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

I think what strikes me most about this album is how it makes it plainly obvious how this bands first song (first that listeners would have heard on their first album) is still easily their best.

My opinion, of course, but shared by others I know that like this band. The performance of that song, All Of The Above, is quite good here, possibly even better than on the previous two live albums. Having said this, it's fair to say that this is a band that is extremely professional and is at the end of a tour, so the performances all around are quite good. The Whirlwind is pretty much studio perfect, with a couple of small differences thrown in, but mostly the same as the album. I suppose this was inevitable, being such a long suite, and the rest of the albums offers differences from the studio versions of the other songs (longer solos, audience participation bits, etc.). The highlight for me, is the intro to We All Need Some Light, performed by Morse on 12 string acoustic and Stolt on electric. Beautiful improv playing by both. I also love the decision to have Roine sing the lead in that song, as I find his voice to be far more emotional, and have more character, than Morse's. On the documentary, you can see this decision being made in real time.

Which bring me to the bonus material, which is the documentary and the "bonus track". The documentary really makes this worth having for the TA fan, as it is very well done and provides much insight into all aspects of the tour. Well done, and quite entertaining (though like nearly all such things, not really worth more than one viewing......though maybe in a few years it will be worth watching again). The bonus track is a performance of Return Of the Giant Hogweed, featuring Steve Hackett on lead guitar. This is not as good a performance as you see on the main feature, but it is quite enjoyable to see Hackett playing this tune again (he doesn't perform it with his solo band, never has to my knowledge). I can only imagine what it was like for the TA members to play with a person who obviously was an influence on all of them.

All in all, the deluxe edition, featuring DVD's and CD's, is a must have for the TA fan (if it is still available). For others, well, I'm not sure there is much to interest you. The casual fan can probably just get the DVD only package, possibly just the CD's if they are not a fan of DVD's. Obviously, if you don't like TA, this will certainly do nothing to change your mind, as it is epic after epic, done as bombastically and flamboyantly as possible. Pure gold to us fans, however. For myself, I will give this 4 stars, with the caveats above for people who are not as enthusiastic about the band (probably a low 3 for them). I would never call this a masterpiece, as TA in general is too formulaic for that in my opinion, but also because live album so rarely are.