Planning a concert on a Thursday night instead of the weekend always holds a risk even
if you have three bands performing. This triple concert by
Andromeda,
Until Rain and
Damnation Angels
was no exception; the venue wasn't filled by far and the people that showed up definitely
came to see the Swedish progressive metal band Andromeda.
Until Rain
|
Vicky Psarakis |
The Greek prog metal band Until Rain was the first band to perform. Well, I have to
confess that I'd never heard of them before. This is quite a shame since Until
Rain did a very good job on stage. So far the band recorded two albums:
The Reign Of Dream (2009) and recently
Anthem To Creation. Their vocalist
Yannis Papadopoulos has a good voice
which perfectly suits the music of the band. At some points he tried to
encourage the audience to participate, but when he noticed that many people in the
audience weren't familiar with the band's music, he wisely quit his attempts to
get the hands in the air. This doesn't mean that the music was bad. On the
contrary! Just like me most people were quite impressed by it and enjoyed it silently and respectfully.
|
Yannis Papadopoulos (with Bill Gkagkavouzis on the left) |
The musical style of Until Rain can be best described as technical
progressive metal with a strong interaction between the keyboards of
Lefteris Germenlis and the guitars of
Theo Amaxopoulos. The latter was a real revelation to me: he played great melodies and his riffs and solos
really sounded excellent. Another attractive element in the band is background vocalist
Vicky Psarakis.
She provided the music a new dimension, especially when she came forward to sing a duet and a solo
part. For me this band was a nice surprise and I can't wait to review the promo of their latest album.
Damnation Angels
|
PelleK |
The second band on stage was the British quartet Damnation Angels. Their stage performance was quite enthusiastically;
PelleK is the kind of singer who has a party of his own on stage. Unfortunately the band used
pre-recorded keyboards and sound effects, which annoyingly slowed things down.
It prevented the band from creating the same kind of atmosphere as Until Rain.
|
Stephen Averill & PelleK |
Another annoying element in the band's performance was the fact that they almost
forced the people in the audience to sing or shout along with them. I hope this
should be a lesson for the band members: please don't expect a small audience
that mainly came to see the headliners, to be familiar with your music. People
won't sing along on command when they don't listen regularly to your music!
I guess Until Rain could accept that and stopped doing so, but Damnation Angels seemed
to get frustrated. Even PelleK's dance steps on stage couldn't get the audience
enthusiastic for their music, which was less impressive than that of the previous
band. All songs sounded a bit chaotic. After five songs the band surprisingly left
the stage! We didn't even see the band members return at the bar afterwards, while
the other two bands were cosily chatting with the people who stayed to have a
drink and to buy the band's albums. I think it's very unprofessional of a band
to react like this. Maybe they think that they're a hit in their own country, but
I wasn't impressed at all. Fortunately after this downer the audience's mood immediately
changed when the headliners entered the stage.
Andromeda
|
Joakim Strandberg-Nilsson |
The Swedish band Andromeda is where the people came for: progressive metal played
with passion from a band that respects its audience. Andromeda's unique blend
of melody and metal together with the distinguished voice of
David Fremberg has proven to belong to the
top of the premier league of progressive metal bands. Guitarist
Johan Reinholdz alternated fierce riffs
with stunning solos and melodies, while
Linus Abrahamson,
who played on a seven-string bass monster, challenged him. You can regard
Reinholdz as an all-round guitarist, who can compete with every million-albums-selling
|
David Fremberg |
guitar shredder. However, he remains unpretentious and open to his fans. Keyboardist
Martin Hedin is a real
master on his instruments; his solos are flawless and the interaction between the
guitar and his keyboards sounded superb.
The band had a great time since the audience reacted and
interacted to everything that happened on stage; this is what they came for!
Vocalist David Fremberg was constantly smiling and juggling with his microphone.
He never missed but once, when the mike almost hit between the legs of the two guitarists,
who were just ending a nice break! Hats off for drummer
Joakim Strandberg-Nilsson as well who learned the band's
repertoire in just two weeks. He replaced
Thomas Lejon who
recently became a father. The audience enjoyed fantastic versions of
Chameleon Carnival, Preemptive Strike and
Lies 'R' Us, just to name a few. As an encore they played a stunning version of the majestic piece
Periscope. Andromeda didn't care that only few people showed up and played a super set. Not every band can manage
this without having a new album on the shelves, which shows the loyalty to their
fans. Plans for a new album have been made, so I hope we don't have to wait too
long to listen to new material of this energetic Swedish band.
Like always, when I visit a small scale concert, the band members joined the people at the
bar talking to their fans after the show. This gives one the opportunity to ask
about their music and even personal issues are being discussed. Unlike
Damnation Angels bands like Andromeda and Until Rain are nice to their fans and
they are completely aware of the importance of the people showing up at concerts.
Pedro Bekkers (edited by Peter Willemsen)