanna performing a show in Ischgl and having snowball fight with her team at the town's streets are shown. During the interview Rihanna explains that she, her crew members and dancers were touring for a considerable amount of time and became very close so as a result of that, they hang out a lot. One of the crew explains: "It is like a family. Rihanna comes in every day, says hi to every single one of us. Each of us come in every day, we all say hi to each other." Rihanna further describes herself as a prankster, and a story of her and one of the crew members pranking is shown. Scenes are intercut to Rihanna and her team performing a show. Later, Rihanna jokingly explains that they put probably "the worst show ever" because of her dancers. Rihanna explains what they do when they get to a city: "Sometimes we get to the city that morning. We sometimes come straight to the venue. We pull up, everybody comes out, you shower, then you do your sound check. Then it's time to get ready. Hair, makeup, that's the fun part." Rihanna then shows her dressing room, makeup artists and costumes. She explains how she loves wearing black on stage because she is "good girl gone bad and black is kind of

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and rock n' roll". Rihanna explains how she is nervous before the beginning of the show because of the atmosphere where all of her fans are screaming her name. According to her, the beginning of the show is

up-tempo A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mu ...

and loud, before becoming a little bit "mellow" at the middle of it. The show then gets "on party" again with their

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

club set-list. The encore consists of "Question Existing" and "Umbrella". According to Rihanna, "Question Existing" is a very personal song which American singer Ne-Yo wrote "on behalf of entertainers". She concluded that it is very hard for her to call herself a superstar. The Documentary Feature ends with Rihanna announcing that in the end of 2008 she will be hitting the studio again and "she won't be away for too long".

Critical response

Azeem Ahmad of MusicOMH positively reviewed ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' giving it four stars and wrote that "it isn't going to win over any new fans, but buying it won't disappoint the many that already exist". According to him the songs are different from their recorded versions and sound "infectiously upbeat but in a more grown-up way than the album". Ahmad concluded that even the "cringey" American pronunciation of "Manchester" and associated drivel can't take away the vocal strength of "Rehab". He further praised the interlude "Scratch" calling it "impressive". Ahmad concluded that "If anyone was still wondering, Rihanna isn't miming during this show but the DVD's audio might be little bit out of sync with the video." A reviewer of Blu-ray.com was more critical stating that even though the transfer does not have serious technical flaws, the video can not pair to '' Live from the Royal Albert Hall'' (2009) by American rock band

The Killers The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drummers in t ...

. According to the reviewer there are few close-ups that look soft and also a lot of motion-judder that ranges from mild to strong. He stated that the camera positioning during a lot of acts in not "overly convincing" and some close-ups are too dark. However, according to him contrast levels are good. The reviewer concluded that "all in all, consistency is definitely an issue with Good Girl Gone Bad; parts of the show look great in high-definition, but there are also certain parts of it that are far from convincing." At the

51st Annual Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

, ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' received a nomination for Best Long Form Music Video, but lost to ''

Runnin' Down a Dream "Runnin' Down a Dream" is a song co-written and recorded by Tom Petty. It was released in July 1989 as the second single from his first solo album ''Full Moon Fever''. "Runnin' Down a Dream" achieved reasonable chart success, reaching number 23 b ...

'' (2007).

Commercial performance

''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' debuted at its peak of number six on the US ''Billboard'' Music DVD chart for the issue dated August 2, 2008. The next week it dropped to number 12, before falling to number 19 for the week dated August 16, 2008. The next week it fell off the chart, but re-entered on November 22, 2008 at number 11, as a result of its DVD release in the United States. ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' stayed on the chart for total of 23 weeks. In Australia, ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' entered the Australian Music DVD Chart at its peak of number six for the issue dated June 30, 2008. The next week it fell to number 11 and stayed on the position for three weeks. The following week the video album dropped two places to number 13. ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' was certified platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing ...

(ARIA) ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' debuted at number one on the Austrian Music DVD Chart on July 4, 2008. However, the next week it fell seven places to number eight and stayed on the position for two weeks. On July 25, 2008 it started climbing the chart again and eventually reached number five on August 8, 2008. ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' entered the Swiss Music DVD Chart at number three on July 6, 2008, however, it rose to number one the following week. On July 13, 2008 it fell to number five, but climbed to number two the following week. The video album reached a peak of number two on the Belgium Music DVD Chart in both Flanders and Wallonia. ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'' also peaked at number seven on the Dutch Music DVD Chart and Spanish Music DVD Chart and at number nine on the Italian Music DVD Chart.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Credits and personnel

;Band * Rihanna (lead vocals) *Kevin Hastings (keyboards) *Eric Smith (bass) *David Haddon (drums) * Adam Ross (lead guitar) *

Richard Fortus Richard Fortus (born November 17, 1966) is an American guitarist. He has been a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has recorded one studio album, since 2001. Fortus has also collaborated extensively with The Psychedelic Fur ...

(rhythm guitar) *Ashleigh Haney (backing vocals) *Erica King (backing vocals) ;Styling *Ursula Stephen (hair) *Mylah Morales (makeup) *Lysa Cooper (stylist) *Mariel Haenn (stylist) *Hollywood (stylist) ;Crew on the road *Anthony Randall (production manager) *JP Firmin (tour manager) *Mark Dawson (security) *Fankie Fuccile (stage manager) *Alex MacLeod (tour accountant) *Dave Berrera (stage tech) *Alex Skowron (lighting director) *TJ Thompson (rigger) *Simon James (carpenter) *David Kirkwood (front-of-house engineer) *Richard Galercki (monitor engineer) *Elizabeth Springer (wardrobe) ;Dancers *Victoria Parsons (dance captain) *Rachel Markarian *Bryan Tanaka *Julius Law Credits adapted from the notes of ''Good Girl Gone Bad Live'', Def Jam Recordings, SRP Records.

Release history

References

External links

Rihanna – Good Girl Gone Bad Live – DVD
at Universal Music Online
Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad Live
at

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{{Authority control Rihanna video albums Live video albums 2008 video albums 2008 live albums