Pendragon's Nick Barrett finally joins the party, and the first song he is tasked to sing is IQ's "Outer Limits", which was a complete mismatch for his unique vocal style. The song did not go over too well, in general. For the next song, "Shadows of Fate," a magnificent epic from the 2002 Clive Nolan/Oliver Wakeman collaboration, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Barrett's vocals were much better suited, and the band simply knocks it out of the park.
To close out the show, Barrett finally straps on his guitar, his real strong point, and the band tears through a couple of Pendragon songs from perhaps their finest studio album, 1996's The Masquerade Overture. "Paintbox" is a beautifully melodic, Pink Floyd-inspired number that really shows off Barrett's amazing guitar prowess, and was the highlight of the show for me. "Master of Illusion", from the same album, closes out the set and is highlighted by another stunning Barrett guitar solo that is very reminiscent of David Gilmour's "Comfortably Numb" masterpiece.
After several minutes of enthusiastic cheering from the crowd, the band returns for a final encore and pulls one more song from the Pendragon vaults - "Nostradamus." They skipped over the slow, atmospheric, first half of the song, and dove right into the rockin' ending section, which cut the original length about in half. This was not one of my favorite Pendragon songs, but it pumped up the crowd, and brought the show to a rousing conclusion.
The production quality of this DVD is on par with the other two Metal Mind releases from this same concert - and that is superior. The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track sounds crisp and the instruments and vocals are well balanced in the mix. For those without the surround setup, an excellent Dolby stereo track is also included. The widescreen video presentation is very sharp and colorful, and the camera work makes you feel like you are part of the crowd. Metal Mind does some of the best concert camera work in the business, and this DVD was yet another excellent example.
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