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Events and Reports - ProgPower USA V (2004) - Steen´s Festival report Part 3/3 - Adagio, Wuthering Heights, Pain of Salvation, Brainstorm & Edguy
Back to Part 2
Saturday
Adagio
First band of the day was Adagio with their new singer, Gus Monsanto, who I thought did an impressive job. His voice easily matched David Readman and felt like it had a ton of power. Technically Adagio were very impressive to watch and hear. Franck Hermany handled his six string bass with great skill and Stéphan Forté on guitar was equally impressive and the band created an absolutely huge sound. The new singer tried his best to get the audience going, but was hampered by some microphone problems. The long and epic "The seven lands of sin" was a highlight. Why I have not purchased their new album, Underworld yet, I do not know... A very very impressive concert.
Wuthering Heights
It is a funny thing that I had to travel all the way to USA to finally see Wuthering Heights in action. Turned out that it was worth it as the band played an impressive concert with a very good setlist. The band made the right choice in scaling things down a little for the live show, making the sound somewhat rawer than on record. The first thing I noticed was the bass player who definitely seemed to have changed somewhat from the picture on the cover. Turned out that some of the Wuthering Heights guys for some reason couldn't make it to the show, so Teddy Möller from Lock Vostok stood in on bass, while Andreas from Platitude stood in on keyboards.
The opener "The Nevershining Stones" was catchy and definitely got me headbanging. Unfortunately the rest of the crowd was nailed to the floor, watching the band as if the say "ha, impress us please". So they did, continuing with "Tree" from the new album and it became obvious that singer Nils Patrik's huge voice holds up just as well live as on record. I noticed some people in the audience blinking as Nils took of his a white shirt, but that was the only time I noticed some life in the immobile crowd. The major highlight for me was part I and II of the amazing "Longing for the woods" trilogy. The band pulled of the many changes seemingly with ease and delivered a very satisfying and powerful punch. Especially Nils and Erik looked like they had fun on stage, even dancing a polka to the folkier part of some songs. Standing out from the other bands in their stage presence the band must have come of like the ugly duckling to some people
After "Lost realms" we got the electrifying "Bad hobbits die hard" which was a surprisingly good choice for a live setting. Being an instrumental, the band was able to keep up the pace and the audience attention by their enthusiastic stage show. After a short band introduction they went into "Hunter in the dark" and finished the way too short show with the mighty "Highland winds". The second guitarist who I did not recognise was a little quiet and held back comparing to Erik who was smiling and doing small tricks through the whole show. Overall a great performance by the band. Third best concert of the festival.
Set list:
The Nevershining Stones
Tree
Longing For The Woods - Part I
Longing For The Woods - Part II
Lost Realms
Bad Hobbits Die Hard
Hunter In The Dark
Highland Winds
Brainstorm
I watched Brainstorm from the seats to regain some strength for the last two bands. They made me wish I knew some more of their songs as they put on one of the most entertaining shows of the festival. The lead singer has a great charisma and runs around the stage interacting with the audience constantly, even jumping of the stage in the middle of a song to high five the people in the first rows of the audience, all the while singing. The band was obviously very happy to be there and for the audience response as well. My favorite Brainstorm album is still Ambiguity and "Crush depth" was delivered with well, crushing power and Andy's final scream was very impressive. The band closed a blazing set with "Into the fire". Even though I sat in the chairs I never fell asleep... A major indication of an excellent show.
All hail the organisor, Glenn Harveston
Pain of Salvation
After the slightly disappointing show at the 2000 Decibel festival I hoped that Pain of Salvation would be able to re-capture some of the magic of when I saw them live for the first time at TEX. A couple of months before the show there had been a vote for the setlist on the internet, which I of course had participated in and amazingly I got to hear almost every song I had dreamed of. I was expecting something huge, but because of the show at 2000 Decibel I had this nagging sense of doubt. Man, those doubts were put to shame. The band pulled of a completely amazing and magical show and went beyond anything I had imagined. The band was in great shape and especially Daniel and Johan were quite a sight to watch. An energized and very charismatic Daniel was all over the place, doing all kinds of psychotic moves and joking with the audience through the show.
First surprise was when they opened with "Undertow". Not the most obvious opener but I thought it served great as an introduction to a riveting set. Daniel later explained that the band had put all the winning songs from the vote into a hat and thus decided the setlist and said that we would get to hear some songs they had not played for a long time. I was in the front part of the audience along with several hard core fans, so this time I was not the only one singing along.
The first huge highlight came as the band started on the impressive "Rope Ends". The band pulled of a very powerful and tight version of this difficult song. Ok, so Daniel forgot to sing almost the entire last verse as he had obviously forgotten the words. Sending the audience a questioning gaze I of course proceeded to scream the lyrics back in his face. He looked kind of frightened, but got back in the song during the bridge section. The rest of the band took it with a smile. It was not the only mistake of the evening, but these things didn't bother me as the band obviously had fun on stage and there was a really special chemistry present this night. It just added to the spontaneous feeling and showed that the band members themselves are only human beings. But I would say super humans capable of making magic with a few musical instruments and a voice that holds every emotion in a tight leash. Only Fredrik on the keyboard looked strangely absent. He didn't have a hint of emotion of his face the times I looked at him. Oh well, he still played perfectly.
Daniel was in a good mood, joking with the audience between the songs, thanking the people who had partied at the hotel last night and kept them from getting any sleep with a smile. The band obviously don't need any sleep... The audience roared and went absolutely nuts when the band went into an energized version of "Used". Frantic is one word to describe the cool version we got of this song.
Another one of my dream songs came with "In the flesh" from The Perfect Element. Daniel again sang with a ton of passion and by this time I couldn't believe how the show could rise any further on the divinity scale. Amazingly it did as the band played a dreamy and beautiful version of Ashes. After this it blew right of the scale when the band went into one of my absolute favorites of Remedy Lane, "A trace of blood". This was another song I have always dreamed of hearing live and I wasn't disappointed. Daniel sung with incredible passion and people in the front were very much into this song. All I can say is that it was beyond the fantastic to hear this song and the band played an impressive version, breaks and everything intact.
The energy reached a fever pitch as they played "Inside" and Daniel put on some acrobatic moves running and jumping all over the stage. My favorites just kept hitting me as the band played "!". This song is incredibly powerful live and the band proved how tight they can be. The funky part of the show came with "People passing by". As opposed to the Decibel festival the band members made this song great to watch. Daniel played many solos during the show and I was really impressed with his performance.
"Idioglossia" was just amazing to hear too and nearing the end the band finished the set with "Beyond the pale" and I could just not be anymore satisfied. Pain of Salvation played a concert that was equally entertaining and technically impressive with a constant sense of magic in the air. This concert alone was worth the entire trip.
Setlist:
Undertow
Rope Ends
Used
In the Flesh
Ashes
A Trace of Blood
Inside
!
People Passing By
Idioglossia
Beyond the Pale
My first impression of Be is very positive by the way.
Edguy
After the Pain of Salvation magic I was still high when Edguy came on stage to close the party. Party attitude they certainly had, a bit too much for some of the audience who were turned of by Tobias' slightly freaked out humour. I thought they were funny, yes, even the dick jokes. A couple of times the band did seem a bit lost though. Opening with "Under the moon" and "Navigator", the first part of the setlist was similar to the show I saw earlier in the year in Sweden, but after a few songs things luckily started to change. After the slightly boring "Land of the miracle", "Chalice of Agony" was brought forth in the set and set of a huge explosion in the audience.
The band did fool around a bit too much and spent too much time on audience sing alongs during the first part of the show, something I have come to dread severely is the audience sing along which in 99% of the cases is boring and the same as every other one. This one was no different... Having watched Felix' drum solo before I was not very excited by this one either as it had not changed much. Tobias was very energetic through out the night doing all sorts of tricks with the mike stand and making split jumps of the drum kit on several occasions. "Lavatory Love machine" was next and I was starting to get back into the mood.
"Vain glory opera" was a good excuse for some jumping around and so thought several others. Finally the crowd had started moving a little. After "King of fools" the band went off stage for little while, only to come back and introduce the first special guest of the night. Everybody were expecting Timo Kotipelto, but instead Rob Rock came on stage and performed an explosive "Avantasia", which was very cool indeed. After some jokes, which Rob unfortunately never got the chance to counter, Timo Kotipelto was invited on stage to sing "Wake up the king" along with Tobias. It worked pretty good and was a fun thing to watch. The band finished the night with "Out of control" where everybody went absolutely crazy.
Under the moon
Navigator
Land of the miracle
Chalice of Agony
Key to my Fate
Lavatory Love MAchine
Vain glory Opera
Piper never dies
King of fools
Avantasia (With Rob Rock)
Wake up the king (With Timo Kotipelto)
Out of control
The after party
After the concert I was hanging around at the bar area and the funniest thing happened. I met these two huge RevelationZ fans from Miami, who told me how much they loved the site. Asking me for a picture I was only happy to oblige and was pretty honored when they asked me to sign their Edguy flag next to the band members' autographs. For a few moments I felt like a rock star, but looking to my right and seeing Chris Caffery walk by I quickly got back down to earth..
Afterwards I got back to the hotel and met Ben and the other guys and we went down to the Patio to check out the party down there, where the guys from Bainstorm and into Eternity were hanging around. Around 4 in the night I crashed in my room, worn out with cool experiences and after saying goodbye to everybody when they left for the airport at 5 I promptly fell asleep again and didn't wake up before I had to leave for the airport. The long flight home went pretty quickly as I was taking notes from the events of the past four days. It was four days of Heavy Metal, cool people and fun at the best organised festival I have ever had the pleasure to experience. All the good rumors about ProgPower USA are true. This is where you should be!
| You can click most pictures for a bigger version
Dinner time
Adagio
Adagio
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Brainstorm
Pain of Salvation
Pain of Salvation
Pain of Salvation
Pain of Salvation
Pain of Salvation
Pain of Salvation
Pain of Salvation
Pain of Salvation
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
Edguy
The world's biggest RevelationZ fans?
Time to say goodbye
All pictures taken by Steen | Written by Steen
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 |
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RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by ben@metalreviews.com (Anonymous) - Wednesday, October 20, 2004 | Nice review man! haha that pic of most of us in the bottom, oh man, I'll just let all the ladies know that that's me with about 6 hours of sleep total over 4 nights and since there wasnt any hot water I couldnt shower Sat night. So excuse the frazzled look, I really am one damn fine Asian Metalian. I admit that my PP review might be longwinded to those that didnt go, but dammit, unlike all you lucky Europeans, I dont see many shows. You know how many concerts I saw between Prog Power III and IV? NONE. ZERO. So yea, I mightve gone a bit overboard explaining EVERYTHING (at least 90%) of what went on in Atlanta from my side but I wouldnt have it any other way. Haha, Im surprised you didnt post the pic you took of the spooning action me and Jonah had (it isnt as bad as it sounds I swear to God) or the other wild ones as well. Man, I'm gonna try to make it to Wacken this summer if I can and I will for sure be there at PP VI, you think you'll make it then?
Oh yea, my last names Buzan with a Z, but hell I messed yours up a few times, Jensen, Jonsen and whatnot.
Ben
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| Comment by Ben@metalreviews.com (Anonymous) - Wednesday, October 20, 2004 | Two things I forgot. The guys from Costa Rica that gave Jon the shirt, one of them was Olaso from the band Evening Star, one of the better releases from 2003. Dark Power Metal that simply rules. Also I coulda sworn Lavatory Love Machine was after Land of the Miracle. I remember thinking it was Hellfire Heavy with three outta four songs in the beginning were from that album. Well, Im out, I need sleep and like I said Wacken 2005, I will kill to be there.
Ben
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| Comment by Mads Aanum (Anonymous) - Wednesday, October 20, 2004 | cool set list for Pain Of Salvation...
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| Comment by Steen (Staff) - Wednesday, October 20, 2004 | 
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Comments: 518 | | Hey Ben!
Haha I couldn't bear to make the picture of you and Jonah public. It would destroy you man! Haha. I hope you make it to Wacken, that would be a blast. You should fly in a few days earlier if you are able to make it to Aarhus. And now I can drink again so you can expect some severely silly moments. I hope to make PP an annual event, I wouldn't rule it out yet.
And yes Mads, the setlist for Pain of Salvation was the coolest. You should have heard and seen the way it was delivered... Unbelieveable.
Posted by Steen (Staff)
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 |
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| Comment by Mads J. (Anonymous) - Thursday, October 21, 2004 | Brilliant report, Steen!
Wish I could have been there at the Savatage show, sounds like nothing but pure magic...looking forward to read the interview as well.
Being able to fall asleep during a Tad Morose concert must be the ultimate proof that this was a festival that took some energy - how could you??? :)
Very interesting reading indeed - Rock On Metal-Cow!!! Muuuh :)
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| Comment by Steen (Staff) - Saturday, October 23, 2004 |
View Profile
Comments: 518 | | Hey Mads! Thanks!!! Yeah I'm very embarrased about the Tad morose sleepy thing. They really gave all they had, but that chair was just so comfy :)
Posted by Steen (Staff)
Saturday, October 23, 2004 |
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| Comment by Mads J. (Anonymous) - Saturday, October 23, 2004 | Ah, that's ok. Hopefully you'll get another change some other time.
But consider yourself lucky they didn't give you the soft cushions, but then again...guess you never expected The Spanish Inquisition! :)
Haha, sorry 'bout that - couldn't help myself there:) Take care man, see you.
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