| BLIND GUARDIAN + FREEDOM CALL |
June 4, 2002 |
MADRID |
Probably, the most anticipated tour of the year here in Spain. My all-time fave band Blind Guardian were back on the road again promoting their critically acclaimed new album "A Night At The Opera"... Having waited 4 years to see these guys live again, I arrived at Macumba (the venue) early at 16:30 PM and there was already an extensive crowd around the place. I got a chance to attend the soundchecks and meet them in backstage. Of course, the show was sold out and the queue to get in was soooo loooong!!! It proves the popularity of the mighty Blind Guardian as well as their special guests Freedom Call.
At 21:00 PM FREEDOM CALL came on the stage to play for a forty five-minute set of well-played melodic power metal. I really enjoyed their show last year, and so I was really looking forward to see them again. They tore through songs off their debut album "Stairway To Fairyland" and "Crystal Empire" like the opener "We Are One", "Shine On", "Freedom Call" or "The Quest" and even played some new songs from their killer new album "Eternity", released a day before, "Warriors" and "Land Of Light". Chris asked the crowd to help him sing and the mighty "Hymn To The Brave", the final song of their set, began. It was just the perfect closer for their fantastic show. Chris seemed to be very very happy with the response from the audience and he was smiling all the time, the expression of pleasant surprise on his face was clear, but the entire band really seems to love every second of the show and their enthusiasm and energy was absorbed by the crowd, who in turn gave the band a great response, jumping and chanting "FREEDOM-CALL" very loudly. Freedom Call rocked and when they come back I will definitely be there again. A Hail To The Metal Invasion! After the show we celebrated Ilker's
birthday on the tour bus, BTW
After a short break and after some chantings of "guardian, guardian", the lights dimmed and "War Of Wrath", the familiar intro to "Nightfall In Middle Earth", hit the speakers and the crowd went nuts, everybody screamed "The field is lost, everything is lost..." at the top of their lungs. BLIND GUARDIAN appears on stage and as expected they started off the set with "Into The Storm" and then they launched into "Welcome To Dying". Dunno if I have ever heard a so f*cking loud crowd before!! Hansi's vocals seemed a bit uncertain during these first songs, but it soon improved and he sang all the rest absolutely perfectly. They went straight into "Nightfall", which everyone sang right along to. The next was a huge one, the heavy "The Script For My Requiem". Then, André and Marcus, with acoustic guitars, sat down on chairs and started "Harvest Of Sorrow", a really beautiful ballad played wonderfully. The first of the new songs is "Under The Ice" and André's guitar solos were just fabulous. Hansi speaks to the audience and guess what he said... a live album is being recorded! Loud screaming and clapping from the audience, just as throughout the entire show, and next is "Valhalla", that rocked the house to madness. The crowd sung louder than Hansi on this one. After "Valhalla" everybody was yelling "majesty, majesty" so loud that I was afraid the roof may fall... Hansi said: "noooo... we've played this song a thousand times... but if you want it, you'll get it"... and yeah, we got it!!! "The Soulforged" followed. The next two songs were again oldies: "Mordred's Song" and "Time What Is Time", one of my favourites cuts from SFB. Another song from the new album came next, "Punishment Divine" (this was really heavy, Thomen's drumming was REALLY impressive, holy s**t!!!) followed by "The Bard's Song"... André and Marcus sit down on chairs again and Hansi says "it's your turn to sing"... More than 1500 fans all singing "tomorrow will take us away, far from home..." oooh it was sheer magic!! You can't miss their gigs, if only for this song! "Imaginations From The Other Side" was a blast giving me the time of my life again. WOW. The band left and Hansi thanked the audience for the tremendous evening. The encores were spectacular: from the early days, they played "Lost In The Twilight Hall" followed by "Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)" sending us all crazy. Hansi dedicated this song to their fans and especially to Mariano Muniesa, a journalist who was also celebrating his birthday that night. After "Time Stands Still", the band left again, they came back on stage and final track "Mirror, Mirror" is certainly one of the tracks which went down best with the crowd, who screamed for it throughout the set. The chorus was, of course, sang along by everybody. After a concert of two hours, the bards definitively left the stage. The lights went on and we couldn't believe it was already over... Now, wait for the live album!!!! :)
Every album was represented with at least one song leading to a well-balanced set-list. Personally I wanted to hear more songs from ANATO, especially my favorite songs "Battlefield" and "Precious Jerusalem". Hansi announced every song and made a few jokes and had the audience laughing a few times. Marcus is always a maniac on stage. André's playing was totally on fire (especially on "Under The Ice") although he sometimes looks a bit absent... but he certainly isn't. And what can I say about Thomen? he was beating the hell out of his drumkit... he's amazing, I think the concert was worth going to simply to see him play. LONG LIVE TO THE BARDS!!
Chris and his guitar... FC-guitar pick.... photo pass... happy Hansi
Tonight was an extremely memorable metal gig, with two bands on top form, and will go down in our memory as being a real metal event, not just another gig. So many smiling faces at the end of the concert says it all really. Everybody was jumping, singing and clapping. Sometimes we couldn't hear Hansi 'cause the crowd was singing so loud!! I've been to many concerts, but the atmosphere in this show was one of the best I've ever experienced. I can be short about the negative things of this show: The venue was too small and was completely packed. And the other thing was the heat... at the front row many people fainted... they just couldn't handle the heat anymore... I personally thought that it was a shame that they didn't play a larger venue... but this was the only downside to an otherwise exceptional concert!!!
-Review & photos by Marina-
| BLIND GUARDIAN SET-LIST |
War Of Wrath, Into The Storm, Welcome To Dying, Nightfall, The Script For My Requiem, Harvest Of Sorrow, Under The Ice, Valhalla, Majesty, The Soulforged, Mordred's Song, Time What Is Time, Punishment Divine, The Bard's Song-In The Forest, Imaginations From The Other Side, Lost In The Twilight Hall, Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill) & Mirror, Mirror.
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