Sunday night, the day where normal people would be at home pondering how fast the weekend went by. Not the fans of Symphonic Metal of Montreal. The wait was long for this show announced over a year ago on January 2015, and the atmosphere was filled with excitement around the venue as we walked over 3 streets block just to find the end of the line. This sold out show was going to be an epic one.
After a good 20 minutes of waiting outside in the cold weather, we finally got into the venue filled to capacity. Getting anywhere was a chore, which is a nice sight for the bands, but not as fun for the common fan. As soon as Charlotte's, now famous, microphone stand got lit up, the crowd went wild. Everyone was eager to see this promising night play out.
The band took the stage while the crowd roared like a hungry animal. Charlotte, being her charming self, didn't talk a lot between songs to leave as much time for the songs as she could. But she did speak some French to the crowd, which raised the excitement of the venue a few levels.
It was a short intro for the night, too bad we didn't get to see them more than 35 minutes. But DELAIN still delivered the goods. With a mix of new songs and old classics, they still were able to give us 8 songs. It also gave us a good look at their new guitarist Merel Bechtold, who joined the band in 2015. She has a lot of charisma on the scene, and the camera loves her.
On the fourth song "The Tragedy of the Commons", Charlotte was joined on stage by none other than Alissa White-Gluz (ARCH ENEMY) to provide the guttural voice of the song. As a Montreal local star, she is always warmly welcomed on stage by the fans while making these guest star appearances.
For such a short set,
DELAIN brought the goods and the fans couldn't have asked for more out of the opening act of such a star packed line-up.
1. Suckerpunch
2. Get the Devil Out of Me
3. Sleepwalkers Dream
4. The Tragedy of the Commons (with Alissa White-Gluz)
5. Turn the Lights Out
6. We Are the Others
7. Don't Let Go
8. Not Enough
After about 30 minutes of breathing time for the fans, we are back at it with Montreal's favourite Power Metal band, SONATA ARCTICA. Right away Tony felt right at home on the stage of the Metropolis. Joking away with the fans and dancing on stage as the set goes along. As always, he is a huge presence on the scene.
This is my 7th time seeing SONATA ARCTICA on stage, and never have I had a bad experience. This wasn't the exception. Their 40 minutes on stage was well spent between old and new hits. Interestingly enough, out of their 7 songs played tonight, 3 of those were from their very first album while the other 4 were all from different albums. They did miss out on some of their classic, but it did please the fans to hear so many songs of the album that made SONATA ARCTICA what it is.
Tony gave us what we wanted, a good set list with a theatrical performance on
"I Have a Right". He even played air guitars on guitar solos with his microphone pole. A night with
SONATA ARCTICA wouldn't be one without their ritual
"Vodka" song at the end. Everyone was a bit sad that it ended so fast, only 8 songs total if you count
"Vodka", it's a very small set, but
NIGHTWISH is up next.
1.The Wolves Die Young
2. My Land
3. FullMoon
4. Last Drop Falls
5. I Have a Right
6. 8th Commandment
7. Don't Say a Word
8. Vodka
Nightwish:The wait was long to get to this point, 13 months had passed since NIGHTWISH announced this show, and so they might as well make the fans wait a bit more. It took a long time to set up the stage, about 45 minutes or so. Some of the fans were even wondering if something was wrong. But the light finally dimmed and the stage was set for what would be a performance to remember.
This was the first time Floor Jansen took the stage as lead singer of NIGHTWISH in Montreal. Her stage presence was amazing; she quite literally glows on stage. At her side, Marco is a pillar of musicianship and showmanship. This man is the glue of this band and they are stronger than ever.
I'm not sure if it's for the effect of it, but Thomas was surrounded by shadows the whole time, the spotlight was never on him. This prevented me from taking a good and clear picture of him in action. But this doesn't diminish his participation to the symphony of the band. This well-oiled machine that is NIGHTWISH gave us a magnificent show to the level of their talent.
Floor is really at her place in the middle of the scene with the spotlight on her all the time. I loved Tarja, I liked Annette, but Floor seems to really be the voice that NIGHTWISH needed all this time.
As the crowd was jumping and singing along with the band, they decided to add another layer of excitement by announcing their return no more than 6 months from now at the annual Heavy Montreal festival in August. Even if most of the people knew in the venue already, it still stirred up the crowd, which in turn made the band smile from ear to ear.
The whole set of 16 songs went on for close to 2 hours. The fans who had their fill of Symphonic Metal for that night, got out of the venue with a smile and an easy heart. This time, the wait wouldn't be as long before we can see these behemoths of the genre back in Montreal. The 4 year hiatus was over.
1. Shudder Before the Beautiful
2. Yours Is an Empty Hope
3. Ever Dream
4. Storytime
5. My Walden
6. While Your Lips Are Still Red
7. Élan
8. Weak Fantasy
9. 7 Days to the Wolves
10. Bless the Child
11. I Want My Tears Back
12. Nemo
13. Stargazers
14. Ghost Love Score
15. Last Ride of the Day
16. The Greatest Show on Earth (Chapter II, III, IV)
