XX

Playing the Moviedrome

Filmed in Katowice, Poland in April 2015, XX (20 in Roman numerals) celebrates Arena's 20th anniversary. The line up is essentially the same as that which recorded the excellent "Rapture" DVD in 2011 (released in 2013), with Kylan Amos replacing John Jowitt on bass. Several tracks from the fine new album "The unquiet sky" are included, but the set list spans pretty much the entire career of the band, with "The visitor" and "Immortal" albums featuring strongly.

Indeed the highlight is arguably the wonderful rendition of the 20 minute "Moviedrome" (from "Immortal"). Clive Nolan, who is much more to the fore between the songs than usual, explains that the complexity of the track meant that the band had never intended for it to become part of the live set, but persistent requests from fans persuaded them to do so. The result is a live opus that will surely become a staple of the live set to match epics such as Yes' "And you and I" or Genesis "Firth of fifth". It may be Nolan's recent experiences in presenting his rock musicals that have led to him now introducing some of the songs, but whatever the reasons, his anecdotes and relaxed chat greatly enhance an already spell-binding gig.

The new songs fit is well with the more established ones, with tracks such as "The demon strikes" and "The unquiet sky" bearing all the tenets of classic Arena numbers. Special mention needs to be made of the unique atmosphere created by Clive Nolan's multi-layered keyboards and John Mitchell's mesmerising lead guitar work. For my money, Mitchell is one of the best lead guitarists of his generation.

The accompanying interviews with co-founders Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer are worth a look too. Nolan is particularly candid in his comments, explaining among many other things, the song-writing and recording processes of the band.

It goes without saying that the filming of the gig and the sound quality is everything we would expect from the Metal Mind team, who once again set the standard from DVDs such as this.

My warped sense of humour was tickled by a Spinal Tap" like moment during the gig when Vocalist Paul Manzi proudly announces "here's a track from our new album" to be met with complete silence, although this is enthusiastically rectified by the audience after the rendition!

Overall, a wonderful presentation by a band at the top of their game. Recommend both as an introduction to the band, and equally as a superb addition for the already converted.

This DVD was not recorded in the usual venue from the Metal Productions team. The stage and the venue is a lot smaller. The light show doesn't have that same quality of the previous Arena's DVDS which is a shame, Is the band less popular these days? I heard that this tour was not a success. Maybe they could not fill the usual bigger venue. First thing that strike me watching this is how the red light make everything blurry. You can think that this was filmed with standard definition cameras. Also the camera work is questionable at times being late focusing on solo playing. I will be more positive with the audio and the performance in general. The sound and the playing are good and the inclusion of the epic "Moviedrome" in the set is a welcome addition. The 4 tracks of the new album didn't bring the same positive impression i had listening to the latest cd. The only others real highlights of that show is the other epic "Solomon", the song "Hanging Tree" and the video intro in the Hitchcock style of horror movie Maybe the band wanted to imitate Rush with this old venue that looks like made for a small band with no budget, but the difference is that here, you have to watch this thing for two painful hours and that it's for real. I don't recommend this for those who don't have anything about this band in DVD, buy the previous or only the 2cd audio.