Queensryche - The Art Of Live (DVD)
Sanctuary
Melodic Hard Rock / Metal

Release year: 2004
Queensryche, Sanctuary
Reviewed by Marty
Deciding to do something that was both different and more difficult to do than with other DVD releases in the past, Queensryche placed cameras into the hands of some of the people who work for the band to film several shows during last year's tour with Dream Theater. What they ended up with was over 60 tapes worth of material that had to be painstakingly edited to produce the final product, new band's new DVD, The Art Of Live. Aside from the unconventional method of filming the live shows, this entire performance is presented in a black and white (or more like brown and white) format. In spite of how these performances were filmed and edited, the end result is a quality interpretation of the current state of the live performance from this legendary band.

Leaning heavily on material from their latest release Tribe, Queensryche proves that after all these years and even without founding member Chris Degarmo, they can still deliver the goods in a live performance. The show kicks off with a rousing version of Tribe, the title track from their latest album. Sounding bigger and heavier than the studio version, it quickly kicks the whole show into gear. Also featured from the Tribe album are Open, Losing Myself, Desert Dance, The Great Divide and a cool acoustic version of Rhythm Of Hope which is part of a trio of tracks performed acoustically that includes My Global Mind from Promised Land and a laid back and abbreviated version of the epic Roads To Madness from the Warning album. Sign Of The Times, from Hear In the Now Frontier falters a bit in spots and also included in the set list are Della Brown and Best I Can from the hugely successful Empire album. Della Brown is a standout with it's great expressive and bluesy leads, overall very tight sound and guitarist Mike Stone proves that he's up to the job of performing with this band. The one-two punch of Breaking The Silence and The Needle Lies from Operation Mindcrime is where the energy peaks on this DVD release. Sixteen years after it's release, Operation Mindcrime is still one of my all-time favorite albums. The bonus encore section filmed in front of a home-town Seattle crowd features both Queensryche and Dream Theater performing the Pink Floyd classic Comfortably Numb and Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who. Both bands are set up on stage with two sets of drums and all their gear. It's interesting to hear the voices of Geoff Tate and James LaBrie together. James has a softer voice compared to Geoff's and in term of power and projection, James La Brie is no match for Geoff Tate. Geoff still has a great voice and although not quite as high as it used to be, he still sounds like singing comes naturally to him and that he could sing for hours. Both bonus tracks remain true to the original versions for the most part except everyone including Jordan Rudess (keyboards - Dream Theater), solos on Won't Get Fooled Again. John Petrucci absolutely nails the end solo in Comfortably Numb and it looks like both bands really had a blast performing together.

Other features of this DVD release include a photo gallery, interviews with Geoff Tate discussing the aspects of touring and editing this DVD release as well as several live segments with the band performing an acoustic version of Losing Myself on various television shows during the tour. Overall, a solid release and even though the Live Evolution DVD is better, this line-up with Mike Stone is a much stronger and better sounding one than with Kelly Gray on guitar. A fair assessment of where the band is today, most of the material from the Tribe album actually sounds better than the studio versions. The audio portion is soon to be released on CD but without the bonus tracks however, I'd recommend this DVD version instead....the jam with Dream Theater is worth the price of this alone.

Killing Songs :
Tribe, Open, Della Brown, Breaking The Silence, The Needle Lies and Won't Get Fooled Again
Marty quoted no quote
Other albums by Queensryche that we have reviewed:
Queensryche - The Verdict reviewed by Joel and quoted 93 / 100
Queensryche - Condition Human reviewed by Joel and quoted 92 / 100
Queensryche - Queensryche Live from Waukesha, Wisconsin USA reviewed by Joel and quoted
Queensryche - Queensrÿche (2013 LP) reviewed by Andy and quoted 89 / 100
Queensryche - Dedicated To Chaos reviewed by Erik and quoted 31 / 100
To see all 13 reviews click here
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