Paid 30 euros to see Blind Guardian yesterday on their tour stop in Trier, Germany. On the Nightfall tour, it had been 28 Deutschmarks, which was half of today's price.
The lightshow as well as video projections did not justify that, nor did the stageacting, which was lethargic as usual. Hansi is simply no frontman, and his singing on the Imaginations tracks is partly embarrassing. Ever since he started to take singing lessons, his voice has become maybe "better", but less appropriate for the harshest of Blind Guardian's songs.
The videos added an interesting tinge to things like Another Holy War (war images, crosses of a cemetary) or Fly, showing that the band is often too easily reduced to its fantasy image. On the other hand, the projections to the NIghtfall material were the predicted drawings of Marshall as seen on covers and merchandise, yet applied in a playful way as moving pictures.
The set was comprised of the inevitable Nightfall and Imaginations highlights, with Lost in the Twilght Hall and the unexpected Lord of the Rings as well as the oldie Valhalla. Surprisingly, only two new tunes were played - the singles Fly and Another Stranger Me.
The reductions in the arrangement of the band's lush songs is always a pain live, but strangely enough, the long track And Then There Was SIlence was probably the best song that night and rightfully finished the regular set. I still feel I have paid too much, also given that Astral Doors are a decent Rainbow Dio-era tribute on cd, but sound like the thousand and first melodic metal group from Scandinavia on stage.
The lightshow as well as video projections did not justify that, nor did the stageacting, which was lethargic as usual. Hansi is simply no frontman, and his singing on the Imaginations tracks is partly embarrassing. Ever since he started to take singing lessons, his voice has become maybe "better", but less appropriate for the harshest of Blind Guardian's songs.
The videos added an interesting tinge to things like Another Holy War (war images, crosses of a cemetary) or Fly, showing that the band is often too easily reduced to its fantasy image. On the other hand, the projections to the NIghtfall material were the predicted drawings of Marshall as seen on covers and merchandise, yet applied in a playful way as moving pictures.
The set was comprised of the inevitable Nightfall and Imaginations highlights, with Lost in the Twilght Hall and the unexpected Lord of the Rings as well as the oldie Valhalla. Surprisingly, only two new tunes were played - the singles Fly and Another Stranger Me.
The reductions in the arrangement of the band's lush songs is always a pain live, but strangely enough, the long track And Then There Was SIlence was probably the best song that night and rightfully finished the regular set. I still feel I have paid too much, also given that Astral Doors are a decent Rainbow Dio-era tribute on cd, but sound like the thousand and first melodic metal group from Scandinavia on stage.
