On March 19th the British progressive rock act Arena embarked on their 20th anniversary tour through Europe, supporting their brand new studio album The Unquiet Sky. A tour which includes 32 gigs to choose from if you consider to see them, taking them to cities such as London, Verviers, Budapest, Warsaw, Verona, Barcelona, Lisbon and Paris. The Dutch fans could even enjoy them three times if they would like to. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the Rock Ittervoort Festival (see review) and De Boerderij in Zoetermeer. Therefore I made my way to the Hedon in Zwolle to get my share of Arena.

This newly rebuilt Hedon venue appeared to be the perfect location for Arena to show how they are now, twenty years after drummer Mick Pointer and keyboard player Clive Nolan met at a British pub, not knowing they would be releasing a lot of CDs and DVDs in the years to come.

Paul Manzi

Pointer said several times in those days that they certainly would not form a progressive rock band together. Well, we all know that it went differently, thank God. Otherwise I could not have written this concert review.

Strangely enough the band dared to open with the opening piece from their brand new studio album. Too bad that only a few people could tell if they made a fine rendition of The Demon Strikes. The Unquiet Sky was available for the first time during the tour and for those who had ordered it on the internet. Therefore I was just as surprised as most of the fans around me. But what I could tell was that this new composition sounded as good as the other three new tracks Did It Come To This?, The Unquiet Sky and Traveller Beware. The musicians entered the stage one by one as movie stars. At the back of the stage you could see some film projections mentioning the names of the band members. The same projection screen was also used to visualize most of the performed songs. Songs which once again were mainly from their best concept albums ever made, namely The Visitor (1998) and Contagion

Kylan Amos

(2002, see review). From the first mentioned album I could enjoy wonderful versions of Double Vision, A Crack In The Ice, Serenity, The Hanging Tree and (Don't Forget To) Breathe (first encore). Most of those tracks featured brilliant guitar solos done by the barefooted John Mitchell. From the last mentioned album they played excellent versions of Salamander, The City Of Lanterns and Riding The Tide. The last title had of course the fabulous synthesizer solos done by Mr. Nolan. He was also the one who introduced his fellow band members, just before the first big surprise of the evening, and told something about the history of the band. This big surprise was the incredible version of Moviedrome, a track taken from the Immortal? album, released in 2000, which has hardly been played by the band in the past because of its epic properties. For me the next surprise came from the same album. A splendid version of The Butterfly Man certainly brought me back to the times when it was done on stage the first time and the band was still fronted by Rob Sowden.

Arena

As for the visuals not much was used to bring the right atmosphere on stage and to entertain the crowd they were playing for. Or could it be that Clive's new toy on stage brought much of attention to their fans? Well I guess not. The rotating keyboard stand he used to put his two keyboards on was a nice gimmick. Nothing more nothing less. But as already mentioned in earlier reviews a band like Arena doesn't really need a lot of props or other visuals on stage to keep you focused throughout their entire set. The music itself speaks for them. With a great singer and performer like Paul Manzi you already have gold in your hands. Several times he asked the audience to participate. For example before the band started to play The Hanging Tree he asked them to howl like a (were)wolf. Or to follow his voice during the second encore Crying For Help VII. I don't know if this second encore would have been performed if Mr. Mitchell would not have injured his left hand, I forget to ask them after the show. What probably not many people knew was that originally the band's classic epic Solomon from their debut Songs From The Lion's Cage (1995) was planned as an encore, but the solo from John in this composition was too difficult to do with this little handicap.

Even without them playing this song I had a marvelous time when the band was on stage. With already eight shows of the tour done the band was in great shape and played like a well oiled machine. Even their brand new bass player Kylan Amos played as if he had been in the band for many years. Did they made any mistakes? I didn't hear them. The sound at the venue being excellent and with the lights on stage looking great I just couldn't ask for more!

Henri Strik (edited by Astrid de Ronde)