Back in the day—the 1970s, to be precise—live albums were a big deal. Only the most ambitious (or self-indulgent, if you prefer) acts had more than one or two. It was only with the advent of tape trading—and then independent labels, streaming, and the rest—that live recordings became more common.

Nowadays, though, it’s fair to ask how much is enough. Acts from the Grateful Dead to Bruce Springsteen to Jason Isbell have over the past 20 years or so issued dozens of official and semi-official live releases, catering to their own distinctive niches of superfans. Big Big Train might not have achieved that scale to date, but their latest album Are We Nearly There Yet?, chronicling their 2024 tour in support of The Likes Of Us, is by some counts the band’s eighth live release since it returned to the live stage just ten years ago.

So, the question must be asked: is this album truly necessary?

I would argue that it’s not just necessary, but essential.

When beloved BBT frontman David Longdon passed away suddenly on late 2021, the band’s very existence was thrown into question. An initial round of touring with new singer Alberto Bravin and new keyboardist Oskar Holdorff—chronicled on A Flare On The Lens—proved successful, even as the revamped lineup prepared to release its first studio album, 2024’s magnificent The Likes Of Us.

Big Big Train’s current overflowing-with-talent roster consists of Bravin (vocals, keys, guitar), Nick D’Virgilio (drums, occasional guitar, vocals); Holldorff (keyboards and vocals), Clare Lindley (violin, vocals, occasional guitar/keys); Rikard Sjöblom (guitar, keys, vocals); and Gregory Spawton (bass guitar and bass pedals). (For this album, the band was supplemented by Paul Mitchell on the European dates and Cabe Gotthardt on the US dates on trumpet; earlier this year Mitchell was welcomed into the band as a full member.)

Are We Nearly There Yet? captures the current lineup of Big Big Train in the act of coming into their own, delivering a two-disc set divided equally between classics and deep cuts on the one hand, and their first studio album together on the other. It’s a portrait of a band blossoming into—not a new identity, but a fresh iteration—before your ears. The performances of their new material illustrate the songs’ power while further embellishing on them, while the older tunes are heard in affectionate yet inevitably evolved renditions.

Disc one (subtitled Part One – The Lives Of Us) features seven of the eight tracks on The Likes Of Us (only “Bookmarks” is missing), presented here in the same order as on the original album. It’s a somewhat risky choice given that it both breaks up the rhythm of the actual shows, where old and new tunes were interspersed through each setlist, and invites directs comparisons between the recorded and live versions of these songs.

The thing is, not only do the live recordings fail to show cracks or flaws, they illustrate the band’s continuing growth as it tinkers with and amplifies various aspects of the studio recordings in the live setting. “Light Left In The Day” fills the role of introduction and overture more than ably; it’s that rare instrumental that’s actually a highlight, and it’s played like one, even if they omit the brief vocal section at the very beginning. You can hear the joy of a band cutting loose in the grooves of the heavy “Oblivion,” and then they dig into “Beneath The Masts.” In its studio form, the 15-minute epic proved to be a grower, its steady evolution and emotional narrative of love and loss taking time to sink in. Live, its impact is more visceral; both performers and audience get swept up in a tidal wave of emotion that’s simply magnificent.

Special notice is due also to: the gorgeous “Miramare,” a superb extended number whose brilliant a cappella intro is flawlessly executed by the group’s five vocalists; Bravin’s power ballad “Love Is The Light,” whose soaring, heartfelt performance earns reverent applause; and Spawton’s bounding, ringing, reflective-yet-exuberant memoir of school days, “Last Eleven.”

Disc two (Part Two – The Lives Of Others) hopscotches through the band’s Longdon era, demonstrating once again that the new lineup is more than capable of doing justice to this material. “The First Rebreather” finds Sjöblom nailing the foreboding main riff, before deep cut “Black With Ink”—plucked from 2021’s underappreciated Common Ground—offers the entire band a vocal throwaround that they tackle with aplomb.

The highlight of disc two—and the track for which the group’s 2024 tour was named—the 16-minute epic “A Mead Hall In Winter” is nothing short of spectacular, a three-ring circus of instrumental prowess wrapped around a celebration of community, science, and art. Later on, “The Florentine” shines as Bravin duets with D’Virgilio, while “The Transit Of Venus Across The Sun” transports with a sterling reading. An emphatic “Apollo” closes the album—as it did every setlist on this tour—with a bravura display of musical talent.

Are We Nearly There Yet? cements the new Big Big Train lineup’s status as both a world-class performing unit—every single player shines brightly here—and as a band with a long future still ahead of it. The sense of anticipation implied in the title is real—I can’t wait to hear what they come up with next.

Rating: A-

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