Artistii romani au lovit rareori scenele internationale, de obicei pe la extreme: fie muzica clasica (vezi soprana Angela Gheorghiu) fie ultimele gunoaie ramase pe la usa studiourilor de inregistrari (O-Zone sau Cheeky Girls). Desigur, in contextul economic nu calitatea muzicii primeaza, ci vanzarile. Vanzarile mari aduc profit, iar profitul ajuta la cresterea bugetului (ma rog, umplerea buzunarelor celor de sus, iar firimiturile se transpun in investitii). Astfel, ceea ce socheaza e lipsa de viziune a managerilor marilor case de discuri care ajung sa se lamenteze vizavi de scaderea vanzarilor magazinelor lor.

Mi se pare inadmisibil ca in anul de gratie 2010, cand mai toate casele de discuri s-au orientat demult pe mediul online, romanii sa se planga de scaderea vanzarilor pe suport fizic (gen caseta, CD). Este socant faptul ca ei se mira de ce nu cumpara romanii CD-uri, pentru care pretul pe piesa ajunge pe la 3 euro, in timp ce in magazinele online din vest pretul nu trece de 1 euro. Asa ca …

• De ce sa dea bani cineva pe un CD cand oricum audiofilii asculta muzica la mp3 playere si statii hi-fi?
• De ce sa dai banii pe un CD cand calitatea unei piese produsa si livrata exclusiv digital este mult mai mare (iar in mp3 playerele de calitate, inclusiv multe statii hi-fi diferenta se simte)?
• De ce sa-ti umpli casa de CD-uri, cand de pe fiecare iti plac poate 2-3 piese, in loc sa cumperi piesele la bucata si in plus, fara sacrificarea spatiului din camera?

Iar ca sa ma adresez si problemei pirateriei …. ei bine … nu exista problema pirateriei. Fara piraterie, multi artisti s-ar fi pierdut in neatul uitarii. Pirateria creste numarul spectatorilor de la concerter, iar avand in vedere ca pretul distributiei este in continua scadere, sursa de venit principala a unui artist ar trebui sa fie concertele live.

Problema pe care o vad eu este ca singurii artisti care se lamenteaza vizavi de piraterie sunt cei incapabili de spectacole online. Asta inseamna cei prea batrani, ale caror show-uri nu mai atrag prea mult (vezi Bob Dylan, Metallica … etc) dar in principal cei lipsit de voce si talent, cei care produc material exclusiv in studio pentru ca “nu ii tine” vocea si au nevoie de prelucrare digitala, astfel neavand talent pentru spectacole live.

Artistii adevarati nu se simt niciodata lezati. Vezi cazul U2, Nightwish, Iron Maiden, Norah Jones si multi altii … artisti pentru care vanzarea de “discuri” a reprezentat intotdeauna un mod de a-si face publicitate pentru reprezentatiile live. Diferenta consta in: turneu pentru promovarea unui album, sau lansezi un album pentru a promova un turneu?

Daca artistii romani nu vor trece repede la metoda a doua, iar managerii romani nu vor trece peste ideea ca “doar ce fac altii e bun” si sa se apuce un pic de inovat, situatia actuala de marginea falimentului este exact ceea ce merita piata muzicala.

                          

Although, for all good reasons, Moonspell should have been headliners given that they are the more mature and musically inspired band of the two, that did not happen and in the end I was cringing at the sounds exhaled by a very dynamic but comically noisy screaming thing (Dani Filth aka ‘the little screaming thing’ or LST from now on).

In all honesty I was never able to, nor will I ever be able to warm up to any band whose lyrics are untintelligible and spends the time on stage screaming various things while pound some rather innocent instruments (we can’t all be Brian May but still).

That being said, I wanted to give a 10-mark to the technical team of the concert. Seriously, I never dreamed of seeing perfect light and near-perfect sounds in a concert here. Ever since I started going to concerts, the only concert I ever saw with near-perfect sound was the previous Nightwish in Debrecen concert (the “near perfect” instead of “perfect” was the fault of the playback recordings). Here it was “near” because somehow Moonspell managed to break the sound system, first on the high frequencies and then killing it on the low frequencies in a manner that required a short break to fix things.

I have a strong feeling that the bands have been touring with their own stage and equipment so no cheers for the local team (comprised only from security from what I could tell, even the merchandise was sold by some of a band’s staff, which one I don’t know). For some reason the concert started almost an hour after the mark, so there are some ‘booes’ for the organization still. No concert I have seen in this country ever started on the mark, the closest was the first Nightwish concert where the delay was an hour overall but half hour from that was due to a very restless public.

The first band to take the stage was a noisy and weird thing which, aside from doing the screaming thing (perhaps the vocalist was a very upset person in his own regard) also had no distinct melodic line. For I while I had fun mishearing “lyrics” (if any) but in the end I was quite happy that was over. Their mark: 3. Small suggestion: stop screaming and let some music in.

The little crowd that survived the first band grew much larger to welcome the finnish vikings from Turisas and a well-deserved welcome it was! Turisas plays a nicer and cleaner kind of viking metal, with more folk influences than any other. Nice and weird at the same time was a very extreme version of Boney-M’s “Rasputin” that also feature some great public interaction from the vocalist. That was great showmaship from them, great violin playing, a very very pleasant stage experience overall. To make it even better, Turisas is the only band with ‘heroic’ theme that actually made a sobre and really warrior-like presence on the stage, with very few gratuitous headbanging, an attitude which (for the most part) also inspired the crowd and for the second and third song they were saluting with hands in the air like a real army instead of aimless headbanging. Their performance was concluded with “Battle Metal”, a very fitting choice to end the performance. Their mark: 9 (some slips during the final song and a little headbanging from the bassist which really felt out of place in the context). Snall suggestion: Come back!!

Moonspell was next on the stage. The self entitled black-dark metal band from Portugal (dark metal? extreme metal that gets themes the horror mythos, with a very heavy and extreme sound, spiced up with gothic lyrics every now and then). They started out nicely, creating a vampiresque atmosphere bordering the horror style of Clive Barker (one of their declared inspirations) although I didn’t really warm up in the beginning, I was pleasantly surprised by “Scorpion Flower” (of their latest album) as well as “Luna” (a song which has been re-worked in three different albums … come on guys, that’s not a good sign) followed by the only two songs I knew and liked from before “Vampiria” and “Alma Mater”. The only thing I hold against Moonspell is their signature extreme drum riffs (translation: pound the drums hard and fast until the speakers or the drumsticks break) which are present on three quarters of their songs. That’s not very creative. In the end came “Full Moon Madness” which reminded me why I didn’t really like Moonspell in the past (though after Cradle took the stage, I was kindof regretting I didn’t listen more Moonspell and less Cradle in the past). Their mark: 8 (should be 7, but they kicked Cradle’s arse). Suggestion: give some weed to the drummer, send him away on a trip to discover creativity or something.

At this point, the crowd became just a little bigger than for the first band, obviously Moonspell was the big attraction (and for good reason). As Cradle came on to the stage along with their LST,  even more decided to leave, prompting Dani to shout “Are you fucking out there?” (my answer: no, whe’re not fucking out there, we’re just sitting). Their sounds tortured my ears deeply, though until the end I was hoping to hear some of their older and more creative songs like “Her Ghost in the Fog”, “From the cradle to enslave” or “A dream of wolves in the snow”. When finally “From the cradle …” was played in the end, my ears were screaming themselves ‘no more!’ and while the song sounded quite ok, it was too late to redeem anything and I was extremely happy when they left the stage. Their mark: 5 (should be 3, but +1 for “From the cradle …” and +1 for the monster on stage who, by all rights, should have been running away scared by Dani … but it must’ve been a very strong monster). Small suggestion: next time let Moonspell be headliners, they deserve it more.

In the end, it seems my opinion coincides with most of the crowd and the order of the concert should have been: <that nameless band>, Cradle, Turisas, Moonspell (the last two not necessarely in that order, I would’ve loved to go home with “Battle Metal” in my head, but “Alma Mater” would’ve been just as good). Overall, the concert was a very cool experience which would’ve been much better if Cradle wasn’t there.

                          

This summer, we are going to see more of the heavy names and think that I’m only listing those that I either like or simply respect (even if I may not like their music). So, here are the artists:

- Goran Bregovic, comes to Constanta

- Depeche Mode (ah, reminds me of childhood), comes to Bucharest

- Sinnead O’Connor (sweet, but no moeny for that), comes to Bucharest

- Nazareth (the scottish band of the 70′s, famous for “Love Hurts”), comes to Bucharest

- Kenny G (the famous sax player), comes to Bucharest

- Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish, world-class soprano), comes to Bucharest

- Michael Bolton, comes to Bucharest

- Carlos Santana (wish I could go …), comes to Bucharest

- Motorhead, comes to Bucharest

- Manowar (the classic heavy metal band), comes to Bucharest

- Lake of Tears (their latest album? neeeeeh), comes to the Delta

- My Dying Bride (sweet!), comes to Sibiu

- Nightwish (funny, the band’s site mentions the show but the Artmania site doesn’t), comes to Sibiu

- Tristania, comes to Sibiu

- Madonna, comes to Bucharest

- Compay Segundo (cool, but don’t think it’s really worth the distance), comes to Bucharest

Unfortunately the announced AC/DC concert was postponed, as the band’s schedule conflicts with the Bucharest open-air festival, but the promoters announced the festival will be postponed too, trying to accomodate the band. Still, even barring AC/DC, the summer of 2009 will definitely be very hot here in Romania.

So far I hope to get to see Manowar (must get tickets soon!!) and I wish I had the time and resources for Sinnead O’Connor and Santana, but I don’t so … it’s good to have mp3′s and torrents.

See you around!

                          

I must begind by saying that when it comes to music and songs I like, I’m pretty much like most people: any deep change within the bands I like causes much fear, anger, grief. When Marco Hietala replaced Sami Vanska as the bass player, I was very upset and the change in sound that came with that made me never look at Nightwish with the same fondness I had ever since I first listened to Tarja’s voice, back in 1998.

Changing a bass player is probably the smallest change a bad can make (if music can be said to have small changes) but in Marco the band found a true leader (a role Tuomas was happy to give away and focus on writing lyrics, while sharing the composing task with Marco), a leader which didn’t take kindly to Tarja’s husband being manager and soon Tuomas and Marco were joined by Jukka and Emppu in casting her out and installing Anette as the new frontwoman.

What’s bad? Anette is not a soprano and while the vast majority of the old songs made for Tarja don’t really require a soprano voice, those that do happen to be ‘the creme de la creme’ of the Nightwish musical array. Moreover, Anette doesn’t seem to have the vocal endurance to go through the lengthy tours of the kind Nightwish has, her voice failing her quite often during this tour.

What’s good? Well, there’s still Nightwish. Tuomas is still making his music, with amazingly beautiful lyrics and (mostly) nice music. The feeling is not the same but then again maybe it’s good that Nightwish isn’t a static band and they’re willing to experiment and evolve. Too much time in one place leads to repetition and falling into patterns. I for one do regret Tarja not being with Nightwish anymore, but I don’t think forcing together people who don’t really like each other anymore can lead to anything good.

About the latest album with Anette, I can’t say too many good things. All I can say it combines the best and the worst of Nightwish, much like the previous one. There are some really amazing songs, such as “The Islander” and “The Last of the Wilds”, some nice like “The poet and the Pendulum” or “Escapist” but also some who don’t really belong anywhere. Ever since someone thought about calling Nightwish ‘gothic’ (though the band never went after any labels), various gothic fans began contesting the band due to the many different views about this musical genre. Definitely, the harder sound has won some fans, but has lost many of the fans of the original Nightwish lineup, the one that managed to gather some impressive performances in music.

Anyway … let’s go back to the concert in Debrece. First impression: the organization. This chapter was definitely one of the best I’ve seen in many concerts. Not sure who handled what but the outcome was great. The lights were perfect, with crisp clear colors, not faltering, not flickering, moving as they should. The sounds was also great, though with some shortcomings near the end of the concert, but I’ll get back to that.

The first band to hit the stage was the pop-rock band Indica from Finland. Having joined Nightwish for the second part of the “Dark Passion Play” tour, was a big hit for Indica whose album was produced by Tuomas himself. The bad did a very good warm-up job, with the dynamic all-female band managing to lift a lot of hands in the air, quite surprising given that the girls’ dynamic mood was quite in contrast with the more somber feeling of Nightwish’s songs. However, the girls were visibly tipsy, from (as the vocalist mentioned) having spent most of the day in a  bar building courage.

The second band was the more well-known Pain. The industrial metal  band from Finland is way so far from my preferences and their dedicated purpose of mixing techno influences in metal is definitely not my liking. Said influences were visible on several song intro’s as some ambiental weird keyboard playback which, ironically, was also the most imaginative part of their singing. Otherwise, the drums were simple (but nice) with some nice bass (good player) but insipid guitar (poot instrument suffered a lot in that guy’s hands, a guy who seemed to know just two notes which he was hitting so hard) and incredibly bad voice (seriously, the guy made me feel that if he had the guts to come on stage with that voice, I would have a chance for an Emmy). Bunt since the playback part of keyboards was the most original thing, I must give Pain two thumbs down … unless they chose the name to express what the audience must feel when the lead singer turns on the mcirophone. Another bad point was that the singer used “fuck” and “shit” every other word, not to mention in songs. Seriously, if I wanted to hear those words, I’d listen to hip-hop. But I don’t.

Then came Nightwish, opening the performance with “Finlandia” a very nice choice, although a bit surprising (not to say shocking). On the downside, I was a bit put-off by Pain and I failed to even begin enjoying it (however it was generally good to have opening gigs, the previous concerts had no opening gigs and the audience managed to warm-up only mid-concert).

I don’t quite remember the song line-up but I do remember a few highlights and downspots. Of highlights, Anette did a good job on “The Siren” (although Tuomas denied her playing it at the beginning of the tour) as well as “The Beauty and the Beast”. Of course, all DPP songs went fairly well, since they were made for her but she managed to make a mess of “Dead Boy’s Poem” and “Ghost Love Score”. On “the Poem”, thing is most of the song’s feeling cam from Tarja’s high comebacks which Anette tried and failed to do (attempts which I believe made her voice fail in the end). On “the Score”, it ws about the same thing but also the pre-recorded chorus failed to render in the speakers and the intro was inaudible, while the ending made a lot of noise in the speakers due to high volume (same recording sounded much better in Bucharest with low-volume speakers) which somewhat spoiled one of my favorite songs. Anette also did poorly on “Nemo” but at that point it made little difference, at least for me.

On the highlights, “Last of the Wilds”, “The Islander” and “The Poet and the Pendulum” were quite magnificent with flute and bagpipes played live by a guest singer. Also Anette did a very good job with “Dark Chest of Wonders” which amounted to an explosion where I found myself headbanging a lot. A bit thing for me was the fact that Marco managed to cut down on his “fuck” (I really hated him for using that word in concerts).

All in all, a pretty good experience, definitely one of the best concerts I’ve seen and a nice ending for the tour. However, my dying wish is that Anette will never play again “Dead Boy’s Poem” and “Ghost Love Score”. Now I’ve seend her live. Conclusion: she can sing, she can do some of the oldies, but some she can’t so … let he stick to those she can, Tuomas! Don’t let her ruin them!

                          

During this time I’ve ran into some hidden gems I’ve completely forgot on my CD’s, the G3 tour concerts. Personally I love the G3 concerts, where Satriani and two other guys jam together for a spectacular display of guitar mastery.

Arguably, the group may not be the absolute best but they definitely are some landmark names that have been forgotten by the outrageously snobbish Rolling Stones magazine. Also arguably, the tour is more of a show than a pure display of mastery. In once scene from the 2005 tour, Steve Vai puts his arms around his lead bass player and jams on his bass while the bassist reaches back and continues to play on Vai’s guitar. Same bassist later plays his bass in a pure Vai style, piano-style. Such things surely don’t have much to do with the guitar skill itself but with showmanship. Then again, if you’re going to a concert I’m sure you want more than just listening to music. If you want just that you may just as well stay at home surrounded by quality speakers and not by an ecstatic crowd.

The names I’ve reviwed in the past days are:

1. Yngwie Malmsteen: the swedish fat-man is one of the inventors of the neo-classical metal genre, alongside Ritchie Blackmore. The two are barely comparable since Ritchie uses fretless guitars, while Malmsteen stayed consistent with the classical fretted guitar. Malmsteen is also a very good composer but he is most famous for his orchestral concerts where he reenacts classical pieces. For many, Malmsteen, and not the more commercial Hendrix, is the true Guitar God. Much like in Ritchie’s case, I don’t remember any Malmsteen concert where I didn’t stay mute in awe.

2. John Petrucci: a regular of the G3, not sure if Satriani brings him because of his skill or because he’s always accompanied by his colleague and friend from “Dream Theater”, Mike Portnoy (who always raises a crowd). I like Petrucci because he’s a real jammer and, much like Vai, doesn’t miss the chance to improvise and innovate.

3. Eric Johnson: “EJ” is a rare gem to listen to. He’s been praised by the best (from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Santan and Clapton) and for good reason: he has a place reserved among the legends even if he’s not that popular with the media (save for the rare VH1). I love Johnson for his maddening skill and his instrument range.

4. Ulrich Jon Roth: an innovator, composer, rocker, you name it. He’s influenced many and he’s probably the second innovator on the guitar technique after Eddie Van Halen and thus a definite member of the Guitar Valhalla.

5. Steve Vai: possibly the one guitarist who’s experienced all genres in his career. Classical, rock, metal, progressive, fusion … you name it, he played it. The man doesn’t play the guitar, he makes love to it and you hear the sounds that come out. Alongside Malmsteen, Blackmore and Santana, he’s one of the most technical and eclectic player. Definitely the most technically accomplished active guitar player today. Ex-Whitesnake member.

6. Joe Satriani: the master of masters, he’s the guy who taught Kirk Hammet of Metallica and Steve Vai guitar secrets. Alongside Vai he started the “G3 tour” series (initially with Eric Johnson). Although thought to have been surpassed by his student Steve Vai, he’s also amazingly technical. Personally, I’m pretty sure it was he who taught the eclectic spirit to Vai and both players have been careful not to typecast themselves to a single type of music (and thus limiting their technique).

                          

Before beginning to describe my concert experiences, I would like to make a disclaimer. It seems that quite a few people can’t make the difference  between appreciating the musical style of a band and appreciating a stage performance. If I like a band live doesn’t automatically mean that I like the band itself, their music or anything like that. It just means that I like their stage performance. There are quite a few bands which I would go to see live just for the show, even though I don’t necessarely taste their music (surely enough, there’s a thing difference between “don’t like” and “hate – I would never go to see an artist I really hate, the others are split between enjoyable stage performance and … lack of care). So, dear readers, the following words of appreciation are not related to the musical talent or my liking or disliking of a band – these words refer only to my appreciation of a stage performance (unless specifically mentioning otherwise).

Now with that being said … let’s begin, shall we? My first stop (should say our, I know, but this is strictly a personal point of view – still “our” applies for every destination) was at Rockmaraton festival.

I’m not sure why most festivals around here are called “Rock” festivals, even though most bands clearly represent one or another metal genre. Still, there we were, at this rather strange festival. Small festival, rather poorly organized, terrible heat which kept the public away from the stage, all bad ingredients.

The main event was the finnish band Moonsorrow, a band which isn’t quite close to my heart style-wise yet on stage their performed quite decently with a fair amount of interaction, but nothing really out of the ordinary. The sound setting was extremely poor, a lot of distortion, but despite this the fans were quite extatic. A little surprise came however from another band, the opener for Monssorrow: the heavy-metal band October, a hungarian band of little renown, with only one album out but full of spirit. They made a nice show and the fact that there were only about 6 or 7 active spectators didn’t prevent the band leader from expressing himself very vigorously and trying to interact with the rather non-existent public. It was a pity, they deserved better, but … that was it.

The second stop came at Sibiu, for the Artmania festival. To me Artmania is quite the pinnacle of festival-making as they’ve always managed to keep it simple and having an accent on that which matters most: the music and access. Simple wristbands, good sounds and a climatized tent were this year’s theme. Having the festival in an air-conditioned tent was a good idea as it kept people from the unpleasantries of rain (although some would have wished for a little rain later in the show) and extreme heat.

The first day’s bands came out to perform in an extremely well-chosen order, all except the first as the doom(?) metal band of Frozen Dusk seemed a poor choice to open the festival with given that none of the later bands were in sync with them. Bucium sounded very well in their original blend of folklore elements with heavy sounds, deep voice and even fantasy, however their presence on stage was a bit dry and a bit shy. Their communication with the public was almost absent, probably taken aback by the lack of spectators, which still gathered for the second part of their show (which was also more animated on the violin side).

Agua de Annique exploded on the scene, as Anneke is very adept at showmanship and managed to stir the crowd from the very few seconds, her energetic presence (familiar in Sibiu since last year’s The Gathering show) bringing out the best in the crowd who kept their hands up throught the second part of her show. A good job indeed for Anneke, despite an awkward sound. Tiamat came in after that, in a great choice of order, as the warmed up public was kept in the plug by the swedish singers, who entertained the public to the maximum and keeping their hands in the air. They returned to the stage twice, despite some obvious efforts from the organizers to silence them as the crowd asked for more and they didn’t want to go without playing their “Gaia” masterpiece.

Certainly Anneke and Tiamat held the night in their hands, even after Lacrimosa took the stage. Lacrimosa has always been a musical puzzle. Certainly their atmosphere is a dark one and as Tilo Wolff mentioned once, is deeply rooted in the goth subculture, yet the music itself borrows from a variety of styles. Doom, gothic, symphonic, heavy, all influences can be felt on their albums throughout the time, which is probably why Lacrimosa makes the trends instead of following them, being very influential not only on the metal stage but also across musical realms (as some member of the London Orchestra cited Lacrimosa as an influence, for example). But, on stage, they are a very dry presence. Tilo rarely communicates with the public and only the fans shyly tried to unleash themselves on “Alleine Zu Zweit” or “Copycat”, but largely the public was turned to ice after being melted under Anneke and Tiamat. Quite poor showmanship from Tile & Anne and Tilo’s weird stage moves, not always fitting the music, definitely didn’t help.

Unfortunately, that was it for our part in Artmania as not even the next day’s lineup (much better planned than the first) could keep us awake wandering the streets of Sibiu, so around morning we surrendered and went back home. However, we did use the rest wisely and next week we embarked for the Felsziget festival, which brought us Avantasia, one of the best names in power metal.

The festival itself remained largely unimpressive, an impression which is largely due to the festival’s decadence from previous years. Poor organization and unfriendly weather shoved this festival away from its claim of being the sister of Budapest’s Sziget.

For us, the stage was opened by Altar, whose Andy Ghost is definitely a master of showmanship. His energetic figure manage to bring the best out of the small crowd gathered to greet him. Constatly moving around, his acid songs with powerful political and social messages hit the right spot and ignited great public reactions. He was quickly followed by a band of good reputation on the gothic scene, Epica. A decent orchestration and good communication from both Simone Simons and Mark Jansen with the public went a long way to cover the shortcomings in instrumentation and general sound. The combination of “screaming” sounds from the band’s main vocal (Jansen) and the melodic voice of Simone proved a bit strange and hard to swallow for those not already in the fan roster but this “doomish” style was just the thing for a lively warm-up.

However the party was broken by a great display of stupidity by the organizers who threw in the punk band Tankcsapda, a move which quickly dispersed the goth crowd to make way for the hungarian punkers who unleashed themselves in the mud. Surely, hearing a lot about sex & drugs isn’t the best way to end a fantasy-themed show nor to start a fantasy-themed show, not to mention that Epica’s Jansen was fermly convinced his band was opening for Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia (something he mentioned twice during his show). The organizer’s stupidity led to two shifts in the fan-base gathered in front of the scene, which in turn led to an even thinner crowd for Tobi, who had a hard time bringing the public up to speed with his music.

Avantasia’s show was full of life, full of spirit and each of the singers present there (including Amanda Sommerville who also did a number earlier with Epica) exploded on the scene in a beautiful display of sounds and color. The show was slightly marred (however) by Tobi’s language later in the show (probably upset at the public’s stiffness … thanks again to the organizers). I’m quite sure that a load of “fuck” and “crap” and showing of the finger isn’t exactly what one expects from a fantasy world.  Also, the late hour and a full day dimmed the end of their performance. I was also surprised to see how few of the people gathered there were actually familiar with Avantasia and their songs, but I guess that’s to be expected when living in the shadow of a name like Edguy.

What’s next? Iron Maiden, of course!!

Grades so far?

October -> 8  * good show there, should be 7 due to organization  but I give an 8 for great spirit despite the odds (small crowd).

Moonsorrow -> 6 * poor interaction, very poor sound, but good spirit and they came around near the end.

Bucium -> 6 * same as Moonsorrow, but benefitting from better sound

Agua de Annique -> 9 * their style might be old, dated and even boring but with Anneke’s presence on stage, even pebbles could grow hands and applaude.

Tiamat -> 9 * could be down to 8, but that would be the organizer’s fault who tried to silence them. These guys can really rock live and keep people’s hands up. Great spirit and energy.

Lacrimosa -> 5 * an almost failing grade for Lacrimosa. They basically just sit there, Tilo’s involvment was poor, I could give a 6 for his moves but I won’t. This is Lacrimosa and I want better from them.

Altar -> 9 * just like Anneke, Andy could make the dust jump and cheer.

Epica -> 7 * good show,  good interaction and involvment, but could do better style-wise. Having Simone in tight leather pants just isn’t the pinch of magic I expect.

Tankcsapda -> 5 * maybe I’m just frustrated at the organizers, but Tankcsapda didn’t do much either, except for describing the next song.

Avantasia -> 8 * should be 9, but Tobi should really revise his attitude in the effort of involving the public. Swearing at some random tent in the festival really doesn’t make up for people not knowing his lyrics. Just as in Lacrimosa’s case, when there’s amazing music I expect amazing attitude.

                          

The trip was pretty bad given the new rise in train ticket prices and the choice of transportation was limited to the much coveted buses of the Dacos and Transmixt Sibiu companies but it had to do. Beauty is followed by suffering (so it is said) so I’m guessing the trouble was worth it and as an excuse I must say that it was a rather quick notice trip, not thoroughly planned ahead.

Still, after some damn expensive dinner upon arrival, we dove in (by we meaning Elyme and I) the crowd, trying to reach a good vantage point that would allow us both a plain sight of the scene. We didn’t manage that save for the very end but still …

Marco Hietala’s Tarot band took first to the stage (during which we were still eating) but one could say for sure that the little crowd gathered by that time didn’t really warm up to them. We noticed that later on when The Gathering came on, who had to take it upon themselves to warm up the .. well … still gathering crowd. Amazingly they did a very good job at this and Anneke (the vocalist) seems to be extremely energetic, something that really helped the atmosphere given out by their songs. Still no head-banging at that point but towards the end of their show the crowd really started to gain momentum and activity and they gave them a well-deserved ovational good-bye, for a good show … though one would have a though time trying to make up the logic of the program … or to place The Gathering in a clear genre.

The most awaited band of the night, the Englishmen from My Dying Bride were up next (again a strange development from the twisted mind of the organizers) with their moody songs and simply amazing vocals. The shouting and cheers seemed never to end while the large number of people that came there solely for them tried to move up close to get the probably first live view of one of the greatest bands in the history of metal music. Aaron and Co did little to disappoint and soon the air was filled with his ever flexible voice giving life to some of their well-known hits but also newer songs. The general ecstasy was of course spiced up with the usual problems of general participation concerts, people stepping on your feet trying to move, people pushing to move forward and coming to a halt right in you (and then proceed to a general display of old-fashioned head-banging) … but what would open-air concerts be without this?

The sound during MDB’s concert were marred at some point by an overload along the drums’ sound system which resulted in heavy noise in the speakers. It took the engineers a couple of songs to address that but it was something that most people were aware of … and wasn’t very nice.

The downside of Aaron & Co was that the last three-four songs were not only in same register of his voice but also in the same general melodic line, which promptly created a rather dull and boring atmosphere lighted up only by some heavy drum solos. That was rather unfortunate. Another downside was the short good-bye without even announcing the last song, they just stopped said good night and proceeded to dismantle the drum set which instantly cut the fans’ hopes for an encore which would have been really nice.

This was all followed up by another change of the crowd’s lineup as MDB fans took either leave or a back-seat and gothic fans of the dutch band Within Temptation move forth. It was quite a gamble for the organizers since all these switches and changing in genre and stage setup might have worn down a lot of people.

Sharon, Robert & Co took some time to appear on stage, but that was due to scene decorations (brought in to mark the promotion of their Heart of Everything album launched this year) and not to mic testing (as for The Gathering) or drums setup (My Dying Bride). They also brought a pre-installed drum set which barely needed adjustments (as opposed to the other bands which used the same set only with a different setup).

I must say that WT did a lot more on stage than all the other bands put together and the public (fans and non-fans) really took up the challenge. Sharon’s sensuous moves (opposing Aaron’s spasms earlier) while Ruud and Robert were moving across stage continuously (changing places or charging other band members, Martijn the keyboards often found himself facing Ruud) really added up to their songs and general show. The opening song was an amazing choice and while most songs were from their new album (but already well known by everybody) older hits like “Mother Earth” could not miss from the setlist. The crowd constantly sang and cheered, especially during the two song encore which followed a short break. Unfortunately the second song in the encore setlist was followed by an interruption by a member of their personal staff who announced Sharon and then Robert that there should be no third song. Both of them seemed genuinely upset about this as they both took the microphone to announce their regrets and give thanks to the public which indeed was awesome.

Great show from Within Temptation and also interesting as I found that Robert quite often managed to steal the show from Sharon with his jumping and clapping which did a lot to incite the public, much more than Sharon’s moved (yet she was still the most photographed, naturally).

The night had ended but was quickly followed by a long walk through the twisted streets of old Sibiu, away from drinking rockers for the most part. Decent food, good show, tiresome trip … but pretty good memories still.

To some people’s disappointment I decided against carrying the Pentax to the concert. Yeah … sometimes setting yourself loose with the mood can’t be done with a brick around your neck. So, dear readers … maybe you’ll get photos from Sziget and/or Sighisoar. But not now.

See you around.