IN CONCERT

- The first review for this DVD - KARNATAKA, formed in 1996, are a British female- fronted group playing melodic and relatively light & pop sensible prog with a Celtic flavour, like e.g. Mostly Autumn (when Josh lets the female members do the singing) and Iona. Have to say that I prefer both of them over Karnataka. There's surely nothing wrong with the vocalist Rachel Jones, and the musicians are good, but the songs tend to be less imaginative and less varied. The group is related to the more recent Crossover/ Neo Prog band Panic Room, whose Anne- Marie Helder is one of the three backing vocalists here.

This 90-minute gig was filmed in London's Mean Fiddler on 27 October 2001. At this point they had released two albums, although the set contains also songs from then-upcoming Delicate Flame of Desire. The music is melodic, accessible, clean and at times romantic. The prog elements are frankly pretty minimal, but that's the case wirh Karnataka's studio albums as well.

The location seems quite small and one cannot speak of any spectacular stage show. That of course doesn't really matter, but the visual quality is rather mediocre in an ordinary low-budget level of Classic Rock Legends production. The performances are okay, and the 15- song set list is very representative of the band. The fan will enjoy the show, no problem. Rachel is clearly the most magnetic figure in the group.

The extra features are technically modest. The photo gallery must be viewed clumsily pic by pic, no music backing either. More interesting is that there are extracts (approx. 2 minutes / 6 songs) from eight other live DVD's. The artists are Ian Gillan, Asia, Wishbone Ash, Caravan, Uriah Heep, Hawkwind, Strawbs and Rick Wakeman.