Review: Tangerine Dream – 50 Years Of Phaedra: At The Barbican

Kscope (January 30^th, 2026)

Reviewer: Chris O’Connor

I have been a fan of Tangerine Dream for what honestly feels like forever, first discovering their aural genius in 1976 when I was just ten. My father had fairly terrible taste in music, with only Johnny Cash and Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass grabbing my attention as a kid. Going through his already fairly small collection was always disappointing, until one summer day when scouring his albums for ANYTHING listenable – I suddenly found myself staring at an album cover – which showed three vertical stripped tree trunks on a steep hill (well I think that’s what they are) with a dazzling blue sky behind, and the sun trying to blast out behind the middle one.

On the cover was written ‘Ricochet By Tangerine Dream‘. I had no idea what it was, but I purloined the album, raced up to my bedroom, and instantly had my young mind ripped wide open! This was like nothing I had ever experienced or could ever even have imagined, being the most extraordinary musical ‘trip’, and instantly, I was hooked – and have religiously collected pretty much everything by them to this very day – I must genuinely have 120+ releases so far, (I actually have a long way to go, as the band has released more than 300 albums, EP’s and singles!).

For the uninitiated, Tangerine Dream was founded by multi-instrumentalist Edgar Froese in Germany in 1967, when I discovered them, the band was also comprised of keyboardist/drummer Christopher Franke and keyboardist/flautist Peter Baumann. Until his death in 2015 aged 70, Edgar would remain the only constant member of TD, once he passed, I always imagined his son Jerome would take over the reins, or that the band would disband – I was completely wrong on both counts! It was his dying wish that his wife (now widow) Bianca Froese-Acquaye should take over the none-musical reins of the band, and that the outfit should continue under the musical leadership of multi-instrumentalist Thorsten Quaeschning, who had been in the band since 2004, and was Froese’s trusted longtime collaborator. These days, the band is rounded out by multi-instrumentalists Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick – and continues releasing awesome new music and touring regularly.

So, to this splendid live album, recorded at The Barbican in London, the first disc of the album is THIS lineup of Tangerine Dream re-interpreting ‘Phaedra‘ in its entirety, using the kind of state of the art instruments and technology that Messrs. Froese, Franke, and Baumann could only ever dream of. This is not the band simply “Aping” the original, this is a total recreation, the trio giving the album a side we could never have foreseen – sonically both beautiful and powerful, yet also sonically dreamy – it’s stunning stuff. I have listened and relistened time after time – and it never gets any less impressive, even after endless listens, it’s truly captivating. The original line-up would be justifiably proud of this anniversary version.

The album opens with ‘Phaedra Suite Applause’, before actually beginning with the very modern ‘Sequent C 2024’, a bold and brilliant opening gambit. Staying with ‘modern’ TD(ish), the concert continues with ‘Movements Of A Visionary 2024’ (from the 2009 album of the same name), and then it’s time for ‘Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares’, which begins the musical deep dive into the majestic ‘Phaedra‘ album itself. The rest of disc one is naturally given over to this spectacular album, and calling the performance inspired, honestly seems to be genuinely shortchanging the band, as they are in rare form throughout.

Disc two might well be described as Tangerine Dream’s ‘Greatest Hits‘ – of course they never had any, but if you are a fan of any tenure – then you would be smiling at every track. If you have played the game Grand Theft Auto V – then the choice of ‘No Happy Ending’ should be familiar, as the band created a lot of the theme and incidental music for the game. ‘Sorcerer Theme’ comes from the 1977 album soundtrack of the same name, while ‘You Are Always On Time’ is a recent gem from the album ‘Raum‘, and finds the band in inspired from. Next comes a particular favourite of mine – ‘Dolphin Dance’ from the immortal ‘Underwater Sunlight‘ Magnum Opus, delivered in impeccable style, and I cannot stop smiling.

‘Rare Bird’ follows, taken from the ‘Poland‘ album, and it still sounds spectacular after all these years, and then ‘Continuum’ brings us back to ‘modern TD’ as it’s another terrific cut from the ‘Raum‘ sessions. Now the band revisits the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack with the elegant and dreamy (bad pun I know) ‘Los Santos City Map‘, from here we go back to the 1982 ‘Logos‘ album, and the gorgeous ‘Logos ‘Velvet’, which still stuns after all these years. ‘Portico’ is up next, another choice from the wonderful ‘Raum‘ album, while the elegant ‘White Eagle’ is (of course) from the 1982 album of the same name, while ‘Raum‘ is featured again, this time in the form of the powerful title track, while the band closes out proceedings very fittingly with ‘Phaedra 2022’, before Paul bids the audience a gracious spoken goodnight’, introducing the band with genuine delight – the emotion of the members is clear, it’s a charming and unorthodox way to end the magical evening.

‘50 Years Of Phaedra‘ is a colossal triumph, with this truly modern lineup of Tangerine Dream revisiting classic eras, while proving they have every right to the TD moniker and are more than capable of taking the name and music ever forward. If you are any kind of the band or of the Krautrock genre, then this album should be an immediate purchase, and should automatically be an indispensable part of your music collection. Whilst the ‘original’ Tangerine Dream may be dead and/or gone to other musical pastures (Babylon 5 anyone? Thank you Mr. Franke), but the name and the creative genius marches proudly on. For my own personal perspective – may I just say – Here’s to the next fifty years!

Tracklisting:

Disc One:

1. Phaedra Suite (Initial Applause)Sequent C 2024
2. Movements Of A Visonary 2024
3. Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares 2024
4. Hippolytos session Pt. 01
5. Hippolytos Session Pt. 02
6. Hippolytos Session Pt. 03
7. Hippolytos Session Pt. 04
8. Hippolytos Session Pt. 05
9. Hippolytos Session Pt. 06
10. Hippolytos Session Pt. 07
11. Phaedra 2024
12. Hippolytos Session Pt. 08
13. Phaedra Suite Applause and Words

Disc Two:

15. No Happy Ending
16. Sorcerer Theme
17. You Are Always On Time
18. Dolphin Dance
19. Rare Bird
20. Continuum
21. Los Santos City Map
22. Logos (Velvet)
23. Portico
24. White Eagle
25. Raum
26. Encore Break
27. Phaedra 2022
28. Closing Words

Web Links:

Facebook

Instagram

Apple Music

Spotify