Domingo, 4 de Junho de 2006
Concerts : King Diamond Madrid 31 th May 2006
Day 2 - Wednesday, 31 May 2006 - Show in Madrid
Well, more 450 kms to go to Madrid. Went directly to the centre as I lost myself and couldn't reach the hotel. Madrid circular roads (M30, M40, M50 etc) are a pain in the ass.
The venue is small, and as I was in the day before in the front row, in this show I prefered to be in the back and see the show in a more relaxed way.
Differences from the show in the day before ... regarding the supporting bands, their playing order was changed (their level of importance in the show is the same).
Regarding King’s show, the venue is smaller, being the stage also smaller, so they didn't put the laterals of the stage king is using, being only the drum kit and the amplifiers. Regarding the show, things are so planned that there is no room for improvisation, being the shows very equal. Nevertheless, I think sound was better here (or maybe my location had something to do with it).
The reason I went to two shows … It is difficult to see him for 90 minutes, after so many years and then say goodbye again ...
As you can see too many years between shows … I saw King for the first time in 1990 (Madrid Conspiracy Tour), again in 1999 (Eindhoven MF 9 Tour), 2001 (Oporto House of God Tour - first and only time in Portugal), and 2006 (Granada and Madrid Puppet Master Tour).
It was comfortable to see Granada show and feeling that in the day after, I would see them again ... To me, and probably to some of you that I've been "talking over the years" (from Eric's list for example), king is somehow like a close friend, and is difficult to say goodbye and be away for so many time. "De são e de louco todos temos um pouco" ...
Day +1 - Thursday, 01 June 2006
All day travelling back to Algarve (750 Kms).
Well, after 1750 Kms .. I would say that it was not cheap, nor easy (travelling alone) but of course it was worthwhile.
Btw, nice merchandise King had seeling … missed the (tea) mugs that sold out.
See you hopefully soon,
PR
Concerts : King Diamond Granada 30 th May 2006
Day -2 Sunday, 28 May 2006
Well, the trip begins with the first 280 kms from Lisbon to Algarve (South of Portugal), where I stayed at my parent’s summer apartment, so that I could go to the beach in the days before and after the shows (took one week vacations).
Day -1 Monday, 29 May 2006
Beach and prepare the bag for the next three long and hard days.
Day 1 - Tuesday, 30 May 2006 - Show in Granada
The day began with the trip to Granada, more or less 500 kms from Portimão (Algarve). The weather was nice to travel, as it was cloudy, the sun only appearing in the afternoon.
The trip was smooth, and I arrived at the middle of the afternoon to the hotel. My luck ... asking in the hotel for the place of the venue, I found out that it was in front of the hotel, and I just didn't know it. After settling in, took a bit on the internet to check the adress of the Madrid venue, to find out it had changed. If I hadn't check, I would go to the wrong place in the next day, not to pleasant when you think in Madrid's traffic. The strangest thing is that "Coven" still had the first venue ... and has i would find out later, even Matt (Thompson) didn't know of the change.
As I knew that I could go walking to the venue, I went out to explore the surroundings. The venue is located in an industrial part of Granada, just at the end of the city, in the middle of several car dealers. It is something like a warehouse, with a big desert area in front of it, used as a parking lot, making it very accessible to see what’s going on. The tour buses were already there, but with only a security at sight.
Decided to take a walk around, but basically around it you only had Carrefour with a big McDonalds sign. First happening of the day ... as I was ordering my burger, I noticed two guys and a girl (Jodi ?) in a table ... no more than Hal Patino and Mike Wead ... Wow !!! I was looking, trying to really check if it were them (because I was having doubts), and they left even before I sat. ... how unreal. When I got out, Andy La Rocque was ordering ... I thought I was having a fucking McDonalds gift !!! Well, I didn't bothered them and returned to the venue surroundings to get in line, so that I could get a good place.
The venue is nice, although I still doubt their sound capabilities (we'll get there).
First band of the night - Thunderbolt. They're (were) good although their sound is not that innovative. But the lead vocalist really impressed me because the place was almost empty when they started playing, and he really acted as a frontman, motivating people, even singing in the middle of the crowd (we jumped the pit, and cross the barrier). What I didn’t like .. the level of their sond was too damn loud.
Second band of the night - Griffin.
What a shit !!!! Specially their lead vocals. No more to say.
Let us go to King ... the set list was the same as reviewed on other cities of this European Tour. I would say that it is almost perfect except for the puppet master tracks … I would choose differently !
- Intro
- Funeral
- Arrival
- A mansion in darkness
- The family ghost
- Black horsemen
- Spare this life
- Mansion in sorrow
- Sorry dear
- Come to the sabbath
- Eye of the witch
Drum solo
- Sleepless nights
- Blood to walk
- So sad
- Living dead (outro)
- Welcome home
Encore
- The invisible guests
(band presentation)
- Halloween
Encore
- Evil
I was in the front row with a Portuguese flag (I was in spain if you recall) and my conspiracy scarf (during Slepless nights) and King in the beginning of the show pointed for the flag, and afterwards to the scarf, these one even more enthusiastic - it's probably good to see fans with more than 15 years on the road with him ... Well, I was not in my lucky days because I lost an eye contact lent right in the beginning of the show, so I was "half blind" during the whole night. I always get emotional when seeing “them” :-) live, and I was with the lents too many hours.
The show started with an long intro, so that some guys dressed like monks brought Abigail coffin's to the stage and mount the fence that was in front of the stage during the songs for Abigail and Abigail II.
"Funeral" brought King alone to the stage, where he mimed the (introduction) song and stabbing Abigail (doll), the show began.
With no further delays the first four songs of Abigail, plus Black Horsemen, were played, along with the Abigail II songs (intro, Mansion, and ending/outro). I think King only spoke for the first time before Come to the Sabbath. Then he played some hits and some Puppet Master songs.
Jodi, the dancer that has been with King in the last couple of years (at least since the House of God Tour), appeared in a bunch of songs representing different roles ... in Black Horsemen (as Miriam pregnant), Mansion in Sorrow (i think), Come to the Sabbath, Blood to Walk and So sad (as a puppet of course) and Welcome Home (as grandma).
Doing backing vocals was an Hungarian girl, that I think allready appeared in Puppet Master.
The band as usual was very tight, a little bit static (they hardly have space to ...), with King being the master of cerimonies.
The sound of the show didn't conviced me 100 %, but maybe it was in the front ...
Afterwards, as I didn't had to drive after, and for the first time ever, I stayed to see if I could see anyone from the band. As you can see for the photos, I met Hal, Andy and Matt ... King had already left (as usual) and Mike didn't appear (the band was eating pizza after the show in the tourbus).
I met this guy from Argentina (Pablo), who was there for the same reason, and took these pictures with his machine that he has now send it to me. Before anyone from the band appear, we got a guitar pick (Mike Wead) from one member of the crew (to compensate the drum stick Matt sent to the front row that i didn't grab - touched it but didn’t grad … only one eye - and falled into the pit ... the security instead of handing it to me, throwed to the back of the crowd). Then, appeared Hal, the first one to leave the bus, "gazing" through the crew and the tourbuses with his Jack Daniel's bottle in one hand, signing autographs for some people there. When Andy appeared later - only three or four guys waiting – he was very "shy" but nice, and finally and some time later, Matt appeared.
He was really nice, being the only one that stayed talking to us a bit ... about the show and venue in Oporto (Portugal) that really impressed him, the beach that he wanted to go in Barcelona (in front of the venue), about the changing of the Madrid venue (I told him because he didn't know), asking where did I get the Conspiracy scarf, even making a joke about the difference of ages in the band (I think it was about not travelling to South America). I already had a very good impression on him, due to a chat the coven had organized sometime after the tour in 2001, with him and Andy (I think). He was really nice to us … from the three it is the best photo I have.
Gracias Pablo por las fotos !!! / Thanks Pablo for the pictures !!!
Photo Legend : Me with Matt Thompson, Hal Patino and Andy LaRocque
Concerts : Rock In Rio Festival, 27 May 2006
The Bands : Pitty, Xutos & Pontapés, The Darkness, Guns n’ Roses
Well, my first time in RIR … I couldn’t go to 2004 edition (the first one outside Brazil), when they had an excellent Heavy Metal day (Metallica, Slipknot, Sepultura etc) and only the curiosity on GN’R made me go to this one.
Pitty is a Brazilian band, with a woman vocalist, that is having a huge success in Brazil. They are a rock band, singing in Portuguese, with an interesting sound. Had a good reaction on people.
Xutos & Pontapés concert was a Blast !!! After 27 years, they still rock, and it’s always a pleasure to see them live. Their concert, in a “greatest hits format”, was really a celebration, and being a local band, the public really supported them.
The Darkness, were more or less unknown to me … I didn’t knew if they’re a “Spinal Tap” or if they were for real. A friend of mine that was there, was saying that basically they had stopped in time … and so it is … but their Rock and Roll sound made us all party, even complemented with two AC/DC tracks … incredible their pose (Argh!). It was a good way to prepare the way to GNR.
Well they (GNR) were the surprise of the night … they were really good. The show of course was based on their world famous hits, with one or two songs that I didn’t knew and assumed that were new.
The sound was excellent and the band has very tight (acting with three guitarists).
Their show had some pyrotechnic effects with explosions and fireworks. Axl was very interactive with the audience, although most of the times he talked an amount of things that we didn’t understand half. He even joked on them, presenting “Patiente”, asking how many of us thought they were not going to perform that evening (btw, they were schedule to act in RIR 2004, but they cancelled the show as the all tour was cancelled).
A Hell of a surprise !!! When will we see "Chinese Democracy" hit the stores shelfs ?
Concerts : Super Rock Super Bock Festival, 26 May 2006
The bands : Primitive Reason, Alice in Chains, Deftones, Placebo, Tool
The first band of the night I saw was Alice in chains … I didn’t knew the guy (William DuVall) who is replacing Layne Staley and he was a surprise. His voice is very similar to Layne and it was a great show. Their set was based on their hits, as they are not presenting any new record, and it was a blast.
My relation with Deftones is more or less similar to my relation with Korn. I used the time to explore the place, and have a beer.
Placebo were the band to come afterwards. They are ok, but I was already a bit tired, nevertheless I thought they were ok.
Tool … One word … FANTASTIC !!! They had all things against them … playing at 1 am, after two hard nights, having a sound difficult to enthusiast at a live concert and playing (almost) completely in the dark … But they did a hell of a show, supported all the time by the visuals displayed in the screens (visual effects, images and videoclips) being the band most of the times with no lights lighting the stage, and Maynard acting at the back of the stage. It’s difficult to please everybody with such a different concept, but they make the difference.
...
From AIC Site (text and photos) :
"Lisbon was unbelievable. Nearly ten years since Alice played their last show in front of a truly big crowd, they took the stage and proceeded to pummel over 30,000 Portuguese rock fans for an hour. The audience was amazing, pumping their fists in the air, crowd surfing, and singing along to every song. At one point the fans in the front row unfurled a thirty foot banner that said "Alice In Chains – Born Again". When the band started into “We Die Young”, the ground was literally shaking from all the jumping up and down.
It’s so good to see these guys back where they belong; playing these timeless songs for fans that are practically rabid to hear them. If there was ever a question as to whether the audience would still be there for Alice In Chains after such a long time away, these last two weeks have put that question to bed."
Concerts : Super Rock Super Bock Festival, 25 May 2006
The Bands : Ramp, Moonspell, Soulfly, Within Temptation, Korn
This was the first night of a busy week, with 5 concerts in 7 days.
The festival began at 6’ o clock so the first band I saw was Soulfly.
The thing with Soulfly is that their musicians, constantly changing, have been decreasing quality, so the voice of Max is there but the rest is losing quality. Terrible guitarist they have now … besides that, they started the show and chaos and moshing began, and all the adrenaline came out. One thing that impressed me, was that I had 15 y.o. girls normally dressed, right next to me jumping endlessly … well times have changed … as we can see by Lordi and the Eurovision contest J.
Afterwards, the stage was dominated by the beauty of sound, stage and lead vocalist of Within Temptation. Their sound was clean (for the first time in the night), and their set list was based in their latest “Silent Force” Cd, with some tracks of “Mother Earth” and their homonymous “Within Temptation”. I thought it was an excellent concert, and Sharon’s voice really impressed me.
I gave Korn a second chance, after a boring concert in Lisbon 2 or 3 years ago, but after 3 or 4 tracks I left the concert. I can dig (sometimes) their sound in Cd, but live … hell no. And Jonathan Davis seemed he was doing us a favour being there … Bed Time !
Sábado, 13 de Maio de 2006
Concerts : Moonspell Lisboa 06 th May 2006
One week ago (06/05), saw the first concert of the "Memorial" Tour during the Lisbon academic week. One hour to present some of the new songs - Finisterra, Luna, Sanguine, Bllod Tells etc.
On the same day, knew that "Memorial" was number one in the charts ! WOW !!!!
"Our new record Memorial (released last week) broke into the Portuguese and German charts this week.
In Portugal it is now number one, due to the incredible support of our Portuguese fans. Only Metallica and Maiden did the same with their albums and for a country such as Portugal this is more than a Moonspell achievement, a truly Heavy Metal moment of victory.
In Germany the record went number 68 on the official TOP 100, another quite remarkable result for the album Memorial and an undeniable sign of trust given by our Teutonic fans.
To all of them, to our labels, promoters and everyone involved our deepest and lunar thanks!!!"
(03/05/06)
Domingo, 2 de Abril de 2006
Concerts : TNT Madrid 01 th April 2006
TNT has been of my favorite bands since the end of the eighties, with Tell no Tales and Intuition, and along with Thunder are my favourite hard rock bands.
They've never been to Portugal, so in 2004 they "forced" me to go to Lorca Festival to see them along with Europe (and Magnum, Axell Rudi Pell, After Forever, Crematory and Dream Evil). It was excellent back then, the only thing that I thought I could be better was the communication between Tony and the crowd ... maybe because it was a festival.
I've got the chance to see them a second time, again in Spain, a couple of hours ago. The supporting band was Eden Lost, a spanish hard rock band, that was merely reasonable. So, nothing to say.
Then TNT came ... the first surprise (at least for me ) was the news that they're recording the show for a dvd. Then the show ... was a BLAST !!! Tony is one of the best vocals that I know, with an excellent voice, alltough the years have passed and it's not that easy to reach some high tones ... but he was excellent, alltough sometimes it was difficult to hear him, because the crowd was constantly singing all the songs. It was one hell of a "party" ... the venue was small (they changed from a bigger venue to this one ... don't know why, maybe few tickets sold), and it was too much crowded. The band was giving 100 %, and Tony and Ronnie were really partying with us. Tony was very different from the show in 2004, maybe because of the venue ... being that small creates an huge interactivity, and maybe because they're recording the dvd and they're in the mood.
As you can see by the set list, they only played 2 songs from the new cd, so it was really a "greatest hits" show.
10 out of 10 !!!!!
One final note ... I've been lucky enough to see some shows abroad (London, Madrid, Lorca, Eindhoven etc) throughout the years, and specially in the last two years, I went to Lorca Festival in Spain (2004), Whitesnake (London Hammersmith 2004), Dream Theater in 2005 (2º date in London Hammersmith performing along with their set Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon"), and now TNT in Madrid.
(and has I probably will stay for some days in Madrid, I expect to see In Flames + Sepultura (5 th April) and I allready have the tickets to see King Diamond in Granada and Madrid in the end of May).
My luck that Whitsnake show was recorded in DVD (fantastic one, I must say) ... and now TNT. Fantastic "Recuerdos".
Well enough of this bullshit ... here is the Set List :
Greetings,
Pedro
Set List :
01 - Invisible Noise (CD My Religion)
02 - As Far As The Eye Can See (CD Tell No Tales)
03 - Downhill Racer (CD Realized Fantasies)
04 - A Fix (CD All The Way To The Sun)
05 - She Needs Me (CD My Religion)
06 - Give Me A Sign (CD My Religion)
07 - Instrumental (Ronnie Soling and Jamming with the band)
08 - Caught Between the Tigers (CD Intuition)
09 - Listen To Your Heart (CD Tell No Tales)
10 - Black Butterfly (CD All The Way To The Sun) *
11 - Seven Seas (CD Knigths Of The New Thunder)
12 - Forever Shine On (CD Intuition)
Encores
13 - Fantalia Espanola (CD Transistor)
14 - My Religion (CD My Religion)
15 - 10.000 Lovers (In One) (CD Tell No Tales)
16 - Intuition (CD Intuition)
* I'm not 100 % certain of these one ... it's of the new cd (that I don't know that well) and it's not one of my favourites.
Domingo, 26 de Março de 2006
Concerts : King Diamond Touring Europe
Yesterday bought tickets for Granada and Madrid Shows ... He's not touring in Portugal, so I'll be touring Spain ... not going to Barcelona and Bergara, because I'd be toring 4.000 kms in less than a week ... too much ...
Well, I'll report the experience in the beggining of June.
Greetings !!!!
PR
Domingo, 12 de Março de 2006
Concerts : Testament Lisboa 11 th March 2006
Hello people,
In 1987, when I was still in my first class in metal * – my first year listening to metal – I was blown away by some smashing riffs, later illustrated by some prison bars at Alcatraz, of the video “Over the Wall”. That was the single from their debut album “The Legacy”, and I quickly become their fan since the beginning, being one of the first thrash bands that I listened to.
One year later, their masterpiece “The New Order” was released, and that was their truly establishment, due to their groundbreaking melodic guitars of Alex Skolnick, that raised their sound to the next value … Powerful trash metal, with a high dose of melody.
In the next two or three years, Testament was my second favourite band. Unfortunately, their follow up efforts on “tape” were not so good.
So, last night concert was a very special evening to me, like a comeback to my high school times, when music was my “religion”. Testament had been in Lisbon for one time in June 2000 (the gathering tour), but it was not their original line-up, and I was not so updated on their last Cds. Nevertheless, it was a brutality of a show.
But last night, Chuck, Eric, Alex and Greg, with the help of Jon Allen from Sadus (filling in Louie shoes), did a remarkable show covering their first 5 cds (the ones with this line-up).
The set covered … if I remember everything
… from “The Legacy”
“Over the Wall”
“The Haunting”
“Burnt Offerings”
“Curse of the legions of dead”
“Alone in the dark”
… from “The New Order”
“Eerie Inhabitants”
“The New Order”
“Trial by fire”
“Into the Pit”
“Disciples of the watch”
“The preacher”
… from “Practice what you preach”
“Practice what you preach”
“Sins of omission”
… from “Souls of Black”
“Souls of Black”
“The Legacy”
… from “The Ritual”
“Eletric Crown”
I think the whole sound of the band was more melodic, even’s Chuck’s voice, and Alex playing is outstanding, I think only comparable to guitar players like Petrucci …
The show was outstanding, and it would be a dream if Alex sticked with the band for at least one cd.
http://www.testamentlegions.com
Pedro
* PS : Although some people think that I (or we, metal fans) should grow, and start listening to other music genres, I don’t think we didn’t grow …just think that we should like to the music that “touches” our hearts and hears …. and of course metal managed to re-invent itself in the last 20/30 years. And I proudly listen to metal for 20 years. So, Long Live Heavy Metal !!!!
Sábado, 11 de Março de 2006
kick off
Hello People,
This is the kick off for my space ... a space where I intend to put all the thoughts, that I have in my guts ...
see you, and long live the King ...
Pedro
PS : for those of you that don't know me, I'm talking on the mighty ... the one and only ... Mr. King Diamond
