Venue: Posten (Post1), Odense, Denmark
Date: Friday November 9th 2007

 

I’m a great Saga fan since around 1980, attended my first Saga concert in 1983, and since then I’ve thought of them to be one of the coolest live bands, I’ve ever seen. So when singer Michael Sadler announced this to be his farewell tour, I was sure I’d go, no matter where in Denmark they would play. They had scheduled two shows in Denmark, one in Copenhagen (where some of the legendary “In Transit” live-album was recorded), and in Odense the following night. The shorter distance from my home to Odense, and the fact that the mentioned show was on Friday, made me choose that.

Furthermore I got an interview set up with Michael Sadler through the Danish promotion company, so everything looked just fine…

Actually I thought that The Urge was supposed to play as pre band to Saga, but I never saw or heard anything…maybe they played while I was talking to Jim Gilmour and Ian Crichton upstairs? I doubt it. What had happened that they had been removed from the bill I don’t know, but no matter – it was Saga I had driven close to 200 km by myself to see.

At about 21.30 the guys entered the stage in front of an audience that counted around 450 people (the venue sadly not nearly full) and was received with some cheering, but the audience wasn’t overwhelmingly enthusiastic to begin with. The average age of the attendants  was well over 30(!); I guess Saga doesn’t draw that many new fans in Denmark these days. Many here had obviously come to hear the classics, and Michael Sadler  “promised” at the beginning, that they’d only play two tracks from the new album (turned out to be three), so in general I guess the audience got what they came for.


Set list:
Intro  
The Interview (Worlds Apart)
That's As Far As I'll Go (Trust)
You’re Not Alone (Images At Twilight)
What’s It Gonna Be  (Silent Knight)
I’m OK  (Trust)
Can't You See Me Now? (10,000 Days)
Book of Lies  (10,000 Days)
The Perfectionist (Saga)
Drum solo  
The Flyer  (Heads Or Tales)
The Security Of Illusion (a ca pella version) (The Security Of Illusion)
Time’s Up (piano and vocals only) (Worlds Apart)
Piano solo (Jim Gilmour alone on stage)
Scratching The Surface (Jim Gilmour alone on stage) (Heads Or Tales)
On The Air (Network)
On The Loose  (Worlds Apart)
Careful Where You Step (Silent Knight)
10,000 Days (10,000 Days)
Wind Him Up (Worlds Apart)
Encores:  
Humble Stance (Saga)
Don’t Be Late (Silent Knight)

The sound level was reasonable, not too loud, and that gave room for the finer details in the music.

Maybe the band seemed a little rusty to begin with, but after a few numbers they were “up and running”. They delivered, but maybe because of the somewhat tame audience (they did sing along, but it was never quite convincing), it never boiled the same way as other Saga concerts I’ve attended.

 

Due to Brian Doerners illness (he suffered a heart attack after this tours first gig in Canada) the drums was handled by Chris Sutherland from Kim Mitchell's band, and thinking of the reasonably short notice he had to learn the numbers, I think he did a quite good job. Also an ok drum solo, although I have a slight problem with drummers that want the audience to go along with “oooh oh oh ooohe” – not quite up to the Saga standard if you ask me, but maybe appropriate for getting this audience a bit more on their toes.

In Michael Sadler Saga has (had) a very charismatic front man, and in spite of 30 years of singing, and being in his fifties, his voice is still quite powerful (quite good a ca pella version of “..Security…”). This night he seems to pull the band up to an above-average live performance. I wonder what Saga will do and how they’ll come across live, when they have to replace him. – it will be interesting to see who they can get, that can fill the gap after his departure from the band after this tour. Fare well in your new life, Michael.

 

This was definitely not the best concert experience I’ve had with Saga, but as always it was very nice to hear the classic tracks.

Rating: 80


 

Attending: Claus Melsen