Description
Blaze Bayley knocks it out of the park with this live dvd release (recorded in Prague on the 9th of April 2014 during the Soundtracks Of My Life Tour), a valuable addition to his already impressive body of work that fully measures up to his well established high standards. As we have come to expect from our man Blaze, he holds nothing back here, giving his fans everything he’s got. Nobody ROCKS harder than Blaze!! He is the very definition and embodiment of Heavy Metal music. The important thing to know about this dvd is that it appears to run continuously, with little if any noticeable edits. All of Blaze’s song introductions, comments, etc. look to be intact, thus preserving the all important live feel and ambience of the show. Well done!! One unusual aspect of this concert is that Blazes band here is a three piece, with only one guitar instead of the usual two. I admit I was apprehensive about this decision, but the guitar player (Chris Appleton) is very skilled, and although the sound is of course not as full as two guitars would be, on most of the songs he pulls it off quite nicely. Even on something as complex as Silicon Messiah or The Clansman, he does a convincing job (and check out that blistering 12 minute version of Tough As Steel, a song from his Wolfsbane days and quite appropriate here since Wolfsbane was also a three piece with only one guitar player). This show provides an interesting counterpoint to Blaze’s previous live works, all of which feature two guitars. So while I would not want to see Blaze permanently discard the twin guitar line-up, in this one case it provides an interesting contrast. This show also provides a different vibe to the previous live dvds in the way the sound is mixed. The crowd, though still present, is more muted and ‘in the background’ of the mix. Some listeners will prefer this since you can hear the music better, though the live purists (which I tend to be) might find it a bit too clean, without the warts and all rawness of, for example his Alive In Poland show. Still, it is done here in a manner that is competent and professional, so I would not say one is necessarily better than the other, just a matter of personal preference. And again, the contrast with Blazes previous live releases is interesting. As you can see from the track listing below, Blaze delivers a big bang for the buck here. Just the concert itself runs 2 hours and 10 minutes (that’s a LONG show). Total dvd running time is 183 minutes. This is one reason why his fans think so highly of him: because he truly cares about us and always strives to do the best he can and give us maximum value for our money. In a time when it seems that human failings are everywhere, Blaze remains a man of honour and integrity, really just a great, down to earth guy (not to mention a magnificently gifted and talented performer).
Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Speed of Light
3. The Launch
4. Futureal
5. Silicon Messiah
6. Ghost in the Machine
7. Kill and Destroy
8. Lord of the Flies
9. The King of Metal
10. Samurai
11. Stare at the Sun
12. The Clansman
13. Robot
14. Eating Children
15. Watching the Night Sky
16. The Brave
17. Motherf&@#ers-R-Us
18. Soundtrack of My Life
19. Virus
20. Tough As Steel
21. Man on the Edge
22. Blood and Belief
23. The Man Who Would Not Die
24. Ten Seconds-live at De Rots Antwerp Belgium 2011
25. Virus-live at De Rots Antwerp Belgium 2011
26. Voices From the Past-live at De Rots Antwerp Belgium 2011
27. Soundtrack of My Life-live at De Rots Antwerp Belgium 2011
28. The Black Country-live at De Rots Antwerp Belgium 2011
29. Blaze Interview
30. Stealing Time Music Video-acoustic version
31. One More Step Music Video-acoustic version
32. Behind the Scenes Photos