LIVE AT MONTREUX 1997 (DVD)

The Live In Montreux DVDs have always intrigued me, watching a band belt out all their classic songs to a captive audience captivated my interest. I have seen the Montreux DVDs Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Yes, Jethro Tull and now ELP. Usually each performance is very special captured with lingering camera shots, minimalist lighting, and showing the band working well together. The sound quality is adequate and the visual experience is good enough to replace not being lucky enough to be there. In the case of ELP is it not quite as good as the usual Montreux concerts.

This is a performance from 1997 and Lake is not looking as slim as he used to, and he could happily dispose of that Love Beach shirt, Palmer, in black, is focussed on his drums, and Emerson just cruises through every song, though he needs to either wear longer sleeves or get those gorilla arms waxed! They are still a cohesive unit and put a lot of effort into this but they are not as good as they used to be, comparing to the dynamic energy of Isle of Wight 1970 and the exuberance of California Jam 1974. The stage is quite bare, there are no cannons of course, and they are dressed rather conservatively. Their expressions range from serious to semi serious to the 'someone spat in my socks' look. They look like they have emerged from a backstage fight, rarely interacting with each other, 3 solo artists clinically going through the motions. Lake does address the audience and occasionally Palmer raises a hand to them, urges them to clap, or Emerson looks up and acknowledges they exist with some banter, but overall there is little audience interaction. The supergroup loosen up a bit midway through the concert, perhaps that is the effect of Knife Edge, such a great song. Take A Pebble is the definitive highlight for me, an incredible song the band seem to enjoy, and a song that drew me to this band in the first place.

The Montreux concert showcases the best ELP tracks such as Karn Evil 9, Hoedown, where Emerson gets to use his cool mini keyboard, Knife Edge, Tarkus and Pictures medley, and the finale medley consisting of Fanfare for the Common Man, Rondo, and other pieces. The tracks are all played competently but some of the magic is lost in these performances. Emerson dazzles on the blindingly fast solo renditions but it is piano wankery at its highest order. I was waiting for him to stab his keyboards and pull the thing on top of him for old time's sake. He does drag out a keyboard and makes a hell of a racket at the end of the concert after a rather exciting drum solo from Palmer. Admittedly it is fun to watch Emerson straddle his keys and play back to front and upside down at the end and Palmer has fun with his crowd for the most part during the solo. So some of the old tricks are there, even the old knife in the Hammond trick and playing with the keys on top of Emerson, but it is as if ELP are trying to recapture the old 70s magic by copying their former selves, but they just cannot.

Which brings me to the big problem of the concert. The band are not as precise or tight as usual. Emerson is a Tiger in the spotlight but he muddles up some of his triggerfingers solos, Lake could do with some Brain Surgery as he misses cues and struggles with the vocals at times, and Palmer looks a bit detached, lost in his own private Tarkus tank. They even play an Emerson Lake and Powell number in Touch and Go. So it is a bit confused and lacking in quality in places. However with all its flaws, and all cynicism aside, as a visual record of the concert, it is certainly great to experience this performance, and the band are not performing often these days. So ultimately here is one of the last big concerts from the legends of Symphonic Prog.