Tobias Sammet’s long-running metal opera, Avantasia, recently released their new album, Here Be Dragons, and kicked off their European tour in support of the record on March 14 in Hamburg, Germany. BraveWords caught up with Sammet just prior to the tour getting underway. Following is an excerpt from the interview.
BraveWords: You’re 24 years and 10 albums into Avantasia’s career, thus doing An Evening With… shows make a lot of sense. Even so, how difficult is it putting together a setlist for your tours?
Sammet: “It’s not easy because I feel so sorry for all the songs we have to skip. There’s two ways of approaching it: I can be happy about all the songs we can play because we don’t have a support act, and we have all the time in the world to play whatever we want to play. They’re going to be long shows again – two-and-a-half hours, maybe longer – so we can play a lot of stuff. Some of the new songs are not extremely long, so that makes it easier for us as well. We play seven songs off the new album, which is about 40 minutes, so that leaves us two hours for older material. I think most of the Avantasia material doesn’t suck (laughs), so it’s not easy to leave songs out. It’s always a fine line because you have to play stuff that everybody wants to hear, and of course we can play the same songs over and over again. We will play some of the band classics, but we’ve dug up some of the stuff we haven’t played in a long time, and even some stuff we’ve never played live before.”
BraveWords: It’s refreshing to hear that you’re not just relying on the Avantasia catalogue for the Here Be Dragons tour…
Sammet: “I really believe in the new record; I think we’ve made a great album. I believe my career at this point, it’s not such an old career that I have to rely on the past. I still believe that I have a couple more years to create future past, and to create something that the old school fans will look back at and be nostalgic in 10 years. We still have the potential to create future nostalgia, and that’s what I want to do. I don’t want to look back and be nostalgic about all the things we did 20 years ago; I want to create stuff that people demand 20 years from now and drive me crazy with that (laughs).”
Watch for the complete feature story, coming soon.
Fan-filmed video from the Hamburg show can be viewed below. The touring line-up includes vocalists Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires), Eric Martin (Mr. Big), Chiara Tricarico (Ravenword), Herbie Langhans (Firewind) and Kenny Leckremo (H.E.A.T.).
Setlist:
“Creepshow” (live premiere)
“Reach Out for the Light” (with Adrienne Cowan)
“The Witch” (with Tommy Karevik – live premiere)
“Devil in the Belfry” (with Herbie Langhans – live premiere)
“Phantasmagoria” (live premiere)
“What’s Left of Me” (with Eric Martin)
“Dying for an Angel” (with Eric Martin)
“Against the Wind” (with Kenny Leckremo – live premiere)
“Here Be Dragons” (with Tommy Karevik – live premiere)
“The Story Ain’t Over” (with Chiara Tricarico)
“Avalon” (with Adrienne Cowan – live premiere)
“Let the Storm Descend Upon You” (with Herbie Langhans and Kenny Leckremo)
“Promised Land” (with Eric Martin and Herbie Langhans)
“The Toy Master” (first time since 2010)
“Twisted Mind” (with Eric Martin)
“The Wicked Symphony” (first time since 2016, with Tommy Karevik and Kenny Leckremo)
“Shelter from the Rain” (with Herbie Langhans and Kenny Leckremo)
“Farewell” (with Chiara Tricarico)
“The Scarecrow” (with Herbie Langhans)
“Death Is Just a Feeling” (first time since 2011)
Encore:
“Lucifer” (Tobias on piano that should’ve burned but didn’t)
“Lost in Space”
“Sign of the Cross / The Seven Angels” (with everyone)
Avantasia’s complete itinerary can be found here.
The post Exclusive: AVANTASIA Mastermind TOBIAS SAMMET Looks Back On 24 Years And 10 Albums – “We Still Have The Potential To Create Future Nostalgia” appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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BraveWords: You’re 24 years and 10 albums into Avantasia’s career, thus doing An Evening With… shows make a lot of sense. Even so, how difficult is it putting together a setlist for your tours?
Sammet: “It’s not easy because I feel so sorry for all the songs we have to skip. There’s two ways of approaching it: I can be happy about all the songs we can play because we don’t have a support act, and we have all the time in the world to play whatever we want to play. They’re going to be long shows again – two-and-a-half hours, maybe longer – so we can play a lot of stuff. Some of the new songs are not extremely long, so that makes it easier for us as well. We play seven songs off the new album, which is about 40 minutes, so that leaves us two hours for older material. I think most of the Avantasia material doesn’t suck (laughs), so it’s not easy to leave songs out. It’s always a fine line because you have to play stuff that everybody wants to hear, and of course we can play the same songs over and over again. We will play some of the band classics, but we’ve dug up some of the stuff we haven’t played in a long time, and even some stuff we’ve never played live before.”
BraveWords: It’s refreshing to hear that you’re not just relying on the Avantasia catalogue for the Here Be Dragons tour…
Sammet: “I really believe in the new record; I think we’ve made a great album. I believe my career at this point, it’s not such an old career that I have to rely on the past. I still believe that I have a couple more years to create future past, and to create something that the old school fans will look back at and be nostalgic in 10 years. We still have the potential to create future nostalgia, and that’s what I want to do. I don’t want to look back and be nostalgic about all the things we did 20 years ago; I want to create stuff that people demand 20 years from now and drive me crazy with that (laughs).”
Watch for the complete feature story, coming soon.
Fan-filmed video from the Hamburg show can be viewed below. The touring line-up includes vocalists Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires), Eric Martin (Mr. Big), Chiara Tricarico (Ravenword), Herbie Langhans (Firewind) and Kenny Leckremo (H.E.A.T.).
Setlist:
“Creepshow” (live premiere)
“Reach Out for the Light” (with Adrienne Cowan)
“The Witch” (with Tommy Karevik – live premiere)
“Devil in the Belfry” (with Herbie Langhans – live premiere)
“Phantasmagoria” (live premiere)
“What’s Left of Me” (with Eric Martin)
“Dying for an Angel” (with Eric Martin)
“Against the Wind” (with Kenny Leckremo – live premiere)
“Here Be Dragons” (with Tommy Karevik – live premiere)
“The Story Ain’t Over” (with Chiara Tricarico)
“Avalon” (with Adrienne Cowan – live premiere)
“Let the Storm Descend Upon You” (with Herbie Langhans and Kenny Leckremo)
“Promised Land” (with Eric Martin and Herbie Langhans)
“The Toy Master” (first time since 2010)
“Twisted Mind” (with Eric Martin)
“The Wicked Symphony” (first time since 2016, with Tommy Karevik and Kenny Leckremo)
“Shelter from the Rain” (with Herbie Langhans and Kenny Leckremo)
“Farewell” (with Chiara Tricarico)
“The Scarecrow” (with Herbie Langhans)
“Death Is Just a Feeling” (first time since 2011)
Encore:
“Lucifer” (Tobias on piano that should’ve burned but didn’t)
“Lost in Space”
“Sign of the Cross / The Seven Angels” (with everyone)
Avantasia’s complete itinerary can be found here.
The post Exclusive: AVANTASIA Mastermind TOBIAS SAMMET Looks Back On 24 Years And 10 Albums – “We Still Have The Potential To Create Future Nostalgia” appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...
