Well, the show was Wednesday, and it was great!
Beyond the Embrace opened up with a short set, and was impressive. I don't think that many in the crowd had heard of them, and everybody just kind of clapped politely when they took the stage, but by the end of their set they were getting a lot of enthusiastic applause and screams and all that. More thrashy than Helloween or Jag Panzer, but with some pretty good technical work, and a combination of rough/harsher vocals and clean vocals.
Jag Panzer then came out and did a set that was longer than Beyond the Embrace, but was still not as long as I had hoped. They did a relatively balanced combination of old stuff and new stuff. They definitely have great stage presence, and know how to work a crowd. Chris Broderick showed his usual master shredder prowess, and Harry Conklin's voice was right on. He let fly some high notes that he held until I just about passed out.
One of the impressive things was how well they dealt with some problems on stage. In the opening song, Harry's mike didn't work, so he had to make due with one of the back vocal mikes, then part way through the set the mike started to come apart from the cable (Harry was swinging it around). During an instrumental part he just found some duct tape and taped it together. During another song, Chris' little radio pack hooked onto his guitar broke, and after he stood there laughing for a minute, he went and found a cable, plugged himself in, and went right into a major shred.
They all laughed through all of the problems, and showed the poise that you would expect from the veteran metallers that they are.
Finally Helloween came out and played flawlessly. They are definitely the silliest people I have ever seen on stage, dancing around like lunatics, making funny faces, doing things to each other, pulling pranks on the crowd, and all that. Michael Weikath's facial expressions reminded me of Mr. Bean.
They were also masters of working the crowd. Vocalist Andi Deris pretty much had the crowd in the palm of his hand. There was that really cool feeling of unity. Andi's vocals were incredible, too. He can sing in so many different styles, and that flexibility was definitely an asset since they did quite a few Kai-vocals and Kiske-vocals tunes, and Andi didn't have a problem with any of them. (I have to add that the Kai-vocals tunes sounded better with Andi singing them, and, believe it or not, the Kiske-era tunes didn't lose anything at all, and maybe even gained a bit!)
After the show, Chris (guitar), Mark (guitar), John (bass) and Rikard (drums) from Jag Panzer were hanging out in the lobby. They were all really friendly, down-to-earth guys. I think we spent most of the time talking about ice hockey. (I'm a Colorado Avalanche fan, like the guys in the band.)
After they left, I met everyone from Helloween near the backstage door. Again, they were all really friendly. Andi Deris has to be one of the most personable people I have ever met, celebrity or otherwise. Seriously a great guy. Michael Weikath was the last one to come out, but he ended up staying the longest. He's very calm and controlled in his manner, and I think some people misinterpret it as standoffishness, but he was very warm and interested in the people who were there, asking questions about them and all that. He's also a very funny guy. He's got a quiet, subtle delivery, but he is hilarious. He's also very refreshingly honest. Not mean or anything like that, but very straight in his comments. When he didn't come out soon, people were wondering if he was "pulling a rockstar," but when he did come out, he ended up staying until all of the fans were gone.
Helloween's setlist was pretty close to the one posted by
R*O*C*K*S* with a few changes in songs, and a couple changes in order. ("How Many Tears" was near the end, for example.)
Altogether, it was a great show and a great time. I bought myself the ticket as a present for my 40th birthday a couple weeks ago, and it was by far the best present I got!