CONTACT: LIVE IN MUNICH (E)

The Canadian (prog)rock band Saga have always had a very good reputation as a live band. This DVD captures the last of the farewell tour concert series in Europe in München, Germany on December 5th 2007. It has always struck me that lead vocalist Michael Sadler always delivered a good performance, even when he had problems with his health. I’ve never witnessed a show where his vocals were below expectations and that’s quite a compliment, because I’ve seen a lot of concerts with a singer who couldn’t. The extra DVD features Jim 'Daryl' Gilmour showing some of the landmarks in Toronto where Saga began their career: Hard Rock Café - the first in the world - where you can find a guitar of Ian Crichton; the Maple Leaf Gardens, where all the big names in Canada performed, but it's an empty building now, record shop SAM where Sadler saw the first Saga LP being sold is now closed down because of the disastrous effects of downloading, so times are a changing! Ian Crichton memorizes the shows in Germany and Munich especially. There’s a photo gallery and some more live tracks from a show in Mannheim. Although the images are perfect and Sadler sings for my perception even better than in Munich, the quality of the sound is not that good; I think the ingredients to make it a perfect six tracks are there, but it would have taken far more time to mix them properly.

Then the main event. The hall is filled with Saga-enthusiasts and the atmosphere is great right from the start. Just like on so many other occasions the Crichton brothers, Gilmour and ‘substitute’ Chris Sutherland play a very good show that night, mixing old favorites with newer tracks from Trust (2006) and 10.000 Days (2007), at the time the new album. So as far as the setlist is concerned, this night’s show was like most others. I guess it’s a matter of personal preference, but I would have liked something like a ‘best of’ show with tracks from all albums, a sort of chronological overview. Also I could have imagined a guest performance by drummer Steve Negus, once more a battle between Michael’s briefcase and Negus or with the new ‘animal’ on drums, Chris Sutherland. Also I’d expected to hear We'll Meet Again! No cakes, no contests, no fireworks, hardly any jokes: in a way this is ‘just’ an ordinary live show, with no extravaganzas. The only exceptions maybe were all the banners and in fact half of the audience were given signs with 'bye', the other half with 'Michael' on them. With everyone in the hall holding up these signs it must have been a pretty impressive sight for Mr. Sadler.

Although the last show, especially because it’s Sadler’s last performance as a full member of Saga, is a logical choice for making a live recording, the emotions combined with this show being at the end of the tour, have some effect on the performance of Saga’s extraordinary vocalist. He lets the audience participate frequently and my perception that the vocals have been mixed rather small, adds to the impression I’ve seen better performances in the past. Still, considering his thirty years of singing, Sadler does an outstanding job. The quality of the sound is good, but not exceptionally good. The cameras provide a good view with multiple angels, but it struck me that founder as well as certainly one of Saga’s main composers Jim Crichton, is hardly visible, while Sadler can only be seen from his front or right side for almost the entire show. The synchronization between sound & vision during the show is perfect with the exception of the last track. Though Sadler interacts with Ian Crichton and even more with Gilmour, his overall presentation is not as confident, almost joyfully arrogant, as it used to be in the earlier days. His keyboard duties seem to have become less throughout the years and he only picks up the bass once in the finale with Humble Stance. The emotional burden for the man who fronted Saga for so long becomes almost too heavy in his ‘a capella’ performance of The Security Of Illusion. Most certainly it shows on the title track of their new album: 10.000 days. It looks like he’s having a hard time at the end of the show too. Presumably the last track appeared to have been Don't Be Late, and Sadler shouts: 'finished!' at the end of the song. Although some fans are making their way to the doors, the band decides to return once more with an extra treat, a song well appropriate for the occasion, namely What's It Gonna Be?

Things will never be the same but we know Saga will continue and we will see and hear of Michael Sadler again. Although he retired from Saga, it doesn’t mean he retired from performing and writing. Recently he performed with Rudi Buttas (PUR) in Rudy's Journey, so we will see him again. In conclusion I’d say this DVD, especially the lavish package with the extra material, can be considered a worthy tribute to the man who brought so much to the table for Saga.