Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Arena
Label: Verglas Records
Released: 2004
Running time: 110:59
Rating: 5/5
After the tour for their conceptual masterpiece »Contagion« (2003), the cult neo-prog heavyweights Arena put out a double live album titled »Live & Life«. It captures the entire show, the full set the band played throughout the 2003 tour, which took them through most of European countries (including Slovakia, though Slovenia, as you’d expect, didn’t make the list) and over to Canada (Quebec City and Montreal). After »Contagion« Arena finally managed to put together a stable studio and live lineup, one that ended up staying together for a good ten years. The band’s two founding pillars, the brilliant keyboardist Clive Nolan and original Marillion drummer Mick Pointer, teamed up with the astonishingly talented guitarist and occasional singer John Mitchell, the superb vocalist Rob Sowden and the seasoned bassist Ian Salmon, whom Clive knew from his Shadowland days, and built a band that earned enormous respect among countless neo-prog fans. »Live & Life« catches their onstage chemistry in about the best way possible, with a run through some of the finest material from their career up to that point.
The first disc of »Live & Life« holds a live performance of the whole »Contagion« album, which was how the first half of the show went on the 2003 tour for these cult neo-prog stalwarts, who are still quietly waiting for the commercial recognition they deserve. Every Arena fan who knows »Contagion« down to the last detail will have to agree that the live version on »Live & Life« is practically on par with the studio one, while the crowd’s participation gives it an even more intense vibe. From the very first second, when they hit the stage with the cataclysmic stormer »Witch Hunt«, one of the best moments of their career, the live atmosphere reaches breathtaking proportions. That ambient magic carries on through the short ballad »An Angel Falls«, the dark post-apocalyptic session »Painted Man«, the melodramatic instrumental »This Way Madness Lies«, the epic »Spectre at the Feast«, the punchy »Skin Game« and so on, all the way to the triumphant finish with »Ascension«. It’s all played dead-on, ‘to the letter’, from Nolan’s richly varied keyboard kingdom, Mitchell’s intelligent guitar passages and Pointer’s hefty drum fills to Salmon’s melodic bass lines, just the way these masters of their instruments do it, while the always excellent Sowden is in especially fine voice on this recording.
The second disc features some of the most popular pieces from Arena’s earlier studio albums, namely »Immortal?« (2000), »The Visitor« (1998), »Pride« (1996) and »Songs From The Lions Cage« (1995). As expected, the masterpiece »The Visitor« gets the most songs: the melancholic instrumental »Serenity«, ruled by Mitchell’s ‘weeping’ guitar solo, the tense »Double Vision«, the melodramatic epic »The Hanging Tree« and »Enemy Without«, the ambient high point of the album. »Immortal« is represented by the conspiratorially brilliant post-apocalyptic stormer »Chosen« and the ever-chilling, shatteringly dark »The Butterfly Man«, two sharp critiques of modern neoliberal alienation, greed and emotional robotization. For the finale they picked three long-time live favorites: the epic, nearly 14-minute treat »Solomon«, the unforgettable anthem »Jericho«, surely the most beloved achievement from the debut »Songs From The Lions Cage«, and »Crying For Help VII«, which of course doesn’t go without the obligatory crowd singalong.
»Live & Life« is the best official live document yet from the longest-running incarnation of the cult British neo-prog outfit, so it’s a must for the collection of every Arena devotee, and for any music fan who has kept an eye on the progressive rock scene since the end of the eighties. Arena have put out quite a few very good official live albums so far, on both CD and DVD, but the crown and scepter go to »Live & Life«, because it catches the band at the peak of their live powers, while they were triumphantly performing one of their best studio achievements. The special limited edition of »Live & Life« also comes ‘equipped’ with a rather unnecessary bonus DVD, which has a documentary about the band in the middle of the »Contagion« tour plus assorted photos, mostly from the shows.
Line-up
Rob Sowden – vocals, acoustic guitar
Clive Nolan – keyboards, backing vocals
John Mitchell – guitar, backing vocals
Mick Pointer – drums
Ian Salmon – bass guitar
Production
Clive Nolan and Karl Groom
Track list
CD 1: 1. Witch Hunt (4:15)
2. An Angel Falls (1:11)
3. Painted Man (4:22)
4. This Way Madness Lies (3:43)
5. Spectre At The Feast (6:10)
6. Skin Game (4:26)
7. Salamander (3:35)
8. Bitter Harvest (1:17)
9. City Of Lanterns (1:31)
10. Riding The Tide (4:23)
11. Cutting The Cards (5:18)
12. Ascension (5:47)
CD2:
1. Serenity (2:27)
2. Chosen (6:38)
3. Double Vision (4:17)
4. The Hanging Tree (7:12)
5. (Don’t Forget To) Breathe (5:23)
6. The Butterfly Man (9:06)
7. Enemy Without (5:37)
8. Solomon (13:47)
9. Jericho (6:42)
10. Crying For Help VII (3:52)
