We've reached an age where, in the last decade, the live album has become the norm rather than the unexpected. It used to be that a live album came out only once in a generation, in order to showcase the live setting of a greatest hits compilation. Now, however, bands like Iron maiden are releasing them every couple of years, which is fine if they keep finding people to buy them (like me). On top of this, it has become a fad to play a complete album, from first track to last, in a live setting, also something that has been taken on in excitement by the fans. Now your favourite albums can be heard completely, even the songs that have never had a live airing before this came to pass.
Is this a good thing? Well, in essence it's for the real fans, and not the part-timers.
For me it was fun to hear this whole album done live. Sure, I don't think the production of this release was as pure as with Rust in Peace Live, but I really enjoyed hearing it. There's no doubt that if you want to hear the songs in their pristine condition you would grab the original album from the shelf and put it on, but this was still excellent. The best songs here in the live setting for me were "Symphony of Destruction", "Foreclosure of a Dream", "Countdown to Extinction" and "Psychotron".
The album is bookended by other great Megadeth songs, the favourite for me here being "Peace Sells", with the audience participation taking the cake. Still a great song, and Dave letting the audience sing the chorus sounds awesome.
In the long run you can probably take or leave this release depending on how much you enjoy live albums. It is not the most pristine of releases, but it brought back a lot of memories for me, and showcases another album from Megadeth's halcyon era.
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