Artist: Tesla
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2008
Running time: 120:00
Rating: 4.5/5
This is a memento of one date, 02/22/2008, and a concert by the newly reawakened hard rockers Tesla in Minnesota, USA! It’s a DVD that boasts outstanding picture as well as sound. It was shot with at least 5 cameras. Two from below the stage (one from the left, one from the right), one behind the drums, then the main one on a moving crane, and one more at the opposite end of the hall, at the back, shooting from behind the crowd. No misses. Especially for all you musicians who want to see what Frank Hannon and newcomer Dave Rude are up to with their fingers. The look at each player’s “gear” already on stage is great, but you guitar virtuosos will be truly delighted when you find the special DVD section where each member of the band presents their gear in detail, even explaining which effects and guitars they use for individual Tesla songs. Want to have a Tesla tribute band? Then grab this DVD right now!
Visually, we keep moving from close-up shots to ones that take in more of the stage and turn toward the crowd, dynamically and effectively showing the interaction on stage between the band members, as well as between the band and the fans. The hall is packed to the rafters, and the Americans haven’t forgotten who Tesla are even in 2008! The crowd is fired up.
The performance is incredible. You wonder whether it’s even possible to play a gig this perfectly and at the same time get such a perfect, juicy sound. Close your eyes and just listen, and you can feel Tesla sweating on stage! And as for that perfect live sound? Surely there must have been some studio “over-dubs”, but damn it! I can’t prove it! The whole thing is hugely convincing thanks to an extremely warm, I’d even say red-hot, erogenous sound built on the classic Gibson sound of Tesla’s riffs, plus the dynamics and colorful three-dimensionality provided by Wheat’s pulsing, voluminous, clearly separated bass line and by the authoritative way Luccretta’s drums dictate the tempos.
On this DVD the band comes across as youthful, razor-tight, hot and hungry to play, as if the turn of the eighties into the nineties was still just yesterday. Tesla can barely wait to tear the stage apart. The opening Cumin’ Atcha Live puts both guitarists front and center, wildly trading a whole host of breathtaking solos. Then in steps Jeff Keith! Simply dressed, without a shred of arrogance, approachable, with a cheeky smile! But in the chorus you can tell the years have taken some power from his vocal cords. His throaty, sandpapery voice, recognizable a mile away, still pierces the ears and remains an important Tesla trademark, but when Modern Day Cowboy comes along shortly after, the suspicion of partial power loss grows into fact. Still, Jeff Keith respectably hits every register throughout the show, and the songs from “Into The Now” (2004), as well as the new song Pvt. Ledbetter, which came out toward the end of the same year on the album “Forever More” (2008) – Rockline review HERE – serve him mostly as a chance to relax and rest his vocal cords.
The chemistry between Rude and Hannon is unbelievable! Considering Rude is the newcomer, it’s all the more impressive, because it’s more than obvious that his integration was completely natural for the band and that Rude was made for Tesla. Hannon is razor-sharp and owns the stage during the show. At times he takes up so much room that he pulls all the attention to himself. Even from Jeff Keith. Hannon proves to be an excellent vocalist too, filling the “holes” in the songs with great confidence wherever needed.
The real guitarist is, first and foremost, a master of acoustic playing, and the neo-classical intro duet before Love Song, which smells of hot Latin temperament, shows how well the two guitarists understand each other. Rude reportedly joined Tesla precisely to fill the void left by Tommy Skeoch’s departure, when the band wanted to head out on an acoustic tour but had no guitarist. So they were looking above all for someone really strong on acoustic guitar!
Tesla are outstanding musicians, and as a unit they’re hard to beat on stage! Their feel, their touch for drama in their songs is exceptional! It’s easy to sense the genuine chemistry of a band that comes from playing together for a long time. The essence of the band, its spirit, is damn well alive and creates a special mood that only Tesla can conjure!
That touch of tragedy really stands out in songs like Paradise, with outstanding work from both guitarists and a perfectly tuned “twin guitar” harmony in the intro, then in Song And Emotion (dedicated to the late Steve Clark of Def Leppard), and also in Freedom Slaves, where Luccretta stands out by dictating a military march on the drums. At the end of the show the band raises the roof off the hall with a heartfelt performance of the classic Edison’s Medicine. And so we make it to the end of a recording you can never get tired of. I also want to mention the superb cover of Rock Bottom, a UFO classic, where Wheat, with a Thunderbird Gibson bass, lies down on the steps of the drum riser, a trick from good old Pete Way (UFO), minus the spandex, of course, which the legendary Way still squeezes into without shame today when he shows up on stage with UFO!
The bonus material is superb. It shows a few moments from backstage that will have you in tears of laughter. A walk through Seattle, Hannon and Rude’s blues jam, Frank Hannon shooting apples with a bow, the story of how J.K. bought Rude a brand-new Gibson Explorer guitar. After a gig, Jeff accidentally smacked Dave hard in the face after tossing a handful of Hannon’s picks into the crowd, and Rude ended up with a nice swollen bump on his forehead. Quite the dream compensation from J.K., no? And as already mentioned, the real bullseye of this DVD is the section where all the members show off their “gear”! That’s pure gold!
“Cumin’ Atcha Live 2008” is therefore a document of Tesla with all their power intact, coming across as fresh, tight, in perfectly preserved shape, uncompromising on stage. I warmly recommend this release to all fans of the band, as well as to all of you who play in bands, since this DVD will show you what a truly professional attitude to work in the music business looks like.! At times all the stage perfection this live DVD offers seems unbelievable! It’s like it came straight out of the box! The sound is filigree-fine. I still can’t believe it was done without any after-the-fact studio fixes (overdub touch-ups). So Tesla still kick fully live, and let’s hope they show up on a European tour in this kind of form as soon as possible!
Lineup
Jeff Keith – vocals
Frank Hannon – guitar, keyboards, theremin, backing vocals
Dave Rude – guitar, backing vocals
Brian Wheat – bass, backing vocals, keyboards
Troy Luccketta – drums
Track list
1. Comin’ Atcha Live
2. What a Shame
3. Modern Day Cowboy
4. Miles Away
5. Heaven’s Trail
6. Mama’s Fool
7. Hang Tough
8. Dear PVT. Ledbetter
9. Paradise
10. Love Song
11. What U Give
12. Song and Emotion
13. Heaven 911
14. Freedom Slaves
15. Rock Bottom
16. Into the Now
17. Signs
18. Lil’ Suzi
19. Edison’s Medicine
