ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

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gbruin
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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by gbruin »

Mine arrived at the post office a few miles away at 6:10 am. Should be in the mailbox this afternoon!!
Another photobucket casualty... :(
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anguyen92
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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by anguyen92 »

How are you guys getting notices that it is shipped out? Did Napalm USA shop send you guys an email?

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gbruin
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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by gbruin »

Yeah. I got an email from Napalm Records of America on Sep 3 with shipping/tracking info.
Another photobucket casualty... :(
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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by abw1987 »

I never got a shipping notification email. I just saw on Facebook that some fans' orders had started to arrive, so I logged into the Napalm site and checked my order status there. Much to my surprise it showed "out for delivery", and the postman showed up not an hour later.
ToNsOFuN88 wrote:Do either songs have any guitar solos
Nope, although there are some moments of flair throughout – similar to the bridge in "Broken Wings".
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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by anguyen92 »

Welp. I don't think I ever signed up for an account on Napalm, but I did receive a confirmation email from them when I ordered it. I guess if I did not get it by Saturday, I'll call them and see what's happening.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by Jaredr24 »

Love Cruel Sun and Solace. Miss the bands' cleaner stuff like they once had. Musically they're good songs but I think the lyrics are why they ended up being b-sides: nothing really stands out. Both of the intros for those songs were in TSATS and learned them never knowing they were already songs from the past, not new things that Mark wrote and kept hidden away.
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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by ToNsOFuN88 »

I like both better than Breathe, but like someone stated earlier, it was more surreal hearing Breathe for the first time. Solace is my favorite, only thing is I wish it had a guitar solo. It is an alternate tuning though, so maybe that effected that decision. Only other complaint with it is that the transition from verse to chorus sounds kinda weird, but I get used to it more with each listen. I love the little acoustic breakdown, and that final sweet note from Myles before the song ends. Cruel Sun is great as well, I would say it's better than Breathe, but not as good as Solace. Verse had kind of a weird rhythm, but I'm starting to get a feel for it more with each listen. Again, I'm kinda disappointed that none of the B-sides had a guitar solo, but its really awesome regardless. Overall, I'm glad to finally hear these songs, and they are good enough that I will definitely play them as much as any other AB song. It's not a one and done, "oh that's cool, now ill never okay it again" thing, for me at least.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by mitch103 »

I assumed Solace was in dropped Db. That's the tuning he was in on his instructional DVD when he played the finger picked intro/verse part.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by devv88 »

"Solace" is fucking amazing. Little more work and that song could easily have made the record. The instrumentals on "Cruel Sun" are fantastic (especially the bass -- feel like we haven't heard Brian like this in a longgggg time), but the melody definitely needed some work, and it obviously wasn't enough of a priority.

God, it's good to hear them sound like this again. Dynamic in both their songwriting and production.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by facelessman07 »

So like half of the tracks on iTunes are "album only" tracks.

Wow

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by nagpo »

facelessman07 wrote:So like half of the tracks on iTunes are "album only" tracks.

Wow
yeah the two songs i want I'd have to buy the entire thing. Let's see how amazon goes

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by BMus1 »

facelessman07 wrote:So like half of the tracks on iTunes are "album only" tracks.

Wow
I'm peeved. I always buy AB's music but I can't see myself purchasing this album given the really disappointing live mixing and the fact that I have 9 of these studio songs already. Pls give me a break Co.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by facelessman07 »

nagpo wrote:
facelessman07 wrote:So like half of the tracks on iTunes are "album only" tracks.

Wow
yeah the two songs i want I'd have to buy the entire thing. Let's see how amazon goes
I believe it's a label decision so I'm not sure if Amazon would be any different

Don't think I can justify paying $16.99 plus tax for 2 songs

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facelessman07
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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by facelessman07 »

Well, the studio b-sides are all "album only" purchases on Amazon.

Wonderful.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by Andy92 »

Spotify has the live album but it looks like they left off the two b-sides. Can't say I blame the decision really...but yeah. I was just planning to buy some singles on iTunes.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by anguyen92 »

You know, I bet that AB was thinking that the actual live album was going to be the "draw" of the package and that rarities are going to be bonuses. I understand that not a lot of people here wants to hear another version of the stuff already released from Amsterdam and Wembley, but there are like 10 live songs that have yet to get an official release and I wish that can get a little more respect to that to the product (I know I know, Myles' recent pronunciation can get irksome and Mark doesn't use a clean guitar tone. Blah, blah, blah) rather than just the "unreleased" songs being the perceived draw. I love live AB anyway at this period anyway and wouldn't want anything better than that (other than longer sets and more deeper tracks played).

I'm probably not going to get the thing shipped to me for whatever reasons and I contemplate buying another copy at Best Buy if I don't get it any time next week.
Last edited by anguyen92 on Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by facelessman07 »

anguyen92 wrote:You know, I bet that AB was thinking that the actual live album was going to be the "draw" of the package and that rarities are going to be bonuses. I understand that not a lot of people hear wants to hear another version of the stuff already released from Amsterdam and Wembley, but there are like 10 live songs that have yet to get an official release and I wish that can get a little more respect to that to the product (I know I know, Myles' recent pronunciation can get irksome and Mark doesn't use a clean guitar tone. Blah, blah, blah) rather than just the "unreleased" songs being the perceived draw. I love live AB anyway at this period anyway and wouldn't want anything better than that (other than longer sets and more deeper tracks played).

I'm probably not going to get the thing shipped to me for whatever reasons and I contemplate buying another copy at Best Buy if I don't get it any time next week.
I'd be happy to purchase a live album.

If it's any good.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by Andy92 »

I just don't listen to live CDs much in general. No knock against this album or anything. I like watching concert DVDs, just never did get into listening to live recordings all that much.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by Raven »

Andy92 wrote:I just don't listen to live CDs much in general. No knock against this album or anything. I like watching concert DVDs, just never did get into listening to live recordings all that much.

Im like that in general accept some of my Van Halen live cd's are my favourite especially when Eddie lets loose and starts randomly jamming

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Re: ALTER BRIDGE - Live at the O2 Arena + Rarities

Post by anguyen92 »

All right, from what I've heard so far on Spotify regarding the live album, I think this is slightly a step up from Wembley. The band sounded a bit fresher, except not so much on Metalingus. Myles sounded slightly better than Wembley, but still not on the highs of Amsterdam. The crowd is slightly better than Wembley, but again not as high as Amsterdam, I feel. The only greatest flaw so far honestly is just that this is not a live DVD. Don't know why they didn't go with it, especially since they have up the production a bit with the visual screens and who knows if they want to use screens again. The only explanation is that they are saving the DVD treatment for the Royal Albert Hall shows, which would make sense, but it's going to overshadow this greatly on hype alone in the first place so they either might as well go DVD or not go with doing any release at all, I feel.

Highlights so far: Cry of Achilles, The Other Side, Watch Over You, Blackbird, and Open Your Eyes (man, 13 years of that song and it being played live is always golden and this version is no exception. Don't know why they don't just have it as the always show closer instead of Rise Today).

So I think, in fairness, after 5.5 years of not having any official live release of anything, this is good enough, and, other than them playing deeper cuts, I don't feel enough of a good hype to make the show better even with the fact that they are playing the largest arena in London. Hopefully, the Royal Albert Hall shows can smash all expectations in all front. For the O2 show, it's a typical AB show in the 2010s. The songs selection and performance are good, but far beyond stale, and they really do need somewhat of a change up in structure in some parts of the show, i.e. the beginning.

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