IQ - Subterranea: The Concert DVD

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Giant Electric Pea
Catalog Number: GEPDVD9001
Format: DVD
Total Time: 115:00:00

I remember very vividly that the actual concert had to be stopped after a mere ten minutes because one of the lights on stage got broken. The fact that there wasn't sufficient light on stage meant the end result on film would have been disastrous so whilst there was enough stress all around, the band had to go back to their dressing rooms. There they had to wipe all of the previous hastle from their memory and get back on stage as if nothing had happened. No doubt the Belgian company Video Line Productions who was filming the event wanted to make as good a job of it as possible. For them this was their first job at filming a rock event, although they delivered the goods and technical knowhow for "Tien Om Te Zien," one of the best running TV music programmes on Belgian commercial television, for years already.

It was 4th April, 1999 at the newly built 013 hall in Tilburg, Holland when the entire IQ crew was running around nervously because, although they knew every split second by heart, tonight would certainly be a one-off. Not only would it be the rumoured last time they would perform Subterranea live, it would also be the recording of the entire concept piece with added visuals. So in years to come the DVD format could be shown all over the world, in places the band would never be able to perform live at all. With an added bonus of Tony Wright on saxophone and actor Michael O'Hara [Babylon 5's Captain Sinclair ?ed.], surely the concert would be a memorable one with plenty of extra visuals to make it more interesting, more pleasing, more explaining.

Contrary to any other DVD, I might suggest you start with part of the bonus material here. Start with "Going underground ? the making of Subterranea" where people behind the scenes will tell you more about the idea, the concept and the entire pre-production. In the end it's like a big production with ? no money! You also get the orchestral overture as an encore, a photo gallery which contains 24 pictures and two encores that were performed that night, they being "Human Nature" and "The Wake." You also have the choice between stereo and 5:1 Surround Sound. What doesn't work on my copy however is the choice of "band commentary." This simply doesn't work in the extra features section. However when I click on the main feature, which should indeed play the entire concert nonstop, I do get the band commentary in the intro. Maybe something went wrong with the first pressing making my copy a collector item? [Probably like film releases, you can watch the main feature with commentary or not, turning this setting on in one of the sub-menus. ?ed.]

Back to the complete Subterranea concert which starts with the entire band dressed in black shirts whilst Peter Nicholls is wearing white. During the concert however the band will gradually change into white shirts making like a "negative" contrast with lead singer Peter who then changes into black. Only at the very end does he put on something white as well, so the entire band terminates in virgin white! During "Failsafe" Peter is indeed wearing black with matching black cape and sunglasses. The audience put some sparkles in the air during the intro for "Speak My Name," whilst John Jowitt delivers some tasty fretless bass backing superb classical guitar from Mike Holmes. During "Infernal Chorus," Peter wears a leather mask, probably making it difficult for him to pronounce his words properly. It's also the song where Peter confronts actor Michael O'Hara killing him as the story evolves. A nice resting point is the short instrumental "The Other Side" with both Martin and Mike on keyboards. Pity that camera crane spoils the beauty of the view! As the concert goes by all band members have now switched into white shirts so by the time the epic "The Narrow Margin" starts the line-up is like a negative from the beginning. For the finale however Peter Nicholls also turns to virgin white. It's a little disturbing, however, that you still see those clapping hands at the bottom of your screen. When the screen goes down again and you hear the sound of steel bars coming down, you know it's all over.

Having seen the concert live twice and having played this DVD several times I still find the 115 minutes of the actual concept a very tough cookie. Even with visuals added it is so far removed from my favourite IQ album "Ever". OK, it's a concept album but it remains difficult for a foreigner to fully understand what it's all about. So why record everything in Holland with a Belgian film crew? Why not do it, say, at the Astoria in London? Me, I prefer it when the band does some silly things like when they did Abba's "Mama Mia" during the delay when the rest of the crew was trying to mend the lights. Maybe for my likes Subterranea is a little too difficult to digest, visuals or no!

Tracklisting:
Overture / Provider / Subterranea / Sleepless Incidental / Failsafe / Speak My Name / Tunnel Vision / Infernal Chorus / King Of Fools / The Sense In Sanity / State Of Mine / Laid Low / Breathtaker / Capricorn / The Other Side / Unsolid Ground / Somewhere In Time / High Waters / The Narrow Margin / Encores : Human Nature / The Wake

Special features : Feature presentation / Encores / Band commentary / Going underground: the makigg of Subterranea / Photo gallery / Orchestral overture

Musicians:
Paul Cook -drums, percussion
Michael Holmes -guitars, keyboards
John Jowitt -bass, bass pedals
Peter Nicholls - vocals
Martin Orford - keyboards, backing vocals

Guests:

Tony Wright ? saxophone

Discography:
Tales From The Lush Attic (1983)
The Wake (1985)
Nine In A Pond Is Here (1985)
Living Proof (1986)
Nomzamo (1987)
Are You Sitting Comfortably? (1989)
J'ai Pollette D'arnu (1991)
Ever (1994)
Forever Live (1996)
Subterranea (1997)
Seven Stories Into 98 (1998)
The Lost Attic (1999)
Subterranea: The Concert (2000)
The Seventh House (2001)
The Archive Collection - IQ20: Live In Aschaffenburg (2003)
Dark Matter (2004)
Frequency Tour CD 1 (2008)
Frequency Tour CD 2 (2008)
Frequency (2009)
The Wake: Live At De Boerderij (2010)
The Wake (Deluxe Edition) (2010)
Re:Mixed (2011)
The Archive Collection - IQ30: Live In Zoetermeer (2012)
Tales From The Lush Attic 2013 Remix (2013)
The Road Of Bones (2014)
The Road Of Bonus (2014)
Live On The Road Of Bones (2016)
Tales From A Dark Christmas (2017)
Resistance (2019)
A Show Of Resistance (2020)

Subterranea: The Concert Video (VHS) (2000)
Subterranea: The Concert DVD (DVD) (2002)
IQ20 - The Twentieth Anniversary Show (DVD) (2004)
Live From London (DVD) (2005)
Stage (DVD) (2006)
Forever Live (DVD) (2007)
Scrape Across The Sky (2016)
Live Like This (2020)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: January 12th 2003
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.iq-hq.co.uk
Hits: 3697
Language: english