The highlights were many, but the powerful performance of "Come Again" will certainly have you hearkening back to the glory days of Styx. Shaw opens the song with some gorgeous 12-string acoustic guitar, while Nugent lets his electric guitar sing out wildly over the chords. Shaw has to pause the song about 20 seconds in and ask reverently, "Ted, would you mind doing that one more time for me?" Nugent is his usual over-the-top self throughout, hamming it up, and not at all shy about stealing the show, but Shaw and Blades seem perfectly content with his antics, because his energy and enthusiasm are very contagious.
The show ends appropriately with three of the songs that made these guy's other bands famous. Up first is "Renegade", Shaw's Styx classic, which gets completely hijacked by Nugent's screaming guitar, which makes James Young's original riffs sound like they were being played on a frigging acoustic. He doesn't slow down after that one either, because his very own "Cat Scratch Fever" is up next, and he shows how much he still revels in assaulting a crowd with the song's killer opening riff, and his sexually gyrating hips. Night Ranger's "Rock In America" waves the band's patriotism flag with vigor and brings the show to a rousing finale.
The performances are ALL intermingled with behind-the-scenes footage and band interviews, which I usually can't stand, but it was presented exceptionally well on this DVD, and was not the least bit distracting for me. Also, and listen up all of you concert video directors, they included a "Performances Only" option in the main menu that allows you to skip all of the behind-the-scenes stuff with the push of a single button. Outstanding!
The behind-the-scenes footage and interview segments provided a nice glimpse into the personalities of each band member and were fun as hell to watch. Cartellone was the sarcastic comedian of the bunch, constantly joking about the age difference between him and the other three dinosaurs, and refusing to show deference to their legends. Tommy Shaw mentions how there is usually just uncomfortable silence whenever he and Nugent are alone in a room, since they have so little in common outside of rock and roll, with Shaw being a strict vegetarian and Nugent killin' and grillin' most of his own food.
Article comments
1 - Pete
This is it...My warn out vhs finaly in the dumpster....A+