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Van Der Graaf Generator - Real Time (Royal Festival Hall) CD (album) cover

REAL TIME (ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL)

Van Der Graaf Generator

 

Eclectic Prog

4.12 | 204 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

BaldJean
Prog Reviewer
5 stars what can I say? I was at that concert and was simply overwhelmed. such energetic versions of the songs. I will describe the feelings I had at the concert, so I'll switch to the present tense, travelling backwards in time. they start with "Undercover Man", which the fans of course immediately recognise, and blend without pause into "Scorched Earth". Hammill bungles a few lines of his lyrics, but no-one who would have heard the songs for the first time would have noticed. excellent opener for the concert, and I know by now that the Generator is on a million volts tonight. onwards, or rather backwards, to "Refugees", always a favorite with the crowd, and of course the crowd enthusiastically receives it. and then definitely onwards to "Every Bloody Emperor" from their reunion album, which blends seamlessly with the other songs, as if VdGG had never stopped playing. for the 5th song Hammill picks up the guitar, and what follows is a truly wild version of "Lemmings". the band is absolutely smoking now. song number 6 is a surprise; "(In the) Black Room" is originally from a Hammill solo album ("Chamaleon in the Shadow of the Night"), but had been intended to be a VdGG number before the band dissolved and had all of them playing on it in the studio version. I always thought that song sounded more like VdGG than Hammill solo. fantastic rendition of the song. then follows the 2nd song from their reunion album, "Nutter Alert"; in the instrumental section the band went really wild. definitely a highlight of the concert. then follows "Darkness", which has always been one of my favorites, and the band certainly don't let up. Hammill picks up the guitar again for "Masks", one of my favorites from "World Record". by now they have been through all albums they recorded in the "classic" line-up, with the exception of "H to He.." and "Still Life", and I begin hoping for "Killer". "Still Life" is covered with the next song, "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End". I need to go to the toilet, but don't want to leave in fear of missing something. and indeed there follows "Sleepwalkers", another one of my favorites. after that Hammil announces the last song of the concert, and it is "Man-Erg". real cacophony in the wild parts. they leave the stage, and the people all rise from their seats now and enthusiastically call for an encore, and after what seems like ages (actualkly only a little more than 3 minutes) they reappear and deliver a killer version of, yes, "Killer"! and then the real last number, as Hammill says, and it is W"Wondering", which was never one of my favorites; but what a fitting end for the concert, especially the way the band end it, making a full circle back to the beginning with the lonely opening flute of "Undercover Man" at the end. this album is a wonderful document of a great concert. the only (minor) complaint I have is that they cut out the 3 minutes of calling for an encore between "Man-Erg" and "Killer"; for an album named "Real Time" they should have left it in. but that doesn't alter the fact I have no choice but to give 5 stars to this masterpiece.
BaldJean | 5/5 |

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