BREAKFAST IN BIARRITZ

This is ARENA's seventh release all in all, and it's their second live album. While their first live album "Welcome To The Stage" (1997) was focused on their first two studio albums, their newly released live album "Breakfast In Biarritz" is focused on their newest albums "The Visitor" (1998) and "Immortal?" (2000). "Breakfast in Biarritz" was recorded at the "Paradiso", Amsterdam, Holland on Tuesday 17th October 2000 during the European leg of the "Immortal Tour". The guitarist John Mitchell is truly amazing, and together with the keyboard wizard Clive Nolan he's the brightest shining star in the band. Rob Sowden became the new vocalist in ARENA on their most recent studio album "Immortal?" Although I preferred Paul Wrightson's vocals I have to admit that Rob is doing a great job here. Besides the music, there are many things that make this album worth buying: The sound quality is very good for being a live album. The talented Mattias Norén has magnificently designed the artwork as well as the 16 page CD-booklet. There's also a special limited edition package containing a full length CD with three extra tracks and a multimedia section with over 30 minutes of live footage, the history of ARENA, interviews with all members of the band and much more. It was originally made for French Television. The quality of the footage is very good, and it's probably the longest multimedia section ever on an enhanced audio CD. As a live album this isn't a necessarily release but the multimedia section makes it definitely worth buying. This is perhaps mostly for the die-hard fans, but it's also a good introduction to the new ARENA at the time of the "Immortal?" album.