Having no knowledge whatsoever of this band, I was slightly apprehensive when pressing the play button on the remote control. The opening number, a cover version of the Frank Sinatra classic New York, New York provides a sense of dread of what is about to unfold. Luckily though, drummer Harry James, who performs the song, provides no further vocal contributions throughout the concert, for he is a fine drummer but not a singer's bootlace. Danny Bowes is the lead singer of this band and what a singer he is. His vocals are the highlight of this show and also being a great frontman he keeps the audience interest constant. This is not to take anything away from the rest of the band though, they also sound terrific and are extremely tight.

Thunder is an English band that released their first album Backstreet Symphony in 1990 and achieved instant chart success in their home country. The band was formed when school friends vocalist Danny Bowes and guitarist Luke Morley’s previous band Terraplane had disbanded. They recruited drummer Harry James, bassist Chris Childs and guitarist/keyboard player Ben Matthews and set about a recording career that has spawned ten albums thus far.

This release is a well edited collection of footage from shows performed at the Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton and at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London over four nights in November 1997. Although the footage is from several different concerts, you would never know as this is extremely well put together to provide excellent continuity. This good time band love what they do, seem to like each other and love the audience involvement and this all provides for a great concert.

Track listing:

From go to whoa this band sound great and have an impressive catalogue of songs. The audience seems to be made up predominantly of diehard fans that know all the words and this really adds to the enthusiasm of the show. If you have never heard of this band, like most of us in this country, then in the words of Molly Meldrum, do yourself a favour and check them out. Music is of course a matter of opinion, but these guys deserve a lot more exposure than they seem to have attained so far outside of their native England.

Although stated as 4:3 on the cover, the actual aspect ratio for this release is un-enhanced 1.78:1. A widescreen format is much better than the stated full frame, but the picture quality is not the best. Concerts can suffer in many areas, but the biggest problem here is grain and softness of image. Colours are generally true throughout and all other aspects are of acceptable levels. This concert was recorded in 1997, but this is not what I would consider old so the grain is an annoyance. There are no subtitles supplied, but lyrics are clear and easy to understand so they're not really required.

Audio supplied is the default English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and although this is a very good track, a DD 5.1 track would have rocked! Vocals are clear throughout and the band really does sound terrific, but the need for some subwoofer action was sadly evident. Overall though this is a good audio track and offers CD quality sound.

The only extra provided for this release is a single page discography, which lists the band's ten albums from 1990 to 2002. There are no album covers or track listings but these can easily be found via the official web site (link provided down the right hand side of page).

Overall this is a great band that has sadly not had much exposure in Australia, but is definitely one worth checking out. The video transfer is not the best and the audio is good but would have been much better with a DD 5.1 mix. The extras are minimal to say the least, but for those that like a good time rocking band than check out these guys as they know how to play. Now I just need to find a record shop in Australia that stocks their albums...