Declaration Live at The Deaf Institute
The Declaration 30th Anniversary Tour of 2014 is captured on film at the penultimate night of the UK tour in a completely sold out show at the Deaf Institute, Manchester.
Declaration Live!' is released in a Collectors Edition Gatefold Digipak 2 Disc Set with complete concert film DVD plus 79 minutes audio soundtrack compact disc. Also included is a full colour booklet with a complete list of the Declaration World Tour dates and in concert photography from Andy Labrow.
Universally accepted as one of the greatest and uncompromising Mike Peters tours in recent history, Declaration 2014 and it's 30th anniversary celebration has been a year punctuated by some of the best Mike Peters gigs of all time.
This concert film from Manchester was one of the highlights from a tour of highlights.
An incredible atmosphere permeated the venue which was packed to the rafters with fans old and new and Mike Peters was on top form, revealing a side to his musicianship and personality seldom seen.
The music is as dynamic as you could wish for and the stories so personal, heartfelt and humorous that they take you direct to the heart of The Alarm's unique rise from small town beginnings to world wide acclaim.
NB: Region Free NTSC DVD Format that is playable around the world.
Read this review just as the tour hit the USA - Declaration Live!.
Mike Peters - Declaration Tour Live 2014
The early 1980s was a time of idealism and optimism: The Soviet Union was teetering, the world economy was rebounding, and social activism was succeeding like never before, with events such as Live Aid.
No band captured the spirit of that time better than Welsh new-wavers The Alarm, and no album better than its 1984 full-length debut “Declaration.”
Three decades later, that time may seem far away and lost in an era of hopelessness. But The Alarm singer and front man Mike Peters resurrected its spirit with a solo acoustic concert at Philadelphia’s World Café Live in which he performed all 12 songs from “Declaration” to mark its 30th anniversary, plus a handful of others.
The reason Peters was able to do that so convincingly is that the songs were so good in the first place, and the singer very much still believes in what he sang those years ago. And he’s maintained the talent to still sing it exceptionally well.
In a show that included 21 songs and stretched nearly 2 1/2 hours -- Peters sincerely seemed as if he didn’t want to stop – he not only sang the songs, but explained them, and in the process explained the history of The Alarm.
Alone on acoustic guitar, with a harmonica, kick-drum and the aid of looping technology, Peters told the sold-out crowd he would “begin at the beginning” of meeting the band’s members at a clothing store at which he worked.
He then sang the first two songs The Alarm ever wrote – “Declare Yourself an Unsafe Building” and the B-side “Up For Murder” – explaining how its sound evolved from punk to a “folk, early kind-of protest group” with interest in Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.
That gave way to “Take the Lie of the Land” from the group’s self-titled debut EP, and then diving into “Declaration” with “Shout to the Devil.”
On all of them, Peters sang in an earnest, honest, unvarnished voice that became even more emphatic for “Shout to the Devil.” And by the time he sang “Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke,” the first single from “Declaration,” everyone was reminded just how good the songs are.
Peters’ enthusiasm was infectious. The crowd, unabashedly joined in, and gleefully responded to the singer’s tossing a stack of cards to them on the line, “All cards are marked and all things will collide.”
Before “The Stand,” Peters recounted The Alarm’s close relationship with U2, and even with adding harmonica to the drum and guitar, he still managed to have his voice sound largely as it did back in the day – especially on the big finish.
On “Tell Me,” which he said is his favourite song on the disc, his voice was even more full of emotion. And on “Howling Wind,” which he said was inspired by the writings of Dylan Thomas, he added looped mandolin and sang with such earnestness, it was one of the night’s best.
Peters was perfectly right when he told the crowd it was “amazing how this relationship [with the audience] has stood the test of time .. and moved with the times.” It was an explanation of how the songs to come have changed over the years, yet still fit the audience to which they’re sung. “We are the Light” was wholly changed to slow voice and guitar. “The Deceiver” was slow and intense. And “Third Light” became more abrasive and scolding. But all were perfectly aged, as with fine wine, so that they still spoke to the crowd’s also-changed perspective.
He sang what he said was an unabridged version of “Sixty-Eight Guns” – elongating it to 10 minutes by starting slow and studied and restoring a full verse before kicking in with a vengeance mid-song.
As if to emphasise “Declaration/Marching On,” he held the guitar aloft to play, then finished the album with a great version of the anthem “Blaze of Glory.” The crowd, caught up in the mood and moment, gleefully sang along.
In this era of seeming hopelessness, Mike Peters continues to battle on behalf of the spirit of idealism and optimism, and his weapon is one guitar.
DECLARATION SET
Shout To The Devil
Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke?
The Stand
Tell Me
Howling Wind
We Are The Light
The Deceiver
Third Light
Sixty Eight Guns
Declaration
Marching On
Blaze Of Glory
--------------
Spirit Of 76
Deeside
Majority
One Step Closer To Home
Rain In The Summertime
Absolute Reality
45 RPM
Free Rock And Roll
One Guitar
Walk Forever By My Side
PEACE TRAIN SET
Moments In Time
Unsafe Building
Up For Murder
Lie Of The Land
Across The Border
Bells Of Rhymney
Reason 41
Bound For Glory
SPECIAL FEATURE
INTERVIEW WITH J.J.