Concert Reviews - Turisas & DragonForce

What do you expect when you get tickets to see DragonForce? I don't think anyone really knows what to expect. I expected to laugh, I guess.

When I first heard DragonForce, I honestly thought they were a band that was making fun of metal just because they are so cheesy. That was a year or two ago. One day I finally realized that they were a serious band that was just ridiculous. I didn't know what to think after that.

Last night was the last concert of the year for us. When we heard that DragonForce was playing in Calgary, we laughed and thought, yea, maybe if the tickets are cheap or if they have a sweet opening band.

So I did some digging and found out that a band called Turisas was opening for them. For those of you who haven't read my band review on them, I'll summarize it: I fucking love that band. The first song I heard was a metal cover of the song "Rasputin" by Boney M. How awesome is that? They also do a cover of "Those Were the Days," which is also amazing. But not only do they do brilliant covers, but their own work is amazing. Matthias "Warlord" Nygård is exactly what I've been looking for in a viking/folk metal singer, and they have an accordion player, Netta Skog, who is insane, and a violinist, Olli Vänskä, who is pretty much my hero in the world of violins. So, needless to say, I was pretty stoked to see them last night, even though they were opening for Dragonforce.

Powerglove, faintly

The first band on the venue was called Powerglove. We missed most of them because we were in the merch line. When we finally got out though, we encountered one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen: a bunch of guys in ridiculous foam costumes (the singer looked like he had spiked Koopa shells on his shoulders and the drummer had two tall flags on his shoulders) with a giant inflated bat on stage with them, opening with a song about the ultimate weapon in Final Fantasy VII - Omnishred. I almost had a heart attack from a combination of hysterical laughter and amazement, because it was actually really good. Then they did a song about a plumber who does fireflowers and mushrooms, who flushed himself down the toilet and instead of dying, like most people, ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom: Mario Minor. And they ended with none other than the Power Rangers theme, metal style. I remained in shock (and amusement) because, as lame as they really and truly looked, the music was pretty sweet. I am a huge nerd, so I appreciated it.

Turisas

Turisas came next, and they were really what I wanted to see. Well, I really wanted to see them live in their homeland where they have a bigger following, but why not see them in Canada while they're here?

Netta and Jussi

They opened with Battle Metal, A Portage to the Unknown, One More (a drinking song in celebration of trying out three new beers in Canada, all of which gained the seal of approval), In the Court of Jarisleif, the cover of Rasputin that I love so much, and ended with To Holmgard and Beyond.

Warlord

This set, to my immense delight, included four out of four songs that I wanted to hear (Battle Metal, One More, Rasputin, and To Holmgard and Beyond).

Warlord, enjoying some Canadian beer

It was all awesome. Battle Metal got the crowd interested, and The Court of Jarisleif let them mosh around like madmen. They had one of the best responses for an opening band I've seen this year and, as a huge fan myself, I thought it was awesome. The vocals were great, Netta on the accordion was incredible, and Olli on violin was particularly brilliant. All of the musicians in that band were just amazing. And I do love that they dress up like barbarians in war paint and fur and leather and all that good stuff. It was fantastic, they have great energy, really got the crowd going, and the music was phenomenal. It was without a doubt the best opening show I've seen, and one of the most enjoyable concerts (aside from being way too short) I've seen this year.

Hanu and Olli

While DragonForce was setting up, Hannes "Hanu" Horma (bass) and Olli Vänskä were out in the lobby and I went to talk to them. They're both incredibly nice guys, really excited to see someone who came to the show to see them and not DragonForce, and Olli said that getting some sheet music for download is on his list of things to do (being a violinist, I asked him if he has any because his stuff is just brilliant). They were both very friendly and pleasant guys, and very appreciative of the support they were getting.

Turisas, bidding the crowd goodnight

DragonForce

So lastly was DragonForce. I have heard that these guys are terrible live, so I wasn't expecting much from them, save for a good laugh. Well... I did get my good laugh, several times over. They're absolutely absurd to watch as they dance around on stage and the keyboard player rocks out like he overdosed on speed before coming onstage. It was hilarious. However, to my immense shock, the music wasn't bad. They seemed to successfully execute their solos and the sound was good. So you may ask then, why did I not stay for the whole show? Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know any of their songs, save for Through Fire and Flames, but they all sound the same. This reminded me of why I don't actually listen to DragonForce on a regular basis - because there is no differentiation between songs. There is decent singing, really good guitar playing, entertaining keyboarding with good soloing, and so on and so forth. But even if it's good, if you don't know it and it all sounds the exact same, it's not really that interesting. So needless to say, we stuck it out for a while, but didn't think it was worth standing for another hour to finish watching. We didn't get to see Through Fire and Flames, but we figured they'd play it at the end and didn't want to watch the whole concert to see one song that sounded just like all the other ones we had been listening.

The coolest part of their portion of the show was when Netta came out during the keyboard player's solo song and they had a speedy dual of accordion vs keytar.

Keyboard vs accordion

It was fun to watch their fingers flying around and I won't deny that I was a little more than impressed. It takes some serious talent to know all those tiny buttons on an accordion well enough to fly across them that quickly.

So in the end, Powerglove was a great new discovery, DragonForce proved themselves to be competent live, and the only disappointment from Turisas was the short length of their set. I hope they come back again, headlining, so I can hear more of them live. It was a great performance and I'd recommend anyone to check them out.

Hanu, me, and Olli.

Year: December 2008
Opening bands: Powerglove
Who I went with: Michael Widmer
Location: Calgary - Mac Hall

Concert Reviews - Iced Earth

If you want to destroy your ears, I recommend checking out Iced Earth in concert. I saw them a couple days ago with Kilyakai and Early Man.

So, first things first. We went for dinner before the show and tried to skip as much of the opening as we could. We came in near the end of Kilyakai performing. They were okay, I suppose. The singing wasn’t that great and the singer had ridiculous stage presence. The music wasn’t bad and I have to appreciate that the sound was at least decent for their performance. Nothing special.

I can’t say the same for Early Man. It’s tough to judge when whoever is doing sound for your band has no clue what they’re doing, but even through that, I knew they were, quite blatantly, awful. You couldn’t hear the singer’s voice unless he was screaming, and the screaming alone was incredibly irritating. One of the guitars was far too loud and they were letting the guitars feed back WAY too much. Everything sounded sloppy, like a bad jam session. I wished they had played first so it had been them we missed most of. Such is life though.

Jon Schaffer and Matt Barlow performing Behold the Wicked Child

So out came Iced Earth. My brother asked me to call which songs they would start with, so I went with the intro to The Crucible of Man (In Sacred Flames), followed by Behold the Wicked Child (the first song after the intro) where the band would come onstage and play. I was right! And it was awesome. Frankly though, I didn’t really have any idea what songs they played. After the first two, the next one I knew was Burning Times, Watching Over Me, Dracula, The Coming Curse, and Stormrider (which Jon Schaffer sang for, which was cool). A couple I didn’t know offhand but found out later were Declaration Day (which was rad with Barlow on vocals) and High Water Mark. The encore consisted of Melancholy (The Holy Martyr) and Iced Earth. They played at least one song off Framing Armageddon, which sounded awesome with Barlow on vocals. There were a few others songs I didn’t know that I really liked, but in general it was all good.

Matt Barlow and his beefy arms

I have to say, Matt Barlow has a voice. That man can wail and the first time, I felt that my eardrum throbbing and I had to cover it because I was actually worried. I imagine that it must be hard to do sound for a man with a four-octave vocal range. You have to crank it up because otherwise you can’t hear his low vocals, but as a result, when he goes into those falsetto shrieks, it feels like you’re brain is about to explode in your skull.

Otherwise (not saying it was bad, just kind of intense) musically, the show was great. I think that Iced Earth’s website describes them as a galloping rhythm, not unlike Iron Maiden, but with a bigger, heavier horse. That was more evident at the concert than it ever has been before. You could really hear the influence. Jon Schaffer’s rhythm was loud and intense, and the drummer’s playing, particularly in the intro to one song that I didn’t know (High Water Mark), was quite enjoyable. Musically, aside from some issues with the sound booth and the turmoil in my ears from Barlow’s wailing, it was incredible. I only wished they played more songs I knew, like The Dark Saga, or anything (Dracula aside) off Horror Show.

Jon Schaffer singing Stormrider

One of the cooler parts about this show was that we had VIP tickets, so we got to hang out afterwards and meet the band. Or should I say, hang out afterwards and say hello, get some stuff signed, and then get your picture taken. “Meet” and greet pushes it a bit. I can’t really blame them, they’ve just been rocking and they’re tired. And they were still friendly, which was great. Jon Schaffer in particular seemed really happy to meet everyone who came out and they all really seemed to appreciate everyone’s support on their first show in Calgary (Matt Barlow stated that he thought Montreal was the most metal city in North America but that Calgary might’ve taken their place). I told Matt Barlow that I was glad that he came back and even though I imagine he hears that all the time, he seemed to appreciate the compliment. I gave my hellos and you rocks to everyone and by the time I got to Troy Steele (the other lead guitarist), I had nothing else to say. Regardless, when I got to him, he thanked me for coming to the show, and I thanked him for being awesome. He seemed pretty amused. After that we waited in line for pictures and I got in there, not knowing what to do, and Matt Barlow was laughing at me because apparently I couldn’t decide whether to do the metal horns in the picture and he said they were wussy or something. I was like, aww, I’m sorry, and he just laughed and gave me a pat on the back. They all seem like really nice, friendly, personable, down-to-earth people, and I have a lot of respect for them as musicians and as people.

The full band

All in all, these guys are really just great people. They really put their all into their music and appreciate every person who comes to see them play. For their first time in Calgary, it was a great show. I wished I knew more songs that they played, and I hope one day my ears stop ringing, but I was really impressed and I am glad I got to see them. I’d definitely check them out if they came again.

Iced Earth saying goodnight

Year: November 2008
Opening bands: Kilyakai, Early Man
Who I went with: Michael Widmer, Jeff Wiseman
Location: Calgary - Mac Hall ballroom