NEW LIGHT LIVE IN CONCERT

"New Light Live In Concert" is the third DVD of Karnataka that was released in 2012. The live performance has been recorded at the start of their New Light Tour at the Met Theatre in Bury, England on 23 February 2012. In early of 2012 the Welsh progressive rock band embarked on a fifteen date live tour across the UK. Under the name of New Light Tour 2012, the group reached as many areas of the country as possible, in particular those towns and villages they missed on many of their previous live tours. The band performed in some traditional theatres and art centres. Besides has been released on the DVD format, it was also been released in a double live CD and in the Blue-ray format. Beyond the entire live performance, the DVD also includes band's interviews with all members of the live tour and a tour photo gallery.

"New Light Live In Concert" marked the second biggest change in the line up of Karnataka. After the departure of three members of Karnataka, Lisa Fury, Ian Harris and Gonzalo Carrera, four new members joined the band. It features the new lead singer Hayley Griffiths which is a classically trained soprano singer who has achieved global recognition and critical acclaim for her role in the international phenomenon Riverdance and Michael Flatley's Lord Of The Dance. The other three new members in the band are the Turkish keyboardist Cagri Tozluoglu from Istanbul, the multi-instrumentalist Colin Mold, who was member of the folk rock band Kara and the session drummer Matt McDonough.

So, the line up on "New Light Live In Concert" is Hayley Griffiths (lead vocals), Enrico Pinna (backing vocals and guitars), Cagri Tozluoglu (keyboards), Colin Mold (backing vocals, violin and lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars), Ian Jones (bass and bass pedals) and Matt McDonough (drums and percussion).

"New Light Live In Concert" has fifteen tracks. The first track "Karnataka" was released on their third studio album "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The second track "Serpent And The Sea" was released on their fourth studio album "The Gathering Light". The third track "Delicate Flame Of Desire" was released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The fourth track "Heaven Can Wait" was released on their second studio album "The Storm". The fifth track "Tide To Fall" was released on "The Gathering Light". The sixth track "Forsaken" was released on "The Gathering Light" too. The seventh track "After The Rain" was released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The eighth track "The Calling" was released on "The Gathering Light". The ninth track "Lagan Love" was released on Hayley's solo studio album "Celtic Rose". The tenth track "Our Love" was released on Hayley's solo studio album "Silver Screen". The eleventh track "State Of Grace" was released on "The Gathering Light". The twelfth track "The Journey" was released on "The Storm". The thirteenth track "Your World" was released on "The Gathering Light". The fourteenth track "Heart Of Stone" was released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The fifteenth and last track "The Gathering Light" was released on "The Gathering Light".

The performance began introducing the heroes of this great concert evening, from the singer Hayley to the individual instrumentalists. It's a very interesting concert, well filmed and played. The camera work has been done well capturing the musicians at close range and from a distance showing the whole band in action. Karnataka is able to capture the heart of the recipient with its sound, delivering a lot of elation with its multi- coloured music shimmering like a rainbow. The strength of Karnataka's music is, without any doubt, its strong song material. It has an excellent balance between vocals and broadly drawn out instrumental work. Strong symphonic rock with neo-prog influences, topped with a Celtic sauce. The audience is sensitive to such fabulous sensations seeing this "new light" that emanates from this concert of the band. This is a very solid DVD. The camera work is calm and ensures that everyone is on the picture, capturing the details of the all performances without one musician crushing the other. The extras on the DVD are pretty sparse. The additions to this release are photos from the concert tour and an interesting 30-minute interview with Karnataka band.

Conclusion: Karnataka is a great band and this live concert is a great opportunity to get into their music. "New Light Live In Concert" is a great live show where Karnataka take their incredible talent and virtuosity and move it effortlessly into a live arena. This DVD benefits from a tremendous production and captures the details of the vocal performances as well as the new musical arrangements of the songs in the best possible way and in its 5.1 surround. As I wrote, in addition to the concert, it also includes interviews with all musicians where they talk about their background musical influences, their past as musicians and the past and the future of Karnataka. So, this is a DVD not to be missed, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)