Coming from the same city as both Helloween and Gamma Ray, they were of course always part of my music life, however, I must admit I always preferred Gamma Ray over Helloween, and Running Wild much over both.
Also, both bands rarely gifted the local scene with their presence. Piet Sielck came to the Headbangers Ballroom every now and then, Kai Hansen very rarely. The others never were connected to the scene in any way.
I saw Gamma Ray live here several times between Land of the Free and Powerplant, and despite never being a big fan, they always kicked my ass live.
Helloween only released one album that I really love, and that is Walls of Jericho. I never cared for everything after that. Never liked Kiske too, both as singer and person. Some of their albums are okay, others pure cringe.
My main memory with Helloween was in the early 2000s. Every thursday there was Death Metal night in Headbangers Ballroom, and my buddy and me went there almost every week. One thursday we arrived and it was "closed for a private party", but the door was open and nobody sat there. So we just went inside anyway.
Turned out we were at the private release party of Helloween's new album (must have been Rabbit Don't Come Easy, I guess).
It was very weird. The club was almost completely empty. Weikath, Grosskopf, Deris and some guy (Grapow?) were sitting at a table drinking beer, saying nothing. 4 or 5 guys from the record label (one in suit and tie) were sitting on another table at the other side of the club, babbling. Both tables completely ignored each other. Guns N Roses "Appetite For Destruction" was playing full power, and at the wall there was a buffet table that was ignored by eveyone. Nobody even looked at me and my buddy. We just sat at the bar, ordered a beer, got it and were not asked to pay. The barkeeper of course knew us. He said all drinks were paid for by the record label in advance. Absolutely nothing happened, so we just walked over to the buffet, ate some free stuff and again nobody cared. Then we went home. True story. It was very very weird.