Pendragon - Live ... At Last And More

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Metal Mind Records
Catalog Number: MMP DVD 0005
Format: DVD
Total Time: 130:00:00

Under the classical tones of "March Of The Torreodores" (a cheap introduction if you ask me), Nick Barrett, Clive Nolan, Peter Gee and Fudge Smith enter the stage in Krakow, Poland. The day is 24th November 1996 and Pendragon is here to promote their then latest album The Masquerade Overture. Backed by designs from the album?s cover and with Barrett dressed in a yellow and blue checkered coat, the Polish audience will not only witness one of the best British bands from the first prog revival, but will also see in Barrett more than a singer, more than a skilled composer. They will see a fantastic guitar player who continously flirts with Floydish themes and approaches in order to become the David Gilmour of neo-prog.

What better way to kick off than with a huge audience participation and what better song to do it with than with the uptempo "Nostradamus." The show has started and there's not one soul in the building that didn?t know it! I have to admit that the balance between the various instruments is absolutely perfect with, of course, a major role reserved for Nick?s wailing guitar. Nolan looks like Rick Wakeman?s little brother being surrounded completely by keyboards, whilst rocking some of them during "Breaking The Spell" as if he was a member of The Nice! With the audience standing close to the stage, there is no camera running from one side of the stage to the other. Instead all material comes either from filming on stage or from the camera attached to the crane. Some people are not that enthusiastic about Barrett?s voice, but I?m sure his guitar playing fully compensates, as he delivers some outstanding licks and solos.

Nolan?s keyboards during the intro to "The Last Man On Earth" almost sound like nylon strings, resulting in kind of a new age approach, a fragile composition that the audience even sings along to. In order to make himself popular, Barrett has also learned the odd word of Polish or two. Nice move Nick! Although the audience is very appreciative and shows utter respect during the more acoustic songs, they really have a ball during the more umptempo, fierce compositions, as "Leviathan" proves. The actual set finishes with "Master Of Illusion" and when the band gets back on stage again to do an ancore, Barrett asks the audience to sing a Polish song for him, which they do. What a polite bunch of music lovers!

As a bonus, fans are treated to a huge selection of bonus material. First on the cards is the commercial video for "Saved By You." Surely the band wasn?t thinking they could make it on MTV with that kind of video? You get a short but informative biography on the band and its members; there?s a discography with scans from all the albums (the same scans pop up in the "art gallery" section as well), you get some website information and a Pendragon logo. Those nuts enough can download four different desktop images, there?s a photo gallery containing some hilarious older shots (Pete Gee with a moustache!) and to top it all, there?s also an interview. The latter, however, is badly recorded, which means you can?t hear half the questions asked. This DVD gives a nice insight into Pendragon as a touring unit and illustrates that this kind of music can be appreciated by many different generations.

Tracklisting:
March Of The Torreadores (Intro) (0:43) / Nostradamus (3:03) / As Good As Gold (7:30) / Paintbox (7:34) / Breaking The Spell (8:19) / Guardian Of My Soul (12:58) / Back In The Spotlight (6:17) / The Last Man On Earth (14:35) / The Shadow (9:57) / Leviathan (6:43) / Masters Of Illusion (13:) / The Last Waltz (Queen Of Hearts Part Three) (5:12)

Musicians:
Nick Barrett - guitar, vocals
Pete Gee - bass
Clive Nolan - keyboards
Fudge Smith ? drums

Discography:
Fly High Fall Far (ep) (1984) (OOP)
The Jewel (1985)
9:15 Live (1986)
Kowtow (1989)
The R(B)est Of Pendragon (1991) (incl. Fly High... ep)
The World (1991)
The Very, Very Bootleg - Live In Lille, France 1992 (1993)
The Window Of Life (1993)
Fallen Dreams and Angels (ep) (1994)
Utrecht... The Final Frontier (1995)
The Masquerade Overture (1996)
As Good As Gold ep (1996)
Live In Krakow 96 (1997)
The Masquerade Overture (digi-pack w/bonus trk) (1999)
Once Upon A Time In England Vol 1 (1999)
Once Upon A Time In England Vol 2 (1999)
The Round Table (1985-1998) (1999) (Sth Am. mkt)
The History: 1984-2000 (2000) (Polish mkt)
Not Of This World (2001)
Acoustically Challenged (2002)
The Jewel (remastered) (2005)
Believe (2005)
Pure (2008)
Concerto Maximo (2009)
Passion (2011)
Out Of Order Comes Chaos (2013)
Men Who Climb Mountains (2014)
Masquerade 20 (2017)
The First 40 Years (book/CD) (2019)

Live... At Last! (VID) (1997)
Live...At Last And More (DVD) (2002)
And Now Everybody To The Stage (DVD) (2005)
Past And Presence (DVD) (2007)
Concerto Maximo (DVD) (2009)
Out Of Order Comes Chaos (DVD) (2012)
Masquerade 20 (DVD) (2017)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: December 24th 2003
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.pendragon.mu
Hits: 3941
Language: english