NEO- BROADCAST

Neo - Broadcast. As the name suggests, this broadcast represents the giants of British Neo around today. The line up of Andy Edwards (IQ) John Jowitt (IQ) Clive Nolan (Arena , Pendragon) Mark Westwood (Dirtbox) Alan Reed (Pallas) , Nick Barrett (Pendragon) and John Barnfield (Pendragon) speaks for itself really! This show was performed in Poland 31st Oct 2006 and recorded to show a rare vision of all that is good in Neo-Prog today. Songs by IQ, Pallas, Pendragon, Arena, Shadowlandand the Nolan/Wakeman project are all here, but not as you have ever seen them before! I am mightily impressed by this DVD, it's fun, it's full of great music and is beautifully shot with great lighting and truly impressive sound, but for me the thing that stands out a mile is the enormous amount of fun the guys all seem to be having and it's contagious! Reading forums such as PA you can sometimes get pulled into the polls pitching band against band, what this DVD shows is that the fans have a competitive streak that is not amongst the musicians and it makes you see how silly that "my fav band is better than yours" nonsense is! 148DVD minutes of fun and togetherness. Brilliant! If you are a fan of any of these bands then I highly recommend this DVD, it gives you an opportunity to see so much more! If you are a bit on the fence with any of these bands, or don't know any of them then this DVD is a perfect little sampler...... I simply can not rate it highly enough!

Be prepared to prog out and laugh your boots off.......BRILLIANT!

Having eyed this DVD for sometime; noting the track listing and the line up; noting also the two reviews, I finally indulged myself and purchased BROADCAST. However my verdict is a little mixed...

If this was the film footage of the concert, then where is the rest? Though the tracks included are excellent, and as has been stated, great enjoyment was had by all, the overall feeling, in my opinion, was the brevity, an approximate 90 minute set, short by any standards. Surely this was not the extent of the concert? Here was a unique opportunity for them to seriously indulge themselves (and their audience), with the musicians having access to a huge repetoire between them, I feel this was an opportunity lost, certainly not developed sufficiently. Perhaps I grumble too much?

The tracks included though are superbly performed and leave the viewer in no doubt whatsoever about the strength and diversity of the NeoProg scene, all pretensions are cast aside leaving an audience spellbound by the magic of this 'supergroup', their muscianship and obvious enjoyment of performing together.

An excellent addition to any NeoProg fan who can afford to spend quite a hefty amount and would be satisfied with limited extras and basic packaging.

But that one question remains - why is the set so short?