Bad Company in Concert DVD Sanctuary Visual Entertainment SVE 3003 Reviewed February 2004

There can be no denying that Bad Company have been one of the most acclaimed AOR bands in the world today. The original band were formed with the remnants of the Free disintegration and members of King Crimson and Mott the Hoople. The band featured on this DVD are the same ex-Free members and the addition of two superb rock musicians, Dave “Bucket” Colwell and bassist Jaz Loughrie. This DVD was filmed in January 2002 at Denver 's Paramount Theatre and The Grove in Anaheim . This DVD is a stablemate of the superb Bad Company album, Merchants of Cool .

The footage opens with scenes from outside the Paramount Theatre, showing the band arriving and the excited fans as the sounds of “Bad Company” from the album of the same name is playing. The song soon transcends into the intro of “Burnin' Sky” as the scene changes to show the band on stage. Dave Colwell's black triple humbuckered Les Paul sounding fabulous through the mega bank of Marshall cabinets behind him.

Paul Rogers, surely the finest voice in rock has lost none of his qualities and this is easily illustrated by the wonderful debut Bad Company single, “Can't Get Enough” (of your love) which is approaching the end it's 2nd decade yet sounds as fresh as the day it was released.

Moving on with a great rocker,” Good Lovin' Gone Bad” and onto the song which probably wooed a generation, “Feel Like Making Love”, a classic Bad Company single. Paul introduces Jaz Loughrie and Simon Kirke then introduces Dave Colwell who plays the introductory guitar to the song. Great stuff.

One song I have always liked from the debut LP, is “Rock Steady”, and was next on the repertoire. A great song with a catchy riff throughout it's medium tempo format. Well-received by the crowd as always, Paul  strapped on a Taylor acoustic guitar to sing a song from the same LP. He explained he wrote this song whilst sat on the beaches of England and the inspiration was to form the name of the song, “Seagull”. His Taylor six string chords sounded so bright and Paul's mellow voice was wonderful on this slow lament.

Still with the same debut LP the jangly guitar beginning to “Ready For Love” introduced this wonderful old song. Bad Company certainly had no shortfall of good songs during their productive years.

From a later time, “Deal with The Preacher” and “Rock and Roll Fantasy” are introduced. Paul says “Thank you for being my rock'n'roll fantasy” as Dave Colwell's cascading intro launches the song which eventually morphs into a Beatles mini-medley and includes “Ticket to Ride” and “I Feel Fine” .The band play these songs so well, as if they were their own in fact.

As the crowds' applause begins to subside the familiar beat of Simon Kirke's drums begin to play under the words of Paul Rodgers….”Here's one from the Free days”, the A chord of “All Right Now” chimed in. Goose pimples arose as this classic song had the audience in raptures. The filming is excellent and shows the atmosphere very well indeed. The song showcased all the band's credentials and even had audience participation. Keeping in the Free mindset and era, Paul introduced some friends to jam.These friends are Guns and Roses' Slash and Neil Schon from the 1980's American band Journey. The instantly recognisable opening riff from “Wishing Well” rang out and it's all systems go for a great song with the guitar input from Slash and Neil,not forgetting Dave Colwell holding it all together with disciplined chord work. A great inclusion to the set. The DVD is worth buying for this song alone!

Paul stood at the keys end of a grand piano for the next three songs to play firstly the classic “Bad Company” title track from the first LP followed by one from a later era, “Silver Blue and Gold” a beautiful slower tempo song. This is a  great song and a classic in the making. Staying at the piano, Paul and the band then played a great rocker, “Run with the Pack” a good mover and yet another revered Bad Company number.

The audience were very animated as the introduction to “Shooting Star”  was eased into the evening's fare. A great song and a credit to Dave Colwell and his superb guitar playing, he's brilliant. The audience were singing the verse and chorus by this time! A fabulous song and the last of the live set.

The song “Joe Fabulous” is tacked onto  the end of this concert as a bonus. Mostly footage in the studio and informal footage of the band, it's a nice ending to this excellent DVD.The song is  brilliant too, but that is expected from Paul Rodgers, The voice of rock music. This is a great DVD recording of a live concert.......thoroughly recommended!

Steve Lally©