The Z Files

Symphony X is doing a North American tour that will stop in Toronto on April 11. They’re bringing along both Epica and Into Eternity. That’s one sweet package, as all three put on great shows. This will be the first time I’ve seen SymX do a full set, as my only experience with them was their brief second-stage appearance in Gigantour ‘05. It will be my third time seeing both Epica and IE.

Now for the bad news: the Sonata Arctica/Visions of Atlantis tour is pretty much avoiding anywhere touched on this fall’s Sonata tour, so I’ll likely take a pass on that.

I consider myself lucky to have gotten the chance to see After Forever tonight on their first North American tour, especially considering that I only started listening to them around the holidays last year. In that span of maybe ten months, they’ve become my second-favorite band.

I arrived at the Funhaus in Toronto (the show had been moved from the larger Opera House) only 20 minutes before doors and was surprised to see only 10 or so people waiting ahead of me. After getting inside, I planted myself against the stage toward stage left, where I knew AF guitarist/grunter Sander Gommans would be stationed.

I was surprised that there was no local opener. Unexpect opened the show with a seriously twisted brand of metal. I can’t even describe it…they were just totally whacked. I hadn’t heard of them before, but I’ll be checking them out after that performance.

After Forever was every bit as good as I had hoped. The early songs were hampered by problems with Sander Gommans’s guitar rig: his wireless died only seconds into “Discord.” The tech wired him up with a guitar cable, but it took a few songs to get everything straightened out. The performance itself was excellent, though. Everyone was on their game. The set list was strong. They did a rendition of Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” with Bas Maas on lead vocals. The selections from the new album were strong. I was especially happy to hear “Lonely,” as I’m a sucker for the piano ballads. I wish they had played more than one song from Invisible Circles, but the set was still nice as it was.

After the show, the band came out to meet fans at the merch table. I was impressed by that. I was planning to hang out at the bus and try to meet the band, but it was a really nice gesture that they would come out like that. I met Floor, Bas, Joost van den Broek and Luuk van Gerven. I saw Andre Borgman, but he disappeared before I could get to him. I didn’t see Sander, which is kind of a shame because he was the person I most wanted to meet, apart from Floor. Despite that, it was a great way to close out a very memorable evening.

Photos at Flickr, setlist after the jump…

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It’s been confirmed by Mike Portnoy, although not officially announced: Opeth will be the opener on Dream Theater’s spring North American tour! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll come back to UB or another local venue. Of course, it won’t stop me if they don’t stop here. That’s going to be one heck of a show. It would be awesome to hear Mikael Akerfeldt doing grunts with DT on “The Dark Eternal Night”…wow.

Monday saw the return to Buffalo of one of the greatest guitarists in rock, but with a new twist. Steve Vai put his usual touring band, The Breed, on hiatus and formed the new String Theories Band. Because this tour is in support of the live orchestral Sound Theories album, Vai took this opportunity to go in a different direction, adding violinists Alex DePue and Ann Marie Calhoun to the band, along with new bassist Bryan Beller and Breed holdovers Dave Weiner (second guitar) and Jeremy Colson (drums). As usual, I had avoided all news about the tour. I knew nothing more than that Vai was touring with violinists. It made for some nice surprises.

The opening act was Zack Wiesinger. Normally, he plays a solo acoustic set. For this show, though, he was in band form with Guitar Zack and No Slack. He gave an interesting performance of quirky blues-based rock with side-splitting lyrics in the vein of Frank Zappa.

Vai was in fine form, tearing through nearly twenty compositions with his usual flair for the extravagant. This show seemed less self-indulgent than other Vai performances, which certainly had something to do with the new band. The violinists were an awesome addition, adding a new layer of sound and opening the door to new arrangements like in “For the Love of God,” which featured a violin intro similar to Tony MacAlpine’s keyboard intro from recent years.

The show had its unique moments, from the failure of Vai’s wireless unit that prompted him to actually stop the band midway through “Firewall,” through the Silly String assault on birthday boy Dave Weiner and a roadie who had the misfortune of sharing Dave’s birthday. I wasn’t going to try picking highlights because the entire show was at such a high level, but I was very happy to hear “Oooo,” “Firewall,” “Freak Show Excess” and “All About Eve.”

Vai showed on Monday that not only is he at the top of his game as a guitarist, but that his musicianship in general is better than ever. He’s truly one-of-a-kind, a fact cemented by his live show.

Photos (contrary to Vai policy, as I found out after the show) at Flickr, setlist after the jump.

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I was really pumped up to see Sonata last night at Peabody’s in Cleveland. I saw them once before, in Toronto on their first North American tour in April 2005. I didn’t know their music at the time, and that show was what made me a fan. In a way, this was a little like seeing them for the first time because I didn’t know the songs last time.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Gravity open the show. They were the local opener when I saw Kamelot last year, and they were even better this time than last year. Great bombastic instrumental prog-metal. I recommend these guys.

The touring opener, The Agonist, was less impressive. They’re just another extreme metal band, but with a female aggro vocalist. A girl near me in the crowd referred to her as a “razor-eating bitch.” They were OK, but nothing special. I was particularly unimpressed by the guitars, as they sounded like a flock of mosquitoes. I couldn’t make out one note of the leads played by the guitarist directly in front of me. No big loss, though.

Sonata were on their game. Tony’s pipes were in top form, hitting all the high notes. The new guitarist, Elias, blew me away. I was sad to see Jani go, but Elias is at least as much a showman and his chops are better than Jani’s. I was particularly happy to see him playing through a Mesa amp rig that sounded very similar to mine. My only real complaint about the show is the sound, as it was hard to hear Henrik’s synth parts at times. The energy was good, and Tony looked like he was having a blast. The setlist was no surprise, as they’ve been playing the same selections at every show. The choices were good, but not perfect. I would have preferred some different song choices from the new album, Unia, especially. ‘In Black and White” isn’t nearly as good an opener as “Misplaced” was on the Reckoning Night tour, and I just don’t care much for “Paid in Full.; I would have loved to hear “The Harvest” and/or “Out in the Fields,” which is actually the bonus track on Unia. (I wonder what it means when the bonus track is my favorite?) Sonata will return early next year. Only West Coast dates have been announced thus far, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some eastern dates.

Photos at Flickr, setlist after the jump…

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I didn’t quite know what to expect going into last night’s Epica show. I had never been to Funhaus before, and I thought that 6:30 was pretty early to open the doors for a metal show. The venue itself is a hole. I played many better stages with Lurid. This particular one’s low ceiling reminded me of a bar in Lackawanna that I played a couple times. There was no security to speak of once inside, and I was right against the stage. I spent half the show leaning against the stage-right floor monitor.

There was a local opener, Apparatus. They didn’t bring much of anything new to the table and their music had a mainstream vibe not unlike Evanescence or Lacuna Coil. (Not that that’s a bad thing, just not really my thing.) They were still enjoyable, and I plan to check them out further.

The touring support band, Visions of Atlantis, followed. Hailing from Austria, with the exception of American vocalist Melissa Ferlaak, they’re stylistically closer to Epica’s brand of symphonic metal. Their music isn’t as aggressive and they use male clean vocals equally with the female vocals. I hadn’t heard them before this show, but I plan to pick up some of their stuff.

Epica didn’t disappoint. I just wish they would have put more emphasis on the new material. They played as many songs from their first album, The Phantom Agony, as from The Divine Conspiracy. I really would have liked to hear any of the new songs in the “Embrace that Smothers” series, especially “Fools of Damnation.” That said, the songs from TDC that they did play were excellent. My biggest hope was that they wouldn’t play the title track, as it’s way too long and gets boring. At least that hope was realized. Their performance was excellent, maybe better than when I saw them last year in Cleveland.

This show was a great rebound from the disappointing Kamelot show a few weeks ago, and was one of the best small-club shows I’ve been to. It’s always nice when the headliners impress and I get turned on to a couple other good bands on top of it!

Photos at Flickr, setlist after the jump…

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I headed for Toronto this afternoon with high expectations. I really enjoyed the Kamelot show in Cleveland last year and had similar expectations for this show, even with the new album being a little on the disappointing side. Unfortunately, this show would turn out to be the antidote for that awesome DT show on Monday.

I arrived about an hour before doors and got a decent, if not great, spot in line. Once they opened the doors, I made a bee-line for the stage and got a spot in the second ‘row,’ toward the center on stage right. There was a (local, I assume) opening band that I won’t even name, they were that bad.

I was looking forward to seeing Leaves’ Eyes. I’ve only been a LE fan for maybe four months, so to get to see them live so early on is a treat. Before the lights went down, though, I felt the disappointment coming on: they use a ‘quiet’ stage setup, with guitars and bass run direct into the PA (no amps) and electronic drums, so the only things left to produce noise on the stage were the vocalists and the cymbals, which were amazingly left without microphones. I figured the sound would be horrible, and it was. Even worse was the prerecorded backing track that they used, which contained all the synth/string/piano parts and backing vocals (and who knows what else, since there were no stage amps to ’speak the truth’). They’d do well to scrap one of the guitarists (they play the same thing 98% of the time anyway) and replace him with a keyboardist. I’m really not a fan of backing tracks. Triggering occasional samples is one thing, but the full-length tracks are just too much. That said, the performance was enjoyable, but the sound and the stupid backing spoiled it to an extent.

I was hoping things would get better for Kamelot, but they suffered from bad sound as well. Their set list was decent (although they left out “The Fourth Legacy,” which I was really hoping for) and the performance was just as good as the Cleveland show last year. A really nice surprise was the guest appearance of Simone Simons of Epica during “The Haunting.” It was also really great to hear “Memento Mori.” I love when the power metal bands play their more progressive stuff. Still, I had a hard time enjoying their set for reasons having nothing to do with the band.

The big downer on this show was the crowd. Things got crazy from Leaves’ Eyes’s first song. I’ve never had to fight so hard to defend a spot on the floor (and I’ve had spots at least as good as that on many occasions). By the time Kamelot came on, my back was sore, I was sweating like a pig and feeling dehydrated, and I was totally drained. I love to really get into the shows, with the fist-pumping and shouting and all that, but it felt rather like a chore to throw the horns up during Kamelot. Finally, after “Memento Mori,” I bailed and went to the back where it was cooler and I had space to lean up against a wall and not get blasted by some stray mosher. (The sound was bad back there too!) Basically, this was a good show despite the sound, but the crap with the crowd pretty much ruined the night. Finally, to add insult to injury, I got a parking ticket for some stupid thing about not having a permit or something. The cop had just finished it up when I turned the corner onto the street where I had parked. I would have beaten it if I had left early, which I had considered doing.

Lessons learned:

• Choose carefully the shows that I go for the prime spot on the rail…going for a prime spot at the front of a raised area farther back is looking like a more attractive option.
• Be careful about the parking when I go back up there to see After Forever in October.

Setlists after the jump.

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On Monday, Dream Theater came to Buffalo for the first time in 13 years. After that show, I think it’s safe to say that the wait for their next show here will be much shorter. Bringing along Redemption and Into Eternity, they packed the UB Center for the Arts to the gills. It was certainly a night to remember.

Into Eternity opened with a furious set of “extreme progressive death metal,” as they call it, which didn’t go over all that well. I saw IE a couple years ago when they opened for Opeth and Nevermore at Showplace, and that was more their type of crowd. There were a lot of older proggers there who probably couldn’t wrap themselves around IE’s crazy vocals. Redemption drew a better reaction. A highlight of their set came just before their final song, when the bassist announced that it was vocalist Ray Alder’s birthday, and Mike Portnoy came out with a cake and promptly smashed it into Ray’s face.

Finally, the moment all had been waiting for: the traffic light above the stage changed to green and the guys slammed into “Constant Motion.” I had intentionally avoided spoilers about this tour, and it was a good thing because they haven’t been changing the set lists so much on this tour. I was really pleased with the set list, though. The new version of “Surrounded” was great, especially when Jordan Rudess pulled out his new keytar and came to the front to take a solo. “Blind Faith” was another highlight, as the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album is a very sentimental one for me. In the spirit of “Octavarium,” there was a new cartoon on the video screen during the instrumental section of “The Dark Eternal Night.” I really hope they put it on the next DVD, as they did with the “Octavarium” animation. Finally, “In the Presence of Enemies” was just amazing. I get goosebumps just thinking of it. My only wish is that they would have played “The Ministry of Lost Souls,” which is probably my favorite of the new songs. I’m guessing that they’re saving that for the next North American leg of the tour, in the spring.

I don’t know if I can say that this was better than the Cleveland show last year, but it was definitely no worse, and even better that it was right in my backyard for once! That spring tour can’t come around fast enough.

Setlist after the jump…

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What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with Canada’s great prog-rockers? That’s what I did tonight, at Darien Lake. I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Knowing how little Rush’s set list changes within a tour, I made it a point to not peek at the list, which is widely available on Rush fan sites. I like the feeling of not knowing what song is next. This tour’s set is a really good one, and it kept me very happy. It was, as expected, heavy on material from the new Snakes & Arrows album, all of which sounded excellent. Highlights included “Far Cry,” “Workin’ Them Angels” and “The Main Monkey Business,” although I wish they would have swapped “Spindrift” or “TWtWB” for “Bravest Face.” The emphasis on Permanent Waves material (the set includes four of the album’s six songs) was very welcome, as PW is definitely my favorite Rush album. “Entre Nous” was a nice surprise and “Natural Science” was just awesome. Neil’s drum solo was truly captivating. It began like any other drum solo, until his drum platform spun around and he switched to an electronic kit on the other side. After doing some interesting things with that, he switched back to the normal kit and played along with a swing/big-band track that was synched to a very appropriate video. Finally, the band made its first set-list change by removing “Summertime Blues” in favor of “Distant Early Warning.” A very good move, in my opinion.

The production itself was very good. The sound left a bit to be desired, but I’ve never heard great sound at Darien Lake. Use of video projections was good. There were entertaining intro videos to “The Bigger Bowl” and “Tom Sawyer,” and some of the videos used to accompany songs were excellent. All in all, it was a top-notch show.

Setlist after the jump… (more…)

I took the drive up to Toronto’s historic Massey Hall last Thursday to see the latest incarnation of the venerable G3 tour. This tour’s lineup featured Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big), John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and Joe Satriani. I was disappointed that Steve Vai wasn’t on board, as it’s very rare to see a G3 tour without him. I was excited to see Gilbert and Petrucci but, as much as I like Satriani, I’d rather see Vai.

Paul Gilbert was the first one up. He had the biggest band of the night, a five-piece complete with old Racer X pal Bruce Bouillet on guitar. I was mostly unfamiliar with Gilbert’s work going into the show, but my expectations were high. I really enjoyed his set. The song selection spanned his entire career, touching on Racer X and Mr. Big material as well as cuts from his solo albums. The musicianship was top notch on all fronts, and the songs and stage performance displayed the humor and irreverence that I had expected. I definitely plan to start building a Gilbert collection after seeing his G3 set.

John Petrucci’s set was enjoyable but predictable. He stuck to material from his solo album, Suspended Animation, playing six of the disc’s eight cuts. The band, once again featuring Dave LaRue on bass and Mike Portnoy on drums, was flawless. I actually spent as much time watching Mike as I did John. (Completely irrelevant to the performance: it seems like Petrucci beefs up a bit more every time I see him. His arms are like tree trunks. He could probably snap Satriani or Gilbert in half.) I think Petrucci would do well to bring a second guitarist out on his solo shows, as his songs have so many different layered guitar parts that it feels like there’s a lot missing when they’re performed in a trio context.

Satriani was my least favorite of the three. My big knock on Satriani’s live show is that he sticks to a very small pool of material. His set lists are way too predictable, especially when considering how much great work spanning his whole career never makes it into the set. I also wish that he’d either do away with rhythm guitarist Galen Henson or give him a bigger role. Both times I’ve seen Satriani, Henson has been completely buried in the mix. One actually has to strain to hear him. Joe should swallow a little bit of his ego and bring Galen up in the mix and let him get a little more into the action.

Satriani closed with “Always With Me, Always With You” and dragged out the outro, at which point he was joined by Petrucci and Gilbert. Both took solos before Satriani ended the song. From there, they went into the G3 jam, featuring Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” and “Purple Haze,” followed by “Going Down” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” The jam was great, even though the songs aren’t exactly my favorite style.

Overall, it was a good show. It doesn’t quite rank among my favorites, but it was still very enjoyable and well worth the price of admission.