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Jason
Ritchie wrote:
A double first with this DVD as it marks the debut DVD release by Lion Music and
the first DVD by the band. Recorded at last year's UK Firefest it sees the band
cover their whole career in an eleven song set chock full of delights!
Although officially a five piece they have their 'secret' sixth band member in
vocalist and lyricist
Mikael Eriksson, who ably backs lead vocalist Andreas Eklund.
Can the band recreate their trademark layered harmonies in a live setting?
Indeed they can as can be heard on 'Method of Madness' and 'Hey Lord' - two bona
fide melodic rock classics. Super, tightly played set with some cracking lead
guitar solos in the mix.
Bonus DVD features are a brief biography of the band and interviews with the
band plus four videos from the band's early incarnation as the Station.
These videos should carry a hairspray warning not only for the band's flowing
locks but the audience who have some cracking mullets on show! Music wise you
can see the band's love of harmonies and 'Cinderella' >is the pick of the
bunch.
An interesting look at the band's formative days.
If you like the band buy this DVD as it is superb and for lovers of melodic rock
who have yet to try this band try here as you get a good cross section of their
songs.
Rating: 4 and 1/2
Mariosmetalmania.com
wrote:
I always look forward to
DVD's of bands that have made good CD's, but of whom you expect to have just
that little when they play live. House Of Shakira is such a band, and they don't
disappoint on this DVD.
Their kind of Melodic Rock is very well equipped to keep your attention the
whole time long. Even live they know how to sing together in tone!
What is very surprising is that their former singer Mikael Eriksson is standing
on the stage with them. That's something you don't see often. The songs span
their whole career and give you a good picture of what House Of Shakira stands
for: very well played and sung Melodic Rock.
The music is catchy, most of the time they play fast and when needed they know
how to slow down without getting boring. If you want to be able to swing, dance
or headbang to music, here's your chance.
Unfortunately the concert only lasts 10 songs, and that is way too short for me.
At that point I put my attention to the extras.
The four videos you get to see all stem from the time that the band was still
called The Station, the time that the already mentioned Mikael was their singer.
The other extra is a very short, very much summarized biography. For a band that
has been together almost twenty years they could have gone into detail a lot
more, as to give you an insight to all the things they have experienced over the
years. They must have tons of footage to use for just such a cause. Alas, they
don't, and now you have learnt some things about House Of Shakira, but not
nearly enough.
Thankfully they have a real English woman telling the story, so at least you
don't have to annoy yourself over the awful dialects you sometimes hear.
All put together I think this is a very good DVD, but they should have done a
lot more to make it really worth your while. All together you just have over an
hour of material, and for a first major DVD release that is way too short. That
takes ten points off my grade. Only if they sell this for the same price as a CD
"Live At Firefest 2005" will be worth your money. Any more and they
will be overcharging.
Wim van Grunsven
Rating: 73/100
Rockreviews.org
wrote:
Lion Music releases their
first DVD release ever, and it's House of Shakira's debut DVD "Live at
FireFest 2005". HoS enjoy performing live, and since all their fans don't
have the possibility to see this group live, releasing a DVD of the last year's
gig at FireFast has its place, more or less. Live at FireFest 2005 is described
as being an honest live DVD featuring only few overdubs due to audio dropouts
and slight audio errors, and showcases the high level of musicianship that House
of Shakira has - the band actually didn't have more than 10 minutes to prepare
for their performance, and thus didn't even have a soundcheck. Regardless, on
stage they delivered. The music on this release is quite good, though I think
the set-list could have been better. Nonetheless, I was favourably surprised to
hear songs from all of the group's records. On the other hand, the gig lasts -
unfortunately - only 38 minutes and the extras aren't too impressive on this
DVD. In addition to the live gig, there's a short biography and four rare
TV-show performances (Station Videos) that are of fairly poor quality. However,
for fans of the group, this DVD might just be good enough (after all, this is
the only DVD release of HoS). Production on this DVD is OK regarding the live
gig, biography, and navigation. In any event, the aforementioned Station Videos
are unfortunately feeble (both audio and video quality are disappointing).
Therefore, this DVD may not be good enough for the fans that have had the
possibility of seeing this group perform live.
MAGE
Rating: 7.0
Melodicrock.com
wrote:
Ah, me old favourites….these
guys won me over with their completely out of the box debut, which mixed the odd
African tribal rhythms with Scandi melodic hard rock, all delivered in an over
the top Journey styled AOR frenzy. Amazing mix and the guys have only got better
with time. This is their first ever DVD, recorded at the 2005 Firefest show in
the UK. It is also Lion Music's first foray into the new media format and credit
to both – this looks great. The band was fabulous on the day and ran through a
set list of fan favourites and cuts from the current album First Class. The PA
mix on the day left the guys a little perplexed, but all was captured on master
tape for this release. Given the opportunity to alter the levels after the fact
means that while this is 100% live, it now also sounds 100% brilliant. Whether
the guys are rocking hard (Uncontrolled, Hey Lord), delivering massive anthems
(In Yours Head, You Are, Method Of Madness, Morning Over Morocco) or playing it
a little retro (Wings), they are always having fun and always delivering the
tightest possible performance. You would expect nothing less from this now very
experienced and well oiled melodic rock band. The vocals for this live show are
also something to witness – featuring both the band's original and current
lead singers on stage for this special event, plus the fact the rest of the band
all sing harmonies makes this all the more memorable and sweet on the ears. The
DVD footage itself is just about all you could ask for. Multiple cameras, clear
visuals and for the most part, good attention to detail featuring all the guys
individually and collectively. There is some strong close up shots as well as a
mix of pull back shots of the whole stage. The stage set up was pretty simple,
but the performances certainly make up for that. The Bottom Line The only
downside is the length of the set. The band was on early in the piece so they
only had 40 minutes to do their thing (after headlining the pre-show, the night
before). Not enough time to feature more classic tunes or to get your fill, but
what is included is essential. As for extras – the DVD includes a nice 6
minute bio piece with brief interviews and all the videos of the band filmed
when they were known as The Station (pre-HOS). Essential for fans.
Rating: 87%
Themayfairmallzine.com
wrote:
Recorded at the very
inaugural Firefest back in May 2005 at Bradford's Town and Country Club. This
was the second time I, like many of their other fans, had been privileged to see
this band perform live in the UK. This DVD completely captures the bands live
persona, which is very much different from the bands studio releases. It also
showcases perfectly just how great these Melodic Rock / AOR festivals are in the
UK and how lucky we are to be given the opportunity to see such great bands as
House Of Shakira at them. With a set that included songs from the bands back
catalogue, together with special guest backing vocalist Mikael Eriksson, who as
fans of the band will already be aware, is the band's original lead singer.
However, due to contractual complications with his solo career he is no longer
able to perform with the band as their lead singer and instead continues more as
a sleeping partner with the band. The band are proud of the fact that the DVD is
a true to the live performance of the day with very little over dubs, together
with the fact they had no sound check on the day and only 10 minutes before they
came on stage to prepare, this itself shows the true professionalism of the band
as a whole. The disc also contains a biographical interview with the band,
together with some videos of both House of Shakira and the Station. Although the
quality of these videos clips isn’t the best, they're still well worth
checking out for pure nostalgia reasons if nothing else. I'd highly recommend
this DVD to fans of the band and those of you who were at Firefest so you can
recapture on of the highlights of 2005. Who knows you may even spot a few
familiar faces both onstage as well as off!
Friday13thmetal.co.uk
wrote:
Swedish melodic rockers 'House Of Shakira' have finally released their debut
live DVD, which was recorded at the 'Firefest' festival here in the UK in 2005.
Playing AOR/ Hard Rock like these guys do and as this 5 piece from Sweden goes
there certainly a decent enough band. Mixing a sound across between Tyketto,
Firehouse, Journey, just to name a few I would certainly say that vocalist
Andreas Eklund is very inspired by Danny Vaughn from Tyketto to say the least.
This is a pretty decent live DVD but the crowd seem a little boring and don't
seem to get involved with the band that much which leaves a ghostly feeling to
the DVD. Saying that I hate it when the labels and bands put out a DVD which
also has a fake live crowd, come on now its boring and makes you want to turn it
off. I just wish they would leave the actual live crowd in there. Lion Music
have some really good acts and it would be great to see a live festival with
their acts on it and released as a DVD, maybe they might read this and put
something together in the near future. This DVD is a decent DVD with a good
performance from this Swedish act which also features 10 live songs and with
extra been biography and videos from 89 - 91 is a good addition to any fan of
the band. Track listing includes: The Song Remains, Uncontrolled, In Your Head,
Hey Lord, Best Of Times, Wings/ 7 Bridges Road, Morning Over Morocco, You Are,
Method Of Madness & Pellucid. All in all not bad, but nothing special.
Strutter
Magazine wrote:
Swedish melodic rockband HOUSE OF SHAKIRA has been going strong for over 15
years now and to celebrate their long-time career a DVD has been released, which
contains their performance at the FIREFEST FESTIVAL in the UK on May 7th 2005.
The concert takes only 40 minutes of the footage, which as bonus has 5 clips of
the period (1989-1991) when they were called THE STATION. In total the DVD takes
only 1 hour, so very short, but then again it is a very rare item, because which
other smaller melodic rockband has a professional DVD out. HOUSE OF SHAKIRA
performed a great show and the video footage from their early days is really
nice to watch. Recommended to die-hard melodic rockcollectors, but not
necessarily a must-have.
Rating: Points: 8.0 out of 10
Eddy
at Lordsofmetal.nl wrote:
There are some festivals that
I would have like to go to but for one or the other reason not manage to do so.
One of these festivals was the Firefest 2005. On that bill were some great bands
I really would have like to see like Balance Of Power, Danger Danger, Firehouse,
TNT and many more. This festival is a very prestigious one for the bands out of
the melodic/AOR corner. One of the bands that performed there last year decided
to put that ambience and mood on to a silver plate. I am talking about the
Swedish band House Of Shakira, who is already for eight or nine years in
business. Since then they have put out four studio albums, a re-issue of the
debut, a live album and a best of disk. This band makes some honest music
without too much flourish; kind of what you see is what you get. These
recordings are in that same vein, you hear and see it how it was without too
much studio improvements. Just some minor technical stuff was repaired but that
is it. You are witness of a band who clearly has so much fun in what they do and
bring that feeling over to the crowd. This DVD is a nice historical piece of
this band and gives the viewers who were not on the Fest kind of a feeling of
how it was and how it must have been. The extras on this DVD are also nice to
watch. It's kind of cool how the band is filmed telling the band's history. No
boring sum up in on a bio-sheet, no the guys do that work on film. For the real
fan there are also some old video clips from television even from the period
before the band changed their names in House of Shakira. That quality is not to
best but for the fan's it will be a little treasure. This DVD is a nice addition
of the growing discography of these Swedes.
Rating: 85/100
Aordreamzone.com
wrote:
If you haven´t discovered
House Of Shakira before, this is the right time to do it. I can not say enough
that this band deserves some major attention and a real breakthrough (the same
with Kamelot and Evergrey). This DVD shows us what it is all about. To have fun
on stage, be yourself and love what you´re doing. I hope this band continues to
grow like they have been doing over the years. A flagship for true melodic rock
and something to be proud over. Be proud as well and buy this DVD. A melodic
star in your collection. Extras: House Of Shakira biography and the station
videos 89-91. 90/100 Johnny Forslund
Rating: 90/100
Dougie
at Hardrockhouse.com wrote:
Being that this is a review on the world wide web please click on this link
below and scroll down and read the House of Shakira section and then come back!
Read that? Good, then we’ll continue. What we have here is a live DVD recorded
at the inaugural Firefest show that washeld in Bradford back in May 2005 and
features the set detailed in the original live review you've just read. The DVD
is a great representation of what was a great show filmed by three cameras. The
DVD also features a short biog/interview withy the band in which the interview
doesn't work as well as it possibly could, given that it appears that HOS were a
little worse for wear from partying after the Pre-Show Party held the night
before, when interview was recorded - but I could be wrong. In short this DVD is
an essential purchase for fans of the band and anybody, who like me, was
actually at the gig as not only is a great reminder of how good HOS were on the
day, but you can try and spot yourselves in the audience (sad but true!). If
your new to the joys of HOS then this is a great way to hear a good corss
section of the band's material as the set HOS played was cherry picked from be
best of all of their studio albums. My only negative comments concern the fact
that there is no material here from the Pre-Show Party at which HOS also
appeared, and according to our webmaster were as good, if not better than on the
main stage the day after. The only other problems are due to the fact the show
was a one take event with only three cameras covering the stage and, given the
fact that with such limited coverage not everything that happens in a live show
can be covered, some of the camera shots do not focus on the correct musician
for solos and such things, but this only happens occasionally and all in all is
a very minor point - nit picking in fact. Roll on the new album please boys!
Rating: 9/10
Virituosityone.com
wrote:
House Of Shakira have been progressively building a reputation amongst the
melodic rock pack as one of the finest modern day purveyors of the genre. Being
an established touring act on mainland Europe the band have sadly been
infrequent visitors to UK shores since their formation, yet 2005 saw the band
play the main UK melodic rock Firefest Festival. Previous works of the bands
(First Class and the re-recorded debut Lint) gained strong reviews here at
Virtuosity One and I am pleased to report that this the bands and label Lion
Music’s debut DVD features a selection of tracks spanning the bands career
from Lint highlights such as ‘Morning Over Morocco’ to blazin' rockers from
First Class such as ‘Uncontrolled’ and the super melodic ‘You Are’ that
is home to a chorus to die for. As an added bonus the band had former vocalist
Mikael Eriksson sing backing vocals. Readers than own any of the bands studio
albums will be pleasantly pleased to hear the band are ultra-powerful in the
live arena, with a somewhat heavier sound yet those impeccable vocal melodies
remain. Anyone that has a passing interest in the melodic rock genre but has yet
to investigate any of the band output then this would be a very good starting
point. The band were to my recollection second on at the start of the days
proceedings and its interesting to see the crowd swell throughout the set as the
bands performances draw more punters in and the later numbers see very positive
crowd reactions. Sonically the DVD is superb, with a detailed bottom end and
those lush harmony vocals really coming out the speakers. The performance is
overdub free save for some repaired parts due to audio drop outs on the original
recording. Having said that, nothing stands out as dubbed and so I suspect that
the only real studio addition was some backing vocals. Camera wise the
production is also good, though the shot selection does have some ‘focus on
crowd’ or ‘stage left’ whilst the guitar solo is happening stage right a
couple of time, granted this will probably only annoy fellow guitarists like me!
Visually the band move around quite a bit on the smallish stage and the light
show is also good enough keeping everything well lit for the cameras. ‘Live At
Firefest 2005’ also has some added bonus footage in the form of a detailed
biography with the band, interviews and ultra-rare Swedish TV footage from the
bands early days when they went under the moniker ‘The Station’. Overall a
very good quality release and a nice wrap up of the bands past before a new
studio album is released later this year.
Rating 88%
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