| TORRES ROCK FESTIVAL 2003 |
May 24, 2003 |
TORRES, JAÉN |
Much to my delight, it has become something of a tradition for Gamma Ray to play in Spain at least once every year :) Seven months after their Skeletons In The Closet Tour, the Rays found themselves once more in Spain, this time headlining the Torres Rock Festival held in Torres, a pretty small town in the mountains of Jaén in Southern Spain, and I was there for my sixth experience with the band. Other groups on the bill were Doro (who replaced Lacuna Coil), German thrashers Kreator, Freedom Call, DragonForce (for the first time live in Spain), Oratory and local band Moonlight Fear. Althought the attendance was less than desired (I think the end of May isn't an ideal time for a festival), fun was had by all who were there...
At about 16:00 PM the first band MOONLIGHT FEAR came on. They were a local band and they were good. These guys are playing classic Heavy Metal, the music reminds me a bit of Saratoga, with sing-along choruses that many people, even if they weren't familiar with the band, sang along to. Also the singer had a very good voice. The song "Alas De Metal" was clearly a winner with the crowd! Next on the bill was ORATORY, a Neo-Classic Melodic Power Metal band hailing from Portugal with both male and female vocals that I'd never heard of before. The music sometimes reminded me of Stratovarius. Unfortunately, the band was boring live and didn't keep my attention for more than 10 minutes, they were very static on stage.
The third band that ventured onto stage was DRAGONFORCE, a Melodic Speed/Power Metal combo from UK, making their debut appearance in Spain. I liked their debut album "Valley Of The Damned" very much and I was really looking forward to see them perform live. Although most of the crowd seemed unfamiliar with DragonForce before the show, the audience definitely warmed up to them as the show progressed. They stormed through "Revelations", "Black Winter Night", "Valley Of The Damned"... even though they suffered a bad sound. The ballad "Starfire" was definitely one of the highlights of the set and the sensational guitar duels and speedy riffs really stood out during their show!! BTW, it was funny to see Herman getting his very long hair caught everywhere :))) FREEDOM CALL came next and this was the third time I saw them performing live. Their set was really good and every song had an amazing feel to it. The set consisted of "The Eyes Of The World", "Flying High", "Tears Of Taragon", "Pharao", "Heart Of The Rainbow", "Metal Invasion", "The Quest", "Land Of Light", "Warriors" and "Freedom Call". They played for a good hour with a lot of enthusiam. Vocalist/guitarist Chris Bay, one of the happiest guys I have ever met in my life, as always, was smiling the whole show. Next came veteran German Metal goddess DORO and her band (Joe Taylor on guitar, Nick Douglas working the bass, Johnny Dee hitting the skins and Oliver Palotai on guitar), who put on an even better show than they had put on at Lorca Rock last year. Some songs included in the set were "I Rule The Ruins", "Burning The Witches", "Salvaje", "Fight", "When East Meets West", "True As Steel", "Für Immer" and "All We Are". All in all, Doro has such an amazing voice, her show was fantastic and had everyone thrusting their fists into the air and singing along. Too bad this time I couldn't talk with her :( I didn't see her in the hotel... KREATOR graced the stage next. Their show was breath-taking!! They just used a few red lights here and there to give a sense of darkness. Singer Mille Petrozza growled his way through songs like "Violent Revolution", "Reconquering The Throne", "Pleasure To Kill", "Extreme Aggression", "People Of The Lie", "All Of The Same Blood", "Phobia", "Terrible Certainly", "Riot Of Violence" and "Servant In Heaven-King In Hell". The band closed with "Flag Of Hate" and "Tormentor", capping off a monstrously powerful live attack. Great headbanging music!
Finally, the main event was upon us, GAMMA RAY. What can I say? they kicked ass again, from the introduction to the final chords and, as always, they played exceptionally with a lot of fun and a good connection with the audience. Gamma Ray alone was definitely worth the trip!! They played a blistering set similar to the sets played in the Skeletons In The Closet shows, including a drum solo from Dan Zimmermann. Setlist included "Gardens Of The Sinner", "Rich & Famous", "New World Order", "Rebellion In Dreamland", "Land Of The Free", "Armageddon", "Heavy Metal Universe", "One With The World", "Razorblade Sigh", "Heart Of The Unicorn", "Last Before The Storm", "Victim Of Fate", "Shine On", "The Silence" and "Somewhere Out In Space"... Definitely a great time! The only complaint from me is that they didn't play "I Want Out" to close their set, but this is just a minor complaint, hehe.
Much to my surprise, I was staying in the same hotel as the bands in Jaén (the Imora) and this was a really nice experience!!!!! Below are some pictures... That night after the festival we had a party at the hotel that lasted till dawn ;)
Greetz to my friends I hung around with during the day
(Mariano, Antonio and the rest), and cheerz to all the bands members I met at the hotel,
it was real fun!! and especially, to Kai Hansen, I always enjoy the time I spend with you, man!
(and thank you for kindly bringing me to my room at 6:00 in the morning *lol*
-Review & photos by Marina-
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