LIVE IN HAMBURG

In the course of 2015 and 2016, Saga and Earmusic were planning to re-release all their albums from 1989 up till now. Remastered and with bonustracks. These bonustracks were all livetracks from this concert at Hamburg.

The re-release-wave suddenly halted in march this year and was apparently abandoned. But to keep fans satisfied, the livetracks of the Hamburg concert (recorded in 2015) got this proper release.

The band is on fire, and drummer Mike Thorn really keeps the pace going. The band sounds young and refreshing, hitting song after song without unnecessary silence and banter between the songs. Michael Sadler hasn't lost a single bit of his vocal power and hits all the notes without a problem. Ian is (as ever) all over the place, but that's a Saga-trademark.

We get some real treats here: for the first time a lot of songs get an official live-release. Goodbye Once Upon a Time, Someone Should, Hot to Cold, Time to Go and Wildest Dreams were never before released (officially) on a live record. The new song On My Way and I'll Be also found their way into the set.

The rest of the songs are tried and true, and it's good to see that band doesn't play the acoustic set anymore. Those days are long gone. The closest thing to a ballad is Scratching the Surface (starting on piano) but eventually builds into a progrock epic going for at least 9 minutes (very nice).

The only really wrong thing is the 2,5 minutes of clapping and cheering at the end of Careful Where You Step, but hey, that's what the skip button is for.

It's good to hear Saga still rocking out.