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Pendragon was, with Marillion, IQ and a few others, one of the reason for listening to Prog in the eighties. They enjoyed success in the nineties and are still going strong as of today. For myself I do not count them as one of my stellar bands, but I admit to liking their stuff and their album The Marquerade Overture has made it's way to my CD player a few times.
Past and Presence is a live DVD (one of many by Pendragon recently) that has for pretext the celebration of the 21th anniversary of the first The Jewel concert, an album that has been one of the band's most succesfull, but that I did not have the occasion to listen to. Because of that, the tracks featured are all unknowned to me.
The material on Past and Presence is less epic then what I am used to with Pendragon and heavier, perhaps this in part because of the live setting. The band is in top form, even though, surprisingly, Clive Nolan is almost completly replaced by another keyboard player (quite good I must add). Perhaps Mr. Nolan was not the keyboard player on The Jewel? The show is very good. The band's playing is phenomenal and the guys are in good spirits. The crowd is enthousiastic and the material excellent. The stage show is simple but interesting and in good taste. The performances and DVD sound cannot be better.
Because the material on Past and Presence is focused on their early stuff, this DVD is perhaps not the best place to start with Pendragon. But if you are already a fan, Past and Presence is sure to please you and is strongly recommended by this reviewer.