Band : Tesla
Album title : Comin’ Atcha Live! 2008
Label : Tesla Electric Company Recordings – Frontiers
Distributor : Rough Trade
Release date : 05/12/2008
Release : DVD

In the USA, Heavy Rockers Tesla still have a certain significance to the fans of that kind of music, and the guys apparently still are capable of planning  their tours there in relatively big-size venues. Early this year, they were doing yet another tour, and it’s at one of those shows (at the Myth club in St. Paul, Minnesota – sold out for the occasion, that February 22nd) that the show was recorded for this DVD!

With no less than 19 tracks (and an instrumental acoustic guitar “jam”), the guys at least treat the fans to a decent show lasting just over two hours! Expect all the favourite songs to be on there, because the boys hàve taken the trouble of asking the fans about just what their favorite songs àre, see?! With the band already writing new material for their upcoming new album (Forever More was released in October and was the first studio album of original material since 2004’s Into The Now, as the two 2007 Reel To Reel recordings were cover albums), they also tried out “Dear Pvt. Ledbetter” on the public…and they obviously loved every second of it! With this DVD, Tesla proove beyond a doubt that they still have a reason for being around! They can still Rock out as well as they used to in their younger days, but know well enough they have to tone down somewhat to please the more sensitive side of their audience too (done here with a trio of ballads in the middle of the set). Maaterial is taken from all of the band’s studio albums, but concentrated on 1986’s debut album Mechanical Resonance (tracks are “Comin’ Atcha Live”, “Modern Day Cowboy”, and “Little Suzy”), 1989’s The Great Radio Controversy (“Heaven’s Trail”, “Hang Tough”,  “Paradise”, and “Love Song”), 1991’s Psychotic Supper (“What You Give”, “Song And Emotion”, “Freedom Slaves”, and concert closer “Edison’s Medicine”). Additionally, the boys also play “Mama’s Fool” off 1994’s Bust A Nut, the Five Man Electrical Band cover “Signs” (which they recorded on the live 1990 Five Man Electrical Jam)and the cover of UFO’s “Rock Bottom” (which they also recorded for Reel To Reel).

This time around also a decent bonus section, the band showing off their tour bus and gear, plus adding some  extra footage, in a ¾ hour movie. On top of that, you also get an almost 20-minute section of outtakes…and all together that makes for almost 131 minutes of viewing time. But there’s more…because there’s an “interactive” secction as well, for which you need to insert the disc in your computer (which I didn’t do, having an aversion for àll things “interactive” and time-consuming – in other words, I ain’t giving away the contents of the DVD complétely…so there’s still some surprise left for you!)

Tony.