Sonata Arctica – “Live In Finland” [CD/DVD]

On my 25th birthday (November 15th, 2011) power metal band Sonata Arctica released their live CD/DVD set Live In Finland in North America… happy birthday to me! The release’s focus material was filmed/recorded on April 15th, 2011 at Club Teatrian in Oulu, Finland. There they performed a show which rocked the native Finnish people’s pants right off. Lucky for me, I got to experience my pants falling off from the comfort of my home in Canada. Everyone knows I love a good reason to get my pants off.

The live performance portion features fan favorite tracks like “Paid In Full”, “Flag In The Ground” and “Full Moon”, among many other greats. A total of 18 songs, not including the intro, were played and performance-wise the band sounded great; which makes the audio CD’s enjoyable to listen to. Visually the company who compiled the footage gave the DVD an ADHD feel as the screen focuses on a different member every few seconds. I definitely didn’t feel like I was at the show as that much head turning would hurt the neck… or look like horizontal head banging.

Along with the major show, Sonata Arctica and the crew took two years to record footage on the road, additional live appearances, music videos and the making of their video for “Flag In The Ground”. This massive collection is for REAL Sonata Arctica fans. Before I let you go I would like to say that during the filmed show itself, and from his attire, vocalist Tony Kakko looks like he’s a jogger.

Track Listing:

DVD1:
01. Intro (Everything Fades To Gray)
02. Flag In the Ground
03. Last Amazing Grays
04. Juliet
05. Replica
06. Blank File
07. As If The World Wasn’t Ending
08. Paid In Full
09. Victoria’s Secret
10. Instrumental Exhibition
11. The Misery
12. Full Moon
13. In Black & White
14. Mary-Lou
15. Shy
16. Letter to Dana
17. Caleb
18. Don’t Say A Word
19. Outro (Vodka / Everything Fades To Gray)

DVD 2:
01. White Pearl, Black Oceans (Open Air 2 in Kemi, Finland – August 8th, 2009)
02. Draw Me (Open Air 2 in Kemi, Finland – August 8th, 2009)
03. In Black & White (Open Air 2 in Kemi, Finland – August 8th, 2009)
04. Don’t Say A Word (Open Air 2 in Kemi, Finland – August 8th, 2009)
05. Making of ‘Live In Finland’
06. Making of ‘Flag In The Ground’
07. Latin-American (Tour Documentary)
08. Made in Finland (Tour Documentary)
09. Don’t Say A Word (music video)
10. Paid In Full (music video)
11. Flag In The Ground (music video)
12. Acoustic live set at Alcatraz, Milano
13. The FITG cover Contest
14. Photo Gallery

CD1 (Live In Finland):
01. Intro (Everything Fades To Gray)
02. Flag In The Ground
03. The Last Amazing Grays
04. Juliet
05. Replica
06. Blank File
07. As If The World Wasn’t Ending
08. Paid In Full
09. Instrumental Exhibition
10. The Misery
11. In Black & White
12. Letter To Dana
13. Caleb
14. Don’t Say A World / Everything Fades To Gray

CD2 (Open Air):
01. Paid In Full
02. 8th Commandment
03. Replica
04. Tallulah
05. Caleb
06. White Pearl, Black Oceans
07. Draw Me
08. Fullmoon

Run Time: 1:53:44
Release Date: November 15, 2011

Check out the song: “Last Amazing Grays”