This German electro band has been around for about forty years now and they are generally given credit as being the godfathers of synthesizer-based music; it is said that everything from the "Krautrock" sound of bands like Kraftwerk to the ubiquitous ambient drone of "New Age" sprung from the band's loins and the fertile mind of their leader, Edgar Froese. The genealogy can be left to scholars; what's for sure is that Froese discovered the Moog in the early '70s and used it for the first time in recording 1974's Phaedra. The album was the first to garner the band any real attention and the spacey isolationist groove pioneered there would become the Tangerine Dream signature sound.
This very generous (close to three hour) set was filmed in London in 2005 and finds the band playing endless variations on the Phaedra theme. The show begins with Froese approaching a piano with a handkerchief in hand, playfully acting as if he's dusting off the keyboard when suddenly the cloth disappears and he's fiercely playing "Ricochet Part 1." After the showy solo is over the stage is illuminated to show the rest of the band ready and waiting behind an endless array of keyboards and the nod to the classic Phaedra is given with the playing of "Phaedra 05" and "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares."
The music of Tangerine Dream has always been an acquired taste; to the undiscerning ear much of this concert will sound just like the other. The music is instrumental and the band offers no stage patter and neither is there any real need to look at the TV screen that often---the focus here is on the music and letting it take you where you want to go without distraction.
There are times to pay a little more attention though; during the "New Wave-y" "Midnight in Tula," when Zlatko Perica comes on stage to expand the band's sound with stinging guitar work during "Back Street Hero," "Rising Haul in Silence" and "Lamb With Radar Eyes" and certainly when Froese picks up a guitar near show's end for the inventive "Talking to Maddox." Perica returns as the band closes out the show with an interesting take on the Jimi Hendrix hit "Purple Haze." Froese takes a couple minutes to thank the crowd for coming before he leaves the stage, apologizing to fans who didn't hear their favorite song among the twenty-six played. After explaining that Tangerine Dream has recorded 250 hours of material during their career, the man of few words offers "maybe next time," waves, and withdraws to no doubt begin working on that 251st hour.
