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Events and Reports - ProgPower USA V (2004) - Steen´s Festival report Part 2/3 - Kamelot, Jon Oliva's Pain & Weapons of mass destruction, Dreamscape, Tad Morose
Back to Part 1
Friday
I woke up quite excited. Only 4 hours before interviewing one of my ultimate heroes and all time favorite singers, Jon Oliva. Phew!
Noah didn't remember a thing when he woke up and it was pretty fun to see his expression change as I told him of the events the night before. Of course I added a little here and there just to get him really embarassed...
I went to the venue around 12 and called big Dave just to be ahead of time. Turned out that we had to move the interview 3 hours, till after they had done their soundcheck. After a quick stop at the hotel I went back to the venue an hour later as you could never know what would happen in the music business. Even though it was still 3 hours before the doors opened there was already a line forming for the doors. As I was standing there watching the line for the doors get larger, Dave suddenly comes walking out o fthe venue and asks if I'm ready for the interview now! It turned out that their soundcheck had been pushed back again a few hours. Good thing I was there 2 hours early... We headed inside the venue and downstairs to the locker room caverns. Here I find Jon Oliva chilling out on a couch and after a quick hello the interview got under way.
Halfway through my questions the interview had to stop because the soundcheck had been pushed forward again as Chris Caffery had a date at 2. (Sorry if this is getting confusing) It was the plan to finish the interview after the soundcheck so I was able to hang around and watch while the band did their thing. Yeehaw! A very cool experience to say the least. Dave took me to the concert hall which was like a big theater with seats and room to stand in front of the stage. "Very cool venue" was my first thought. I sat back in my seat, kind of ecstatic, and watched the band fool around. I got a taste of what waited as the band(s) played "Jesus saves", "Tonight he grins again" and one of Jon's solo songs. Unfortunately the soundcheck went on for too long and I never got to ask Jon all the things I wanted, but nevertheless, I consider myself lucky just to get to talk to Jon Oliva at all. It was an experience I will remember and he was completely down to earth and very very nice and funny guy. Read the interview here.
After the interview and soundcheck I found myself outside the venue in the parking garage, still in a very ecstatic mood, so I went back inside, got my gold badge and started to check out the vendors who had set up small shops in the Vinyl club. I guess my mood had a little influence on my shopping gene as I went away from some very happy vendors with 25 new cd's, including the new Pain of Salvation. The music hadn't even started yet and already this was turning out to be the most awesome day in recent memory.. I ran back to the hotel to dump of my cd's and got back to the venue just as Into Eternity went into their second song. Entering the concert hall I was hit by a wall of sound. Still getting into their new album, I found myself only recognising one song, but being very impressed by the tightness of the band. The vocal harmonies worked fantastic and I stood in the middle of the crowd gaping at the band thinking "Why did I not discover this band earlier?". Even the songs I didn't know sounded awesome and I only missed the last song because I wanted to get some food before the bar got too crowded. There I met another couple of very nice guys (Doug and ?) and we had a cool chat while I ate the obligatory Chicken fingers. My usual short term memory loss made me forget the names of people right after I had met them, so if you were one of the many people I chatted to but have neglected to mention, then let me know below...
I got back in the concert hall in time to catch Dreamscape, who delivered a good show, but especially the songs from Very reminded me a lot of Dream Theater's Images and words. Still, not bad at all, but not completely outstanding either. The band was obviously very happy to be there and they were throwing cd's out to the crowd through the show. I sat down in the seats for Tad Morose who, as the last times I have seen them live, put on an energized show. Sitting down was definitely not a good idea. I apparantly still suffered from jet lag as after 5 minutes I almost fell asleep. Very weird as Tad morose played the most engaging set yet and gave me another push towards buying their cd's a.s.a.p.
Kamelot
For Kamelot I got down to the front rows and was ready to go crazy. The first thing I noticed was the chick standing on the side of the stage. Thomas youngblood's wife by the way. She was pretty static the times she appeared on stage and I wish she had been used for more than just a gimmick. Thom was the single guitar player and handled that duty with great skill. I was standing right in front of him and it was fascinating to watch his moves. I noticed Kahn had some voice problems from time to time. It looked like he was trying his best, but several times his voice cracked and overall his vocals were just too low in the mix, so sometimes he couldn't be heard at all. Besides that I enjoyed the show and think the band pulled of a very good concert nonetheless. Not the best performance I have seen from them though.
The band opened, not surprisingly, with "Center of the universe" and continued with "Wings of despair", "Edge of paradise" and the potent "Nights of Arabia". "Elisabeth Part III - Fall from grace" was ultra heavy and "The Spell" was one of my favorites of the nights. After slowing down with Wander from Epica and a short keyboard solo, Kahn introduced "III ways to Epica" which was really cool to hear live. Thom's wife got on stage again and sung a few parts during this. Unfortunately she forgot to turn the microphone on, but one of the crew quickly took care of that.
It was Gunter, the keyboard player's birthday and this was celebrated with some pure alchohol. The band finished the concert in ther nicest way with "Forever" where I of course sang very loudly along. As a nice surprise Midnight and Ben Jackson of Crimson Glory came on stage to participate in "Call of the sea". Ben Jackson rocked, but Midnight was unfortunately relegated to backing vocals. I would have loved to hear if his incredible voice is still up to the old standard I remember. A Crimson Glory reunion on the horizon? I think so!
Kamelot finished with "Farewell" and "Karma" which was a satyisfying end to a good show. I was pleased and completely psyched for what was to happen next.
Oh, I haven't mentioned the crowd yet. With me being completely sober I was still pretty much the only guy jumping up and down and singing along to the songs. I was stumped at how still the crowd was, even during the most hectic parts of songs. Some people just looked at me weirdly when I sang along, but having heard my own singing voice before I guess I cannot blame them...
Kamelot setlist:
Center of the universe
Wings of Despair
Edge of Paradise
Nights of Arabia
Fall From Grace
The Spell
Wander
3 Ways to Epica
Lost and Damned
Forever
Call of the Sea
Farewell
Karma
Jon Oliva's Pain & Weapons of mass destruction
After Kamelot I was getting extremely excited. One of the main reasons why I had taken this long journey was about to enter the stage. After having spoken to Jon in the afternoon and watched the soundcheck my expectations were only raised further. Of course I stayed in the front of the audience after the Kamelot set to get closer to the stage and the half hour wait wasn't so bad, with Jon joking around behind the thin curtain where the guys were setting up. People in the front rows were getting very excited, especially some guys from Costa Rica who had given John a home made shirt the day before and he had told them he would wear it today for the show. Introducing the show Jon said that we would need plastic surgery to get the smile of our faces. He was right. Even running the Berlin Marathon couldn't take my smile away.
The show was split into two parts, first Jon Oliva's Pain with Christopher kinder (Drums), Matt LaPorte (Guitar), Kevin Rodney (Bass) and John Zahner (Keyboards) played songs from Jon's new solo album. The band opened with "The Dark", a very catchy song that reminds of Savatage with the multiple voices and a bombastic rythm. Next was a cool song that incorporated all the titles of Savatage albums into the song. Not sure if this was a one-off song or it is actually part of the solo album. "Guardian of forever" sounded really amazing with many changes and huge vocal parts. Jon proved that his voice is not broken in any way, still being able to sing both the soft and hard voices with huge emotion. "Walk alone" was a pretty hard hitting song and after this one Jon introduced the song "Father, Son and holy ghost" as one he had written after the September 11 attack, and this is one song I look forward to hearing on record. "Nowhere to run" was a simple catchy and rocking song that sounds like something from the earlier Savatage days. We got one more solo song with "All the time" and needless to say I cannot wait to hear the solo album now, this little concert just wetted my appetite. The band had great interaction on stage and obviously enjoyed themselves very much. Matt LaPorte on Guitar impressed me immensely.
I think it was a daring way to open the show, playing 7 songs that no people but as select few had heard before. For me it worked very well.
The lights now dimmed as everybody except Jon left the stage as he went into a piano medley that consisted of "Heal my soul", "When the crowds are gone" and "A little too far". At once most people were singing along and it was obvious that many long time Sava-fans were in the crowd. Exchanging glances with several people showed me that they were just as excited as me, yet nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. The lights dimmed again and through clouds of fog I saw the shadows of Chris Caffery, Doc Wacholz and Kevin Rodney getting on the stage. The next hour was pure magic. Chris Caffery was on fire this night and completely blew me away. He did honor to the memory of Criss Oliva by playing with a vigor and fierceness I have not witnessed many times before. Having watched many old video bootlegs with Criss Oliva it was chilling to see and hear someone who's style was so close.
The opening riff of "City beneath the surface" was all it took to make the audience go wild. We got an extremely powerful trilogy with "City beneath the surface", "The dungeons are calling" and "Sirens". Jon Oliva was walking around, edging the audience on and screaming like a madman. "Die die die" never sounded this good. It is very hard to describe the feeling of hearing these songs performed so well live. After this triple onslaught it was time to settle down as Jon started playing "Mentally yours" on the piano. Loving this first part of the song, I naturally sang along extremely loud and some people turned around looking at me weirdly. Luckily the Costa Rica guys were there to sing along with me so I was not all alone this time. Before the heavy part "Mentally yours" bridged into "New York City don't mean nothing" and the band played a fantastic version of this entire song. Really wonderful to hear this powerful song live again and the guitar work was again impressive. Caffery continued his winning streak as he nailed the riff on "Jesus saves" and I went into a jumping frenzy again. Power was exploding from stage at this point.
Now Jon introduced a song that Savatage had never played live before, a song from Fight for the Rock. I thought "Day after day" would make an interesting choice, but probably a bit too awkward, so the band went into a cool version of "Hyde". It was like being back in the 80's watching one of my old Savatage bootlegs. The song worked great live. I was pleasantly surprised when the band went into "Thorazine shuffle", which came of very heavy and Jon seemed happy with the response he got from the audience, in the psycho aaahaaahaaaahhaaaaaahhhhhh part. This song is great to jump to live, believe me. Jon did miss the last part unfortunately, but that was just fun to see too. He also took the time to thank the organiser, Glenn and made some fun with the Jack Daniels bottle that was brought on stage.
Next up was another big Streets medley. "Tonight he grins again" is always a huge experience and the audience went absolutely nuts when we got the full versions of "Somewhere in time" and "Believe". Chilling was a fitting word for this part. Raising my hands to the sky all I could do was stand there and let the music embrace me with all its splendour.
Next it was time for a Caffery solo spot and as a cool twist he got to sing the vocals for "Edge of thorns". Turns out he has a very fine voice and I thought it worked very well here. That Caffery played "Temptation revelation" was what I would call a huge undertaking. But he proved that he was the one to do it and with me absolutely loving the playing of Criss Oliva, I guess the biggest compliment I can give was that he did it justice. Just chilling. "Gutter ballet" ended the first part of the Sava-show and I think everybody were in a state of bliss at this point.
After this the band went off stage while the audience screamed for them to return. And return they did, with a loving version of "Power of the night", surprisingly, even to himself it seemed, Chris Caffery took over the vocals for this one as well. Fists were in the air and I was once again taken back in time. Caffery got time to do a quick solo before "The Hall of the Mountain king" made me and the Costa Rica guys spend the last of our energy on what was the concert of the year so far for me.
A night to remember for sure. Words are not adequate to describe this evening. You had to be there. Magic had come and gone with Jon Oliva and his arsenal of weapons. Luckily it would return the next day...
Ok, so of course I have to mention the one thing I missed was hearing "If I go away", my favorite of the Streets album, but one should not complain when the guys put on such a godly show.
Setlists:
Jon Oliva's Pain
The Dark
People Say
Guardian of forever
Walk Alone
Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Nowhere To Run
All the Time
Weapons of Mass destruction
Heal My Soul
When the Crowds Are Gone
A Little Too Far
City beneath the surface
Dungeons Are Calling
Sirens
Mentally Yours (Intro)
New York City don't mean nothing
Jesus Saves
Hyde
Thorazine Shuffle
Tonight He Grins Again
Somewhere In Time
Believe
Edge of Thorns
Temptation revelation
Gutter Ballet
Power of the Night
Hall of the Mountain King
Continue to Part 3
| You can click most pictures for a bigger version
Into Eternity
Kamelot
Kamelot
Kamelot
Kamelot
Kamelot
Kamelot
Kamelot
Kamelot
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
J.O.P & W.O.M.D.
Continue to Part 3
All pictures taken by Steen | Written by Steen
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 |
This article has been shown 6362 times. Go to the complete list.
RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by DT Javier (Anonymous) - Wednesday, October 20, 2004 | Im from Costa Rica and Im so fucking proud that Jon wore that shirt I just cant Believe it
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| Comment by Tad Steen (Anonymous) - Tuesday, May 29, 2007 | This is the real Tad Steen
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