It's great to see Mike Sadler fronting the band again with his vocal powers undiminished.
Saga remains one of my all-time favourite bands and after a five year hiatus it's great to see Mike Sadler fronting the band again with his vocal powers undiminished. Boy, can he sing! He's also a highly engaging frontman.
However, one thing that comes across on this set (particularly the DVD version) is that despite an extremely credible twenty album CV it's still the songs from the iconic first five studio releases that the fans want to hear, and if I'm being honest they certainly outshine the more recent material in the set which doesn't have quite the same level of melody as the classic tunes from early in their career.
I like a band that puts the effort into creating a proper intro to their show and Saga do that with a tape that leads into 'Anywhere You Wanna Go' – a rousing opener. The band then visit album number two with a version of 'Mouse In A Maze' that is considerably heavier than the original. As if proving my point about those early tunes the next three songs are also taken from that era with bona fide classics 'The Perfectionist', 'Careful Where You Step' and 'You're Not Alone' where the musicianship and song quality is astoundingly good.
By contrast the pairing of newer numbers 'Spin It Again' and the instrumental 'Corkentellis' simply serves as a bit of a respite before 'The Flyer' energises the crowd once more. 'The Cross' from the divisive 'Generation 13' album is a surprise inclusion, although it does serve to remind that there were some decent moments on that album. As usual the drum solo (from new man Mike Thorne) proves a redundant element, but the reworked 'Time's Up' and Jim Gilmour's 'Scratching The Surface' get things back on track.
The final run to the finish is a Saga fan's dream with 'Tired World', 'Humble Stance', 'On The Loose', 'Wind Him Up', 'Framed' and the obligatory and always awesome 'Don't Be Late' all of which serve to remind just how good these guys are.
Gary Marshall
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