WHIRLD TOUR 2010 - LIVE FROM SHEPHERD'S BUSH EMPIRE, LONDON

Ok, for a moment I don't think of Spock's Beard, Marillion and Flower Kings and try to analyze strengths and weaknesses of this DVD/CD live, concerning this superband from California...first of all the sound is good, a little be distorted (especially the acoustic parts of the piano by N. Morse, accompanied by his voice, but also some pedal effects, being not always so clear...), but it's well supported by their direct approach and some good, sometimes remarkable, interplays, even though not often different from their style you can regard in their previous experiences along with the bands above...Instead, talking about the video editing and the camera angle, probably the director has not performed his job in the best manner: the camera jumps from an angle to another, trying anyway to take the whole scene on stage with all the members, while the musicians are playing and singing (without forgetting the keyboards) and that's a difficult task!

So, for sure it's not simple to direct such a complex performance, especially if the band always has to play their most famous tunes (such performance cannot be so different from a jam to another), but their usual highlights "Duel With The Devil", "All Of The Above" and "Stranger In Your Soul" must be witnessed anyway in the best manner.

Unfortunately every new jam is becoming a little bit tiring and quite prolix also in their live version, after a long duration!! They have been playing these tunes for several times; but this feature could represent their boring side at the end, if They don't add new fresh music ideas to their retro-prog/melodic metal prog...ok the harmony vocals, the guitar effects by Roine Stolte and his solos together with those ones by N. Morse, are quite in the vein of Yes and the early Genesis, often being well done, but at the end their arrangements are quite dated and their suites perhaps too much long and a bit prolix...even though the unedited live performance with Steve Hackett, regarding the immortal Genesis tune "The Giant Hogweed", is a very good performance (the right track for M. Portnoy on drums) and is worth the price of the whole DVD!!

Final note: regardless of the defects inside, you could anyway add another half star at least...but I've been honest in my evaluation, whose score is inferior than any review concerning Transatlantic live...