Belgian Sx show!

[Krizz]

Short review:

First up: Thunderstone! A bunch of guys from Finland rocking away, having fun. In short, everything a support act is supposed to be. Nothing really exiting, just some clean power metal fun. Those of you who were unfortunate enough to experience the dreamtheater support act Tiles will agree with me that the Stratovarius tour could have picked a worse band to open with!

Symphony X! My third Sx concert, instantly grabbing me by the throat with "inferno (Unleash the fire)"...Unfortunately not only the band's fire was unleashed but the horrific incompetence of the sound guy as well!!!
It was unbelievable! You could hear people fart around with the sound system for at least 25 minutes (which is more than half the show). No wonder Russell Allen gave a bit of an exhausted impression. He probably realized his outstanding vocal styles nor his amazing performance were gonna save him that night from the apocalyptic show-destroying talents of the sound guy. Sometimes you could barely hear Russell. It was also very hard at times to hear some of the guitar solo's and Pinella's work.

Obviously the sound system didn't ruin it completely for me. After about 5 minutes I just started laughing when I saw the look on the faces of the Stratovarius fans when they were submitted to the sound of true ass-ripping sx metal! The contrast with both Stratovarius and Thunderstone was so incredibly hughe! Both Michael Romeo and Mike LePond pulled out the grittiest, fat and most tight riffs both upgrading their already devine status. Jason Rullo "going octopus" behind the drums (how many arms and legs does that guy have!!!). And Michael Pinella proving to be the band's tower of strenght in times of soundsystem hardship making it perfectly clear that that wasn't gonna hold him down.

In short, and for those of you planning on going to future Sx shows just remember: 5 artists pulling devine stunts, torturing their instruments and blowing away the crowd with hard, explosive, complex and varied metal...That's what Sx is all about with or without a good sound system!!!

Almost forgot, there was the headliner Stratovarius, primarily demonstrating that the guy behind the soundboard during the sx show had to have been bribed or something. Their sound was perfect!!! It was a good show (apart from the moose - people on stage, which was something only the very drunk or people under 12 seemed to appreciate) great vocals (!!) but overall not really my cup of tea...

SX promised to be headlining in the fall!!! Their setlist yesterday was something like this: Inferno; Wicked;King of Terrors;Communiun and the Oracle;Evolution; Out of the ashes;Sea of lies;Of Sins and Shadows.

 

[karelrulez]

Short review:

First up: Thunderstone! A bunch of guys from Finland rocking away, having fun. In short, everything a support act is supposed to be. Nothing really exiting, just some clean power metal fun. Those of you who were unfortunate enough to experience the dreamtheater support act Tiles will agree with me that the Stratovarius tour could have picked a worse band to open with!

Symphony X! My third Sx concert, instantly grabbing me by the throat with "inferno (Unleash the fire)"...Unfortunately not only the band's fire was unleashed but the horrific incompetence of the sound guy as well!!!
It was unbelievable! You could hear people fart around with the sound system for at least 25 minutes (which is more than half the show). No wonder Russell Allen gave a bit of an exhausted impression. He probably realized his outstanding vocal styles nor his amazing performance were gonna save him that night from the apocalyptic show-destroying talents of the sound guy. Sometimes you could barely hear Russell. It was also very hard at times to hear some of the guitar solo's and Pinella's work.

Obviously the sound system didn't ruin it completely for me. After about 5 minutes I just started laughing when I saw the look on the faces of the Stratovarius fans when they were submitted to the sound of true ass-ripping sx metal! The contrast with both Stratovarius and Thunderstone was so incredibly hughe! Both Michael Romeo and Mike LePond pulled out the grittiest, fat and most tight riffs both upgrading their already devine status. Jason Rullo "going octopus" behind the drums (how many arms and legs does that guy have!!!). And Michael Pinella proving to be the band's tower of strenght in times of soundsystem hardship making it perfectly clear that that wasn't gonna hold him down.

In short, and for those of you planning on going to future Sx shows just remember: 5 artists pulling devine stunts, torturing their instruments and blowing away the crowd with hard, explosive, complex and varied metal...That's what Sx is all about with or without a good sound system!!!

Almost forgot, there was the headliner Stratovarius, primarily demonstrating that the guy behind the soundboard during the sx show had to have been bribed or something. Their sound was perfect!!! It was a good show (apart from the moose - people on stage, which was something only the very drunk or people under 12 seemed to appreciate) great vocals (!!) but overall not really my cup of tea...

SX promised to be headlining in the fall!!! Their setlist yesterday was something like this: Inferno; Wicked;King of Terrors;Communiun and the Oracle;Evolution; Out of the ashes;Sea of lies;Of Sins and Shadows.

Yes, at the Holland show saturday, Symphony X's sound was also terrible, especially Pinella didn't come through the mix. Stratovarius sounded great though. That Symphony X soundguy should hang himself.

 

[Krizz]

Hey man, sorry to hear the Holland sound sucked as well...don't worry though it'll be better once they get that headliner out of the way
Check out the drums on Dragon's Den (Twilight in Olympus)

 

[Pharaoh]

The sucky sound thing sure is disturbing. Seems like all these shows over there are the same. They don't deserve this!! Sure, the energy and the talent comes through (this IS Symphony X!)...but.........
Are they getting screwed so they don't sound as good as Strato???
It's hard to believe this would happen, but someone mentioned this as a fact for some opening acts. BUT COME ON - NOT SYMPHONY X!!!!!!

 

[Krizz]

All this just shows that Sx being a support act for Stratovarius is a double edged sword. Sure playing for a big crowd is a great way to get some great and fast publicity. Especially if at least half of the people in that crowd come to see Stratovarius and may not have heard of Sx before. Read the interviews, publicity is a big problem for sx. But the downside is that (unfortunately) as a support act the show isn't about you. It is about the headliner, stratovarius. So clearly sx should have been the support act of bands their calibre and not to some good but boring, simplistic power metal band. If they would have played with bands their own calibre at least they would have been sure that at least some one would have brought the right equipment that can meet the same quality standards as the sx music!!!

You are absolutely right, they don't deserve crapped up sound systems!!!!!...there is only one real conclusion here and it's that sx should be confident enough to pull its own tour!!

Screw all of it! I just know that i'll be back in the fall!!!!!

 

[scanner313]

I don't know if it's the same guy, but I think SyX needs to find themselves a new soundman. Granted, when you're an opening act you don't get much consideration on the sound board. However, when I saw SyX in Cleveland (on their headlining tour) the sound wasn't much better. The overall mix wasn't clean and the sound guy was 3 to 5 seconds behind the start of every single lead that both Romeo and Pinella did. Hell, even I know when they start their leads enough to turn the volume up on them a little. It was very disappointing to have them headlining and not have a good sound. I brought a friend with me who really doesn't know SyX's music (but likes prgressive metal) and he said he had a hard time making out any of the heavier songs. The slower, clean songs weren't terrible, although the bass sound was pretty lousy and the drums were very weak.

I don't know, maybe being a musician I'm nitpicking on the sound, but Iknow from experience that they could have sounded a whole lot better than they did. I fault the sound man for that, unless he's got some excuse. If you have a crappy system that's an excuse for overall poor sound, but missing the leads? Come on!

 

[Krizz]

Thanks to all of you for replying!! I think we all agree sx is awesome and worth another visit in the fall!!! :hotjump: