The title of that album of course had everything to do with the health problems of singer Mark Trueack and the lyrics of the tracks on that album clearly left nothing to the  imagination. It is therefore not surprising that during this recording of the performance in De Boerderij in Zoetermeer, we see a frail Trueack sitting on a chair from where he proves that his beautiful voice has not suffered from all the misery he has experienced. His voice is really fantastic and so is the quality of the musicians who form the band during this performance. Of course keyboardist Sean Timms is there because together with Trueack he forms the basis of the Unitopia of yesteryear. The rhythm section is world class, Chester Thompson is also a bit more brittle and fragile than before but remains a great drummer. Bassist Alphonso Johnson, who plays the bass on the album, is not present, but in the person of Don Schiff they have found an equally great replacement and what a pleasure to watch this man. On his 8-string bass-stick he plays such subtle parts that sometimes you could almost miss because of all the musical talent. The current guitarist is John Greenwood and this man fits perfectly in the list of class musicians because he can handle different styles and sometimes solos wonderfully. Finally, we have to mention the all-rounder Steve Unruh because this man plays a very important role and plays violin, flute, guitar, percussion and also sings really well.

As mentioned in my review of Seven Chambers, I always had some problems with the music of Unitopia because of the large amount of horns and that got in the way of my appreciation for it. How wonderful it is to see this line-up play because they are so good and when you consider that the hall was reasonably filled but certainly not packed, you wonder, how? I have to say right away that this is one of the best concert registrations I have seen from John Vis' team. The editing is very nice to watch with beautifully transitioning images without changing images every second and we see the right musician on screen at the right time. Seems logical but apparently not always understood. Where the background presentations can sometimes be disturbing, this is not the case at all here. Picture technically more than okay but what about the sound? Simple, that's great too, the double CD also sounds very good, but the Blu-ray certainly adds an extra dimension.

Understandably, they play a lot of songs from Seven Chambers and they sound at least as good live as on record. Opener Broken Heart actually contains almost everything that makes Unitopia so special and although Timms doesn't immediately show everything he has to offer, he is one of the best in prog. My favourite song from Seven Chambers is Something Invisible and luckily this song is also played and the guitar solo is to die for. I don't know if the sound has been tinkered with much but Trueack's voice is still powerful and flawless, what a pleasure to listen to. It is known that Unitopia does not shy away from very long tracks and so the long The Uncertain also passes by and what a wonderful song this is. Room for everyone to shine and the beautiful polyphonic vocals regularly stand out. It is increasingly clear that Unruh is a very important link, he can play many violin parts but is also very skilled on guitar and also sings well. The sometimes quite heavy Mania shows the harder edge of the band and Greenwood is showing his skills again.

Before the break only songs from the already mentioned album were played but after that some "older" tracks were on the setlist and those are not the least. I was curious how these would sound without horns, well, not completely without them because Unruh does play some flutes. For me, the answer is clear, much better. With Tesla we start with a bit of harmony singing with the audience, already practicing for the last part of this epic song. The audience makes itself heard and with Trueack's call that they do not want to lose to the Germans, the last doubters are persuaded to join in loudly. “We are, we are, all part of the whole”.  That it can all get even more  elaborate and "proggier" is proven with The Garden and that is pretty much the Magnum Opus of this originally Australian band. Here it is even more striking how well Timms can play and how easily he switches styles, playing a quite jazzy solo. However, I would be selling the rest of the band short if I only mention him because the level of play is really very high. With the rising bird sounds we immediately imagine ourselves in the garden and more than twenty minutes later we wake up from this very varied trip and the bird sounds take us to the exit. I've never heard this song played so beautifully. With The great Reward we get a fitting closing track with a melody that stays in your head for a long time.

There is very little to criticize about this release. If you are already familiar with the music of Unitopia, this is an indispensable addition to your collection, if not then this is an ideal introduction to an extremely musical group of musicians.

As always, the rating is purely based on the image and sound quality and not on the music itself. For that you can read my mentioned review.

Image 88

Sound 86