I live in the United States and have only seen Blind Guardian perform live once, and that was in a nice but cramped club in Chicago at the end of 2002. Keeping that experience in mind as I slipped Imaginations Through the Looking Glass into my DVD player, I was astounded at what this veteran German band — perhaps I should even call Blind Guardian a seminal metal band — can do in a live setting.
Shot at the Blind Guardian Open Air Festival on June 13 and 14, 2003, with 12 cameras (including at least one that provided dizzying overhead crowd shots) and microphones placed in the audience, Imaginations Through the Looking Glass is a stunning concert film, noteworthy as much for its music as for its presentation. Utilizing a ramped stage with a long catwalk extending into the crowd, Blind Guardian gives itself plenty of room to roam, and the abundant use of pyrotechnics enhances the visual perspective. Vocalist Hansi Kursch is the ideal front man for a band like Blind Guardian, whose fantastical lyrics often rely on "Dungeons & Dragons" and Tolkienesque imagery. Kursch looks the part in a bulky and rumpled long-sleeve black shirt and a bit of a paunch. While he lacks the onstage energy of, say, Hammerfall's Joachim Cans, he still controls these proceedings with his distinct, strong-as-steel gravelly shriek of a voice.
Musically, the band covers its entire career. Earlier material includes "Banish From Sanctuary" and "Valhalla" (the chorus to which the vociferous crowd reprises throughout the 20-song, 140-minute set), and newer songs include "Another Holy War," "Nightfall," "Mirror Mirror" and "A Past & Future Secret" (an acoustic number during which band members play while surrounded by flaming cauldrons). If these anthems have been retouched, they still sound natural, as Kursch misses a few vocal cues.
A 100-minute-plus bonus disc includes an extensive behind-the-scenes documentary and band interview (both in German, although viewers can take advantage of the "subtitles" option), as well as three songs recorded in 2002 in Stuttgart, Germany, and a killer version of "Majesty" filmed during Blind Guardian's 2002 performance at Germany's Wacken Open Air festival. Some live U.S. footage would have been an even better bonus, considering the band has only toured the States once. Nevertheless, the intriguing, unconventional camera angles used to capture these extra performances make a perfect complement to the main disc's stellar concert cinematography.
Songs:
1) War of Wrath
2) Time Stands Still
3) Banish From Sanctuary
4) Nightfall
5) The Script for My Requiem
6) Valhalla
7) A Past & Future Secret
8) Punishment Divine
9) Modred's Song
10) The Last Candle
11) Bright Eyes
12) Lord of the Rings
13) I'm Alive
14) Another Holy War
15) And Then There Was Silence
16) Somewhere Far Beyond
17) The Bard's Song (In the Forest)
18) Imaginations From the Other Side
19) And the Story Ends
20) Mirror Mirror
Bonus Songs:
Majesty
Into the Storm
Welcome to Dying
Lost in the Twilight Hall
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