Symphony X & Epica, Jaxx May 3rd 2008
1 rating since posting on Tuesday, May 6, 2008
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First time in a Metal Joint, things can be scary... or not. Turns out that old people (>30) do not like metal anymore... or do not show up. So, a crowd of around 400, mostly under 21, definitively most under 30 gathered at Jaxx, Springfield, to watch the farewell concert of Symphony X's US Tour with guests Epica and Into Eternity. At 7.45, some dudes jumped onstage and started banging up their instruments and crying and shouting like not-so possessed zombies. Didn't even pick the name of the band. Then, Tolerance for Tragedy.... more of the same. No melody, just shrieking and very little instrument prowess. Then, Into Eternity.... more of the same!!! I'm getting upset, these mammoth lineups are actually a screwup and you've got to cope with really uninteresting bands.... Then, after 30 more minutes, Epica came onstage. For those of you that do not know, Epica has a very young, hot-looking and talented frontwoman by the name of Simone Simons. Turned out that Simone was seriously sick, and they subbed her with enormously talented (but unexpected) Amanda Sommerville, from Aina fame. They hadn't announced it, for the first five minutes, you could tell everyone was like frozen, and very disappointed, specially young girls around us wearing their Epica tees. The set was short, seven songs, including staples such as Sensorium and Quietus. Amanda S. is more of a soprano voice (Simone is mezzo), so the overall feeling is that she can actually sing the songs with more power and strength. But... there's a but... the but I've been complaining about a lot of these young bands. A lot (and I mean A LOT) of the sound is sampled and/or pre-recorded. There were ethereal voices under Amanda's voice, and, although she tried to cover them based on pure power, she couldn't do it. Lots of strings, echoes, too much... at some point, even loving this band as much as I do, you start asking yourself if any of what you're hearing is real. This was particularly bad with the songs of their new CD, they modified some of the arrangements of the previous CDs and then they sounded a bit more "real". In all, a mild disappointment (not that I wasn't expecting exactly this after seeing a lot of recordings from similar bands live, such as Nightwish or Within Temptation). Finally, Symphony X stormed the place. I wasn't particularly familiar with this Yngwie Malmsteen by Dream Theater cross-over, I only own their latest CD, Paradise lost, but they were a more than pleasant surprise to me. Very energetic, very powerful, they unleashed most of their newest CD, and they sounded great, slightly different from the CD (so you know it's real). One minor complaint, there was a private joke going on between the singer of SX and the members of Epica, and they both harassed each other at key moments of the other band's performance. This wasn't fun, just quite annoying, but I guess it comes with the "I'm a rockstar" attitude. In all, it was a stimulating evening. It could have been better, but far from bad, and we'll be there to watch Kamelot and Edguy. Hope they leave most of the prerecorded stuff in the tour bus. - Unsubscribed , posted 05/06/08 |
Symphony X & Epica, Jaxx May 3rd 2008 was recommended for:
- Tribe: Nightwish
- Tribe: Gothic Shopping
- Tribe: Goth Metal
- Tribe: The goth aesthetic
- Tribe: Nightwish Fans
- Tribe: Lacuna Coil
