Evergrey - A Night To Remember
	Rating: 98/100 Reviewed by: Kenn Jensen, August '05 Label: InsideOut Music Style: Power Metal Format: 2 DVD DVD 1: Format: DVD 9 Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 & DTS 5.1 Screen: 16:9 Running time: App. 113 minutes DVD 2: Format: DVD 9 Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 & DTS 5.1 Screen: 16:9 Runing time: App. 390 minutes

Is this the ultimate metal DVD ever? Well it certainly sets a new and very high standard for metal music DVD's! To me there is no doubt - this double DVD is the BEST metal DVD ever released, and other metal bands have a big task ahead of them to top it! Why you might ask? Plain and simple - this is the ultimate fan experience for metal fans, music lover and especially for Evergrey fans. This DVD set simply offers everything a fan could wish for - and then some...!!!

DVD 1 - Some might say this is just another live show from another Swedish metal band - and no one could disagree! This is just a live show shot on October 9th, 2004 in Stora Teatern in Gothenburg , Sweden . Evergrey performing live on stage in front of their home crowd, playing a set, which can best be described as a best of set. Every great song they've ever written is a part of their set, from "Blinded" to "The Masterplan" one highlight chases another. My personal favourites this evening are: "More Than Ever", "She Speaks to the Dead and "Waking up Blind" from the first part.
But the real fun begins with the second set - first song is one of my personal favourite songs of all time: "When The Walls Fall Down", and nothing is spared this evening, because when the curtains go up for the second set with this song, then the band has been joined on stage by a string quartet from the Gothenburg Symphonic Orchestra! This adds to the tension already built - I should mention that throughout the entire concert they are joined on stage by 3 back-ground vocalists - one of them is off course Carina Englund (Tom's wife), whom people know from Evergrey's albums. And when she joins her husband Tom in the wonderful and very powerful ballad: "For Every Tears That Falls" it gives me the chills. The second part is just one excellent song followed by another, and things peak with the last six songs: "Solitude Within", "Nosferatu", "Recreation Day", "For Every Tears That Falls", "A Touch Of Blessing" and "The Masterplan" - those 6 songs ends a perfect show, performed to perfection by a band, which clearly has the evening of their life!

Everything is done to almost perfection this evening: from the place - Stora Teatern - an old Theater with perfect acoustics. To the camera shooting - done professional with no less than 11 cameras, to the sound and light - also a big compliment here, everything is worked out to perfection here. The band is playing for their lives, and I doubt they've ever been better on stage than this evening. The integration between the band and their guests is also top notch. So nothing is left to be desired for this evening!

DVD 2 has to be the reference DVD all metal bands will be judged by from now on, because it contains what the band calls: "The Shocking Truth" - a total of 6½ hours of behind the scenes material. YES - SIX AND A HALF HOURS of bonus material for the fans! The second DVD is split up in 3 sections:

Video - Has all 6 videos the band has ever made:
* "For Every Tear That Falls" - a simple performance video with an integrated story.
* "The Masterplan" - also a performance video with a cool story, not for the paranoid fans ...
* "I'm Sorry" - Sort of a slideshow combined with a cool story, where Tom is attending his own funeral.
* "Blinded" - their most simple video, just a black and white performance video in a dungeon.
* "A Touch of Blessing" - their most professional made video, another combination of story and performance.
* "More Than Ever" - a live video from the show in Gothenburg.
A cool look into the videos from Evergrey so far...

Interview - This section has everything you could wish for as an Evergrey fan!
* In bed with the band and each band-member separately.
* Gear-talk with Tom, Henrik, Jonas and Mike (separately).
* Mixing-school with Arnold .
* E-TV Cribs
Very interesting interviews with some very serious and honest band-members, especially Tom, who seems to be a very profound person. There's something for the tech-geeks and a cool tour of their own new studio: Division One.

Backstage - Isn't just the last tour - HELL NO it's from their entire career!
* The Dark Chapters - A very young band recording their first album in Los Angered Studios back in 1996.
* The Solitude Episodes - From the Powermad Festival in America 1999, and on their European tour in 2000.
* In Search Of the Truth - Back in Los Angered Studios to record their next album. A small trip to Chicago to play ProgPower I and bits and pieces... A behind the scenes for the shooting of the "The Masterplan" video.
* European Tales 2001 - Footage from their European tour in 2001. They do take their liquor serious those Swedes...!
* The Recreation Days - Back in the studio once more with Andy La Rocque and his Los Angered Studios.
* The Shocking Truth - Festival tour in Europe in 2002: Graspop, Wacken, one in Finland, one in Sweden and one in Ålborg, Denmark, Summerbreeze (2004) and finishing at the Skellefteå. Festival in Sweden once more. In between there's shots from another European tour. 
* North American Fairytales - Heading to the US in 2003 to do a small tour of the east coast with Arch Enemy.
* North America 2004 the Return - Just to return in the spring of 2004 to tour the US once more, this time supporting Iced Earth and Children of Bodom.
* Inside the Inner Circle - New album, new studio! This time they record in their own the Division One Studios, it's actually quite interesting to see the recording of the string quartet.
* A Night at the Theater - And finally this section is finished off with a quick look into the preparations for the DVD shoot.
Swedes have always been famous for the drinking habits, and Evergrey does their fair share of keeping the flame alive. The Swedish humour is a bit hard to come by, and there is plenty of it in this part - not for everyone ... ha-ha

So is there any reason not to buy this DVD and support this awesome Swedish metal band? No, not in my book, so do your self a favour - make sure you watch this DVD at least once in your lifetime - I am pretty sure you won't regret it! I surely didn't!