Blind Guardian last night.....

[ElectricWiz]

Caught the Blind Guardian show in San Francisco last night. They were great. Very solid, good sound. Hansi sounded great, but doesn't altogether have the chops to hit all the high stuff live. He still sounded crystal clear though, and delivered 95% of his vocals spot on. Only that I think his higher register was a bit tired or something, and he had to lay off some of the really extreme notes. I probably could have used another song or two from the new album (though I'm probably alone in that, as the diehards don't seem too into it.) The crowd was VERY into the show, and after the Valhalla sing along was over...in between songs...they just decided to start singing the chorus again, and the band just watched in awe. Pretty cool moment. First time they ever played SF, so I guess there was a lot of pent up devotion there. Ha.

Setlist:
Valhalla
Ashes to Ashes
The Bard's Song
Imaginations from the Other Side
Past and Future Secret
The Script for my Requiem
Born in a Mourning Hall
Bright Eyes
War of Wrath/Into the Storm
Nightfall
Mirror Mirror
Time Stands Still (at Iron Hill)
And Then there was Silence
Fly
Another Stranger Me

...not in that order, and I might be missing one there, but I don't think so.

Great show.

 

[sixxswine]

Sounds like a good fucking time to me!

 

[The saYer]

Great show! I was the guy wearing the forbidden backpatch if you saw me.
Leaves eyes was kinda good, she could hit some pretty high notes especially on that one repetitive next to last song, plus they set the atmosphere for guardian. Can't believe a moshpit broke out, pretty fun. I was out of breath, I knew all the damn lyrics, haha. Fun concert overall.

Hoodies were 60$! I was gonna get it with my 45$ but then I said thats too much. I don't know if the 2 full color dragons on the front looked too geeky though.

 

[ElectricWiz]

No, I didn't see that backpatch, but I certainly will say "hi," if I see you at a show sometime.

Yeah, the shirts and whatnot were outrageously priced for a smaller show. I expect to pay that much at an arena, but generally speaking shirts are pretty affordable at a Fillmore size show. Wasn't much to choose from either, and yeah, you were right about the possible geekiness of the hoodie/dragons.

 

[Wyvern]

Nice setlist although they are not playing much of the new album, hmm...

And they missed Time What's Time

 

[DarkOne]

Cool, thanks for posting. I'm going to the Philly show on Dec 2, and I'm looking forward to giving Hansi another shot live. I was underwhelmed with his performance at PPIII. He sounded great on the slow songs, but was completely buried on the heavy songs. Hopefully he sounds better this time.

FWIW, Wyvern, I love the new album. I thought ANatO was okay, but a little complicated. This is getting back to the TftTW or IftOS days.

Steve in Philly

 

[carnut]

Well, I think I need to catch a Blind Guardian show once.. They play at least 3 or 4 times a year here...Now , I'm not really into poppy Euro Powermetal, but I keep on hearing good things about their live act, so next time I'll take my chance !!

 

[Wyvern]

FWIW, Wyvern, I love the new album. I thought ANatO was okay, but a little complicated. This is getting back to the TftTW or IftOS days.

Steve in Philly

Hmm, I disagree a bit. I feel the new album their worst (that doesn't mean is bad), I sense it mixed-up and unfocused. I love ANATO and I didn't care for their musical progression (or regression depending on who you talk to) from IFTOS (being this one my fave).

I hadn't found yet a song in ATITM that grab me really hard, but of course hadn't been able yet to sit still and listen to it properly.

 

[ElectricWiz]

A lot of the old fans don't seem to like A Twist....but it was the first one I reeeeeally connected with. I owned Nightfall and Imaginations already. Not only do I love the new one, but it kind of opened up those older ones for me too, and I really like them a lot more. Hansi's voice used to bug me, but now I really see them as a damn fine metal band, and the whole back catalogue makes sense to me - in a good way. It's always fun to discover a band late like that though, as I am just now thinking, "Shit, these guys are great...and so many albums to get into!"

Good stuff.

 

[Hatebreeder]

I saw them in Hollywood on the 11th and they were excellent. My only complaint was that Hansi went down an octave on some of the higher stuff and did a lot of that screaming (a la studio version of "Majesty"), which might actually be hurting his voice. Other than that, had an excellent time (as it was my first REAL concert after a lifetime of local gigs) and finally got a few band tees from somewhere besides Hot Topic.

Leaves' Eyes was good as well, and it was good to see Atrocity's vocalist in action.

 

[Fangface]

Past and Future Secret

I think that's the only change from the setlist they played in Europe.

 

[ElectricWiz]

Actually, I haven't checked in a few days, but they are switching a few songs everynight. So, just depends on the day. The core of the show remains the same, but each night a few changes....