Rating: 5 Skulls
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Rating: 5 Skulls |
My heart raced in anticipation as we neared the arena. Several large tour buses marked our destination, and we were soon at the venue's entrance. I bolted out of the van and across the street into the arena. Almost instinctively, I worked my way through the growing throng to the merch area, where I promptly purchased a few Rhapsody tour shirts. I took a look around at my fellow metalheads, and noted the air of merriment in their faces. This crowd was ready to rock, myself included. Openers At Vance and Angel Dust had already warmed everybody up, but judging by the fact that about 900 of the 1000 or so attendees were sporting Rhapsody shirts, it was clear who everyone was here to see.
Immediately following Angel Dust's performance, the Rhapsody road crew started dragging various props and machines onto the stage - towering twin iron torches, smoke machines, tons of pyrotechnic equipment and, best of all, a wonderfully cheesy twin-spired castle prop, which served a dual purpose as both drum riser and backdrop. I thought to myself, "This is going to be good." I weaved my way to the front of the stage...
The lights went dark, and the crowd roared. A giant dragon was projected onto the wall behind the band. A woman in flowing white robes slowly emerged from one of the castle doors, illuminated by eerie blue lights beneath. Then the masked Aresius of Elgard (the band's official narrator and story-teller) appeared at the other end of the stage, much to the delight of all in attendance. He spoke, pleading for peace in his "wonderful valleys," ending his aside with the desperate cry, "Come, Mighty Warrior!", which elicited another deafening roar from the crowd. "In Tenebris," the epic orchestral intro of the newest album, began pounding out of the PA speakers, and everyone knew that the Warriors were on their way. A blast of bright fire, a burst of blinding smoke, and Rhapsody emerged, blazing directly into "Knightrider of Doom," the furious first track of their newest full-length Power of the Dragonflame. At this point, the crowd completely lost it. Guitarists Luca Turilli and Dominique Leurquin were as tight a duo as I have ever witnessed live, speed-picking their way through this high-energy track like two finely-tuned machines. Turilli's signature sweeping solos were flawlessly executed, and Alex Staropoli's keyboards radiated with true passion. The song ended, and the fans screamed their approval.
I had barely caught my breath when the band dove into "Emerald Sword," perhaps the Rhapsody's best known and most beloved song, and my personal favorite. The crowd served as the band's Epic Choir this day, with half of the place joyously chanting the song's familiar vocal refrain: "I will search for the Eeeeeemerald Sworrrrrrd!" Wide-eyed and smiling, I joined in the chorus with uninhibited glee, hand outstretched in full Invisible Goblet-holding position.
"The March of the Swordmaster" followed, a waltzy, enchanting number from the newest album. This one has the air of a medieval drinking song, and I could just picture intoxicated fighters, fresh from a victorious battle, singing this song arm in arm in ale-induced euphoria. Vocalist Fabio Lione was in rare form here, leading the crowd in rounds of hand clapping and "Hey! Hey! Hey!" chanting. There was a Baroque recorder player on stage for this tune, though I'm not sure if he was really playing or just faking it, but he seemed really into the song regardless. Also, anyone who plays with a medieval dagger tucked into his belt is totally cool with me.
Up next was "Wisdom of the Kings" another classic from the amazing Symphony of Enchanted Lands disc. Fabio Lione did not introduce this song, instead he started off by quietly singing the first words of the intoxicatingly catchy chorus ("Holy Dragons...") then holding the microphone out to the eager crowd, who cheered the next line ("Keepers of Time") and so on. As they started in with the song itself, I noticed that it sounded just as full and wonderful as the album version. Fabio, Luca and the boys were tearing the roof off the place, and they had the crowd completely under their spell as they sped through the song with typical Rhapsody grandeur.
After a short break, Fabio, in the heaviest of Italian accents, asked the crowd, "Perhaps something from the first album?" The crowd cheered. Fabio shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and in mock puzzlement, asked again of the crowd, "Is this the voice of Belgium???" The crowd roared wildly! The band then played two prime cuts from the first album; the title track, "Legendary Tales" and the phenomenal, uplifting "Land of Immortals."
At this point, Rhapsody briefly slowed the pace down. Luca and Dominique retreated to their defensive positions at either end of the castle, while Fabio moved up to the spotlight at the front of the stage to perform the soft ballad "Lamento Eroico". This is actually quite a beautiful song, with lyrics entirely in Fabio's native Italian. After this short respite, the entire band returned to the stage, and Fabio announced the next song, shouting two words which sent the crowd into a fury: "Holy Thunderforce!" This fantastic, high-powered tune is the gem of the Dawn of Victory CD, and displays all of the band's incredible talents at once. It was here that I made another realization: even while performing such demanding compositions, each and every one of the band members was smiling and having a great time. These guys were truly enjoying themselves up there, and we were eating up every second of it.
The song ended with a flourish, and everyone left the stage, with the exception of drummer extrordinaireAlex Holzwarth. The spotlight beamed down and bathed the drumset in bright light. "What's a metal show without a drum solo?" I thought. Holzwarth is regarded as one of the top drummers in metal today, and he justified this praise with an amazing, powerful and technically immaculate solo performance, including some of the most solid double bass work imaginable. As he completed his solo, the spotlight shifted stage-left, where new bass player Patrice Guers (ex-Patrick Rondat/Consortium Project) calmly walked out and executed a solo of his own; a funky, slap-bass routine with tons of finger-tapping fretboard acrobatics. After a few minutes, Holzwarth joined Guers in a rhythmic groove, then the number came to a sharp and precise end, punctuated by an explosion and great burst of smoke.
When the thick smoke settled, the entire band was again regrouped on the stage, ready for more action. The enchanting, folky madrigal "The Village of Dwarves", was up next. Fabio Lione again led the crowd in a round of hand-clapping, with the help of a young woman on in full period costume playing a small, hand-held drum along with the beat (I want to say she looked like a belly dancer?). At any rate, this was a nice touch. The song swayed back and forth, from one instrument to another to another, pleasing the crowd more and more with each new change. Following this was the 11-minute epic "The Wizard's Last Rhymes", which would be the "last" song that Rhapsody would perform this night (the chances of an encore were about 100%). A quick "Thank You!" and "Good Night!" from Fabio and Rhapsody left the stage with a regal fanfare...
"RHAP-SO-DEE! RHAP-SO-DEE! RHAP-SO-DEE! RHAP-SO-DEE!"
The crowd was not about to leave without an encore, and Rhapsody were more than glad to oblige. A few minutes later, the noble strains of "Lux Triumphans" another orchestral piece, filled the arena, then the band blasted into the rousing "Dawn Of Victory" from the album of the same name. This particular song had the best fan reaction, almost the entire crowd was chanting the chorus "Gloria! Gloria Perpetua!" Another title track was next, this time from the band's newest full-length, Power of the Dragonflame. This could be the best song off of the new LP, and it got quite a reaction despite being very new. Myself and everyone around me were calling out "Mighty Dragon Rise!" along with Mr. Lione, and the whole arena was in a state of utter aural ecstasy.
As "Power of the Dragonflame" ended, every band member froze in position, not moving a single inch as the lights again slowly dimmed. "...and the Legend ends...", was the last offering of the evening, the song which sums up the whole Algalord Chronicle (the story within all of Rhapsody's releases). As the song came to an end, the goblin-faced Aresius emerged once more, slowly walking from one side of the stage to the other, mighty sword held proud and high. "Remember, proud brothers... everything is possible... when you let the mystic power of the Dragonflame burn in your heart... believe it... it's the Dragonflame!" With these words, Aresius thrust the sword into the stage, and a huge blast of pyrotechnics erupted from the stage, sending a wave of heat through the entire arena and causing the entire crowd to go absolutely berserk. The band took their bows and accepted the crowd's fanatical cheering and screaming for a good 10 minutes, then the house lights came on and the band was gone.
As I stood outside of the arena waiting for my ride, achey shoulder from excessive fist-pumping, sore palms from hand-clapping, sweating from the three Rhapsody shirts I was wearing one on top of the other (I didn't want to hold them) and hoarse voice from singing along to the Epic Choruses, I came to the simple conclusion that this was the best show that I have ever had the pleasure to witness, and I was very glad to have seen my absolute favorite band in their prime.
