Into Eternity to support Iced Earth in Fall tour

This is the first time I'm going to the House of Blues, and I'm wondering if they will be hanging around the venue, where you can talk to them and stuff, if not perhaps the merch booth? I really hope so.

You'll most likely find Troy at the merch booth. He's good at that stuff. The other guys are easy to find around the venue
 
It seems as though Saviors wont be at the 2/28 stop in Tampa, as the HOB site has it lasted as only Iced Earth and Into Eternity, so hopefully they will both get long sets, woot!
 
wow, read this on IE's myspace page:erk:



An announcement regarding the fall tour -- THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Official Century Media press release:

Canadian extreme progressive metal quintet INTO ETERNITY -- whose new album, "The Incurable Tragedy," debuted at 17 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart last week -- return to the road this weekend, when they kick off a string of dates alongside Iced Earth. However, the band's lead guitarist, Tim Roth, is unable to participate in the tour.

The group has issued the following statement to explain matters further: "All of us in the band, and especially Tim, have been looking forward to this tour with Iced Earth for months. Over the years, Iced Earth has been a huge influence on INTO ETERNITY, as anyone who owns 'Dead or Dreaming' [the group's second album, which features a picture of Tim wearing an Iced Earth t-shirt] knows.

"Unfortunately, the events of the past two years have recently taken their toll on Tim. Emotionally, he's a rock, but there are some important legal, financial and family-related matters at home that he needs to take care of right now. However, he's given us his blessing to do the tour without him so we can honor our commitments to our fans (who won't get a refund if the support act cancels), and continue to promote an album that we all very much believe in.

"Luckily, Sean Maier from our labelmates Blessed By A Broken Heart has agreed to fill in on super-short notice. From what we've seen and heard on his MySpace (www.myspace.com/guitarsfrommarz), Sean's an amazing shredder, and we can't thank him enough for stepping in. Meanwhile, Stu is going to do his best to handle all of Tim's vocal parts, as well as his own. The vocal harmonies won't be as rich, but Stu vows to do the best he can.

"Please know and understand that INTO ETERNITY's lineup is not changing, and that Tim will rejoin the group on tour as soon as humanly possible. Again, it's not that Tim doesn't want to do this tour; it's just that he can't right now. Over the last three years, Tim has led INTO ETERNITY through 300+ shows with death metal bands, power metal bands, prog-metal bands, metalcore bands and everything in between. We'll miss him out there, but the show must go on.

"Thanks again to all the fans around the world who picked up 'The Incurable Tragedy.' We weren't sure how people would respond to such an emotional roller coaster, but we couldn't be more grateful for our fans' continued support. We can't wait to see you all on tour."
 
Wow, that sucks Tim isn't going to be there. Seen these guys with Nevermore and Opeth, was a fan way before then, but that show was awesome. If anyone is in or near Danville, VA (right on the border of NC) my band has a show with Into Eternity (iced earth off date) October 9th if anyone is interested. Tickets are only 8 bucks!
 
September 26th, 2008 - Troy checks in from the road, and Sean introduces himself!

Troy checked in from the road with the following update:

"It's been a pretty crazy week for all of us in the Into Eternity camp. The insanity began when we found out that Tim would not be coming with us on the Iced Earth tour. Our initial reaction was to cancel, for how could we go on without our founding member? After much discussion, we decided that a replacement shredder would be flown in from New York with only five days of practice, that I would try and figure out how to sing and help out on vocals as best as can be, and that Stu would take over the rest of the vocal responsibilities. Easy, right?

"When we started the 14-hour death drive to the first show in Minneapolis, I can't convey how strange the feeling was of leaving the city without Tim - not to mention that this fill-in shredder had only five days to practice the tunes, and that none of us had ever met him. No worries, right? We arrived in Minneapolis a day early and picked up our new shredder from the airport. It turned out his name was Sean Maier. Sean and Justin worked that night and the next day, and crammed as much into his overloaded head as possible. The first show was definitely not perfect, but as a band we could not believe how well Sean played. There definitely was a collective sense of relief within the band after we realized the first show had passed and no trainwrecks occurred.

"The improvement has been steady with every show. It's awesome to watch such an accomplished musician take on such a huge task and do so well. Beyond his playing abilities, Sean has also become a good friend and fit in to this rolling circus easily. We've unofficially coined this tour the 'Hell or High Water Tour,' for the way we look at it, our backs are against the wall and we have nothing to lose and everything to prove. We've now had seven shows together, and it really is going better than expected. We all owe our thanks to Sean for his relentless hard work and focus. The biggest realization, though, is how accepting our fans have been. The unconditional support we've received through such trying times has been amazing. We cannot thank our fans enough for sticking with us and supporting the band unconditionally. Thanks again, and we'll see you all on the road!"

And now, here's an introduction from Sean:

"Ahoy ShredHeads and Into Eternity Fans... Please allow me to introduce myself: I'm Shred Sean from Blessed By A Broken Heart. The last 10 days have been absolutely crazy for me. I got a call from Century Media last Friday, asking me if I could fill in for the mighty Tim Roth from our labelmates Into Eternity on the upcoming tour with Iced Earth. "'Uh...ok,' I said. 'How long do I have to learn the set?' 'Five days. And then you will get on a plane to Minnesota and headline a show without ever having played with the band.' 'Um, OooooK.'

"So I spent the next 120 hours playing IE songs overandoverandover, washing my all-black clothes, getting my guitars set up for drop C and flying to Minnesota. And now I'm on the road with these guys - who are totally cool - and having a great time meeting all the IE fans and playing with such excellent musicians. And while I know there is no replacement for Tim, I'm grateful for the opportunity to step into his shoes and play for you guys, so the SHOW CAN GO ON! (And NO - this is not permanent, YES - Tim is coming back to IE, and YES - I'm still in Blessed!!) So be sure to come out to the shows, and come up and say hi, and let me know what you think! And if you want to hear more of my stuff, check out my band Blessed By A Broken Heart (myspace.com/blessedbyabrokenheart). We're really different than Into Eternity. Our new record "Pedal To The Metal" just got a 9/10 from Metal Hammer, who dubbed us 'hairmetalcore - which I think sums it up pretty well. And if you need even more fretburningly face meltage, take a listen to my solo instru-metal shred project GuitarsFromMarz (myspace.com/guitarsfrommarz). Be sure to let me know what you think!! Rock On!"
 
I saw the show in Charlotte, NC. The band sounded awesome. They didn't have a long set, and Stu spent four to five minutes doing a stand up comedy bit, joking with the crowd. Sean, also, did a guitar solo. So, it didn't seem like they did the same amount of songs they did when they toured with Symphony X. The band was tight as hell. I will be seeing them monday night in Asheville, NC.

Yes, I did the meet and greet with Iced Earth. It was nice. I won't be doing that for Asheville.
 
I saw them in Orlando, and they were awesome! Stu did his stand up bit between some songs, and Sean got to do a solo as well. Sean was really good at playing, but he lacked the stage presence the others brought, but I can give him that due to probably having to keep concentration since he didn't have that much time to learn the songs.

Here are some of the pictures of what I got signed, the IE shirt I bought, and the VIP shirt, tag, and the photo op picture.















 
I saw the Asheville, NC show. It was much, much better than the Charlotte, NC show. The band played more songs, no guitar solo, and they sounded great!! This was a much better show than Charlotte.