Helloween - Pumpkins Living Their Best Live

Helloween

Live At Budokan

Reigning Phoenix Music

13 December 2024

The godfathers of power metal have been making albums and touring for more than 40 years since starting out in Hamburg, Germany as a band influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and turning those influences into a faster, leaner form of metal, then making a turn towards adding more melody, both with the guitars and through the addition of perfected air-raid singing to their sound. Throughout their history there have been line-up changes, not-so-friendly splits, and anticipated reunions, as well as exciting albums, landmark works, successful songs, disappointing albums and great comebacks that have achieved much towards restoring their place and shoring up their legacy.

As with any prosperous band with a long discography, it is a daunting task to think how they could do justice to their catalogue. It is impossible, but with their most recent tours, as documented here with this live recording in Japan, they have attempted to cover as many highlights as possible, and for that they deserve credit. In this case, they really do make a serious effort to show their various phases. For example, the band has had three singers. All three are members of the band once again, and took the show on the road like that, with all three. All three eras get represented, including the early days when they were a younger boisterous bunch playing faster than the previous generation of British, American and German bands. Now equipped with three guitarists onstage, they are able pull off rather faithful renditions of their songs.

While it is not possible to please completely all the fans' preferences for this or that particular era, they are to be commended for remembering to honor their most important eras. At this point they have all three of the original surviving members in the band once more, plus the "newer" members that joined later on. What a fun, fun album!

1. Orbit

2. Skyfall

3. Eagle Fly Free

4. Mass Pollution

5. Future World

6. Power

7. Save Us

8. Kai's Medley

9. Forever and One (Neverland)

10. Best Time

11. Dr. Stein

12. How Many Tears

13. Keeper of the Seven Keys

14. Perfect Gentleman

15. I Want Out

total time: 2 hours and 1 minute

Markus Grosskopf - bass (1983-present)

Michael Weikath - guitars (1983-present)

Kai Hansen - guitars, vocals (1983-1989, 2017-present)

Michael Kiske - vocals (1986-1993, 2017-present)

Andi Deris - vocals (1994-present)

Sascha Gerstner - guitars (2002-present)

Dani Löble - drums (2005-present)

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HELLOWEEN - Best Time [Live At Budokan] (Official Music Video)

HELLOWEEN - Eagle Fly Free [Live At Budokan] (Official Music Video)