Search - Saga - All Areas: Live in Bonn 2002 on DVD

Great Performance

Flying Fingers | TX United States | 11/29/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 2002 concert in Germany is a solid performance by Saga with a great variety of songs from their 25-year history. Ian Crichton's guitar work is amazing at times. Being a guitarist myself, I watch in awe of his speed and style.

All Areas has gotten far more playing time at my house than Saga's previous DVD, Silohuette, but I find All Areas lacking in "bonus" features such as interviews and non-concert footage. Being that this is a celebration of their 25th anniversary, I would have expected more features."

Saga-Canada's best kept secret !

Daniel James Macdonald | Sydney,Nova Scotia ,Canada | 08/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Incredible to use a word to describe this concert,the band touring Bonn,Germany 2002 w/ then new,"House of Cards" album,a highpoint even by Saga's standards.Included are "new classics" such as hard rockers"Time Bomb","Remember When", & "The One".This stuff is heavy with some amazing tempo changes that Saga have become known for,Ian Crichton is such an criminally underrated guitarist,as the rest of the guys in making it look so effortless & obviously having fun ! Also musically some cool surprises,the resurrection of "A Brief Case",a drum duel between Mike Sadler & Steve Negus that's guaranteed to put a smile on your face.The inclusion of"See them Smile" & "Take it or Leave it" for us old fans as well.A different spin is put on "Time's Up",has the guys doing the tune minstrel style with Jim Gilmour on accordian & Ian Crichton on Mandolin-works really well ! Mike Sadler even straps on the bass for an excellent run through of my all time fav Saga tune"Humble Stance".A must have !"

If I wanted to hear the audience sing...

Arevee | Orlando, Florida United States | 07/09/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm really glad that I saw Saga perform live when they toured for their first album. They were creating a kind of interesting progressive music that was full of energy and creativity, and they were really fine musicians. After following their next two albums and being quite pleased with their direction, Saga began a shift into a more mainstream sound. The progressive edge they once had was gone. I haven't re-visited Saga until this DVD. This is quite a different band than I saw back in the early 80's. Sure we've all aged, and all things considered the lads from Canada still can manage to pump out some fairly decent sound at their ripe old ages. The performance is a bit uninspired and worst of all suffers from the most annoying aspect, and that is Mike Sadler's constant relinquishing of songs to the audience to fill in the good parts. It's not only self indulgent and egotistical but it's unfair to people that have paid good money to watch Saga perform. The song selection is pretty good and it's no coincidence that the majority of numbers are from the early albums. Here's to days long past."