JUBILEUMI KONCERT

Despite the impressive cover don't expect this 20th anniversary performance to be anything like the 1979 Kisstadion show or even the Kisstadion 80 show.

It kicks off with a recording of the Rackoczi March played by some really bad tin can orchestra which sounds like it was conducted by Tom Waits and leads into an introduction that was so unexciting that I was asking myself "did Gyorgy Molnar forget to play guitar?", it was so simple. The performance however, does have it`s moments.We get to hear an instrumental track, Atlantis, off keyboardist Laszlo Benko's solo album Lexicon. Maybe the rest of the band should have taken the night off and got drunk and just let him do a solo show. But what really wrecks the show is Ferenc Debreceni's atrocious electronic drum sound. Kobor's vocal's are in full form and are excellently recorded and the finale with 10,000 Lepes and Gyonghaju lany sort of gave me some sort of relief after a show which featured more mediocre contemporary material rather than classics which one would expect from an aniversary concert.

I do listen to certain tracks on the album from from time to time but I would not recommend this as an introduction to this legendary Hungarian band as a live act. Go for Nepstadion Omegakoncert No.1 and 2. They're loaded with classics and lots of guest musicians. Because it does have it's moments of glory it barely scrapes by with 3 stars

Nice double LP cover, but now lots of better Omega live CDs and DVDs are available. The sound is rather poor, though not dramatically bad. (CD version, included in 3CD box-set "Az Omega összes koncertfelvétele II'', does not sound much better than LP and one of the tracks, "Atlantis" - instrumental piece from László Benkö's solo album is omitted).

And, as other reviewer mentioned, there are too many mostly mediocre songs from the 80's instead of classics for jubilee concert. My favourites here are ''Kemény játék'' (pop but so catchy tune from Omega X), ''Nem tudom a neved'' and, of course, all time greatest hit ''Gyöngyhaju lány'', wonderful ballad closing, I guess, every Omega concert.

The album has its moments, but I think in general it has rather historical meaning. Video version of this show has also been released, with mono sound, on VHS quite a long time ago.

2023 UPDATE: In 2022, the year of Omega 60th annyversary, CD with remastered version saw the light of day. Soundwise it's a big improvement and I highly recommend this version.