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Review:
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On October 13th, 2008, British neo-progressive rock
veterans, Pendragon, celebrated their 30th anniversary with
a nearly three-hour performance at Katowice, Poland's Wyspianski
Theater - and fortunately for us it was all captured on
this excellent new concert DVD, entitled Concerto Maximo.
It would have been nice to see these guys recorded at a
different venue for once, as this was three in a row at
the Wyspianski, but at least you know you are going to get
a quality recording at this place.***
Pendragon are currently touring behind their latest
album, Pure, which many fans are calling one of their very
best. I have to agree. Pure sounds like Nick Barrett has
been listening to a lot of Porcupine Tree lately, as he
has taken the band in a much heavier and edgier, PT-like,
direction. The album's opening track, "Indigo", is an outright
monster, but it was sorely missing from this show. Barrett
explained in the interviews that he really wanted to play
the song, but that they just didn't have enough time to
tackle such a complex number with all of the other songs
they needed to rehearse. They are also breaking in a new
drummer, Scott Higham, and he had about four hours worth
of material to learn for the tour.***
Concerto Maximo is remarkably similar to Pendragon's
2006 concert DVD, And Now Everybody To The Stage..., since
it was recorded at the same venue by the same Metal Mind
Productions crew. The setlist, however, is what really sets
this one apart, as it only features a few of the same songs
from their previous two DVDs, and they also debut three
of the new Pure songs.***
Like most other bands of the prog-rock genre, Pendragon
have no shortage of multi-part, epics in their repertoire,
and they break out a couple of good ones here. The four-part,
18-minute, "Wishing Well", from 2005's Believe, really showcases
Nick Barrett's amazing guitar skills, and makes for an early
highlight of the set. They manage to top that one, later
on, dusting off the three-part, 20-minute epic, "Queen Of
Hearts", to close out the show.***
The absolute highlights of the DVD for me though, were
the three Pure tracks, "Eraserhead", "The Freak Show", and
"It's Only Me". All three of these songs are as good as
anything these guys have ever done, and they garnered some
of the most enthusiastic crowd response of the night. How
refreshing for a band to release some of their best material
30 years into their career.***
The longtime fan favorite, "Masters Of Illusion", made
its way into the setlist again, and these guys performed
it brilliantly. Other standouts were "Voyager", with Peter
Gee adding some superb electric slide to Barrett's gorgeous
acoustic guitar arrangement. The biggest surprise of the
night was the stunning rendition of the Masquerade Overture
b-side, "King Of The Castle", to kick off the second encore
set. Along with some beautifully understated keyboards Clive
Nolan also adds some wonderful harmony vocals throughout
the song. He should do so more often.***
The overall production quality of this DVD was top-notch.
Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo are your two audio
choices, and they both sound superb. The picture looks sharp
and vibrant, and the Metal Mind camera crew filmed the show
perfectly. Bonus features include a band Interview, Biography,
Discography, Photo Gallery, Desktop Images, and Weblinks.***
After more than 30 years, Pendragon are not ready to fade
away just yet. This year they released two of their best
albums and concert DVDs of their career, and I highly recommend
them both.
Concertdvdreviews.com
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