Customer Reviews

Live From Las Vegas

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I attended my first concert ever when Sarah was in Reno this year. From the first step inside the auditorium, she "assaults" your senses immediately with a giant incense burner filling the stadium and brilliantly colored lights focused on a huge exotic curtain. I didn't know what to expect at all. I had paid $75 for a ticket and was hoping I'd get my money's worth.

Wow!! Did I get my money's worth!

Dancing girls, an elaborate, somewhat abstract stage, phenomenal lighting, and here comes little Sarah down the runway ramp. Little -couldn't be 5 feet tall- Sarah with this HUGE voice pure as liquid light.

My favorite songs were It's a Beautiful Day, Dust in The Wind, La Luna, Free,Time to Say Goodbye and the one that literally brings down the house: A Question of Honour, where tons of colored confettie falls from the ceiling drawing in the audience and the show DOES end with a "Bang", a huge white explosion. I was so jazzed I would have gone out and bought another ticket if she had given two performances. The audience was ecstatic and all of us were shouting "encore!" Never had so much fun in my entire life. Such talent, such class!! Sarah is a class-act unlike the drug addled rockers and borderline singers like Madonna. I am now a bonified Brightman fan and will drive 500 miles to her nearest live performance.

Buy this beautiful CD, hear this out-of-this-world voice. Sarah can take your mind off the violence prevelant in the world today. Thank you, Sarah!

P.S. I just watched "Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love", a very well directed story of a fatal love affair between a Raja, his beautiful consort and her artist lover whose love for her kills him. Remarkably, the lovers' theme was the music Sarah Brightman opens her show with (Cut#1). Rent or buy this excellent (extremely sexual-hence the title)1996 movie and see where she got some of the ideas for her wonderful show.

I was fortunate enough to have experienced a very surreal evening with the angel of music, Sarah Brightman, last March on her Harem World Tour concert in Anaheim, CA and just had to acquire her first live recording, which took place in Las Vegas here, so that I could relive the experience whenever I wanted to. I was naturally skeptic as there aren't many live albums that can capture the magic of the event as it's actually happening but this nailed it quite well. Sarah's voice is in perfect form and the production is superb! Crank up the volume, close your eyes, and you'll be taken to Sarah's harem...

"Kama Sutra" is a nice two minute intro into "Harem", which brings me to my one and only gripe about this album, and that would be how they chose to cut out most of the good parts and pretty much make this an overture instead of using the entire song. Also, I could have lived without "Who Wants To Live Forever". It seems she includes this song on every tour she does when in fact it is one of my least favorite songs of hers. I was, however, thrilled to hear "Phantom Of The Opera Suite" and, even though I would have loved to hear "Music Of The Night" as well, "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" was probably the better selection. I also enjoyed "Anytime, Anywhere" (always a highlight for me) and the somewhat extended version of "Dust In The Wind", which I prefer over the original found on EDEN. Granted, Sarah also closed her LA LUNA set with "A Question Of Honour", this is hands down the best version I've yet to heard of that song. I could really feel the energy of the crowd with their harmonious clapping to the beginning drum section after the brief "La Wally" aria.

Many complain about the music being too loud but, HELLO!, that's how it is when you attend a live concert! And Sarah handles the ethereal power of her vocals like the pro she is; never failing to soar above it all without sounding as if she's trying too hard. This is a wonderful live recording that I recommend all fans get - even if it's only for the brand new studio track, "Snow On The Sahara", which I've been playing excessively as of late... It is absolutely gorgeous and has quickly become a favorite of mine!

Having seen Sarah's Harem concert in NYC, I was quite excited to hear about this live CD and 2-disc live DVD release. Having purchased the CD, I was overall pleased with this new album. Sarah's singing, as always, is spectacular and beautiful, whether moving from dance-Euro-pop to her special way with "operatic" materials. It's interesting to hear the difference in her voice between a perfectly controlled and produced studio recording and a live, at-the-moment performance. Sarah does not disappoint as a live performer, visually or aurally. Some of these live renditions, "Nessun Dorma", and "It's A Beautiful Day, to name but two, are actually superior to her studio versions. There are times however, when Sarah, trying to produce a fuller "operatic" sound to her voice, resorts to "scooping" before hitting certain notes (in this concert, it occurs during parts of "La Luna" and "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again", and also to be heard on her studio recording of "O Mio Babbino Caro", found on her "Classics" CD, as examples). This "technique" is not used too often and, when not employed at all, her singing retains it's clarity, brightness, power, and ethereally magical sound. It is a shame, as others have noted, that the "Harem" live version selection is terribly cut short, and there should have been more of the "Harem" material included. However, what is on this CD is beautifully sung, expertly produced, and acts as a perfect album for the Brightman fan or a newcomer to Sarah's incredibly magical and sexy universe. I found myself repeating "Dust In the Wind" over and over, Sarah's singing being infinitely moving. The bonus "studio" track, "Snow On the Sahara", is simply another Brightman classic. Sounding like it may have been recorded during the "Harem" album sessions, it just whets my appetite for the next (and hopefully soon!) Sarah Brightman studio album.

Luigi in NYC.

The more Sarah Brightman grows and changes, the more she stays the same. Talented, creative, innovative and, of course, beautiful. For those few critics out there, I should add very successful to the list. To those of us who have come to love all these things about Sarah, her "Live from Las Vegas" show was simply another extraordinary performance. The music cd is an audio sampling of that remarkable event.

If you already have previous cds, with the same songs featured on Live from Las Vegas, you will find Sarah's new renditions make this a must-have, as well. La Luna is, in my opinion, her best version yet and worth the price of the cd.

Classical/pop star Sarah Brightman has become known for her spectacular concerts -- and they're pretty good even when you can't see them. "Live in Las Vegas" brings the allure of Brightman's live performance through, with an array of her better songs (and a couple of new ones).

Opening the album is an acoustic-led, vaguely sexy little tune called "Kama Sutra," which is a new creation just for this concert. It's followed by a chunky, percussion-heavy mix of the "Harem Overture." But the bulk of songs on here are old favorites: the windy strings of "Who Wants To Live Forever," the throbbing "War is Over," the ethereally trippy "Whiter Shade of Pale," and even the gothic, organ-led "Phantom of the Opera," a medley of songs from the hit musical. As an extra treat, a studio track called "Snow on the Sahara" ends the concert album -- a sweet little pop tune with a rich string accompaniment.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in this CD is that you'd expect the "Harem World Tour" to feature more material from her latest album. Most of the songs are from "Eden" and "La Luna," with a few from "Harem." However, she also did that in her prior tours. And her choice of songs can't be faulted -- these are some of her most gorgeous songs.

However, don't expect them to sound too different from the album versions -- except "Harem Overture," which is mysteriously cropped down to a much shorter length, and "A Question of Honour," which has been watered down somewhat. It has lost its hard edge in favor of a more operatic sound.

A lot of live performances suffer on live CD, thanks to audience noise and bad sound production. Thankfully, "Live in Las Vegas" doesn't suffer from either. The audience is reserved except for a few bursts of applause, and the sound production is very good except for that slight tinniness that the few offstage sounds have.

Brightman's ethereal soprano gets a thorough workout in this concert, and she doesn't disappoint even once. She's backed by an orchestral collection of keyboards, guitars, lutes, sitars and the Harem Orchestra for those gorgeous sweeping string melodies. In a word, even when Brightman isn't singing, it's a thrill to listen to the music. Oh yes, and it had a cannon too.

Sarah Brightman's performance in "Live From Las Vegas" is quite good, with her ethereal vocals and strong musical backing. Just sing a few more songs from "Harem," okay?

I love this album. Sarah's voice was already far ahead and more beautiful than anybody else in the world - anytime, anywhere! I don't know how she does it, but she has surpassed herself again. Sarah's voice is even more beautiful and more full on this album than ever before. I get chills listen to most of the songs. All the songs are so very beautiful and wonderful.

I attended the Harem concert in Gothenburg in Sweden and this album reminisce me back to that phenomenal concert, with the same outstanding beautiful songs. Sarah has a fabulous voice on all her studio-recorded albums but her voice is always greater, warmer and more astonishing when she sings live. I wish I could have attended more Harem concerts.

On this album there are 15 live songs from the Harem concert and the wonderful studio track "Snow on the Sahara". All the songs are amazing, but I will here point out some of the songs:

"Harem overture", this song is a fabulous variant of Sarah's normal "Harem". Sarah vocalizes on this song with her bright, absolutely breathtaking voice. Great rhythm. Wow!

"Dust in the wind" Sarah gets accompany by two acoustic guitar players on this incredible song.

Sarah's voice sparkles with joy. This version gives this great song new life. So lovely.

"Anytime, anywhere", one of my all time favourite. Sounds so marvellous on this album.

I thought the version on "One Night in Eden" was the ultimate, but this version is even better.

"Nessun Dorma", Sarah sings this aria better than any tenors or sopranos. This song is written for a male's voice. There is so much difference between Sarah's voice and a tenor's. There is so much love and joy in Sarah's voice that if you listen to a tenor after, it sound like a dreary funeral hymn. Sarah sings "Nessun Dorma" superb. Listen to Sarah's voice in "Nessun Dorma" gives me goosey all over.

"Free", a very wonderful song. Sarah sings it so fantastic and the violin is so beautiful.

"A Whiter shade of pale", who wants to listen to Procol Harum after listen to Sarah's version?

Sarah's version is much more beautiful. Brilliant. So fantastic.

"Wishing you were somehow here again", my all time Andrew Lloyd Webber favourite.

Sarah sings it so perfectly. So warm and bright.

"Time to say goodbye", Sarah's most famous song. I love this song so much. I love it as a duet.

But I love it even more when Sarah sings it solo, as she does on this album. Because it's Sarah's voice I want to listen to. It's so incredible beautiful on this album.

Sarah has the most wonderful charisma and is so talented. So warm-heartedness.

Sarah's beautiful kind eyes and warm smile goes straight to my heart and soul.

This album is my favourite and I can highly recommend it.

From the first note of the entrancing opening song, "Kama Sutra",I was immediately taken back to that glorious night when I was in the audience at Sarah Brightman's "Harem" concert in Washington D.C. This beautiful CD includes the highlights from the magnificent "Harem" show. Sarah's ethereal chameleonic voice is in top form as she effortlessly sings through operatic classics like "Nessun Dorma" and Dvorak's "La Luna" and goes into new age pop songs like "It's A Beautiful Day", "Dust In The Wind", "Free" and "A Whiter Shade Of Pale". The breathtaking "Phantom Of The Opera Overture" and "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" will send chills down your spine and the magnificent "A Question Of Honour" will for sure get you singing along with it's dark heavy drum beats, catchy chorus and Sarah's operatic voice flying above it all. The new studio recording featured at the end of the CD, "Snow On The Sahara" is yet another Brightman/Peterson masterpiece. Absolutely gorgeous with Sarah's light ethereal voice and Middle Eastern strings.

A DVD of this Harem concert will be released on October 19th and Sarah is returning to the United States with her Harem concert. Tickets are on sale now. Do not miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity. Visit www.sarah-brightman.com for ticket information.

So, it doesn't matter who you are or what kind of music you listen to, you will enjoy this album. Give the incredible voice of Sarah Brightman a listen.

Actually, I rate it 4.5 stars.

Listening to the CD, it brings back memories from seeing the show last February in Montreal. I will be seeing Sarah again on the 25th of October during her 2nd Leg of the Harem Tour. Overall, the CD is worth buying. Considering it's live, it's pretty good. The sound quality is nice, but Sarah's voice comes out really too loud in certain parts, especially in "It's a beautiful day". The Disc is copy controlled, so I can't wait to see how many dishonest fans will attempt burning illegal copies to sell on ebay, unfortunately.

<-> "Kama Sutra" is fine. They didn't edit anything out of it.

<-> "Harem Ouverture"...is misleading. The online stores mislead their customers by not putting "ouverture" in the name. So, I was actually expecting to hear the entire version of "Harem", but all we're getting is a small taste of what the actual song sounds like. Why on earth would they cut out the best parts of the song?

<-> "It's a beautiful day" is better than the studio recording because of the percussion and the keyboards sounding more middle-eastern than electric.

<-> "Dust in the wind" is refreshing. I've always wanted to see Sarah sing this one live. Ironically, I always skipped this track on the "Eden" CD, but now that I've seen & heard it live, I think it's a lovely song. I've got new respect for it!

<-> Who wants to live forever is by far, the best live version, ever since her RAH DVD back in 1997.

<-> "La Luna" and "Nessun Dorma" are both outstanding on the CD.

No wonder she got such a huge standing ovation after those songs! Wow! Sarah's powerful Bel-Canto shines through & through, this time around, most likely on account of the use of a hand-held mic, rather than a headset. The song made the hair stand up on my arms, because of the perfect pitch and attack at the end. She couldn't have handled it any better than she did, this time around!

<-> "The war is over" is well done and you can hear "Violet" and Shweta Shetty in the background. Really nice to know that we have some kind of touch with Sarah's sister on this CD! The guy who duets with Sarah, whose name I can't recall, does a remarkable job of singing. It's really obvious this was an "it's being recorded, so do extra well" type of production.

<-> "Free" is really pretty, and reminds us that this is a "Harem" concert. This song may very well be the most beautiful of all on the disc. It's sentimental and beautiful.

<-> "A whiter shade of pale" is nice, but it just doesn't work for me anymore. I want to move onward, not backward. Reminds me too much of the "La Luna" Concert. I like "AWSOP", but it's "Been there, done that". This is where the song "No One Like You" should have been added, in it's full version, but lest we forget, Sarah didn't sing the full version of that either!

<-> "Phantom of the Opera Suite" is nice. Still has its Gothic touch, with the bass guitar and the rock feel". Sexy and reminiscent of a Diva from 20 some odd years ago, still going strong!

<-> "Wishing you were somehow here again" is very pretty and is sung really well. I think this is the best "POTO" song ever recorded. And I'm happy she sang it, rather than "The Music of the Night".

<-> "Time to say goodbye" has to be Sarah's best performance of this song, live. Sarah doesn't drag or miss any beats, as compared to her performance at the end of the "La Luna" DVD. My hair goes up on my arms & neck at the high parts. Looking back on the "La Luna" DVD performance, she sang it way too slow.

<-> "A question of honour" is great, but why on earth would Sarah want to cut out the best minute and a half of the song? They cut out the rock/opera part with the drums and keyboards, just to go into that wimpy "two men collide" part. I don't like this too much! Ok...the Canon going "KABOOM" at the end of the song is fun, but not as loud as we heard it, at the show. It scared the living hell out of me at the show. This version of the song is basically the "Radio Edit" version from Sarah's single "A question of honour".

<-> "Snow on the Sahara" is a nice new touch, but I like Anggun's version better.

Anggun has a much lovelier voice, seeing she's got those smokey, exotic pipes of hers. But I give Sarah credit for covering such a pretty, colorful and bright song. It's something that Sarah should have done much sooner!

In the entire production, Sarah's voice is very clear and it's obvious she was really close to the microphone which is smart. I'm glad to know they didn't over-edit the applause after each song. It's better than the un-enthusiastic audience as seen on the "One night in eden" DVD.

The booklet is glossy and well made. They included alternate angle shots, from the live footage, not seen on the Official site. The CD is matte copper/bronze in color with white graphics. Really pretty! But perhaps a digipack would have been more convenient, considering the Jewel case won't last forever. From inside the front cover, you'll see the words "Copy Controlled". The front image is pretty, but it's something we've seen before.

And there you have it. That's my review, personally. I think you should buy the CD because it's great as a collector's item, and nice to hear her live, professionally recorded and rendered onto CD for the first time.

Tracklisting:

01- Kama Sutra - 2:01

02- Harem Ouverture - 3:10

03- It's a beautiful day - 4:27

04- Dust in the Wind - 4:01

05- Who wants to live forever - 4:02

06- Anytime, Anywhere - 3:17

07- La Luna - 5:17

08- Nessun Dorma

09- The war is over - 5:24

10- Free - 3:49

11- A whiter shade of pale - 3:16

12- Phantom of the Opera Suite - 4:27

13- Wishing you were somehow here again - 3:51

14- Time to say goodbye - 4:14

15- A question of honour - 5:41

16- Snow on the Sahara (Bonus Studio Recording) - 4:44

I first knew about Sarah several years ago when she released her version of "Dust in the Wind." Then, recently I managed to see a "Harem" TV special, and I was completely sold. So, finally, I got some Sarah in my collection now. This concert is definitely an amazing experience, I will definitely get the DVD. The sound is clear as a bell, and it goes without saying that Sarah's vocals are spine-tingling. I am falling in love with what has been labeled as "cross-over" - pop-ish, yet kinda exotic music with Sarah's incredible soprano soaring above. The perfect example is on "A Beautiful Day" in which she uses both her opera and "straight" vocals to great effect, creating what is to my ears a very unique and refreshing contrast. Sometimes it does go a bit far for my taste into techno/dance territory, but that is forgivable. Thankfully, the material is balanced out with some straight-up opera. I think Sarah has carved a nice little niche for her, in which her diverse talents are really given room to roam. If this concert does not make a fan out of a newcomer to Sarah, nothing will.

This cd is a FANTASTIC collection of some of Sarah's best known songs, with a certain spark only heard in a live concert setting.. absolutely incredible. What has made this cd absolutely indespensible for me has been the BEAUTIFUL new bonus track included as the last cut on the cd, "SNOW ON THE SAHARA".

This bonus studio recording has become my FAVORITE recording by Sarah... her soothing voice, the beautiful string section, the soaring melody... all wrapped in a midtempo setting... ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL AND WELL WORTH THE PRICE OF THE CD!!

Sarah Brightman fans, DO NOT LET THIS PASS YOU BY!!!