| STRATOVARIUS + SYMPHONY X + THUNDERSTONE |
April 8, 2003 |
MADRID |
When I first heard about this show, I was extremely excited. Stratovarius and Symphony X together...wow... Also on the bill was Thunderstone, a band that I heard for the first time about two years ago when they sent me their demo (and liked it a lot). Anyway, I had a good feeling that this was going to be a great evening, and truly it was a tremendous night of music...
The Finnish melodic power metal newcomer THUNDERSTORM, lead by guitar player Nino Laurenne, started the show at 8PM, and quickly went through a 30-minute set consisting of songs from their debut album (released on Nuclear Blast), which became one of the highlights of 2002. Beginning with the fast "Me, My Enemy", they soon had the crowd at the front of the stage singing along. Other songs performed included the single "Virus", the mid-tempo "World's Cry", "Will To Power" (my favorite from the album), "Eyes Of A Stranger" and the pounding double kick "Let The Demons Free", which closed the set in storming style. All in all, Thunderstone delivered an awesome show. Vocalist Pasi Rantanen has a good and powerful voice and he didn't disappoint live. A special mention also goes to Nino who played some excellent solos.
SYMPHONY X had a large, fanatical fan-base in attendance very anxious to see them playing in Madrid for the first time. The New Jersey based band took the stage at about 8:45PM and began with "Evolution" from the album "V" which was welcomed by a huge roar from the crowd and it was clear that the band had the audience in the palm of their hands right from the start. From there they moved into the first number off the new album "The Odyssey", titled "Inferno". Next up was another song from the new album, "Wicked". They continue with one more song from "V", "Communion And The Oracle", filled with superb harmonies and instrumental breaks, followed by a number from their acclaimed 1997 release "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy", the catchy and fast "Out Of The Ashes", whose chorus is absolutely perfect and had the crowd singing along. The heavy "King Of Terrors" was next, one of my favorite tunes from their latest album. The band performed it just perfectly and the lights during this one were very cool. The speedy and melodic "Smoke And Mirrors" (from "Twilight In Olympus") was a crowd favorite too, the performace was tremendous!!! The set was closed out with "Of Sins And Shadows" on which Romeo unleashed some breathtaking heavy riffs, followed by the presentation of the members of the band. The whole show was excellent, but the highlights for me were "King Of Terrors" and "Of Sins And Shadows". Truly, Symphony X is an exceptional band. The musicianship is quite superb. Vocalist Russell Allen is outstanding, his singing filled with passion and enthusiasm. Michael Romeo and Mike Pinella are masters of their instruments and had some great dueling solos. The drumming & bass guitaring were quite phenomenal overall. In all, the only thing that disappointed me about their set was its length, they should've been able to play for 60 minutes at least. I hope to see this great, underrated band again real soon (for the 3rd time) headlining its own gig.
And so it was time for the headliner this evening, STRATOVARIUS . While not as explicitly progressive as Symphony X, they are certainly extremely talented musicians, and so it's always a pleasure to see them live. The stage crew dropped a giant Stratovarius curtain, with a Firelily logo on it, in front of the stage so nobody could see what they were setting up, while classical music played in the background (some stuff from John Williams and Schubert, if I am not mistaken). Strato got on stage at around 10PM, after a 20 minute break.
Then everything just explodes when the curtain falls and the band comes out, with pyro effects. Strato then launched into "Eagleheart", opener of their new album "Elements Part 1". There was a big screen behind the band on which images were projected. Timo Kotipelto did an impressive vocal performance on the next song, "Find Your Own Voice", which is a difficult tune to sing but was executed superbly, despite the extremely high notes on the chorus. "Speed Of Light" and "Kiss Of Judas" were crowd favorites as always, driving many metalheads crazy. Time for another song off the new CD, "Soul Of A Vagabond", which offered moments of very heavy guitars. "Destiny" was the only song from the album of the same name to make the band's touring set-list. Right before the end of "Destiny" it was suddenly mixed with the chorus of "Fantasia". The lyrics for "Fantasia" were projected on the screen for the audience to sing a long. The band then launched into a medley of "oldies" from their first four albums that was great (even though some people seemed to be unfamiliar with these songs) and included: "Fright Night", "Hands Of Time", "We Are The Future", "Tears Of Ice", "Eyes Of The World", "Dreamspace" & "We Hold The Key". All of them were sung by Koti. "Elements" was a song I didn't expect to hear, 'cause in my opinion this 12 minute tune is not a good song to play live. It seemed to go on infinitely too long repeating the chorus over and over. Nevertheless, there were some passages of sheer beauty. "Stratofortress" came next.
I hoped they would play this instrumental... and they did!!! The two drunken elks dancing on stage were really funny, HAHAHAHA xD
Slowing it down with the acoustic ballad "Forever" (the chorus was sung alone by the crowd), the band then launched into another onslaught of their most popular songs: "Father Time", "Will The Sun Rise", "Season Of Change" and "Paradise". The lights during "Season Of Change" were incredibly beautiful. The "snow" falling from the ceiling was a great added effect and the violet light directly on Timo was quite cool. It was the most emotive moment of the concert. I really can't put it into words... "Paradise" was one of the songs that got the biggest response. Everybody was jumping up and down and screaming!! "Hunting High & Low" was the only song from their previous album "Infinite" that was played during the show. This one also got a great reaction from the crowd. They had a short break and then the guys took the stage again, except for Jens, who was late for the second encore 'cause he was looking for a pint of beer, so Koti had to find him and bring him back on stage. Pretty funny! :) Finally they started to play one of my favorite Strato songs: "Black Diamond", which closed the set. After they were finished, Tolkki and Jörg began to throw picks and drumsticks into the audience before waving goodbye and leaving the stage. In the meantime, Koti had fun with the crowd and taught us how to say 1,2,3,4 in Finnish. So, in conclusion, all was great: the set-list, the visual effects, the lights, the pyro, the beautiful projections in the background... Looking forward to see them for the sixth time this summer at Metal Mania! -Review & photos by Marina-
Personal thanks goes to:
my friends Fernando, Gema, Leo (Saratoga) & Oscar (Lujuria).
Also thanks to the nice strato-fans I met after the concert!
| STRATOVARIUS SET-LIST |
Eagleheart, Find Your Own Voice, Speed Of Light, Kiss Of Judas, Soul Of A Vagabond, Destiny/Fantasia, Medley (Fright Night, Hands Of Time, We Are The Future, Tears Of Ice, Eyes Of The World, Dreamspace, We Hold The Key), Elements, Stratofortress, Forever, Father Time, Will The Sun Rise?, Season Of Change, Paradise, Hunting High&Low, Black Diamond.
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