•
Rating:
Shortly after the release of "Majestic," Gamma Ray is already touring the world for its promotional tour. On October 3, the tour arrived in Milan for its only Italian date: a concert held in a nightclub, the Rolling Stone, preceded by performances from Powerwolf and Nocturnal Rites.
Nocturnal Rites held the stage well and entertained me (despite not knowing any of their songs) with heavy metal that, however, sounded not very original. It must be said that they did their best to entertain the audience, especially the singer, although they only partially succeeded: indeed, the audience tended to loudly call for the headliner Gamma Ray, who, after ten minutes of technicians bustling back and forth on the stage, entered with the captivating "Gardens Of The Sinners," sung loudly by the audience, just like the following "New World Order" and "Space Eater." After the first three songs, Kai Hansen (vocals, guitar) began asking the audience how many had already purchased the new album, receiving, in truth, not too many raised hands. So before performing the songs from "Majestic," "Fight" "Blood Religion" and "Condemned To Hell," Kai introduced the three new tracks, which overall managed to engage the audience. With "One With The World," the first part of the concert concluded. As an interlude, Dan Zimmermann's drum solo, who I saw in really great shape. "Strangers In The Night" didn't seem particularly appreciated by the audience, unlike the Queen-like "The Silence," one of the most beloved songs by the audience in Gamma Ray's now long discography. Between the two, a song that absolutely surprised me, "Heavy Metal Universe." What I've always considered a tacky imitation of Manowar in the studio turned out to be an excellent concert song, which Kai extended by interacting quite a bit with the audience.
After "The Silence," the concert approaches its end, and it's here that Gamma Ray plays their trump card. I have no words to describe the emotion I felt hearing the opening arpeggio of "Rebellion In Dreamland," an emotion evidently not subjective, given how the audience sang every single note of that song, which I'm not afraid to define as the absolute best in Gamma Ray's discography and one of the best in metal in general. But they didn't stop there: indeed, by the second solo, without any interruption, an unmistakable riff opened another historic track, "Land Of The Free," which didn't fail to engage the audience as the previous song had, especially in the airy chorus. With this staggering pair, the evening could have ended right there, but it continued with "Valley Of The Kings," another Gamma Ray hit, and with "Somewhere Out In Space," in which they improvised a guitar solo almost as if to replace the last chorus, which was eventually performed as well. At this point, recalling the finale of "Rebellion In Dreamland"("...have no fear, rebellion is here!"), Kai concluded the most exciting part of the evening. In the concluding "Send Me A Sign," the fly in the ointment: Kai's limitations as a singer become evident, and his voice struggles to hold up, especially in the chorus. But to complain about this, or the lack of some songs, in a discography that's certainly not lacking in hits, would indeed be complaining about the superfluous.
This concert was absolutely engaging, and aside from "Send Me A Sign," where Kai had trouble with his voice, it was performed excellently. A note is warranted regarding the setlist, excellent in my opinion, which drew heavily from "Power Plant," an album with many songs suited for live performances ("Heavy Metal Universe," for instance), and very little from "Majestic," a very wise choice indeed, as the album had only arrived in Italy a few days earlier.
Loading comments slowly
