30 years BLIND GUARDIAN. 20 years Imaginations From The Other Side – milestone, turning point and THE reference for Germany's most famous power metallers. After 5 years of silence BLIND GUARDIAN return with a new epos, Beyond The Red Mirror. The band's 10th album skillfully connects the yesterday with the morrow, picks up, where Imaginations From The Other Side and its protagonist was left off 20 years ago, just to continue telling the story of the past.

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Of course, that's a string of anniversaries that need to be celebrated. Big. And extended. And what better way to celebrate such happening with all the fans around during a huge tour? A tour that likewise connects the past with the tomorrow while playing songs from the entire history of the band. So, BLIND GUARDIAN embarked on an extended, more than 2 months lasting European tour, supported by Israeli progressive Folk metallers ORPHANED LAND. Every show will be recorded, so expect an extensive live DVD anytime soon ;) There has been an intimate and sold out show in the band's hometown Krefeld, before the regular show got kicked off. Everybody else of the area had to travel to Düsseldorf. The • Mitsubishi Electric Hall • opened its doors for far more than 7000 fans (almost sold out) who came to celebrate and party with the band. I was quite curious too since I was a fan during the Imaginations-times and didn't see BLIND GUARDIAN playing live for ages. A Night… Somewhere Far Beyond…

With oriental sounds :: ORPHANED LAND :: enter the stage. The Israelis have meanwhile left its mark in the metal world and got heartily welcomed. The fan base is growing ;) Before someone could say anything singer Kobi Farhi took over and made jokes himself about his Jesus-like look. He scored and the crowd was laughing. Unfortunately his singing went under a bit and many of the folkloristic elements of the band's music came from tape. And I missed belly dancers. However, it didn't narrow anything of the performance. ORPHANED LAND captivated the audience from the first minute on and let the crowd even sing and dance. ORPHANED LAND started with the latest album All In One and went back through history to end with the debut's track Ornaments Of Gold. Once again an awesome and entertaining show and I'm sure ORPHANED LAND will gain many new fans on this tour. Right after the band took a lot of time to meet and greet with the fans signing CDs and get photographed. Later the one or the other member could be found among the crowd watching Blind Guardian with a smile on the face ;)
Setlist: All Is One, The Simple Man, Barakah, The Kiss Of Babylon (The Sins), Brother, El Meod Na'Ala, Sapari, In Thy Never Ending Way (Epilogue), Norra El Norra (Entering The Ark) + Ornaments Of Gold

Nonetheless, it got quickly clear for whom all those thousands of fans were really here for tonight: mighty :: BLIND GUARDIAN ::. To point their status up they started with much bombast, power and epic merging in the new album's opener The Ninth Wave. Then already classics followed, from the sophomore or the Nightfall In Middle Earth album. BLIND GUARDIAN went through their almost 30 years spanning history, played songs from every regular full length, focusing on the new one, Beyond The Red Mirror, and surprisingly Nightfall In Middle Earth (instead of Imaginations From The Other Side, where they only played one song from). Special acoustic versions were included (Miracle Machine and Lord Of The Rings) and rare songs played. Every single song got frenetically welcomed and got sung along. In between the crowd chanted the band's name and left them speechless. Almost. Singer Hansi Kürsch was visibly touched and couldn't stop saying thank you. Tonight's show was a home run. The crowd was singing so long and loud that the band got kind of jobless and already wanted to sit down ;) My personal gooseflesh-moment came with the end of the official with And The Story Ends, from my fave album Imaginations From The Other Side. Of course, a band like BLIND GUARDIAN doesn't leave the stage after only well-done 60 minutes. Two encores followed, where again the fans took over at The Bard's Song. And then even a third encore was demanded and granted with a song wished by the audience – Majesty from the 1988 debut Battalions Of Fear, which closed the circle and ultimately finished an awesome 2hrs show, releasing happy fans into the night.
Setlist: Ninth Wave, Banish From Sanctuary, Nightfall, Fly, Tanelorn (Into The Void), Prophecies, Lost In The Twilight Hall, Miracle Machine (acoustic), Lord Of The Rings (acoustic), And Then There Was Silence, And The Story Ends // War Of Wrath, Into The Storm, Twilight Of The Gods, Valhalla // Wheel Of Time, The Bard's Song - In The Forest, Mirror Mirror // Majesty, At The Edge Of Time (orchestral outro)

story & pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography