Swedish

English

Translation:  Anina Holbek

Red Hot Rock Magazine, August 2007

Roger Hodgson

Take The Long Way Home – Live in Montreal

With long hair, white shirt and black jeans, he calmly enters the stage to standing ovations. You could think that Jesus had come to Montreal, but it is just Roger Hodgson. Only in Canada it's almost the same. With a smile, he sits down at the keyboard, and with the words - All right let's have some fun - he opens the concert with ”Take the Long Way Home.” The mood and the collective love at the venue is so strong that you can almost grab it and feel it. Roger Hodgson performs all his fantastic hits with just him singing, playing the guitar, grand piano, keyboard, and with an excellent saxophone player accompanying now and then. I haven't listened to Supertramp's songs for a long time, but these versions goes deeper than they did with the band back in the days. Roger's voice glides like a swallow in the hall, and it makes no difference if he performs the most played Supertramp classics, or something from his solo career or even new songs like ”Oh Brother” - everything he plays sounds incredibly beautiful and clear.

Who have said that you can't rock with a grand piano and a lonely sax? The person who said that, can bite his or her lip while wiping a tear away. That was what I did when I saw his performance of ”The Logical Song” in this DVD. The old ”It's Raining Again” swings and it is not the same experience to hear ”Give A Little Bit” twice at the same concert. May this will soon be released on CD so I can enjoy this on my car stereo. Some years ago, David Gilmour released a live-DVD from one of his solo performances. I was deeply impressed of his versions of Pink Floyd songs and his own projects. This reminds me about it, but it's endlessly much more beautiful, fresh and timeless. Roger Hodgson, where have you been? Come here at once, everything is forgiven!

Jesper Almén

Swedish

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