Edguy - Fucking With F*** (2009) - Nothing new and too short! (CD, 64%) / Some intense footages and funny video clips (DVD, 68%) (26/10/10)

Almost three years after the original concert, a new Edguy live album has finally come out. This is the first negative point already. Of course, they haven't yet played songs from the actual studio album because of the delay, but that's not the only point why this album is a little deception.

Another bad fact is that the band played only fourteen songs. Some classics like "The headless game" or "The piper never dies" are missing but at least, the chosen songs are all quite good, even "Catch of a century", which was a quite boring song on the studio album, is a good live opener and works better than I thought. Personally, I would not have included "Avantasia" in the set list as it is not an Edguy song and Avantasia has started to do their own concerts but Sammet didn't know that at the time the concert has been shot.

The third and last negative point is that the drum solo has been cut off this record due to copyright issues as drummer Felix Bohnke plays drums to the Star Wars score. It isn't the band's fault that they didn't get the authorization of course, but they could perhaps have blend out the music, shorten it and just put the drum sound maybe.

Concerning the concert itself, there are some very positive points. The Brazilian crowd is enthusiastic as ever and Tobias Sammet does a great job as an entertainer and presents us once more his very particular humour which I personally like a lot. Even the presentation parts of each band member and sing-along games are not the usual boredom with him. The sound of the album is well done, energetic and authentic, nothing to criticize there.

To keep it short, this album is technically well done and Edguy give their best, but it comes out way too late, the set list is really too short and not entirely satisfying. On the special edition of the last studio album, "Tinnitus Santus", there is a bonus disc from an American concert where almost exactly the same songs were included. If you got this disc, you don’t really need this live album, only if you have skipped the purchase of the weak last studio album, you could go for this live album. There is nothing really new here! The crowd on this version is not as enthusiastic as the Brazilian one and Sammet's jokes have been cut off, but if you don't mind this, I would rather buy the special edition of the last album and not purchase this one for such a slightly difference of the content and such a big difference concerning the price. This live album is only a nice gimmick for the real Edguy fans that have the band's whole discography at home like me.

***

I have already written a review for the double-disc version of this concert and criticized the short set list or late release date and adored Sammet's entertaining performances. This is the visual version of the record that is slightly better that the two discs.

First, you can see who the crowd is reacting towards the band and some scenes are really intense and emotional like the amazingly singing and almost crying girl during "Save me" and the cheering crowd who salutes the drummer Felix Bohnke. Sammet is running like a beaver on acid from the left to the right of the stage and is jumping all around. This man has a lot of energy and charisma and it is always interesting watching him. Concerning the stage, there are not many visual effects though and it is Sammet who does the entertaining alone by himself. Such a funny and crazy band could have put some more creativity and energy in the visual part of the concert, maybe some disguises and costumes at least.

The extras of the DVD are the normal stuff and include an entertaining road movie, a unspectacular interview with a track by track analysis and the complete videography that is worth to be watched because the band put many funny ides in that.

To conclude, I would rather purchase the DVD than the double-disc version of this live album because of the intensity of the concert and the videography. If you are just interested in hearing the songs live, you might as well already be satisfied with the bonus disc of the special edition of "Tinnitus Sanctus".