I recall the start of that year — it began most auspiciously: with the first-ever visit of the father of German (and not only German) power metal, Kai Hansen, with his legendary band GAMMA RAY. Kai introduced moscow to his new album while not forgetting the time-proven hits, and performing as his second encore a medley from HELLOWEEN songs — "RIDE THE SKY / Future World / I Want Out." A few months passed. And another pillar of German power metal with an equally famous name — BLIND GUARDIAN — visited moscow for the third time. On 20 May at a sold-out Gorbusha, the band delivered one of the warm-up performances preceding the release of their new album, incorporating nearly all of Imaginations From The Other Side — the most celebrated of the band's eight releases, not forgetting the ballads, even performing the longest epic "And Then There Was Silence." Apart from two songs from the then just-released single (which were, incidentally, excellent), everything else could justifiably be called Best Of BLIND GUARDIAN.
One band remained from the great trio that had not yet visited moscow in that period. Like GAMMA RAY, it had released another album the previous year; since November it had given over 90 concerts on the tour supporting the new record, of which around fifteen were festival appearances and the rest headline shows. And this band also didn't forget moscow, completing the logical chain. They too visited moscow for the third time. Unfortunately, with the Gorbusha Palace of Culture closed, the band was placed in the Tochka club — whereas on both previous occasions this celebrated act had played considerably larger venues. For me personally, this concert by the most celebrated band in the entire history of power metal was my first — I won't conceal it: I knew the exemplary setlist in advance and was absolutely thrilled by it, and I say this without a trace of irony, because the lion's share of the setlist consisted of songs from the two classic albums I love most, plus the latest release which holds a confident third place in my personal ranking. I've forgotten something — ah yes, I forgot to name the band. But of course you already know I'm talking about… HELLOWEEN! The classic albums are naturally Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I and Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II, and the new album is accordingly Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy, which completes the great trilogy.
What else to add — tickets were priced very high, and this didn't prevent the day from being marked by a terrifying sellout crush where people weren't merely pressed against each other but could more accurately be described as compressed (the queue to the club stretched tens of metres). More than logical in the circumstances — this band is very, very well loved in this country. On both sides of the stage rose enormous sound equipment — stadium-sized gear with no business being in a club — which as a minimum blocked the sightlines of a considerable portion of the audience.
I can begin the concert report itself now — spare me from recounting this band's history. No desire — everyone knows it without me anyway… Weikath's scandalous interviews, I trust, have been read by everyone too.
At exactly 20:30 the intro began. The hall would have erupted into mayhem had anyone been able to move — but no one could, so voices were raised and a couple of people waved pumpkins. The musicians appeared on stage; it all looked fairly typical. New drummer Dani took his place behind the kit; guitarist Sascha Gerstner… well, that's a story in itself — the moment he appeared on stage he was inevitably dubbed "emo-boy." The reason was elementary: hair slightly shorter than before, dyed black and straightened, with some specific-style makeup — he really did resemble performers from the emo-core scene. The large, jolly, long-haired gentleman Marcus, who has spent twenty years avoiding scandals, faithfully laying down bass lines without concerning himself with writing material — a source of incredibly cheerful and positive stage behaviour. Near the stage entrance settled the band's leader, author of many of the band's legendary songs, renowned guitarist and equally renowned source of conflict, strife, and scandal within the band — Michael Weikath.
The title track from the new album begins — "The King For A 1000 Years." And now a deliberately slouching, compact figure in a long coat creeps forward and in a sly, gentle voice sings the opening lines of yet another mega-length song. Then the voice breaks into its familiar upper octave, Deris straightens up — and an unimaginable energy simply pours from him in all directions.
As for the hall — it was hell. Moving was impossible, the stage was barely visible, and hearing anything was even harder. On the sound: a separate subject entirely — the additional stereo system did its work… destructive work. Bass and drums — yes, those were audible and brilliantly so; vocals reached an acceptable level after about twenty minutes; guitars — those were never at a consistent level all evening, unfortunately.
But that's the negative side. On the positive: what was happening on stage, and above all, what songs were being played. Having found a spot on the third tier of the club (standing on the first was simply suicidal) in a small gap, I was able to watch the concert — and there's a bar there too, much as there is on the first tier.
The epic concluded and gave way to one of the band's greatest hits — identifiable from the very first riff — the entire hall spending five minutes singing together with the musicians about a mighty eagle soaring to eternity on wings blazing with rainbow light — one of Weikath's finest songs from the second part of the trilogy: "Eagle Fly Free."
The only song from Rabbit Don't Come Easy that day — "Hell Was Made In Heaven" — was received without particular fanfare. Then Deris announced that the next song would last a full fifteen minutes… and what can one say — the immortal hit by Kai Hansen from the first part of the trilogy began to play. For over ten minutes virtually everyone gathered in the hall sang every word, particularly loudly shouting "In the streets on Halloween / The spirits will arise / Make your choice, it's hell or paradise / Ah — It's Halloween / Ah — It's Halloween… tonight!" As is well known, people are terrible creatures who are never satisfied: when this great song ended, I suddenly realised that the other epic — "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" — would not be performed. Had they played it, I'd quite possibly have lamented the absence of "Halloween."
After such a peak — presumably to allow the audience to calm somewhat — "A Tale That Wasn't Right" followed. If I'd had some doubts during the Eagle song, here unfortunately a bitter conclusion had to be drawn: Andi had vocal problems that day. The high notes sounded somehow uncertain. His genius acting, expressiveness, and incomparable stage presence softened this fact and made it imperceptible to the majority — but I must be objective: not every song was performed by Andi perfectly.
The band exited, leaving the drummer alone to entertain the hall; returning, the Germans delivered the two finest songs from The Dark Ride — "Mr Torture" and "If I Could Fly." Then another solo, this time from Sascha Gerstner. From the band's entire repertoire spanning 1988 to 2000, only one song was chosen for this concert — can it be said this is the best of that whole period? Strangely, it might genuinely be considered at least one of the best: it was "Power," one of the most energetic compositions in the band's catalogue.
And so for the second time that year, the magical sounds announcing the opening of "Future World" were heard. The song was performed… but how it was performed — instead of the standard version it was stretched to ten minutes, incorporating call-and-response with the crowd and introductions for all the musicians. The main set concluded at 20:49.
The encore was instant — barely two minutes. The band was back onstage; the musicians began playing their unquestionably worst composition in their entire history — I say this without a trace of irony. When the single containing this song was released before the last album, I was simply shocked and genuinely feared the album would be as terrible as "Mrs. God" — but it turned out to be absolutely stunning. The encore began with that song. And it ended with one of the band's finest compositions, as compensation for the first: "I Want Out" — the band's most famous song, which practically every fan knows from beginning to end. The band exited, but a minute later reappeared on stage. The exuberant hall kept singing — this time the band's most cheerful composition: "Dr. Stein," based on the famous story of Frankenstein.
The audience filed out of the hall. It took over an hour.
The overall impression from the concert was unquestionably positive. Such a setlist was something one could only dream of — from the first two parts of the great trilogy, only the eponymous epic was missing. The audience gave the musicians an extraordinarily warm reception. Of the latter, two deserve special mention: Andi — a superb actor from whom pure positivity simply overflowed — and Marcus, the embodiment of carefree joy. Weikath was true to form — severe in appearance and cigarette invariably in mouth. The Tochka club is of course hopelessly too small for a band of this stature. Hopefully on the next tour the band won't forget moscow and we'll be able to see the musicians on a large stage in a more spacious venue.
Report by Alan
Special thanks to SPIKA MERCHANDISING for providing accreditation
Setlist: King For A 1,000 Years Eagle Fly Free Hell Was Made In Heaven Halloween A Tale That Wasn't Right Drum solo Mr. Torture If I Could Fly Power Guitar solo (Sascha) Future World —encore— Mrs. God I Want Out —encore— Dr. Stein Light The Universe (outro)