Artist: Stratovarius, Firewind, Eden's Curse

Venue:  The Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

Date:  16 May 2009 

Well it's a Saturday night and we have a full line-up of international artists on stage, what more could you ask for?  No it's not the Olympic Arena Moscow, it's the Rescue Rooms, Nottingham and it's not Eurovision it's Stratovarius, Firewind and Eden’s Curse.  Yes the Finns, the Greeks, the Americans, the Scots, the Germans and the English are all represented tonight as the Rescue Rooms got ready to Rock big style. 

Opening up the night was a band that I’ve been waiting to see live since their first album and one that really set the bar high for the night right from the off.

The band consisting of Michael Eden, Paul Logue, Ferdy Doernberg, Thorsten Koehne, Pete Newdeck and Jay Parmar aka Eden’s Curse, really rocked from the opener 'Masquerade Ball' and never looked back. This may have been a new band to many here tonight but by the end of their short but impressive set, the band had many new friends amongst the crowd that had gathered.

With Eden’s towering vocals soaring above the crowd and the guitars of Koehne and Palmar being simply outstanding as the pair exchanged licks really well, it was clear to all that this band meant business.

The set continued its impressive path with ‘Just Like Judas’, again the twin guitar assault really combined really well and gave the song an extra boost and with Doernberg really throwing shapes on the keyboards (which is unusual in itself for a keyboard player), as his expression showed he was really enjoying himself here tonight and so were the crowd.  As I looked around the room to see the massive nods of approval from both the Stratovarius and Firewind fans.

By the time the set reached ‘Fly Away' the crowd were hooked big style.  The song is taken from the bands debut release and was just superb.  Eden’s vocals in particular were just stunning, as were the rest of the band for that matter.  

The set really was an all out attack with the band leaving out the more gentle ballads, but this was only the bands second show together and the set really wasn’t the important thing tonight it was the fact the band were dispelling all the doubters in the Melodic Rock scene who thought the band 

couldn’t cut the mustard live but believe me those in doubt of this band can shove their opinions where the sun don’t shine as the band put on one hell of a show tonight and it wasn’t over yet.  

The set continued with ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, again with Koehne giving a spellbinding performance on guitar.  The band did bring it down just a touch with the superb ‘Sail On’ before rounding the set off in great style with ‘Angels And Demons’.  Although the song on the album features the honey soaked vocals of Pamela Moore of Sister Mary fame, tonight we had to make do with the honey soaked vocals of the band.  Not as much eye candy as Pamela but you can't have everything!  This rounded off a great set and one which silenced the critics of the band big style.  Looking at the reception they received here tonight I'd also say they won over a great many fans, both old and new ones present in the crowd here tonight as after the show a sizeable crowd were see gathered around the merch stand buying up CD's and t-shirts like they were going out of fashion.  It may have been three years we've had to wait to see this band live in the UK but after tonight's sterling performance I'd say it was well worth that wait.  Let's hope it kick starts an plethora of tours in the not to distant future. 

Now with the bar raised by Eden’s Curse it was time to show if Firewind were gonna follow on where the Curse left off and from the off Apollo and the rest of the guys did just that.

Opening up with ‘Head Up High’ it was plain to see a good percentage of the crowd were Firewind fans and they just erupted into a sweaty head-banging mass, with Gus G his usual flamboyant self spewing out the riffs. The pace never eased one iota as they powered through with the excellent ‘Tyranny’ and the equally fantastic ‘Destination Forever’.  Like Eden’s Curse before them they were restricted to a short set due to the venues ridiculous curfew.  

So it was an all guns blazing set from the masters of Greek metal as they continued with one of my favourites from the band, the masterful ‘Angels Forgive Me’, again with Gus G was throwing more shapes than a day out at Legoland.

Another favourite of mine and the rest of the crowd was next, the powerhouse ‘Mercenary Man’, which again saw the crowd raise the horns in salute to this no holds barred metal.  Even the new song ‘Days Of No Trust’ went down a storm.  

After ‘I Am The Anger’ it was time for the band to get a little 

funky, especially bassist Petros Christo, who showed us a few dance moves as the band gave a metal vibe to their cover of ‘Maniac’.  

The set was rounded off with a master class in Melodic Metal with ‘Falling To Pieces’, again another top notch track and again an all too short set, but like Eden’s Curse I’m sure they will be back with a headline show very soon. 

Now to the main event Stratovarius.  A band that have had more than their fair share of band problems over the past five or six years, with the main fact being the departure of guitarist Timo Tolkki.

But all this has now been resolved and we have the bright new guitarist Matias Kupiainen stepping up the plate and believe me this guy can play.  New bassist Lauri Porra was also up for the show along with old hands Timo Kotipelto, Jorg Michael and Jens Johansson.

They opened up their account with ‘Hunting High And Low’ and just as the bands before them they were really up for the show tonight.  Despite Kotipelto having a cold this thankfully didn’t seem to effect his voice or performance.  I have to say that for most of the show I was just blown away by Kupiainen’s guitar playing, he is more that capable of filling Tolkki’s shoes.  This young twenty five year old was pulling out all the stops like he’d been at this for years and this was actually just the second live show he'd played with the band.  Equally up for it was bassist Lauri Porra, who covered most of the stage and at one point the photo pit too!

The band continued to impress with ‘ Speed Of Light’ and the spectacular ‘Kiss Of Judas’, both bringing out the best in Kupiainen, who's only criticism is his slight lack of stage presence, although I’m sure this will come in time.  Anyway we got plenty from Porra who was running about like a Duracell bunny on acid and seemed to be enjoying every minute of the show as much as we were.

It was time for something from the band latest album 'Polaris' with ‘Higher We Go’, which went down a storm with the capacity crowd, as did the older material like ‘Forever Free’ and the excellent 'Million Light Years Away’, before picking things up big time with one of the tracks of the night the superb ‘Forever Free’.

Then it was time again for something new with ‘Winter Skies’, which Jens Johansson got underway and was followed in quick succession by ‘Phoenix’ and the fantastic ‘Forever’, which had the crowd singing along to every word so loud and beautifully it fairly brought a lump to your throat.  

But highlight of the night had to be the 

phenomenal ‘Eagle Heart’, which was when Porra decided to get up close and personal with the crowd as he entered the photo pit, much to the delight of the front row and all of which rounded off the set before the obligatory encore.  

The band finished off their great set with ‘Black Diamond’, a great track to end a great night, where every band gave 110% and each one could have easily done double their allotted set times.  This may have been the first time I'd seen all but Firewind perform live, but after the performances witnessed here tonight in the red hot Rescue Rooms, I promise you it won't be the last.  Had I known this trio of  touring bands were going to be quite so exhilarating I'd have booked more time off work to go see more shows, maybe next time.

 

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