A dream came true when the European leg of Progressive Nation Tour was announced. It’s still with great regret that one of my favorite bands - Pain Of Salvation - had to cancel its participation in this tour (Beardfish too), but DREAM THEATER together with OPETH are already reason enough to take every effort to get to one of these shows ;) Much better, newly-discovered L.A. rockers BIGELF were invited to replace POS. Once listened I’m totally stunned, thrilled, blown away… since then. Definitely my personal band of the year! Anyway, OPETH I already saw twice this year and DREAM THEATER I saw two years ago with an awesome 2 hrs show. Ok, means hell-bent on seeing BIGELF ;) Especially since friends made my mouth watering after attending their shows… ;)

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…But… work before pleasure. Literally till 2pm and then afterwards for 300 km on the most frequented highways, on a Sunday evening during vacations. Of course, with endless stupid sites causing endless stupid jams I got stuck into… *hurgs* And I didn’t want to speed for some reason…hehe.

Of course, I was late and stupidly announced times at Jahrhunderthalle got strictly followed. I was in for the first shock coz I had in mind that Bigelf would open tonight’s show. Luckily they did not. However, rushing into the photopit, taking a deep breath and then I started taking photos of Canadians crazy-heads :: UNEXPECT :: This septet was going wild on stage and made me feeling like attending a circus (I didn’t do for ages). As I said, these dudes and dudette were totally nuts, delivering ludicrous breaks, melodies and singing performances. The bassist was playing a monstrous piece of a 9-string bass guitar I tell ya. Also the violinist was contributing unbelievable finger acrobatics. These Prog extremists were in fact really likeable but musically it was just too much, they downright rolled me down. I think one needs to get properly prepared for such a show; I was pretty overextended… ;)

Ok, calming down, taking a deep breath and having a look around afterwards. Nice location I’d say. Changeover was really fast, 15 minutes later and accompanied with a bombastic Star Wars theme :: BIGELF :: entered the stage to celebrate the Rock’n’Roll. Damn, I hardly could stand still for a second! I don’t know why, but visually I expected something in the veins of old Flower Power times, a pied clothed band… nope, instead we got a bunch of full bearded and charcoal-eyed gents, bassist Duffy with sun glasses and fronter Damon Fox with his hat twirling himself and his two mellotrons. At Neuropsychopathic Eye Mr. Portnoy showed up and hijacked the drumkit of Mr. Froth. Hahaha, what fun! It’s no secret that BIGELF are good friends with Portnoy and were asked by him to step in for Pain Of Salvation. Sadly, sadly BIGELF only played 5 songs. Three ones from their brand new album Cheat The Gallows and one each from Hex (2003) and Money Machine (2000). These 30 minutes of playing time passed by so damn fucking fast, it was way, way too short! And me? I was stunned, totally amazed, electrified, and stoked. BIGELF is such grandiose live band. Just wow! Found some new gods ;) A band to kneel down. Love them ;)
Setlist: The Evils Of Rock’n’Roll, Blackball, Neuropsychopathic Eye, Pain Killers, Money, It’s Pure Evil

Afterwards I had to arrange the interview with the Bigelf guys but was allowed to take photos of :: OPETH :: first ;) The Swedes opened their set unusually quiet with Windowpane. just to fool fans. Said Mikael:„For everyone who didn't knew us yet, we played a trick on you! So everyone who hates Death Metal, fuck off!” Hahaha… isn’t he funny? He then started humming Lotuseater. There were more of these announcements made to entertain the crowd ;) More than a few people were here for OPETH only, so the band got frenetically cheered and adored, while I vanished into the depths of the hall’s catacombs right under the stage to meet Damon Fox and Ace Mark for a short but utmost funny chat ;)
Setlist: Windowpane, Lotuseater, Reverie/Harlequin Forest, White Cluster, Deliverance, Hex Omega

Up again, Opeth had finished and the stage got prepared for :: DREAM THEATER :: Changeover was accompanied with DREAM THEATER cover versions by Pipo & Elo and with a crowd already singing along. It took some more time, increasing the expectations. Then the lights turned out and with the rainy intro a stroboscope-thunderstorm was closing in. Of course a live show of superlative followed. Nothing less to expect from the gods of Prog. Especially the solos of each band member leave you speechless. I absolutely loved Petrucci’s guitar solo during the encore. Hauntingly beautiful! Mike Portnoy was again up for all kind of gimmicks, jumping up and down and playing tag with his drum sticks. Jordan was riding his keyboards like a carrousel, wearing a magician’s hat or patrolling at front of the stage with his bearable keyboard. Only John Myung remained reserved. Behind the stage a huge screen displayed close-ups of the musician’s dexterities and animations to the songs.
Yes, I can say it was a great show. Flawless. Though, I cannot deny that some songs sounded similar to each other, missing certain finesse. Nothing surprising was offered, except for the fact that the setlist got changed every night. On the other hand, the show was far away from being cold and reserved this time as it was two years ago. And no bitching rules, everything was very relaxed ;) After a 90 minutes stint the clock struck midnight and the show was over.
Setlist: A Nightmare To Remember, A Rite Of Passage, Sacrificed Sons, Erotomania, Voices, Forsaken, As I Am // The Count Of Tuscany

Summing up: Yes it was a great evening! For nothing in this world I would have missed BIGELF. Ok, it would have been great to see OPETH in its entirety, well, you can’t have everything, can I? Only downer at such concerts the pricing for parking, checkroom, drinks and food. Also merchandise was fucking expensive. No shirt cheaper than 30 Euros. That’s a bit much!
As for me and taking it as a bday present, I got a signed digi-pack version of Cheat The Gallows :) AND… BIGELF promised to be back in early 2010 for a headlining tour! Yeah! :)

story & pics © Dajana