MYSTERY : PRATTELN 2025

 

Disc One (61:53)

  1. Is This How The Story Ends?
  2. Travel To The Night
  3. Superstar
  4. Behind The Mirror
  5. How Do You Feel?
  6. Shadow Of The Lake

Disc Two (67:10)

  1. Delusion Rain
  2. If You See Her
  3. The Last Glass Of Wine
  4. The Willow Tree
  5. Wall Street King
  6. A Song For You

Disc Three (27:20)

  1. When Sorrow Turns To Pain
  2. Apocalyptic Visions Of Paradise
  3. So Far Away
  4. The Point Of No Return
  5. The Silent Scream
  6. Dancing With Butterflies
  7. The Preacher's Fall

Label : no label

Venue : Z7 Konzertfabrik, Pratteln, Switzerland

Recording Date : October 26, 2025

Quality : Soundboard/Audience Matrix Recording (A+)

Concert Review (MetalFactory) : Some things in life apparently take time, and when it comes to Mystery—an actually not-so-unknown neo-prog band from Québec among the knowledgeable, appreciative, and nerdy readership—it took decades in my case! Even worse is the age-old proverb: “life punishes those who come too late.” Reasons why Genesis, Yes, Rush, SAGA, Dream Theater, Threshold, Pallas, Arena, Vanden Plas, Ivanhoe, Pagan’s Mind, Everon, and quite a few others were more important? Be that as it may, the live DCD Live In Poznan, released in 2019, ended up in my collection after the concert. And there it lay for quite a while, untouched as if shrink-wrapped—and it still does today! Why? Because I still hadn’t been able to form any real connection to Mystery, and tonight, six years later, I once again went to see a concert by a band whose songs I didn’t know a single one of! So it was high time to finally make up for this omission, and to do so I sacrificed my usual Sunday “Tatort” evening on the couch at home—with a wink! This autumn’s tour ran under the banner “Delusion Rain 10th Anniversary Tour.” This referred to the band’s sixth studio album of the same name, which was released in 2015 and marked the album debut of frontman Jean Pageau, a role he still holds today. Theatre Of The Mind, the LP debut from 1996, was sung by Gary Savoie, who was replaced in the 2000s by Benoît David, who also sang with Yes for a time. What ultimately defines Mystery and allowed them to mature optimally has its origins in 2013, when Jean, as mentioned, joined the band. At first I feared that the show would “only” take place on the Mini-Z7 stage. Thankfully, the roughly 400 prog fans in attendance prevented that, and the main stage could be used. There was no support band this evening, but the concert consisted of two parts (with a short break in between) and, in addition to the main theme, was dedicated to other key songs from the back catalogue. To thunderous applause, Michel St-Père (g), Jean Pageau (v/flute/keyb), Sylvain Moineau (g/keyb), François Fournier (b), Jean-Sébastien Goyette (d), and Johnny Maz (keyb) took to the boards that mean the world. The latter stood in for Antoine Michaud at the same level, who had other commitments. When the first instrumental sounds of the opener “Is This How The Story Ends?” echoed through the Z7, the die-hard nerds were already smacking their lips, while I had no clue that this was already a 19-minute epic—namely the closer of the current album Redemption (2023). At first, I simply thought that something reminiscent of old Genesis was coming to mind. After more than three purely instrumental minutes with intro character, master Pageau finally entered the action. His distinctive vocals—sounding like a hybrid of SAGA’s Michael Sadler (more) and Rush’s Geddy Lee (less)—left a strong imprint on the whole, supported by backing vocals. While the proggers were already blissfully happy, I was still searching. “Travel To The Night,” an older track from 2007, sounded a bit harder and more compact, and by the time “Superstar” (from The World Is A Game, 2012) arrived, apart from further Genesis vibes (and a hint of Pink Floyd), there were no real musical hooks catching me. Somehow odd, but nothing unusual if you didn’t know the material beforehand. So I listened to the skillfully delivered performance and simply let myself drift along. Over time, a certain sense of frustration crept in, because while others eagerly anticipated the upcoming highlights, breaks, bridges, and solos, I was just standing there, finding it interesting and appealing at best—if also somewhat “demanding.” After a little over an hour, the first set came to an end and allowed for a break before gearing up for part two of the evening. The core of this year’s tour focused on Delusion Rain, from which all six songs were ultimately played in their original order. While I had generally enjoyed the opening program, it hadn’t exactly knocked me off my feet, so I was hoping for an increase. The title track turned out to be a lively opener that, at ten minutes, covered everything the genre demands. “If You See Her,” at least to my ears, once again walked clearly along Genesis’ musical paths—and that was exactly where the problem lay, since I have completely internalized both the early and later works of the Brits. This automatically leads to comparisons, and when it comes to songs that really stick, the Canadians—despite all their skill and the fantastic vocals of Jean Pageau—clearly come off second best. Even when I detect additional Threshold vibes and at times even Everon in “Wall Street King,” something is simply missing in the end. Still, the long track “The Willow Tree” managed to pull a few progressive coals out of the fire. Among the encores, the six-part, over-20-minute epic “Through Different Eyes” stood out in particular, and here too the Mystery sound courted my musical taste buds by all the rules of the art—trying to win me over. Unsurprisingly, it only succeeded to a limited extent. Conclusion? Difficult to sum up conclusively. On the one hand, the musicianship was unquestionably convincing, and the good mood on this Sunday evening did the rest. Mystery were rightly celebrated, and they certainly deserved it. For me, however, the degree of unpreparedness clearly caught me on the wrong foot. I can hardly remember ever feeling so lost and disoriented at a concert. All in all, though, I found myself confirmed—despite all goodwill—as to why Mystery had never really worked for me, and there is at least the possibility that this won’t change in the future. Still, it was an entertaining evening, during which I also had the pleasure of personally greeting my esteemed MF colleague Lukas R. from L. for the first time!