High Voltage Show Set To Showcase Classic And Contemporary Rock Acts

The only problem with the upcoming “High Voltage Festival” is that it’s set to take place in London, England. Great for U.K. fans, but not so much for those of us located an ocean away. Unless you are in the habit of dropping hefty sums of money on live shows, the “High Voltage Festival” is probably out of reach.

It’s obviously silly to complain about the location of any given event, and that’s not the my intention. It would be more accurate to say something like: This sounds like a pretty cool event, but I wish it was closer to home since I think a lot of fans here in the U.S. would love to be there.

Even so, I suppose we have our fair share of events here at home to choose from, and as big as this country is, it is possible to bypass the airport and save some cash by driving just about anywhere you want to, if you want to see a show badly enough.

For those fortunate enough to making their plans to attend, the festival sounds like it will be a unique experience, with special attention given to pleasing rock fans of various stripes. It will feature a classic rock stage, a prog rock stage, and a heavy metal stage.

It appears that new acts are still signing up for the event, with Dweezil Zappa signing on just yesterday for his slot on prog rock stage. Zappa has been showcasing the music of his legendary dad, Frank Zappa, in a show that the younger Zappa calls “Zappa Plays Zappa.”  Although this act undoubtedly belongs on the progressive rock stage, reflecting on the music of Frank Zappa makes me wonder if they should consider adding a “progressive prog rock” stage to the event.

Zappa will be sharing the prog rock stage with other well-known groups like Asia, Argent and Uriah Heep.

The classic rock stage will feature their own collection of big name rockers from decades past, and will include ZZ Top, Bachman and Turner, Foreigner, Emerson Lake and Palmer and more. It’s looking like the event may mean double duty for drummer Carl Palmer, who, as far as I can tell, will be on stage with ELP and Asia for this event.

With Aerosmith recently announcing new European dates for the 2010 summer concert season, one wonders whether they might end up on the roster for this show as well. They’re scheduled for the “Download 2010” event in the U.K. during June, so maybe sticking around for another month or so might be an option. I have no inside information about Aerosmith’s plans or summer schedule, so this is just random speculation on my part.

For more information and updates on the “High Voltage Festival,” you can visit the event’s official website.

Tags: Classic Rock, Concert, heavy metal, High Voltage Festival, Live, London, Progressive Rock, Show, Victoria Park

New Live Meat Loaf DVD Hits Stores Today

Shot at the Stadthalle Offenbach, Bat Out of Hell: The Original Tour catches the raw exhilaration of Meat Loaf’s colossal stage performance. Larger-than-life songs such as “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)” and “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” sounded utterly extravagant performed live.

Not only does Meat Loaf totally command the stage, but he also enthralls his audiences with the gripping nature of his material, with the assistance of the album’s songwriter Jim Steinman and female singer Karla DeVito. Its visual validation of the power of Bat Out Of Hell, which was certified 10x Platinum and sold over 40 million copies. Also included on the DVD is a bonus interview from 1978 with Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman.

The DVD was filmed during Meat Loaf’s 1977 tour and features most of his major hits such as “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” and “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.” At the time, the band included Bruce Kulick who would go on to play guitar for KISS, something which results in some of the material coming off a bit heavier in concert.

Tags: 1977, Bat Out of Hell, DVD, Live, Meat Loaf, Original Tour, Stadthalle Offenbach

Jethro Tull Live At Madison Square Garden 1978

Tomorrow marks the release of the new Jethro Tull live CD/DVD set. From their Heavy Horses tour, the video and audio was recorded during a performance at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden and beamed around the world live via satellite. Something of an event in the days before satellite communications became so commonplace. In fact, the show had to be broken up into three segments due to the lack of broadcast time that was available on the satellite at the time, with the middle portion being shown on television.

The set consists of a single DVD and a single CD. The DVD includes just the audio for the first segment of the show which is comprised of three songs.

The middle portion of the show was televised and the resulting 50 or so minutes of video footage is included on the DVD. Eight songs are performed for the middle segment including hits like “Aqualung” and “Thick As A Brick.” Fans should not expect to see video footage presented in wide-screen “movie” format since the show was being shot for broadcast on television, and as we all know, there certainly was no HD in 1978.

The final segment on the DVD features the audio from three more songs, including “Cross Eyed Mary” and an encore of “Locomotive Breath.”

I had not seen Jethro Tull perform live before this, but I can say without any hesitation that they were certainly not a boring group to watch. Ian Anderson’s energy is extraordinary, and I’m not quite sure the man stood still for a single second during the entire performance. There is little doubt that both Anderson and the rest of the group poured every ounce of energy and ability at their disposal into that show.

Although the group took liberties with the arrangements of some well-known material, as one might expect during a live show, none of the changes diminished the quality of the performance for me. As is typically the case, the frontman got the lion’s share of the face time, and although some of us might have appreciated a little bit more attention directed at some of the other musicians, that appears to be the nature of show business and is not unique to this recording.

As anyone who has read my reviews of live albums in the past will know, my main sticking point is always the sound. I freely admit I am a bit of an audio snob, and I am often disappointed with live albums due to the mix, the acoustics, the microphone placement or any number of other circumstances I might be find disagreeable.

I’m happy to report that the sound quality of this live set is quite good. Especially when one considers that it was recorded 31 years ago! Kudos to Robin Black and Peter Mew, two gentlemen who were responsible for the mixing of the original recording and the newer 5.1 Dolby and stereo mixes respectively. Those are the names that most fans probably never notice among all the others in the liner notes, but they contribute enormously to the quality of the finished product. It really is a superb live recording.

Although I’ve been a fan of Jethro Tull since the 1970’s, I’m not sure I ever listened as carefully to their arrangements as I might have before receiving this new set. Certain passages are almost fusion-like to my ears, and reveal an impressive quantity of talent on that stage that I may have never fully appreciated before.

The CD that accompanies the DVD contains all the audio material from the DVD with the exception of the encore performance of “Locomotive Breath” and a few short non-musical segments like band introductions and such.

Although it is probably obvious by now, I would not hesitate to recommend this set to any Jethro Tull fan. As rare as it may seem coming from me, the quality of this recording elevates its status to one that is worthy of listening to for the audio alone.

Ian Anderson is currently on tour here in the U.S. Having finished up for the remainder of this month with a show yesterday in Connecticut, he will next appear in Phoenix at the Dodge Theatre on November 3rd.

Thanks to the folks at EMI for the review copy of this recording. At the same time, I should also mention that I was not compensated in any way for this review beyond the review copy of the set that I received.

Tags: 1978, Album, CD, DVD, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Live, Madison Square Garden, New York City, Release

Rush ‘Best Of’ Live Compilation Announced

Canadian rockers Rush are breaking new ground with the up-coming release of a “Best Of” Live compilation. The new compilation is set for release on November 17 and will be released on DVD through Rounder and on CD by Atlantic.

Working Men is the title of this new release and will include material that has been taken from the group’s three other live DVD releases, Rush in Rio, R30 & Snakes and Arrows Live. In addition to the recordings previously available on other releases, there will also be a previously unreleased track entitled “One Little Victory.”

Although Rush seemed to attract a cult following for much of their career, recent developments have signaled an appeal to a wider audience. Appearances on popular television programs such as Comedy Central’s Colbert Report and in movies like I love You Man, it appears that the group is recognized by more rock fans today than during it’s early years when albums like 2112 and Hemispheres were being eagerly devoured by their dedicated fans.

Recent comments from the group indicate they more new material is in store from Rush. The group seemed to find new inspiration by working with producer Nick Raskulinecz on their last studio album, Snakes & Arrows. Raskulinecz is said to have pushed the group beyond their perceived limits and proved to them that they still have what it takes to fill stadiums and sell millions of albums.

Tags: CD, DVD, Live, New Compilation, November 17, Rush, Working Men

Vancouver Critic Not Impressed With Chickenfoot Show

The new supergroup Chickenfoot has hit the road to showcase material from their forthcoming CD, and at least one music critic was not at all impressed with the show at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom. Steve Newton, writing for Straight.com, was particularly disappointed with Sammy Hagar’s performance, and was not particularly impressed with former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony either.

I don’t normally headline a music critic’s opinion here, since the whole professional critic thing is of questionable value if you ask me. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” an old adage that holds true for just about everything. While one rock fan may think the Rolling Stones are the greatest rock band in the world, another may think they suck. We all have our own opinions and they are neither right or wrong. The same rule applies to critics – music or otherwise.

What made this review interesting is that it was the first one I have seen for Chickenfoot. In addition, there were a few readers who came to the group’s defense without holding too much back. Overall, it appears that the Chickenfoot defenders outnumbered those who agreed with Newton.

Newton’s main problems with Chickenfoot seem centered around Sammy Hagar’s vocals, suggesting that Hagar “grab himself a bottle of that premium tequila he so proudly promotes and head off into the Cabo sunset.”

Newton says he was a Hagar fan during his time with Montrose and even liked some of the material he did with Van Halen, but apparently feels it is time for the 61-year-old to put down the microphone for good.

There was high praise for guitarist Joe Satriani, who, in this case is considered too accomplished to be on stage with the aging Hagar and the “lowly” Michael Anthony. Certainly something that dedicated old school Van Halen fans may take issue with. Newton predicts that Satriani will tire of wasting his talent on Chickenfoot and leave the group so he can “go back to being an adventurous axeman of the highest order…”

There’s been a good bit of hype surrounding the birth of this new group, and people are not forgetting Hagar’s comments a while back about rivaling Led Zeppelin, although he did back away from that statement later, saying he had been tipping the bottle before making that statement and admitting it was “stupid” thing to say.

As Chickenfoot continues on their tour, we will surely be hearing from other critics, and it will be interesting to see how their take on the new group compares to Newton’s.

You can read Steve Newton’s review at Straight.com.

Tags: Chickenfoot, Commodore, Critic, Live, Review, Vancouver