Drummer Jörg Michael joined Finnish power metallers Stratovarius back in 1995. He had played with Axel Rudi Pell and with Grave Digger, Avenger/Rage, Running Wild, Mekong Delta and more. Damn, what a record of work experience! Stratovarius went to be an international band, even more so as keyboard wizard with background with Dio and Yngie J. Malmsteen, Jens Johansson, joined at the same time.

Anyway, this audiovisual recording was made to celebrate Mr. Michael's time in the band. He got busy with many things, family being the most important one, but also was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. So, he decided to get time for other things than Stratovarius, and this concert in Tampere, Finland, was one of his final gigs (four was played after this, I presume). The edition I am reviewing is the DVD version. There are also CD and Blu-ray editions available. The Blu-ray includes one interesting extra: 5.1 mix of 'Elysium' album. The audiovisual versions both include "Rewinding from the Past to 2012" documentary, which is only about 30 minutes long, including interviews from five members from this era of the band. So, not very introspective, but still enough in my opinion.

I am not a Stratovarius fanboy, so the setlist for me is hard to debate about. It does include many hit songs (essentially 'Kiss of Judas', Eagleheart', 'Black Diamond' and 'Hunting High and Low'). Some include crowd participation parts, unsurprisingly. One of the greatest moments is epic 'Visions' (Southern Cross). Deep Purple's 'Burn' gets powerfully covered. The Who's 'Behind Blue Eyes' is a rather soft take on the classic song, but still cool. As 1996's 'Episode' was the first album for Jörg, it is represented with two song, 'Speed of Light' and 'Father Time'. Gladly, the instrumental solo bits are short-ish in this ten minutes short of two hours. However, there is not much of a drum solo to talk about... 17 songs, of which two are covers. They were taken in for Jörg, so this does include some specials for Strato-fans. I do not know, if there's enough specials ones, but the previous audiovisual extravaganza from the band came out in 2000, titled 'Infinite Visions', which was more like a collection of various things. The last proper live album, 'Visions of Europe', was released in 1998 so it was about time for the band to put out a live release.

So, how does this sound like? Sadly, quite lame, to tell the truth. I tried it with several headphones, but the big defect remained: The sound is far from being all-inclusive, and is definitely badly balanced. I did not use any audio equalizer, by the way. The drums are loud (well, the cymbals, hi-hat and ride are mostly barely audible) with the bass guitar (by Lauri Porra), as well as the Timo Kotipelto's vocals are dominating in the mix. The guitar by Matias Kupiainen is often low-tuned, but if his high-pitched stuff isn't audible, the conviction is nothing else but a bad mixing job. The same goes with the keyboards: Lost under rumbling drums and bass. At times, both the guitar and the keyboards are more audible, Still it does not help a lot; what's flawed is flawed. I did not use any audio equalizer. The crowd sound is not very loud, but only a few times.

For what can be heard it is clear, that the guys are top-notch performers. They are energetic throughout the set. Kotipelto's voice is in a good shape. Only if his English was a tad better pronounced... Jörg is a beast behind the kit. On 'Deep Unknown', his work is more technical than anywhere else, and he doesn't quiet nail it. The bass playing is vivid, to say the least.

The visual side is not very good either. Several cameras were utilized to shoot the show. Misters Michael and Kotipelto got most screentime, then Porra. Of course Jörg was wanted to be in sight. Kotipelto and Porra have the middle of the stage, and Johansson and Kupiainen stay on the sides for a big part. I especially wanted to see more of Kupiainen. Now essential shots are missing, for example great licks he plays during 'Kiss of Judas' a few times. Another view is Jörg's kit from upwards. The stage is such small, that shooting from behind the kit was not easily possible, but why no view from upwards? Some cameras are probably lesser in quality, at least there is some image noise at times. On the other hand, we get quite many angles of view. But then again, is shooting Kupiainen from side/back important? No it is not! The crowd is seen a lot.

Let's get to present. Fortunately Jörg Michael won the battle against the evil invader of his body, and plays with German bands Headhunter (as he did in early 1990s) and Heavatar. He's probably not returning to Stratovarius, except maybe for some historical concerts perhaps. Only time will tell. At least the split was not rancorous.

Is this essential? Taking into consideration, that the sound and the visual side both are definitely big disappointments, I can only recommend this to the true fans of the band. I am not pleased with the outcome of how this veteran band was presented here, thank you.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
11/06/2018 16:31