In this playlist, I grouped concert albums released in July and August 2024 in quite varied styles as I did for live albums released in June 2024 (see here). The proposed order is by release date:
We start this tour of concerts with the supergroup 'Cats In Space' who released their second live album at the beginning of July, the first, 'Cats Alive', having been released in 2018. Since then, three albums have followed one another ('Day Trip to Narnia', 'Atlantis' and ('Kickstart The Sun'), the next one being scheduled for release in October 2024, and they now have material for a packed concert. So for all those who knew the 80s with the melodic rock bands that became cult with names like 'Toto', 'Supertramp', 'Styx', 'Journey', 'Foreigner', 'ASIA' or even 'Boston' and so on, you have a sort of mix of all these influences and this concert parades 21 titles from their discography in a concert that lasts almost two hours. So, are you ready to go back in time to listen to all these songs that would have been hits a few decades ago?
For this second concert, we are going with the German progressive rock band 'Sylvan' that I discovered in the early 2000s and this 'Back To Live', after already more than 25 years of existence and already a dozen studio recordings (the last two chronicles of myprogmusic being devoted to 'Home' and 'One to Zero'), is their second live album, the first 'Leaving Backstage' dating from 2008. Recorded in October 2023 at the 'Poppodium Boerderij Zoetermeer' in Holland which hosts many progressive concerts, this double album offers us 90 minutes of compositions taken from the entire discography of the group, the last album not being forgotten with 'Encoded at Heart' and 'Trust In Yourself' at the beginning of the concert and 'Part Of Me' and 'Go Viral' in the second part of the concert. The video of 'Trust In Yourself' is available on youtube (see here) and, for all those who would like to add the image, the Germans have also released it on DVD and Blu-Ray which brings an additional dimension to enjoy this magnificent concert even more...
In the same style as the Germans from 'Sylvan' and still in Holland, this time at 'Progdreams X Boerder' in 'Zoetermeer', a temple of progressive, it is the Polish band 'Millenium', one of 'Ryszard Kramarski's' projects (search on myprogmusic for the Polish artist's various projects here) who released 'Souvenir from Holland' on streaming platforms at the end of July, marking the group's 25th anniversary when this live was recorded in April 2023. We find these atmospheres 'Floydiennes' filled with serenity and conducive to escape while listening to this hour and a quarter concert in which the different eras of 'Millenium' are represented from the album 'Rincarnations' from 2002 to 'Tales from Imaginary Movies' from 2022. This album is also available in DVD and Blu-Ray and we can also highlight an impeccable production (the video of 'Light Your Cigar' can be viewed here). In short, this 'Souvenir from Holland' should please not only all those who follow all the projects of 'Ryszard Kramarski' but also any audience who likes a peaceful progressive rock filled with harmonious melodic lines...
'A-Z' is not strictly speaking a new release from the band 'Marillion' because it dates from 2012 in physical format but it appeared only a few weeks ago on streaming platforms. At the time, the group wanted to offer a rather special concert to the spectators present as part of the 2011 Marillion Conventions, as they chose to play 25 compositions in alphabetical order of titles. The album features 23 because the I, X and Z are not present simply because the I corresponded to the first intermission, the X being the cover of 'Senses Working Overtime' by 'XTC' with the former guitarist 'Dave Gregory' of the British group and the Z 'Separated Out' transformed for the occasion into 'Zeparated Out' and included in the last live released in 2023, 'An Hour Before It's Dark' with the integration of a few chords from 'Kashmir' by 'Led Zeppelin'. This 'A-Z', lasting more than two and a half hours, sweeps through the discography of the time and takes us back to the three decades of the 80s, 90s and 2000s. And as we are now used to, the recording of this concert is of excellent quality. In short, even if this album is certainly already known to fans, 'A-Z' adds another live performance of 'Marillion' on streaming platforms, the group having released in recent years magnificent live performances whose reviews you will find here…
Since 1998, the two founding members of 'Barclay James Harvest' have created their own band and each continue to perpetuate the compositions of the group that had its heyday in the 70s and 80s. For all those who knew this period, the live 'Live Tapes' is certainly an album that they have kept in mind and this concert given by 'John Lees' in 2023 with the 'Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra' revives these memories of the group's first albums. The symphony orchestra helps to strengthen this link that the group has always had with classical music. Apart from the hits of the time, the orchestra offers at the beginning of each part, first of all, the festive overture of 'Shostakovich' then an extract from the three baroque suites 'Water Music' by 'Heandel'. We can also note compositions from the very beginning of 'Barclay James Harvest' with the magnificent 'Moonwater' by 'Woolly Wolstenholme', sung by the guest singer 'Eleanor Sandars', and the epic of 'Dark Now My Sky' which had not been played in concert since the beginning of the 70s and which take on an even more resplendent face with this orchestral version. In summary, this orchestral live performance by 'John Lees' Barclay James Harvest' is a real treat and takes us back for a moment to these melodies that are now engraved deep in our memory...
After 'The Born in the U.S.A. Tour '84 - '85'' that I had included in my June 2024 concert playlist, it's still 'Bruce Springsteen' who is in the spotlight in this month of July 2024, this time with the 'E Street Band', for this live performance 'The Reunion Tour '99' which saw the reformation with the group for this gigantic tour which began on April 9, 1999 in Barcelona and which saw an impressive number of dates (132 shows around the world including 15 dates in East Rutherford at the 'Continental Airlines Arena' and 10 dates in the 'Madison Square Garden' in 'New York'). In this album, there are excerpts from concerts at the 'First Union Center' in Philadelphia on September 25, 1999, at the 'Staples Center' in Los Angeles on October 23, 1999, at the 'United Center' in Chicago on September 30, 1999 and at the 'Continental Airlines Arena' in East Rutherford on July 15, 1999. In short, the Boss continues to bring out live albums from his boxes that show the immense journey of this American who has always been unanimous throughout the world and who has always been committed to noble causes, this tour having seen the song 'Amerian Shots', sung several times, a song that denounced the death of Amadou Diallo', shot by the 'New York' police and which earned him death threats...
They had released for their 45th anniversary of career, the live '45th Anniversary – Live In England' and here is the 50th anniversary of 'Blue Öyster Cult' with this new album '50th Anniversary Live - Second Night' during a series of three concerts which was recorded at the 'Sony Hall' in New York and which saw the cover of the group's first three albums, the first night having been the cover of the group's first eponymous album (see here). This second live is therefore dedicated to the second evening with the cover of the album 'Tyranny And Mutation' from 1973. The second part of the set includes a sort of best of the Americans with 'Godzilla', '(Don't Fear) The Reaper', 'Burnin' For You' or even 'Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll' which closes the concert. In short, this 50th anniversary of 'Blue Öyster Cult' is another album for all those who experienced the golden age of the emergence of all the great hard rock groups, just to get a little dose of these hits that they continue to perform with the same vitality as back then...
After 'Blue Öyster Cult', we leave slightly after the creation of the formation of the Americans with the British of 'Ten Years After' who release the concert of Woodstock of 1969 which was a launching pad for the band of 'Alvin Lee' towards a worldwide fame, the festival having been planned to receive 50,000 spectators who will finally be on the three days approximately 450,000! Nugget for the fans of the group, this recording includes emblematic titles of 'Ten years After' that we already knew on the very good 'Recorded Live' of 1973 during their European tour. The original recording has been restored with new mixes from the original multitrack tapes and offers us a magnificent sound for the period. Of course, the long compositions that made these concerts so rich are present with the 18 minutes of 'I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes' by 'Al Kooper', the 15 minutes of 'Help Me' and, of course, the 10 minutes of 'I'm Going Home', the band's anthem that still gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it 50 years after the release of 'Recorded Live' (see the video here). In short, it is yet another recording that, beyond the band's fans, should delight all those who experienced these concerts in the 70s and which will remain, beyond the music, a historical event that will be immortalized by the film 'Woodstock' by the American director 'Michael Wadleigh'...
We return to a more recent period with the second part of 'Symphonic Live' by 'Mono Inc.' who are releasing a double CD of their last tour of 2024 accompanied by an orchestral string ensemble. As they did in 'Symphonic Live' from 2019, the Germans offer us more than an hour and a half of concert with the essential hymns of their discography. The beginning of the set highlights stripped-down interpretations which completely revisit the original versions, amplifying the melancholic side of the group ('Louder Than Hell', 'Seligkeit' or 'When the Raven Dies Tonight') then, we find the melodic and rhythmic spirit from 'Revenge' with 'Katha Mia' on the drums which prints a metronome tempo giving an irresistible urge to clap your hands. The unstoppable melodies then roll with a new, quieter break including 'Wiedersehen Woanders' and the short piano interlude, then it's back to the climax of the concert with 'Children Of The Dark'. Two videos are available on YouTube: 'Lieb Mich' and 'In My Heart'. In summary, this second chapter of 'Symphonic Live' by the Germans from 'Mono Inc.' shows all the festive atmosphere released in these concerts with an audience won over to their cause who take up in chorus the unifying refrains...
Now having two studio albums at his disposal with 'Flower Torania' from 2020 and 'Truewaves' released in 2023, drummer 'Jimmy Pallagrosi' was able to organize a tour of his project 'Zio' in 2023 with prestigious singers, since we find alongside the trio of 'Zio', among others, 'Hayley Griffiths', 'Eric Gillette' and 'John Mitchell'. In this 'Elibomevil' concert, we find the compositions of the two albums which are mixed within this one hour and forty minute set, 'Jimmy Pallagrosi' coming forward in the middle of the song 'Inner City' with a remarkable drum solo, a solo that we have less and less opportunity to see in concerts today and which ends with the cover of 'Welcome To The Machine' by the 'Floyds'. Bringing together different styles, we are taken into 25 compositions that are more or less complex with influences ranging from pop to metal sprinkled with a good dose of progressive. The long development 'I Hear Them Whistling' which shows a sought-after construction rubs shoulders with the 'Floydian' 'Lonely Diamond' and we cannot miss the titles sung by 'Hayley Griffiths' like the short 'Amused', 'Ma Petite Histoire' and 'Ride Along' or 'Living Begind' or even 'Close'. In short, 'Elibomevil' is an album that should please all fans of progressive rock but also all fans of the British 'Hayley Griffiths'...
We end this tour of concert albums released in July and August 2024 with a band that has a lot of flying hours since 'Renaissance' was founded in 1969, 'Annie Haslam' being the only survivor from the first hour since she joined the band in 1971. The group has not released an album for about ten years, the last one being 'Symphony Of Light' in 2014 which was the reissue of 'Grandine Il Vento' from 2013, dedicated to 'Michael Dunford', the guitarist of the group who died in 2012. Since then, 'Renaissance' continues to tour and several concert albums have been released, the most recent being 'A Symphonic Journey' in 2018, '50th Anniversary Ashes Are Burning – An Anthology – Live In Concert' in 2021 and 'The Legacy Tour 2022' in 2023. This latest live album takes us back to the end of the 70s, when 'Renaissance' had already released 7 studio albums in less than 10 years, each of them becoming a reference in the progressive field. In 1976, they released the magnificent 'Live At Carnegie Hall' which contained two emblematic titles that they considerably extended in concert (29 minutes for 'Scheherazade' and 23 for 'Ashes Are Burning'). This release of the BBC recordings from the London concerts in 1977 and 1978 takes us back to the time when the band of 'Annie Haslam' was at the height of its popularity with 16 compositions tracing their discography starting from 'Prologue' which ends the concert taken from the album of the same name from 1972, up to 'The Song For All Seasons' also taken from the album of the same name from 1978 and this with an impeccable sound for the time. In short, this 'Can You Hear Me: Broadcasts 1974-1978' allows us to go back about 45 years to hear again the best of 'Renaissance' with an 'Annie Haslam' at the top of her art and known for having a singing range of more than three octaves... | |
