TNT - 30th Anniversary 1982-2012 Live in Concert

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Celebrating 30 years as a band, Norway’s TNT pulled out all the stops on this live anniversary concert. Bringing out the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, special guests like Dee Snider, and all three vocalists from the early years with Dag Ingebrigsten to the height of popularity with Tony Harnell and the latter days of Tony Mills, these 19 tracks encompass the wide discography of this Melodic Hard Rock band. I’ll admit a strong affinity in the 1980’s for this band- especially the period from 1984-1989 when the band would release a series of strong albums, “Knights of the New Thunder”, “Tell No Tales”, and “Intuition”.

Reaching back into the debut self-titled album for “Harley Davidson”, “USA”, and “Eddie” with Dag shows their early roots hard rock sound, his voice a little more bluesy and rough around the edges than future multi-octave powerhouse Tony Harnell. What’s great about the Norwegian crowd is their unison chorus singing which probably fuels the band’s energy and enthusiasm during these classic youthful songs for the band. Tony Mills appears on three cuts too from his 2007-2010 studio years, breaking out “Refugee”, “Substitute”, and “June” which showcase more of their modern touches, as axe master Ronnie le Tekrø blazes during the lead breaks in speed picking virtuosity.

The highlights for most will be the hits, and TNT load up on them: “As Far As the Eye Can See”, “Intuition”, “Everyone’s a Star” and the closing double shot of “10.000 Lovers (In One)” and epic-oriented “Seven Seas”. Most of the time you worry about a vocalist the caliber of Tony Harnell losing his peak high range 25 years down the road from when he originally sang a lot of these songs- but the consummate professional has kept his ace delivery in prime form, and I’m sure the younger generation feel fortunate to hear his angelic, crisp tone once again.

Add in a lot of sweet orchestral elements that never diminish the foundation, a solo section from Tekrø that will have all axe aficionados mesmerized and seeking out tablature and I’m fine with the fact that this took a couple of years to finally hit the marketplace. 19 tracks and almost 80 minutes of a magical live concert to celebrate the legacy of this fine Melodic Hard Rock band, may TNT continue forward for another decade or two.