A NIGHT TO REMEMBER - LIVE 2004

This is Evergrey's first live dvd and I must say, it is one of the most wonderful Prog Metal dvds I have ever witnessed and there are many that I have watched: Metropolis, Budokan, BE, etc. The awesome stage presence of Evergrey however blows away the competition with their extreme headbanging and the charisma of lead singer, guitarist, Tom Englund, who I also must say is one of Prog Metal's best vocalists.

Anyways, the set starts off with Blinded, perhaps one of Evergrey's most famous headbangers. The song is done with perfection. The first 60 minutes of the disc, however, is not quite as good as the mindblowing intro and the exciting live version of Blinded, but the second disc is filled with great live performances of such Evergrey classics as Nosferatu, Recreation day, Touch of blessing and the energetic closer The Masterplan showcase Evergrey at their very best. The live performances are amazingly good and deserve a rating of 4.5 stars outta of 5 alone.

The Bonus material of the DVD set is just mindblowing. Here you get: Interviews with the band, backstage and other tour material. Over 390 minutes of material about the band, plus the 120 minute actual musical dvd, itself.

This dvd is highly recommended and essential for fans of Prog Metal.

As far as metal concert concern, this is one of the best DVDs that I have ever seen. Recorded live in Gothenburg, this is the first Evergrey DVD ever and in it they have demonstrated their best for this concert. Previously, a double CD has been released before the DVD was ready. The Box contains 2 DVD's: the first one captures the entire concert while the second disc contains extra (interviews, etc.). The picture is quite good while the audio quality is superb and even it's better than the CD audio quality. The DTS makes the music sounds so lively and the live dynamics can be successfully captured. I enjoy watching this DVD with LOUD volume.

As usual, the first two minutes of the show is very important for me. Hey, I am a Corporate Facilitator / Trainer and Business Consultant by profession. I have learned a lot from my dealings with corporate people that whenever I do the presentation, make it the first two minutes of the presentation with something that kills the audience. The rest is yours .. because you have bought them with your first two minutes introduction. Evergrey has done it brilliantly through this concert. It starts with the crowd shouting and clapping while the stage curtain is in closed position. The curtain then starts to open while the hand clapping and shouting by the crowd start to get louder. What I can see is all members of the band plus three persons who do backing vocal job stand firmly on stage and stay quiet. They do not move their body at all. In fact, the drummer was in standing position while his hands were put up with his drum sticks. It happens in couple of seconds by by the law of great presentation this piece has already bought me man! They are really great to do the opening. They are a brilliant presenter of metal concert! The nuance is somewhat theatrical, I would say.

On the dark setting of the stage they blast the music with typical power symphonic metal and suddenly make a break. Oh man .. this is another brilliant idea - making an immediate break right after the blast of powerful music. They welcome the audience with "Blinded" and move forward beautifully with next tracks : "End Of Your Days" (4:38), "More Than Ever" (5:17), "She Speaks To The Dead" (4:16), "Rulers Of The Mind" (5:33), "Blackened Dawn" (4:04) and so on. I enjoy the flow of music from intro to the next tracks. The musicians move their bodies dynamically with "Tom S. Englund" (guitars & vocals) takes a position as frontman while "Jonas Ekdahl" demonstrates his jaw dropping drumwork accompanied with Michael Hakansson (bass) metal stage acts while "Rikard Zander" stays calm with his keyboards. Henrik Danhage (guitars) is also energetic with his stage act.

If you want to know the band deeper, disc two provides detail info about the band trough formal interview (by Andy Read) to the entire band members followed by individual interview which tells the background of each member prior to Evergrey. The entire Disc Two contains: [Backstage]: The Dark Discoveries, The Solitude Episodes, European Adventures 2001, In Search Of Truth, The Recreation Days, North American Fairytales, The Shocking Truth, North America 2004, Inside The Inner Circle, Interviews: In Bed With Evergrey, In Bed With Tom, In Bed With Michael, In Bed With Henrik, In Bed With Rikard, In Bed With Jonas, Geartalk: with Tom, Jonas, Henrik, Michael, Arnold's Mixing School, E-TV Cribs: A Tour Of The Evergrey's Headquarters, Videos: For Every Tear That Falls, The Masterplan, Blinded, I'm Sorry, More Than Ever, A Touch Of Blessing.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to any symphonic power metal collection. Do not expect something truly prog here, but if you like the heavy side of progressive music, I am sure you would love this DVD set. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW