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I've been sick in bed for a week, so the fact that the new Arena DVD arrived in the mail today was a cause for celebration in a pretty crappy week. Being, as mentioned, sick at home, I put it in for a spin almost immediately, and I wasn't sorry. You see, I didn't get the last DVD because I was so disappointed with the Smoke & Mirrors one and I'd basically decided to only get the studio albums anymore. But when I saw that this one was going to have Moviedrome (one of my favorite songs ever) I preordered it immediately and here we are.

Enough of that; let's talk about the DVD. Understandably, the budget for the filming (once again in Poland) doesn't seem to have been very high. The lighting's pretty crappy and so is the resolution. The camera work is ok, but has the tendency to not show the musicians playing their solos, which can get frustrating. The thing is, from reading John Mitchell's Facebook posts, the tour doesn't seem to have been either very lucrative or particularly enjoyable for those involved (I'd pay good money to find out which Gentle Storm member apparently tried to kick them out of the shared dressing room...). From what I gleaned from John's posts, shows weren't very well attended and spirits were low, and you can kind of see this in the DVD ( (I personally couldn't make it here in Germany because the show was way too far away for me). The only ones that seem to be actually enjoying the experience are newcomers Manzi and Kylan Amos on bass.

That said, and having gotten the "negative" stuff out of the way, the performances on this DVD are generally top-class. Manzi shines both on his songs and on the classics. His voice is less whiny than Paul Wrightson's and more powerful than Rob Sowden's, with the power and drama of both combined. He barely misses a note here, and his rasp is also welcome. As mentioned, he adds some much needed energy and humor to the show, as the core of Clive, Mick and John smile maybe twice during the whole show between the lot of them.

The setlist is excellent. It took me a while to get into The Unquiet Sky, but the tracks from that album really shine here with Manzi. I'm actually sorry I didn't get the version with the CD, because now I want to listen to this concert on the stereo. Well, tough luck. After two very well played Visitor songs, we get to the long-awaited moment: Moviedrome on a live DVD. Up to now, the only live version was on the Breakfast at Biarritz album, and I always wished I could actually see it being performed. The one time I met Clive Nolan in Chile at a terribly attended Caamora show (seriously, it was pretty much me, my dad, and a few stoners), I asked him if he was ever going to play this live again, and he wasn't too optimistic. Luckily, as Clive explains during the concert, I wasn't the only one requesting it and finally they decided to record it for a DVD. Man, this apocalyptic masterpiece of a song has everything (including possibly Clive Nolan's best lyrics ever), and they pull it off admirably, even though you can tell they weren't as "at ease" with it as with the rest of the material.

At this point I have to say that the one guy who definitely isn't on top of his game here is Clive Nolan. John and Mick miss a beat every once in a while and John hits a few wrong notes, but mainly they're prett solid. Clive, on the other hand, doesn't really do a lot of his solos justice (Salamander?) and seems to have a lot of timing problems. I can't know what was going on while he was playing (bad monitor?) and anybody can have a bad night, but I get the impression that the maestro was kind of distracted. My two cents: The man has written so much great music, but unfortunately most of it is underrated and I can imagine it's not easy making a living playing progressive rock if you're not Dream Theater or Rush. But I digress and it's pretty ridiculous to try and psychoanalyse a guy based on his live show.

Back to the music: Manzi is excellent on the melancholic How Did it Come to This?, and the version of Bedlam Fayre is the best one I've ever heard (despite John's mistakes). It's weird for a song other than The Hanging Tree to follow Serenity, but The Unquiet Sky is a strong track with memorable vocal melodies and it's also sung flawlessly by Mr. Manzi. I'm really glad the mix on this album is good. You can hear everybody clearly (Clive Nolan was only miming on Smoke & Mirrors amirite?), and the harmony vocals by Nolan and Mitchell are very good and make you wish there were more a capella moments like when they sing "moving deeper into the land" on THT. Of course, John is an excellent lead vocalist in his own right. I have to admit I've been on something of a Lonely Robot/It Bites/Frost binge lately, and I can't help getting the impression he's happier on those projects than here. I mean seriously, the guy looks downright miserable at times here. But again I digress. Luckily he's a pro and his chops don't suffer.

Next, another one of Arena's great classics, The Hanging Tree, is performed beautifully. This song and John Mitchell's solos are so freaking good; I could listen to this all day. Next we get the only 7th-Degree track on the DVD: The Tinder Box. It's generally considered one of Arena's weaker albums, so it's not surprising they focused on other material. The song is really good, though; nice and heavy.

I have to admit that I skipped Solomon. I mean, it's good, but since I'm a "post-Visitor" fan and I only listened to the first two albums later I don't have that nostalgic obsession some Arena fans seem to have with the track. "Don't forget to breathe" (what's with the capitalization?) is a concert favorite for a reason and Manzi dons the customary top hat for the piece.

Of course, there are dozens of songs I could have wished to have seen on this DVD, but with Arena there's definitely a lot to choose from, and I think they put together the setlist very well. If I were rich I'd pay them to drop Solomon and play Opera Fanatica on their next tour (something I'm sure they'd be loathe to do considering the amount of work it would probably take to arrange and rehearse it). The DVD finishes as usual with the catchy "Help Me Heeeeelp Me Whooooaoaoaoa Help Me" (also known by its more boring title Crying for Help VII). This song's a friggin ear worm as the krauts say. It'll stay in your head for days.

All in all this DVD is a must for fans of the band. If you're not one then you probably stopped reading this a long time ago anyways.

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