“Live at The Masquerade,” Thousand Foot Krutch, Tooth and Nail Records, Release date: June 7, 2011
For its first live CD-DVD, Canadian band Thousand Foot Krutch picked Edmonton’s Rexall Place for the venue. Lead singer Trevor McNevan, a sports fan, notes on the CD sleeve “Live at The Masquerade” that Rexall Place is home to the NHL’s Oilers and Wayne Gretzky’s major accomplishments. It was a place that rocked with four Stanley Cup winners and now comes to life with TFK as an excellent venue for a concert.
I’m not a fan of live CDs, but this CD offers crisp music that lacks the distortion that is often on live music CDs. McNevan’s high energy also comes through loud and clear. It’s a fist-pumping, wanna-scream-and-dance evoking experience. (I was head-banging at my desk while editing sports copy, probably not a good look.)
The live show features all the favorites — “Fire It Up,” “Bring Me to Life,” “E for Extinction,” and the title track — from “Welcome to the Masquerade,” one of the best hard-rock Christian CDs that has come across my desk in the few years that I have been doing this blog. Going old school, McNevan turns to “Rawkfist,” and “Puppet.”
As for not being a fan of live CDs, this one just made me a convert.
The DVD portion of the concert gives the viewer a true sense of McNevan and the band’s energy — it’s nonstop. But I would have liked to have seen more backstage or behind the scenes video of the band such as:
What the band does to tuneup before a show?
Where do the eat?
Do they take naps like hockey players before a big game?
I’d like to see them putting on their makeup.
Stuff like that would put the viewer behind the scenes.
One of my colleagues is just getting into Christian rock, so I’m going to pass this along to him and I’ll let you know what he thinks of this live CD.