Other performance highlights were a ripping version of "Crack The Big Sky", in which Dave Meros steals the show with his incredible bass work. He really shines throughout the whole concert. The band closes out the first set with their latest multi-part epic, "As Far As The Mind Can See", followed by an explosive "Rearranged", which takes you on an amazing journey through all of the bands many musical styles. Few band's can transition between the pop-jazz of Toto, to the metallic-prog of Dream Theater quite as smoothly as the Beard can.
The setlist was a little bit of a let down for me. I can understand that they wanted to focus on the new album, and not repeat too much of their previous live album, 2005's Gluttons for Punishment, but that doesn't mean they had to almost completely ignore their other two post-Morse studio albums. Feel Euphoria was completely ignored, and "Surfing Down The Avalanche" was the only song played from the Octane album. A nice surprise, however, was "Return To Whatever", which comes from Alan Morse's instrumental fusion album, 4 O'clock & Hysteria.
The older selections were not exactly my top choices either. The extremely abbreviated versions of "The Water" and "Go The Way You Go", from the band's 1994 debut album, The Light, made for a slightly disappointing encore in that particular form. Morse's exceptional guitar solo was a definite high-point though. I would have much preferred to hear "The Doorway" or "At the End of the Day" in their entirety. I was also surprised that they didn't play any songs from the Snow album, since D'Virgilio sang lead on a couple of them.
As for the production values, they are excellent. Certainly much better than their last DVD, Don't Try This At Home. Audio is provided in both Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and stereo. Dave Meros must have mixed the audio because the bass was simply thunderous throughout - in a good kind of way. The instruments and the audience were mixed perfectly on the surround track to make you feel as if you were part of the show.
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