WELCOME TO THE STAGE

"Welcome To The Stage" is the debut live album of Arena that was released in 1997. It was recorded over two nights at Le D'Auteuil in Quebec City, Canada, in May 1997. It's a live album that includes almost all the biggest tracks recorded on their first two albums "Songs From The Lion's Cage" and "Pride", plus a track recorded on their debut EP "The Cry". "Welcome To The Stage" is based and represents the final result of the Arena's "Welcome To The Cage Live Tour", which occurred between 27 September 1996 and 29 October 1997. It occurred in several places in many countries, all in Europe, with the exception of one concert in the USA and the two concerts in Canada. The recordings for this live album were taken from Canada live concerts. Beyond Canada and the United States, this live tour covered the following European countries: Belgium, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland and Spain.

"Welcome To The Stage" has ten tracks. The first track "William Tell Overture" is the track that opens the live concert. Originally, "William Tell Overture" is the instrumental introduction to the opera "William Tell", whose music was composed by Gioachino Rossini. It was the choice made by Arena to start their debut live shows to promote their two first studio albums "Songs From The Lion's Cage" and "Pride". It appears in the same line of Marillion, who started their second live album "The Thieving Magpie ? La Gazza Ladra" with "La Gazza Ladra", another opera by Rossini. This was one more thing that made people do even more comparisons between both bands. However, this wasn't a rare thing to do because other bands had made the same. For instance, it's very common to see Yes use "The Firebird Suite" composed by Igor Stravinsky, on their live shows. The second track "Valley Of Kings", the third track "Out Of The Wilderness", the fourth track "Midas Vision", the ninth track "Jericho" and the tenth track "Solomon", are all live versions of tracks that were recorded on their debut studio album "Songs From The Lion's Cage" that was released in 1995. The sixth track "Sirens", the seventh track "Medusa" and the eighth track "Welcome To The Cage" are all live versions of tracks that were recorded on their second studio album "Pride" that was released in 1996. The fifth track "The Healer" is a track that wasn't released on their two first studio albums "Songs From The Lion's Cage" and "Pride". It was originally released on their debut EP "The Cry". "The Cry" is an extended EP which features songs from their former two studio albums. It includes re-combined and re-arranged tracks from various "Crying For Help" tracks which received proper names for the EP, plus a limited amount of new material, among which is this track "The Healer".

With "Welcome To The Stage" the men around Clive Nolan bring to us their first live album with the almost complete first studio album of them "Songs From the Lions Cage", three tracks from "Pride", plus "Healer" from their EP "The Cry" and also with the William Tell's Overture opening it. To this live album, Arena decided not to include the eight short "Crying For Help" tracks included on both studio albums, four on each one. So, this debut live album from Arena contains very decent live versions of all the major tracks that were released on both studio albums. Although the tracks performed live aren't too different from its studio versions, the album gives a good overview of the early phase of the band, is recorded cleanly, has a great live feeling and is therefore absolutely predestined as an entry into Arena's world. Fans of the band will dig these versions, particularly since the release represents the debut of the line up who would go on to the album "The Visitor", taking Arena's sound to a new level, a kind of "a live best of" of both albums.

Conclusion: "Welcome To The Stage" is, without any doubt, an excellent live album and represents, for me, a great landmark in the musical career of Arena. It represents the final confirmation of another great band to the progressive world. It became also a very important album to me, because it represented my first real contact with the band's music. "Welcome To The Stage" is almost a perfect live album almost without any weak points. The selection of the songs is amazing and perfect. In the first place, all the five biggest, best and most progressive songs of "Songs From The Lion's Cage" were chosen to be performed live, and they are all great songs. In second place, the three best songs of the five biggest and most progressive songs of "Pride" were also chosen to be performed live. Finally, the only song that doesn't belong to these two studio albums and that was originally released on their first EP "The Cry", "The Healer", is also a great song and its live performance is almost perfect. In reality, the only thing I think lacks in the album is a little bit more passion and flame, which can be a masterpiece. What surprises me most in this live album is its coherence and cohesion, especially if we think that Arena, at the time of this live concert, had only these two studio albums. "Welcome To The Stage" is a very solid album where all the tracks appear to be part of only a single studio album, seeming to confirm the opinion of many that "Songs From The Lion's Cage" and "Pride" are two parts of the same coin.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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