The first DVD starts of with a documentary, which is unfortunately only in German. It’s a shame there aren't any subtitles found on the DVD because not everyone paid attention at German class when they were a kid! The documentary, which lasts about an hour or so, is nice to see anyway. It starts off with building up the festival and followed by short clips of the bands playing, such as Endstille, Maroon, Behemoth, Obituary and Bloodbath. In between you can see some fan impressions. These include the campsite, interviews with fans and some heavy beer drinking. It proves once again what a strange country Germany is, with people building moshpits to someone playing jazz guitar on the campsite or dressing up in pink and having a fight on a bike! You can also find two small interviews with Dismember and Bolt Thrower here, who are, thank god, in English! This part of the DVD is either interesting if you’ve been there or understand the German language. If neither of the two, you can better skip to the second part of the first DVD where you can find some live performances from the Thursday of Party.San by Purgatory, German Tech Metallers Deadborn, Farsot, black metal band Skyforger and Dismember with a wild crowd in front of them.

 

The second DVD is the most interesting part here. It includes 21 artists who played on the Friday and Saturday of the festival. This is the best way to explore for new bands and catch the vibe of the festival. Where the first DVD mostly had snippets from tracks, this one features a full track for each artist and for some artists (Irate Architect, Lividity, Obiturary, Legion of the Damned, General Surgery and Imperious Malevolence) even two tracks. Highlights here include Endstille’s epic performance including some epileptic stroboscope work right there, Obituary with their classic track ‘Slowly We Rot’, Behemoth who show once again they can give away one of the most epic live performances you can witness in extreme metal music and the legendary Bolt Thrower with their mid-tempo track ‘The Killchain’. The camera work is very good and the 5.1 Surround Sound is more than decent enough as well. Even though I’m not that much of a live-DVD person, Party.San Open Air 2008 is a good piece of footage and gives us a good impression of the fest. The price will be around 20-25 euro’s which makes it even more tempting to buy and check out some new bands! I’m looking forward to this years DVD edition already!