The older you get the more you miss the simple things in life. That’s why I was so excited when Blind Guardian announced the dates for their Sacred Worlds And Songs Divine 2010 World Tour.
“The Bard’s are back, the Bard’s are back” I was acting like a kid in a candy store!
It took four long years for this great power metal band out of Germany to return to Denver and believe me, I was not the only one who felt this was way too long of an absence.
In today’s economic turmoil the decision of which Metal shows to attend is not an easy task! But make no mistake, the Rocky Mountain Metal heads made sure they would not miss this event. This has been by far the best crowd I have seen in the Bluebird Theater in a long time.
Support on this tour came from the Floridian Power metal outfit Seven Kingdoms and the up and newcomer heavy metal dudes of Holy Grail.
Now I never heard of the former, but apparently they played at ProgPower 2010 in Atlanta and several people told me they really kicked ass. With two albums under their belt the guys behind vocalist Sabrina made sure their fans got a well balanced set within a limited time. To my surprise a lot of the audience knew each and every song. Well, this was the theme for tonight’s performance, the sing along part, but more to that later. They ended their great but short set with the self titled song “Seven Kingdoms” and the chants for an encore was unfortunately not rewarded.
With a great stage presence and pure fun to watch, I will definitely keep my eyes open for the next time they hit this region.
Next up was Holy Grail. I saw them opening for Exodus earlier this year and let me tell you, they blew me away, and this does not happen that often anymore.
Hailing from southern California it is so refreshing that they did not jump onto the retro-thrash bandwagon but rather delight us with their pure unadulterated version of traditional heavy metal. Not that I don’t like retro-thrash, but to be honest, this horse has been beaten to death in the last couple of years.
A buddy of mine said they should be more Accept and less Triumphant, but I think Holy Grail’s music is like a breeze of fresh air in this oversaturated realm called Metal.
Front man and vocalist James Paul Luna sure knows how to keep their audience on their feet. His vocal range is amazing and all without any formal voice lessons. Eli Santana and James LaRue sure know how to whip out those soothing guitar solos and riffs that remind me the great Judas Priest or Maiden eras. Wow!
Tyler Meahl behind his drums does not rely on the ever so popular formula of faster is better and let’s hit the shit out of the triggers. His drumming is to the point and complements the overall heaviness of each and every of their songs. Blake Mount on the bass axe is not an afterthought, but rather a vital part of the outfit.
They played crowd pleasers such as “Immortal Man” and “Fight to Kill” but also made the audience chant along the lines of “Hollow Ground” and “Call to Valhalla”. Which the latter for me is one of the strongest songs of their debut album Crisis in Utopia which was just released a couple of months ago.
The only bad thing that evening was that their sound was not up to par. But this I have to fault on the FOH guy and not the band. Nevertheless, the whole audience had a blast and chants of their name rang thru the entire Bluebird.
Those guys have achieved so much already in a couple of years that one has to wonder how far they will go. Holy Grail already played at some very impressive festivals in Europe, been on tour with Amon Amarth, Exodus and now Blind Guardian and already lined up some impressive performances for 2011.
I for sure will catch them live again in February in support of Eluveitie and can’t wait to be mesmerized by their triumphant way of heavy metal.
Then it was time for the Bard’s to take the stage. Like I mentioned earlier, Blind Guardian had not been to Denver since 2006 when they toured for the "A Twist In The Myth” album, so it was overdue for them to grace us with their presence.
I was kind of skeptical how many people would show up on a Sunday night, but holy crap, doors opened at 7pm and by 4pm there was already a line in front of the Bluebird. NICE!
This was, like all Bluebird shows, an all ages event, but us older (mature) folks were clearly the main audience that night. And for good reason, Hansi Kürsch (vocals) and his Bards have been around since the mid ‘80’s and we get less and less older bands from any country to tour the US. So this made that night even more special.
With Hansi and Andre Olbrich (guitar) the only original members remaining, Blind Guardian did not miss a beat at all. Marcus Siepen on rhythm guitar has been with them since 1987 and for all I am concerned, Oliver Holzwarth should be considered a full member; session bassist since 1997 the year Hansi decided to just sing and not play the bass. And the same goes for keyboardist Michael Schüren. Hmmm,…anyhow with their ‘newest’ member in the fold, drummer Frederik Ehmke, Blind Guardian is still after all those years a force to be reckoned with and they made sure everyone knows it.
It was fantastic and to be honest I don’t even know why Hansi took the microphone. Each and every song they played was sung along by they audience, and I am NOT kidding here.
They opened the evening with “Sacred World” from their newest album and played a mix of songs from all over the years after that. “Valhalla” and “Mirror Mirror” echoed throughout the entire venue.
Hansi did an awesome job that night. His voice was crisp and carried gracious across the room; he had a great time on stage and even took song requests. Well, he made the audience think so, “And then there was Silence” which was one of the last songs they played was actually on the set list, but no one cared because he sold it so good.
One of the highlights for me was when Andre came out with his acoustic guitar and the room went into frenzy. We all knew which song was coming; “The Bard’s Song – In the Forest” and I shit you not, everybody was singing along. Hansi maybe sang 3 notes and the rest was all us. I hope someone made a video because it was just overwhelming.
Blind Guardian had the time of their lives on stage and were feeding off the audience that showed them once and for all,…it has been way too long since they played here. And Hansi promised, after announcing we were the best so far (and the Denver date was at the end of their tour), that he will not wait that long to return because “Now you all know The Bards and their songs”
This was by far one of the better gigs I attended in 2010 and I am already longing for them to come back.
For more pictures please check right HERE
For more pictures please check right HERE