Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Saga
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2009
Rating: 5/5
Legendary Canadian art rockers Saga hit two major turning points in their long career in 2007. With the new album “10,000 Days” and a huge European tour they celebrated thirty years together, and at the same time said goodbye to vocalist and co-founder Michael Sadler, who decided that after the (temporary?) end of his musical journey he’d devote himself more fully to his family and newborn son. “Contact – Live in Munich” carries a heavy symbolic charge, because it holds Michael’s last concert as a member of the band. The sold-out show in Munich turned out to be a majestic, emotionally charged musical event, both for the band and for the euphoric crowd, which also included the founding part of the RockLine crew (you can read the report here).
The first part of this concert DVD contains the entire farewell-slash-anniversary show in Munich, which I dare say was definitely one of the best performances in the band’s history. Emotionally, I’d bet even the individual members would rank it right at the top of their stage experiences. Watching the footage, I can’t help but admit that I’m swept over and over by incredible feelings that let me relive that unforgettable concert all over again.
The legendary Canadians gave it everything that night and had a whole bag of bigger and smaller surprises ready. The first one comes right at the start, when they open with Michael’s solo take on the main chorus of “Always There”. That made it clear straight away that this was in no way going to be your average Saga gig, but one loaded with a special atmosphere and unforgettable magic. After this short, rather mellow warm-up, they hit with a great rendition of “Interview” from their most successful album, “Worlds Apart” (1981). As expected, most of the night’s material came from that record.
Throughout the show, from song to song, Sadler confirms his incredible stage charisma, which is fully on par with the best frontmen in the history of progressive rock, such as Peter Gabriel, Peter Hammill and Ian Anderson. Despite his respectable number of years, the guy is in great shape, both physically and vocally. His voice is top-notch the whole way through. Some songs he even manages to deliver better than their studio versions. Not once does his voice tremble between songs, so there’s nothing to suggest it’s his last show with the band or that a whole mess of melancholy feelings is churning inside him. He gave more than a hundred percent of his energy. His in-between speeches, however, were packed with emotion and endless thanks to the crowd, who breathed as one with him and his band.
Saga balanced the setlist beautifully between older pieces from their classic albums, a few unusual surprises and newer material. The newer stuff makes its first appearance with an excellent performance of “As Far As I’ll Go”, which is on the album “Trust” (2006). The first peak of the concert arrives with the classic “You’re Not Alone” (from the legendary album “Images At Twilight”, 1979), where the crowd sings every single chorus. They could easily have sung the whole lyrics if Michael had happened to invite them to. Most of the crowd knew every word by heart, which speaks volumes about their boundless devotion. Of course, the contributions of the other band members deserve a mention too, even though this was Michael’s night. Guitarist Ian Crichton, for many years one of the best guitarists in progressive rock, once again takes your breath away with a pile of fast-fingered guitar moves and original solos. Sadly, despite his constant energetic grimaces and the fact that he’s grown his hair long again after all this time, the years have caught up with him too, and these days he’s only growing wider. He’s looking more and more like Meat Loaf.
One of Saga’s trademarks has always been that two, and sometimes even three, band members swap around on the keyboards at the same time, creating majestic multi-harmonic symphonic curtains. The always super relaxed and friendly keyboardist Jim Gilmour, with whom we also had a wonderfully colorful interview before the show, occasionally got company behind the keys from Sadler and from the bouncy bassist and producer Jim Crichton, whom I can easily call the band’s chief stage joker. When he’s not “dancing” onstage during the show, he’s having a blast on his mini moog synth, especially whenever Sadler joins Gilmour on keyboards.
After “I’m OK” from “Trust” come two songs from the current album “10,000 Days” – “Can’t You See Me Now?” and “Book Of Lies”. Both get almost as much enthusiasm as their long-time classics. The first of those is introduced by the excellent “Pefekcionist” from their self-titled debut. Before it, the ever-joking bassist Jim Crichton pulls a funny sketch, pushing a crown into Michael’s hands (Michael had just sat down on a chair for a second to catch his breath). That way he crowned him king of the night, Freddie Mercury style. Michael couldn’t get over this unexpected bit of silliness and, after a lot of stalling, finally put it on his head for a few seconds at the crowd’s demand. Clearly he never saw himself as a king, which is no surprise. He did get much deeper into the role of the perfectionist, though. Together with his band he serves up yet another deeply emotional rendition of the aforementioned classic and sends the crowd into mass delirium once again.
The drum seat that night was filled by a not-so-familiar face. Saga really haven’t had luck with drummers in recent years. After longtime drummer Steve Negus left, his spot was briefly taken by American Christian Simpson (he only played on the album “Network”, 2004). Simpson had to hand his seat over within a year due to illness, to Brian Doerner (ex-Helix). But that poor guy also had to undergo a serious operation after a stroke right at the start of the tour. For a while he was replaced by original drummer Steve Negus, who in my opinion fits the band’s sound best, and then Doerner’s live spot went to Chris Sutherland. He’s known for his massive swings, which the crowd could see for themselves during his solo spot.
After the solo ends, Sutherland moves into a slow rhythmic build-up that leads into the romantic hit “The Flyer” (Heads Or Tales, 1983), one of the most pleasant surprises of the night. Here again the crowd more than convincingly takes over Michael’s usual part in the choruses. Jim Gilmour had hinted in the interview that the show would include a few surprises that don’t usually make it into their setlist. I’d certainly count the two excellent performances of songs from the album “The Security Of Illusion” (1993) there – “Mind Over Matter” (together with the prerecorded intro “Entracte”) and “The Security Of Illusion”. Michael sings the latter solo, that is, with no accompaniment. Once again the thrilled crowd helps him out on the choruses.
Then it’s time for a special version of “Time’s Up”, played in an acoustic arrangement. Here Michael gets wonderfully heartfelt help from Ian on acoustic guitar and Mr. Gilmour on electric piano. The crowd’s excitement has barely died down when the mischievous Scottish-born keyboardist steps into the spotlight. It’s time for the emotional ballad “Scratching The Surfcace”, one of the few Saga songs with Jim as lead vocalist. Another one of the night’s bigger surprises, even though they played it on the previous tour too, is “We’ve Been Here Before” from the album “Wildest Dreams” (1987). They don’t exactly go back to that record often, because of its mostly pop-rock nature. After “On The Air”, one of the better songs from “Network”, it’s once again time for two classics. In the first few bars of the dramatic “On The Loose” the crowd goes nuts again. Then they remember the cult album “Silent Knight” (1980) and play the unforgettable “Careful Where You Step”.
During a deeply felt rendition of “10.000 Days”, the title ballad of the current album, where Ian again picks up the acoustic guitar, the band hands out lighters to the crowd. The moment the first little flames light up, the concert magic in the hall gets an even stronger pulse. Also because this is a song dedicated to the length of Michael’s tenure as a member of the band. The main set is thus nearing its end. For this turning-point moment they serve up one more ancient classic, “Wind Him Up”. The story of an addicted gambler fully ignites the already well-heated atmosphere inside the hall. After the main set ends, stage crew, assorted friends of the band and family members march onto the stage, among them Michael’s heavily pregnant wife. They hand the deeply moved singer bouquets of flowers, which the band later piles around the base of Chris’s drums.
Before the encore, which doesn’t take long to arrive, the crowd was handed two big sheets of paper reading “Michael” and “bye”. The moment they come back with the first encore, the classic “Humble Stance” from their debut, the hall goes absolutely wild again. Michael can no longer hold back his emotions here, since the sight of the entire hall saying goodbye to him through written messages is deeply moving for the rest of the band too. I’d venture to say he could barely keep the tears in. In the next moment he escapes the awkwardness by slinging a bass guitar around his neck, the very one he played on the studio version of this classic. What kind of Saga show would it be if the big finale didn’t include the classic “Don’t Be Late”? Sadler realizes this before it starts too, and here he once again moves with feeling between bass and keyboards, while both Crichton brothers fully let loose. “Don’t Be Late” brings the first encore to a close. After thunderous ovations, the band bows to the crowd and leaves the stage.
The faithful crowd is rewarded with one last encore of the night, the unforgettable classic “What It’s Gonna Be?”, played for the first and last time on the entire tour, especially for the crowd at the Muffathalle. They play this last encore with no introductions, and the final farewell is also done as quickly as possible. Even after they’ve left the stage, the crowd of course tries to squeeze out another encore, that’s how strong their excitement is. I was, and still am today, especially after the memories this monumental DVD brought back to the surface, completely blown away by the whole performance of the setlist, the band’s incredible tightness and the crazy atmosphere that filled the hall from the stage to the bar. As far as the sound goes, this was also a concert of superlatives. Except at the start, when the keyboards are a bit harder to hear, Saga demonstrate true sonic perfectionism. The camera work and lighting are superbly done, vividly capturing every move of the star of the night and his comrades-in-arms.
The second disc has some tasty bonus goodies for all the band’s longtime fans: short interviews with Jim Gilmour and Ian Crichton, a TV recording of some songs from the Mannheim show, and a photo gallery of the tour and the farewell show.
“Contact” is a monumental concert document toward which I’ll always keep a special kind of relationship. Every true fan of the band certainly won’t go without it, and will surely get the audio version too. Sadler’s farewell concert undoubtedly remains one of the most moving and important concert events in the history of progressive rock. Michael said his goodbye in the ideal way, and even though his farewell wasn’t sad, I’ll definitely miss him in the band’s future output. Even though Sadler’s successor Rob Moratti (ex-Final Frontier) shows promise for the future with his vocal style, every next concert encounter with the legendary Canadians won’t be anywhere near the same.
Lineup
Michael Sadler – vocals, keyboards, bass guitar
Jim Critchon – bass guitar, keyboards
Ian Critchon – guitar
Jim Gilmour – keyboards, vocals
Chris Sutherland – drums
Production
Jim Crichton
Track list
DVD1:
01. The Interview (live)
02. That’s As Far As I’ll Go (live)
03. You’re Not Alone (live)
04. I’m OK (live)
05. Can’t You See Me Now (live)
06. Book Of Lies (live)
07. The Perfectionist (live)
08. Drum Solo (live)
09. The Flyer (live)
10. Mind Over Matter (live)
11. The Security Of Illusion (live)
12. Time’s Up (live)
13. Piano Solo (live)
14. Scratching The Surface (live)
15. We’ve Been Here Before (live)
16. On The Air (live)
17. On The Loose (live)
18. Careful Where You Step (live)
19. 10,000 Days (live)
20. Wind Him Up (live)
21. Humble Stance (live)
22. Don’t Be Late (live)
23. What’s It Gonna Be? (live)
DVD2:
01. Documentary
02. Underground TV Live in Mannheim
03. Photo gallery
