On the day of the release, the show was shown in a Belgian movie theater: Kinepolis in Kortrijk, Belgium. Before the release of the show on Blu-ray and DVD, the show premiered at two movie theaters: Mathäser Multiplex Kino in Munich, Germany (November 6) and Service Bioscoop Zien in Eindhoven, Netherlands (November 7). The album was released on CD, DVD and Blu-ray on November 8, 2013, through Nuclear Blast Records.
Like on The Classical Conspiracy, Epica played some classical music, excerpts from operas and movie soundtracks, however not as many as on the aforementioned show. The expanded ensemble mostly played Epica songs, including a whole new song called Retrospect, especially written for this live show with the same name. Epica performed on stage with the same orchestra that accompanied Epica in the recording of the live album The Classical Conspiracy: the 70-piece Extended Hungarian Remenyi Ede Chamber Orchestra and the Choir of Miskolc National Theatre. Because of the great demand by international fans, Epica announced a live stream, called the Retrostream, on March 4, 2013.
The recorded live show took part in Eindhoven, Netherlands on March 23, 2013, at the Klokgebouw and was sold out. Retrospect is the third live album released by the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica in celebration of their tenth anniversary. I did enjoy Retrospect despite its faults - but these really were elementary things for a band and its team to get right.March 23, 2013, at the Klokgebouw in Eindhoven, Netherlands It really is a shame such a magnificent concert has been blighted by bad choices at the lighting design stage and then poor mixing later. It is supposedly a surround mix but much of the time it sounds like a very poor stereo mix. The secondary issue is the mix of the music presented on the blu-ray - it really is very poor. During many points in the show the lighting obscures the band. For all I know the lighting might have been great for those at the gig - but Retrospect was billed as a global live event - and the lighting was dreadful for filming. For a concert that was planned to be filme from the off it is strange that the lighting design made no concession at all to the placement of the cameras. The performances were strong and the whole package was excellent value for money - such a long gig and lots of extras.įirstly the lighting at the gig was terrible. This should have been a great Blu-ray - a record of a fantastic band celebrating their anniversary. As for the group you could only give them 5-stars for their massive effort over 3 hours. In the end I have dropped the Blu-ray one star because the laser lights spoiled the performance. The footage of interviews of the performers shows them up close and gets across what really great people they are. Usually the bonus section of the Blu-rays are a waste of time but this one is very good indeed. When they did get close up the damned laser lights cut off the performer in many cases, thus being quite annoying at times. There seemed to be too much stand back views of the stage and not enough close up work on the performers. The film could have been done better too but maybe that is just a matter of taste. The sound quality is good but the laser lighting is overdone for most of the performance and to be honest it detracts from it. I am quite new to Epica but I am finding their brand of music quite interesting and getting more into it.
#Epica retrospect full#
Retrospect is the full 3-hour concert by Epica to celebrate 10 years of their music. I think the lighting was better when I saw Epica last year in a small 1000 capacity or so club. The lighting definitely should have been brighter and more diffused but the show is still quite viewable. Sometimes the lighting is so focused and bright it is like a pillar on the stage that you cannot see through and that is annoying. On Rush's recent blu ray there is a huge difference between the lossless 5.1 DTS HD and the DD 2.0 track and it would have been nice to hear it on this release.Ī lot of people comment on the lighting and I think it is not great but not terrible. Strangely even the DD 5.1 doesn't sound very surround-like and sounds similar to the PCM stereo. Lossless 5.1 should be standard for concert blu rays but this release doesn't have it. I subtract one star for not having lossless 5.1 surround on the bluray and for the lighting which strangely doesn't seem to light up the band members like you would think. I have not watched this whole show but the first few songs look and sound good.
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