Special shout out to Gaetan who knows what I'm talking about here .......
The list above goes on and on - and I never understood someone who says " I don't watch DVD concerts" ........for me, putting on a DVD show in the background is like listening to the live CD of the band, with the VISUAL. But then you have people who say " I don't listen to live CDs " ....... Damn, I'm confused. I digress, but here we go with some recent purchases ON DVD AND BLURAY.
PENDRAGON / Masquerade 20 -
How in the hell did I miss this show when it came out ? I'm a sucker for The Masquerade Overture CD and I'm missing this show. So weird. Not much to say about this show except that it was filmed in 2016, and the drummer has changed from the Pure era, and Nick Barrett is absolutely on fire here. He has a tenacity at this show that I don't think I have seen from him before, and his guitar playing is so much more intricate and powerful this time out. For some reason, Pendragon only releases on DVD, and while their sound is excellent, I never found the video quality to be on par with everyone else doing videos. It's very good, but it doesn't wow me like some others. I'm giving the audio an 9.0 and the video a 7.5-8.0. They finally play INDIGO as the last song on in the show ....... awesome.
MARILLION / All One Tonight (Live at the Royal Albert Hall) -
Let me start off by saying that I haven't gotten thru the entire show yet, and I'm not really a STeve Hogarth-era fan. I cut my teeth on Fish, way back in time, and those of you who know me well, know that I hate change in bands that begin as greatness and then lose someone that made them great in the first place. (Queensryche anyone?)
That said - someone here on this board said that I had to have this show, even after I insisted I didn't care for Hogarth. He pointed me to a link that had a song from the show, and I but my tongue and knew this was something special. After one song, I bit the bullet and bought the DVD, not the bluray. Sounds weird, but I gauge whether or not to buy the bluray based on how well I like the band, and how many times I think I will re-visit it. Turns out, the DVD quality is superb. Both audio and video are outstanding, and as I'm watching I'm telling myself " I don't need a bluray, this is awesome as is " ...... The first part is the entire FEAR disc played in entirety, and the second disc are from various other discs..... I got halfway thru the FEAR part, and I have to admit that I am enjoying the show a lot. So much, that I might have to investigate some of the Hogarth material in the future.....the band here is about pure class, and put on a great show. It's all about the atmosphere here, and they got that down to a tee......I'm not sure how many times I will re-visit this show, but time will tell once I get thru the whole thing. I may say I'm glad I have a Marillion show, or I may say that I am now Hogarth converted. Audio - 10. Video - 10.
SONS OF APOLLO / Live with the Provdiv Psychotic Symphony -
I'm a bit baffled why no one else is talking about this show, especially after the brutal slaying they put down on us at the last Prog Power. That show alone should have prompted a ton of people here to go out and buy this blindly. The only other person I know who has this is Todd and he was loving it when he got it..... If you saw their PP show, then you know what to expect. If you didn't, they are filming this at a beautiful outdoor theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Who thinks of these things ? A beautiful arena and setting for a cool prog metal band that slays once again just as they did before. The first part of the show is Sons of Apollo songs and solos, and the second half ( which I haven't seen yet ) is with the Plodiv Orchestra. Check out some of these titles with the orchestra:
Kashmir
Gates of Babylon
Diary of a Madman
The Show Must Go On ( I'd buy this for this song alone never mind with an orchestra)
Lines in the Sand
There is an encore section, Behind the scenes, and Symphony music videos. The sound is outstanding, coming in at maybe 9.0. The video quality is about a 9.0 as well, but I have one major bitch about the filming. They use a ton of cameras and they pan frequently, and I mean frequently. They never stay on a person for more than a few seconds, and it drives me crazy even though that is the style these days..... Other than that, this is a spectacular show, and essential if you like this band. They were "good" on disc to me, as lots of thought the style was a bit confusing, but in a live setting this band slays the dragon. I'm a total convert now, blind buy on the next disc, and if you want more than spectacular, it's Jeff Scott Soto doing an entire Queen Tribute show at next years Prog Power. I would get down to Atlanta just for that show if it was outside of PP. That will be a once in a lifetime show.
FRANK MARINO / Live at the Agora Theatre -
Most of you here will be too young to remember Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush when they first came out. If you did, you probably hit them halfway thru their career, or never. I've been a fan from the beginning, and I actually saw them in 1979 with UFO and Nazareth. I have their first 6 or 7 albums (LPs) as they came out. The rest on CD. Frank was one of the most influential guitarists of the 70s, and was one of my childhood guitar heroes along with Rik Emmett and Alex Lifeson ( notice they are all from Canada ? ). Anyway, FRank never released a commcercial DVD show ever, as his music was wrapped up by the record labels since he was 16, long story...... this set comes only one way > 1 bluray, 3 dvds, and a book written about FRank and his life. You have to buy it directly from him, on Facebook, for a mere $110 plus shipping.
Of course I bought it. There are 3 different shows, with all different songs, none repeated. Total running time > 350 minutes. 6 hrs of concert show. Absolutely amazing. I doubt anyone else will run out to buy this one, so I'll stop here and say that the audio / video of this thing is 10.0 And Frank signed my copy. Pure awesomeness.
IQ / Scrape Across the Sky ( Live in Holland, 2014 )
Pure class. Audio - 10 Video - 8.0 Reason, it's a bluray but it looks like DVD quality but outstanding the same, if that makes sense. They could have released a DVD version of this as well, and had this quality and saved me from running out and having to buy a Bluray player that PLays PAL, I have have 2 DVD players that play PAL dammit, not I have three. Thanks IQ - you're lucky I'm a chump fan from the last 24 years or so ...... I digress. Since the last IQ disc I bought, they have lost 3 of their players.....those remaining are Peter Nicholls and Mike Holmes. When the bass player came out, I thought wow, John Jowitt looks really young !!!!! Nope, it's Tim Esau who looks exactly like John Jowitt 20 years ago ...... That said, this show gave me goosebumps. This is an incredibly classy band, putting on an incredible show with very little other than themselves playing and 3 video screens behind them. No flash, no crazy lights, nothing.,...except when they all come out wearing Santa hats for the encores, as it must be Christmas time in Holland.... It's the Road of Bones songs here that really get things going ......that's when I got goosebumps. Playing The Seventh House at the end of the show, and Widows Peak for an encore seals this show as damn near perfect. Definitely worth having to go out and buy a PAL bluray player for, and I wouldn't do that for many bands. Outstanding show, and essential for IQ fans. Good luck finding this one though ......
