Yesterday's gig was sooo much better than last sunday, i.m.h.o.
There was more cohesion on stage, a lot more communication going around to let eachother know where they were or when to begin and they all seemed to have fun in what they were doing. Jeff played his ass off and i couldn't see much of him because I was, again, standing in front of Atilla. It wasn't just Atilla that had a grin on his face from ear to ear. Also this time, it didn't leave his face and it's just great to see him play. You look at him and you start to smile, he had that effect on me and also on Simone, so i'm very sure we're not the only ones. Jim just makes me wanna scream 'Jimboooooooooo' everytime he stands in front of me and it's just wonderful to see him give so much. Simone and I shouted our lungs out and sang along as loud as we could.
WD seemed to be in control and was in a better concentration than last sunday. He pointed out that they had to play The Obsidian Conspiracy twice during the London gig and promissed us they were about to play it perfectly, this time. His voice was, again, great. The vocals were mixed way better this time. WD also made sure (" Are you sure you want another song? "
Yes, we are! " Are you really sure? "
We still are! " You are? "
DUH! Stíll not convinced? " Because I want you to be ábsolutely sure! " ) the whole venue now knows that there was an Iris in the house ...
Lol, someone in the crowd shouted: "
SPEULUH! " (Transl. in dutch: spelen) Which basically means: stop the talking, start playing! But poor WD doesn't understand freaky deaky dutch and thought the guy was shouting "
SLAAAYER! " " WTF? Were you just shouting Slayer? "
He took a laugh out of that and Atilla answered with a Slayer-riff and the whole crowd had a good laugh.
When WD asked the crowd if we sure for another song (he really wanted us to be ábsolutely sure!) and asked the crowd which song they should play next, he looked at me and pointed out: " Not fair, you already know the setlist. "
So i was flunked out on the game but he practically asked it in between every song.
I don't know what it was but he really, really wanted us to be ábsolutely sure ... lol.
Then it was time for The Heartcollector. WD pointed out that last week was a rough week in metal land. Dio died.
And he told us how Dio effected him as a kid and that Dio is one of his idols.
At that point, he kicked in the highlight of the evening for me.
The whole crowd started chanting: " Dio! Dio! Dio! Dio! Dio! Dio! " and Van kicked along with us.
Then WD dedicated The Heartcollector to Dio, who was probably up in the skies watching over us and shouting: " Stay metal people! "
That ran the chills up my spine and i shall never forget the moment.
The Uden gig was so much more convincing and I'm very glad Van put some more gas and 'drive' on the pedals yesterday.
As always, the working man blew me away and lets me know where to find me.
Along the gig I came to a point I was about to shout: " Die!" at the soundengineer because Nevermore suddenly turned punk!
Michiel thought it was the bass, i thought it was the snare but whatever it was, it sounded horrible.
Eventually it sounded Nevermore again and all came to a good end.
After the show, Van appeared on stage again to say goodbye to the crowd and get rid off his used sticks.
All in all I do not regret buying tickets for this show (I bought mine just a day before the Uden show) because they were really good.
I'm already looking forward to see Nevermore later this year.
My apologies to those who wanted pictures, i have made none. Which is actually a good thing because it means i had no time to do so.
P.S. @ Van, because I didn't had the chance to answer: I'm doing allright. Thanks for asking and say hello to D. for me. You rock!