Capture stills taken from the DVD:

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This eight show run included shows in places such as Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria...not your typical countries on a tour map. However, since the end of the Croatian war, the times are changing. I heard BA's Manager Bruce Allen on the radio after these concerts saying that the Global Positioning Systems units in the rental cars the band used in some of these parts would go dead in the middle of a drive. That's how "out of the way" some of the places are. Trying new markets is nothing new to BA.

During the ten show stretch in Eastern Europe, the fourth stop was in Ljubjlana, Slovenia at the venue called Hala Tivoli.

The crowd takes some time to warm up to the band (remember....they're still getting used to having major acts perform around these parts of the world) but from the energetic bunch of fans in the front few rows (where the filmer was placed) they know the songs from the start and are pumped for the gig.

By the time the '69 riff sounded around the arena, all 6,000 of the people in attendance were into it. The intensity climbed for the audience as the gig went on which BA was clearly pleased with. Given the lack of history in some of these markets, who would know what to expect.

The Songs:
Opening the show is the "Get Back" version of Room Service which has survived since being introduced in September of '06. I'll argue that it's a weaker version than the original, but I give BA top marks for trying different arrangements on his songs. Let's hope it continues for additional songs.

I Think About You, which was used in the acoustic section of the show back in the Summer '06 dates, has found a permanent spot for now after Back to You. A mini-unplugged double-shot if you will. Both songs done with full band backing.

Biggest surprise and clearly an audible by Bryan was a final band song of Here I Am which hadn't been played with any consistency since 2003. Perhaps there was a sign in the crowd that caught BA's eye before launching into the expected Best of Me, but he jumps right into the first first with just him and his Gibson electric. The band pulled it off including some nice impromptu gang vocals to match the ending of the studio version of the song.

When You Love Someone was dusted off the shelf for the 2006 Autumn dates in the acoustic suite that closes the show and it is featured on this recording.

The Recording:
Aside from Steven Stanley's balsy move to film a bunch of songs from the front row at some 2004/2005 gigs (which are featured on the Front Row Centre DVD ), big-time kudos should go to Borut (not to be confused with Borat...) from Slovenia. He nabbed his spot in front of BA's mic about 5-6 people back from the stage and held up a digital camcorder to record the whole show in mpeg2 format which was kindly transferred to DVD by major-BA fan Helen Barton (who attended this show and scored a gig-ending kiss from BA himself...).

This recording is getting a B+ grading, because from a location standpoint it's closer than the Bridgend '06 DVD which was also filmed from the floor, but from further away. As a result, you get some nice close-ups of BA in action as well as some good audience shots from the sides when BA sings at the microphones on either end of the stage. From the standpoint of the camera, you get the feeling you are AT the gig.

The negative part of the recording, is that it is not a steady film which means although you get some nice close-ups, there is constant movement resulting in the camera's need to re-focus. If the camera was on a tri-pod, the shot would have been much steadier, but who would be able to be so bold as to set up a tri-pod five rows from the stage?

It should be noted that youtube had a 45 second clip of Here I Am available from this same concert which I thought was from this recordings, but it's not.