Author Topic: Concert reviews  (Read 215951 times)

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Offline Luth

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #320 on: March 02, 2012, 05:52:47 pm »
Well... just today we've decided we're going to attend a fantastic concert in the "Black Music Festival". It's "The Brew", a band I've never heard of before, but it seems it's really good!!

A video from The Brew.

The best of all is the price... 10 euros if you buy it at the moment, 5 if you do it through one of those webs with good deals in everything  :wOOt: :blink:

Let's see how good are they  :ninja:
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Offline The One

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #321 on: April 04, 2012, 02:27:28 am »
Pagan Fest last night at the Opera House in downtown Toronto was amazing. A review written by me will be up in a small Metal publication tomorrow :)
What I can disclose right now though... It was one of the best shows I've ever been at. 6 bands, all of them extremely talented and energetic. :biggrin:
"All men are intellectuals, but not all men in society have the function of intellectuals" -Antonio Gramsci

Offline Markus

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #322 on: April 04, 2012, 04:57:38 pm »
Mmmhhh, sounds very promising. :wOOt: Where is that publication?
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Offline The One

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #323 on: April 05, 2012, 04:23:35 am »
« Last Edit: April 05, 2012, 07:53:05 pm by The One »
"All men are intellectuals, but not all men in society have the function of intellectuals" -Antonio Gramsci

Offline Markus

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #324 on: April 05, 2012, 07:45:55 pm »
Sorry, Jorge, but all I get is a 404. :bawl: Is the link correct?
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Offline The One

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #325 on: April 05, 2012, 07:53:37 pm »
Double checked, even re-pasted the link. It seems to work. It's really odd. :ninja:
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Offline Markus

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #326 on: April 05, 2012, 09:06:15 pm »
Works now. Perhaps a temporary thingy?

Reading now... "and her voice, of course" :roll:
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Offline Markus

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #327 on: April 09, 2012, 09:37:42 pm »
I've read it all now, Jorge. Thank you for sharing this!

It's very well written, and you really must have had such a wonderful evening - and your friend, too. I'm glad to hear that! Also must have been nice to meet and talk to the Alestorm guy.

Somehow I can't seem to open the pictures. :ninja:

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline The One

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Offline Markus

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #329 on: April 10, 2012, 11:04:54 pm »
Thank you, Jorge! :) well, it's enough to get an impression of the concert.

Oh, and you look blissful! That picture says a lot about the show. :thumbup:

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline Luth

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #330 on: May 13, 2012, 08:12:33 pm »
As some of you might know, at least if you checked the shoutbox recently, yesterday I was to a fantastic concert called Queen Symphonic Rhapsody. I'm sad that it only tours Spain, as I'm sure all or almost all of you might enjoy it so much! It was quite an experience, and here I am to make a full review. The photos are not very good, as all are taken by my movile phone: as we were on seats I thought we could not take pictures, but I managed to make some...

Well, first of all, Xiquet and I arrived just in time, as we were visiting Girona (100 km far) and left a little too late... But we managed to be on the venue 15 minutes before the show started, so no problem! Here you have the venue from the outside and from the inside, before the show:





The concert consisted of a full orquestra, one guitarist (Christian Vidal), one bassist, and four lead singers, to male and two female. I fear you all know the two male singers: Thomas Vikström and Mats Léven. Their female counterparts were Michell McCaine and the soprano Graciela Armendariz-. I must say that I am absolutely impressed of the Armendariz's voice and of McCain charisma (her voice too!)

They played several Queen's hits, and a few other songs from Elvis Presley (the ones that made the public get up and dance!) and some other like... well, I'll tell later  :biggrin:

The show can't be summarized in one word, but perhaps it can in two smilies:   :wOOt: :blink:  Music was magnificent, with the full orquestra playing the songs, that powerful music in a powerful hands and powerful sound. Incredible. And the voices... Wow. Of course I already knew about Mats and Thomas, and I was not surprised at all, but the other two singers are incredibly good too. All of them is good on their own, imagine when they sing together! They did in some songs: although usually one song = one singers, some songs were performed by more than one, and those are, in my opinion, the most powerful of all. You'll see an example pretty soon...

A lot of songs have something special, but I will explain only some of them, as I can't do it too long... A very special moment happened when they were playing "A kind of magic". It was when Vidal took the protagonism and all the singers (except the soprano, the only singer that was not on stage that song) went to him... It's better to see it than to read it!



(NOTE: This picture is the only one NOT taken by me. I've "borrowed" from a guy who posted it on Facebook)

When it was the break, I bought the CD (from the previous year gig), and saw that two or three songs ahead (if the songlist was the same) was going to happen the most funny song of all (as I heard in other reviews): "I want to break free!". So, I prepared my phone camera and wait... But it was still not the moment. First, some few fantastic songs, and a surprise... Vidal goes accoustic!!



Two songs more... and the first notes of "I want to break free" appeared. Camera on hand, I managed to take a few pics... sorry for the quality, but Mats, the singer of the songs, rarely was quiet! The most fun came when Thomas appeared too, disguised such a way that Snowy would have envied him. But Thomas appeared in a rush, run here and there, hid here and there, and disappeared. Even so, I managed to take one blurry picture where you can see him... if I tell you it's him!! The three first pictures are from Mats... the fourth, from Thomas (yes, that person at the end of the stage):







Yes, it was a good laugh! :roll:


Another moment of the show was for a song that made me shiver... "Barcelona", originally performed by Freddy Mercury and Montserrat Caballé at the Barcelona Olympic games. This is a very special song for Barcelona people, and... well, imagine "Barcelona" sang by Thomas Vikström and Armendariz. Perhaps you must not to imagine too much: although the soprano is different, there's still Thomas (from the 2011 gig):

Queen Symphonic Rhapsody and "Barcelona".

 :afaid: (shivering of emotion, not fear).

But the most fun had yet to come... To the end of the show, after some danzable songs (from The King, for instance), the final song happened. And the one after the last, the one where all singers went down the stage one by one and walked by the corridor (haven't I said we were in the 4th row, numbers 1-3 (next to the corridor)? Well, we were. And something happened... "We will rock you" was the song, and everybody was chorusing. Mats and Thomas approached some of the public and made a little dance or... made them sing. Thomas went next to us, made Xiquet get up, approached the microphone to him, and everybody could hear the duetto of "We will, we will rock you!" of Thomas Vikström and Xiquet  :biggrin: (I wasn't rolling on the floor because I was staring and the duetto too intensely).

It was the end of the concert, and we were already leaving but... there was a "photocall" organized by the producer. People on a row waiting to be taken a picture of them with all the singers. Well, we couldn't NOT do it, so we placed ourselves there and waited. The photo will be shown when we have (it will be ready to download on Facebook soon... we still don't have it). Btw... when Thomas saw me he made a sign of surprise and said "Oh... hello!". I suppose he recognised me from the soundcheck on Barcelona  :biggrin: I suppose that wearing the Therion T-shirt helped a little too... After the photo, we waited with the CD and a pen on hand, ready to ask them for a signature. Just after all the photos, I asked Mats, who signed it  (and he quickly dissappeared) and then to Thomas. I said him "hello" on behalf of Agnes, and he was surprised, as he didn't expected me telling from her. I thanked him for the fantastic performance and I told him we'd see again on October (with Therion, of course), at what he agreed, and we finally asked for McCain's sign. She speaks Spanish, and he thanked us... I told here that thanks to her for the fantastic performance!!

Later, Xiquet told me he overheared somebody saying that Mats disappeared so soon because he dislike all that... I can't blame him: it's not like people waiting for the musicians leaving the venue and taking some photos, having some chat with the fans... it was an arranged and compulsory thing they have to do every concert because they are told of. Luckily, I was able to get my signature just before him leaving  :lol:

Another weird, funny thing, than happened that day: at the afternoon we were talking with a friend (Maite, for those who know her) about a Spanish singer, a famous person here who sings a kind of weird, "uncouth" pop... or whatever. We said that he is a little scary now, and he was long time ago, when he sang in a children's programme (when we were children). Ok... imagine who was two rows behind us :roll:

Ok... that's all for now. I wish I've not bored you too much. For me, it was quite an experience, absolultely enjoyable, a memorable night.

Thanks for your patience...  :cht:


















And some more pictures!!!!  :nana:


















« Last Edit: May 13, 2012, 08:17:12 pm by Luth »
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Offline Agnes

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #331 on: May 13, 2012, 08:55:43 pm »
Thank you for the review! It was a great experience for you! and you are right, I would like to see Queen Symphonic Rhapsody in Poland..

Offline Xiquet

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #332 on: May 13, 2012, 09:00:03 pm »
Hello to everybody!

About the Spanish singer mentioned by Luth... You can see here an example  :biggrin:

Video from Javier Gurruchaga.

Offline Lucy

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #333 on: May 14, 2012, 06:45:04 am »
Congrats Luthy! :thumbup:

Offline Persephone

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #334 on: May 14, 2012, 09:59:04 am »
WOW This must been awesome! :)
But then again, who does.

Offline Luth

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #335 on: May 14, 2012, 12:57:27 pm »
It was  :wOOt:

Btw... why the hell I appear so terrible on pictures????:bawl: :ninja: :mad3:
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Offline Luth

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #336 on: May 14, 2012, 07:15:59 pm »
Ok, I modify an information I said in the review... as it was wrong. Freddie Mercury recorded the song "Barcelona" with the cataln opera singer Montserrat Caballé, indeed, but he was not the singer in the Barcelona Olympic Games because he died on 1991, and the Games were the year after, 1992. In the Games, it was the also catalan tenor Josep Carreras who performed the male voice.

Bad me, who didn't said well such an important event for her city  :fish:
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Offline Luth

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #337 on: May 18, 2012, 05:09:48 pm »
Ok, two videos. The second one very dear for Therion fans (Vidal and his guitar, Mats and his voice).

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in Barcelona.

"One Vision", in Barcelona too.
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Offline Xiquet

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #338 on: May 18, 2012, 08:14:40 pm »
And don't forget "We Will Rock you"  :thumbup:

"We will rock you" in Barcelona.

 :yeha:
« Last Edit: May 18, 2012, 08:23:50 pm by Xiquet »

Offline Markus

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Re: Concert reviews
« Reply #339 on: March 06, 2013, 04:52:18 pm »
Hey folks,

so I've been to another Wagner opera: "Die Walküre", first day of the "Ring des Nibelungen". It's from the same director whose "Rheingold" and "Siegfried" I've already seen, so I knew approximately what to expect. And I liked this one, too. :thumbup:

The staging is a modern one, but don't let that scare you! I heard another visitor saying that he found it a bit ridiculous to show Wotan and Fricka like gangster-bosses in the night-club they're ruling. What an ignoramus! Even I, as a complete philistine of modern art got the point: They're rich and powerful but lonely. They have no love or true compassion, and they're using people, perhaps playing with them, for their own goals (these goals being to stay rich and powerful). I got that point without even thinking about it, it was easy to feel that.

Similarly it was just fitting to show the escape of Siegmund and Sieglinde at an airport terminal, to show the Valkyries storing the (belongings of the) dead heroes away in numbered cardboard boxes or to open the opera with a miserable Sieglinde staring at a TV set, giving canned beer to Siegmund later for mead.

The singers did well. From some, the libretto was easier to understand than from others, but there over-titles, anyway, which I found very useful. Occasionally the orchestra drowned the singers, but those moments were rare. Sieglinde did great both as a singer and an actress, really touching! Wotan was amazing. So was Siegmund's singing, but... you know... he didn't look very heroic. He was a corpulent, aging man, and when he told of his brave fights and his speedy escape it was just as unconvincing as his acting with the sword. But never mind that, he got great applause, anyway. So did Hunding, a proud yet mean man (with a more credible physical shape :lol3:).

Following the plot was easy to me, but that's because I knew about Nordic mythology already. Otherwise I never would have understood why Wotan is eagerly going for golden apples in a moment of despair or what Siegmund meant when he said that he'd rather stay with Hella than go to Walhall.

Touching, entertaining, though-provoking. Good stuff!

I thought I'd missed "Götterdämmerung", after all, but I saw that there will be another performance of all of the Ring-operas next year. So I guess I'll be able to complete my first Ring!

Cheers!

Markus
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