When VXI was released, I was relieved somewhat. The dark, brooding nature of TXF was mostly gone and we had an album that flowed better. Also, the sound was slightly better to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the album on release, listened to it a lot. I have never really listened to it ever since, and I too consider this album their lowpoint. At the time, it was still enjoyable to a certain degree.
Of course, there are lots of problems with this album in hindsight, just to name a few: shallow or lazy songwriting and performances, lack of a producer and production problems, and while the football themed artwork was certainly interesting, it did not stand the test of time for me.
I may be in the minority that say the Clansman is just an "OK" song, never understood the hype of it. If I have to choose, I definitely listen to some of the live versions of it rather than the album version nowadays.
All in all, this tour brought one of the most or maybe THE most memorable show to me. It was a very very small club in eastern europe, a few hundred people only due to messed up organization and the general low interest in the band at the time. Another few hundred left outside the club, but I could get in!
It was a very loud, direct show, like the band playing in your house really. It sounded enormous and the place went crazy. At the time, smoking was permitted and the small venue was filled with smoke, sweat and very loud music. People were literally hanging half on the walls too just to see the concert. To this day, I still remember this show clearly and might be one of the best shows of any band ever (of course due to the special circumstances too).
