The Concert Thread

I was supposed to be seeing Fish in Leamington on Sunday but got snowed in, black ice everywhere so was a no go. Might be getting rescheduled for next year.
 
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A buddy of mine wants to take a road trip to Ohio to see this festival. I am very strongly considering it..
 
Dark Tranquillity is coming to Serbia for the first time ( :edmetal: )... to Novi Sad ( :mad: ). I mean, I'm probably gonna go but it's a hassle to go there.
 
Sons Of Apollo? More like Sons Of Portnoy's Ego. "I don't wanna play DT songs anymore... This is the last chance to hear me play DT songs (Shattered Fortress)... I'm over it..." And now he wants to play them with Sons Of Portnoy's ego in the cover set, which will probably be 50% DT stuff.
 
Just seen Pero Defformero, a Serbian metal band from Novi Sad with turbo folk vocals. What a fuckin band this is live. I have never seen a metal power trio with such a powerful sound. The guitarist Sasa Fris is amazing.
 
It works pretty well (needless to say the singer was/is a metalhead, who can sing the folk style better than most of the turbofolk singers). Some lyrics are a parody of the traditional folk singers' lyrical style and some are the parody of different people in this region (Hipsters, Goths...). But if you take the vocals away, musically this is probably one of the best 3 bands I have seen live.

And this song is probably one of the hardest songs to play on guitar that anyone has ever written in this region (that isn't an instrumental track). And they smashed it live.
 
2018 so far for me has:

Dirkschneider
Judas Priest/Saxon
Kamelot/Delain/Battle Beast
Uli Jon Roth
Hammerfall/Flotsam & Jetsam
E.L.O.
Helloween
 
In Tampa I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their annual Christmas tour at the Amalie Arena (home of the ice hockey team Tampa Bay Lightning). It was definitely a different experience to what I'm used to and definitely an older audience than I'm used to! I was sitting in the second level and got a great view of what was a spectacular show with all sorts of special effects. I didn't recognize quite a few of their songs (some of them are Christmas-themed songs performed TSO-style though) and they didn't play my favourite: 'Forget About the Blame' with Lizzy Hale. The strangest moment of the show was when one of the TSO guys thanked the US armed forces for keeping the country safe which caused a standing ovation around the arena (I did not stand up) and some chants of "USA! USA! USA!". People actually do that! There were a few tributes to founding member Paul O'Neill who died in April this year. As always the TSO line-up had a whole load of random people whom I hadn't heard of. These were the line-ups for this year's tour. The Tampa show had the 'West' line-up but I'm a bit jealous because the 'East' line-up had Russell Allen.

During 2017 I've been to a ton of shows:

14/01 Sabaton, Brixton Academy (London)
03/02 Epica, Shepherd's Bush Empire (London)
10/02 Anthrax, Kentish Town Forum (London)
19/02 Firewind, Camden Underworld* (London)
02/03 Kreator/Sepultura, Kentish Town Forum
11/03 Gojira, O2 Academy Birmingham
22/03 Devilskin, Camden Underworld
22/04 Dream Theater, Motorpoint Arena (Cardiff)
27/04 Thrice, Camden KOKO (London)
06/05 Iron Maiden, 3Arena (Dublin)
16/05 Iron Maiden, SSE Hydro Arena (Glasgow)
21/05 Iron Maiden, Barclaycard Arena (Birmingham)
27/05 Iron Maiden, O2 Arena (London)
01/08 Bad Religion, Kentish Town Forum
10-13/08 Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, Testament, Ghost, Kreator, Megadave etc., Bloodstock Festival
27/08 Muse, Reading Festival
26/09 Evergrey, Camden Underworld
02/10 Alter Bridge, Royal Albert Hall (London)
24/10 Metallica, O2 Arena
26/10 The Iron Maidens, Sub89 (Reading)
01/11 Delain, Camden KOKO
14/11 Helloween, Brixton Academy
17/12 Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Amalie Arena (Tampa)

It's pretty hard to pick a stand-out show! Epica were spectacular and had great supports. Anthrax were on good form. It was great to finally see Gojira headlining their own show and it being indoors. Kreator were intense. Iron Maiden were as brilliant as ever and I can't pick out one of their shows as being better than the others, but the sing-along to their most complex songs before the London show was somewhat memorable. :bigsmile: Amon Amarth were probably my overall highlight from Bloodstock Festival and as awesome as they had been when I saw them at their own show last year. Delain put on another great show at a packed KOKO with Charlotte Wessels note perfect as always. So I've been to some pretty good shows this year!

2018 looks quite good to:

10/02 Vuur, The Asylum (Birmingham)
18/03 Sepultura, Camden KOKO
29/03 Testament, The Marble Factory (Bristol)
31/03 Testament, O2 Institute (Birmingham)
13/04 Epica, Kentish Town Forum
01/06 Iron Maiden/Killswitch Engage, Tele2 Arena (Stockholm)
05/06 Iron Maiden/Killswitch Engage, Royal Arena (Copenhagen)
16/06 Scorpions/Megadave, O2 Arena
04/08 Iron Maiden/Killswitch Engage, AECC (Aberdeen)
07/08 Iron Maiden/Killswitch Engage, Genting Arena (Birmingham)
09-12/08 Judas Priest, Gojira, Nightwish, Emperor, Devildriver, Kamelot etc., Bloodstock Festival
10/11 Within Temptation, O2 Apollo (Manchester)

A busy 2018 ahead too!:edmetal:
 
In Tampa I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their annual Christmas tour at the Amalie Arena (home of the ice hockey team Tampa Bay Lightning). It was definitely a different experience to what I'm used to and definitely an older audience than I'm used to! I was sitting in the second level and got a great view of what was a spectacular show with all sorts of special effects. I didn't recognize quite a few of their songs (some of them are Christmas-themed songs performed TSO-style though) and they didn't play my favourite: 'Forget About the Blame' with Lizzy Hale. The strangest moment of the show was when one of the TSO guys thanked the US armed forces for keeping the country safe which caused a standing ovation around the arena (I did not stand up) and some chants of "USA! USA! USA!". People actually do that! There were a few tributes to founding member Paul O'Neill who died in April this year. As always the TSO line-up had a whole load of random people whom I hadn't heard of. These were the line-ups for this year's tour. The Tampa show had the 'West' line-up but I'm a bit jealous because the 'East' line-up had Russell Allen.

Sure, obviously Tampa is on the West coast! :D

I've seen TSO twice, once with Russell Allen and once with Jeff Scott Soto (as they do the same parts). I am sorry that you saw the latter. But even so, a TSO show is really, really cool. Definitely an older crowd that I'm sure has no heavy metal experience or understanding outside of TSO, but fun nonetheless.
 
Sure, obviously Tampa is on the West coast! :D

I've seen TSO twice, once with Russell Allen and once with Jeff Scott Soto (as they do the same parts). I am sorry that you saw the latter. But even so, a TSO show is really, really cool. Definitely an older crowd that I'm sure has no heavy metal experience or understanding outside of TSO, but fun nonetheless.
West Coast of Florida anyway! JSS was really good and I've nothing against him, but as a Symphony X fan I'd have rather seen Russell Allen. He does seem to do a lot of these Rock/Metal Opera things doesn't he?
 
It works pretty well (needless to say the singer was/is a metalhead, who can sing the folk style better than most of the turbofolk singers). Some lyrics are a parody of the traditional folk singers' lyrical style and some are the parody of different people in this region (Hipsters, Goths...). But if you take the vocals away, musically this is probably one of the best 3 bands I have seen live.

And this song is probably one of the hardest songs to play on guitar that anyone has ever written in this region (that isn't an instrumental track). And they smashed it live.
Just heard them, and yes, the voice works well
 
Updated:

Feb 22, 2018: Iced Earth feat. Sanctuary & Kill Ritual - Old Concert Theater, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
March 2, 2018: Sabaton feat. Kreator & Cyhra - MTelus, Montreal, QC, Canada.
March 20, 2018: Nightwish - MTelus, Montreal, QC, Canada.
March 25, 2018: Judas Priest feat. Saxon & Black Star Riders - TD Place Arena, Ottawa, Canada.
 
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