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Renaissance The Legacy Tour 2022 Review by Gary Hill This double live CD set from Renaissance captures a show from October of 2022. The musicians in the band were joined by an orchestral group. Symphonic instrumentation is a natural for Renaissance, and it works well here. I suppose I could quibble about the set list, wishing it had more of my favorites, but honestly, with a group with as large a catalog as Renaissance, you will always have those kind of complaints. They put in a great live show, and I'm really happy that the band continues on in the modern era. This is a treasure for that reason alone. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023 Volume 5 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review

disc 1

Carpet Of The Sun This Renaissance classic gets a strong live rendition here. There is a real symphonic vibe to it along with an organic one.

Black Flame I have always loved how this track merges balladic with more powered up sections. This live version really captures the magic of this folk prog classic well.

The Sisters The keyboard based introduction to this song is magical and intricate. The track builds out from there with an almost chorale focus. The musical arrangement drops to just piano and Haslam's vocals come in over the top of that. Some symphonic elements are added to the mix as it continues. The track builds out to melodic progressive rock as it continues. This truly is a work of art. There are some intriguing twists and turns that incorporate plenty of classical music.

Ananda Starting with percussion, there is quite a bit of world music in the mix on this track. The cut also has plenty of Renaissance trademarks. It's a strong piece of music that works well in this live performance.

The Captive Heart A piano solo section gets us going here. The vocals come over that back drop and those two elements remain the main things at play on this song. It's another potent piece of progressive rock that is trademark Renaissance.

Symphony Of Light Symphonic elements appropriately get this track going. The vocals come in over the top in a rather operatic way. That concept holds the track for about three-minutes. Then more of a melodic progressive rock concept takes command as the number starts to take on more energy and vitality. This works through a lot of shifts and changes, featuring some killer instrumental prog passages. It's classical in a lot of ways, but also decidedly prog, and everyone really shines on this thing.

disc 2

Blessing In Disguise The keyboards that start this make me think of Vangelis for some reason. The vocals come in over the top, and after a time it shifts to an acapella section with chorale voices creating the accompaniment. That forms the basis for the rest of the track.

Celestine Bouncy, melodic sounds are on the menu here. This is still recognizable as Renaissance and has some proggy elements, but it feels more like a mainstream pop music song in some ways. It gets more symphonic and proggy as it continues, but this doesn't change all that drastically.

Reaching Out Classical music, progressive rock and more merge on this effective and quite poignant piece. This gets quite powerful before it's over.

The Angels Cry A fairly mellow and folk based number, this is still trademark Renaissance. It's also an effective live piece.

Day Of The Dreamer This song is so powerful. It's rich, dynamic and trademark Renaissance. The symphonic elements bring something special to many parts of this epic piece. The instrumental section mid-track combines prog rock with classical music and jazz. It's so strong. It continues to explore the sonic space beyond that with vocals returning and more symphonic prog on display. This is one of the highlights of the set for me.

Running Hard The piano based extended introduction works well. This builds out to classy and classic Renaissance sounds from there. This has a number of intriguing movements including one with artsy vocalizations and more purely symphonic prog sections. It's all delivered with style. This epic piece makes a great conclusion to the album.

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