Sad news: The music world mourns the loss of Ray Manzarek (74), founding Member and keyboarder of The Doors, White Zombie drummer Phil Buerstatte (44) and Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder (63). R.I.P.!
German Hardrockers BERSERKER will donate 18.000€ to the Berlin cancer charity for children on May 25. November 2011 BERSERKER front man Schröder was diagnosed with cancer, now he is cancer-free. In 2012 the band collected money for this charity at their concerts and will also continue to do so in the future. Slayer´s Jeff Hanneman is dead: he passed away at about 11AM on May 2nd near his Southern California home because of liver failure due to an infection after a spider bite. R.I.P. Jeff!
The Siberian Jay music video "I´m Holding" featuring Mikko Sirén from Apocalyptica on drums - we reported about the videoshoot in our "1h with" Special - can be watched here: http://youtu.be/C-hSNurZVcs
I have been looking forward to this concert since the release of the Trillium debut album. Unfortunately they are only one of the supports this evening, but still it is a chance to see them live. Actually I had not expected to see such a big crowd (350-400 people), that means Delain who had been visiting Z 7 only in the role as support act, has established quite a fan base here.
Halcyon Way I expected to see another front lady, but I was wrong – and I did not mind, because three female fronted bands in a row are usually too much, at some point everything sounds the same. Those guys from Atlanta had a nice start, and singer Steve Braun was quite convincing in the first half. Whether his voice became weaker or if it was the song material I cannot say, but the spark that was there in the beginning had vanished. The sound was not that great either. Usually Halcyon Way consist of singer Steve, drummer Ernie Topran, guitarrist Jon Bodan & Shawn Dirksen and bass newbie Kris Maltenieks, yet the latter could not be part of the show due to family reasons. Trey Hollingworth took his part and used this new position to hit on the girls in the first row, in a bit unusual fashion. Sending kisses and flirting is a skill that has to be learned... but it was fun to watch. All in all, a quite good band, and also the CD was quite cheap with 10 SFR. http://www.halcyonway.com/
Trillium I had really be looking forward to this moment, and although I am a difficult customer when it comes to females at the microphone, this lady has taken me over by storm. Amanda Somerville might be a familiar name already due to her work with Avantasia and Michael Kiske (Unisonic). Besides that she is a vocal coach and supports bands like Epica during recording sessions. Trillium is her latest project and as a contrast to her solo albums she presents much darker song material here. This seems to work well on the audience, and no wonder: Amanda has this huge charisma that shines brightly, so that the other band members have difficulties to be noticed. And there are many females in the Rock/Metal biz who could learn something from Amanda who rather impresses with her inner beauty (than fancy outfits + make up). Vocally she switches from deep to high registers easily as if that was the most natural thing on earth. No wonder, because this Michigan girl grew up in a musical family (as you can read in our STALKER interview ) . Her fellow musicians tried their best to deliver a great show but still could hardly live up to Amanda, at least in my opinion. They had a lot of fun, though, especially guitarist Paolo who acted like a whirl-wind, constantly smiling. A great show that Delain would struggle to outshine. (Tour Video Blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yE1-JPu2gM&feature=autoplay&list=UUW67NDhzggXgvn5ffV8QHGw&playnext=4)
www.amandasomerville.com
Delain After a quite short break Delain entered the stage, the band is about to release their new album „We are the Others“ (June 1, 2012). Singer Charlotte Wessels and her colleagues promised a special set list, and the Dutch band kept this promise: Besides the single „Get the Devil out of me“, some more new songs were played, and Charlotte was obviously pleased that so many fans could sing along and seem to be anxously awaiting the new album. Naturally some old songs were not to be left out, „The Gathering“ and „April Rain“. Guitarrist Bas Maas (Doro) replaces Timo Somers for some shows, so that Timo can focus on some of his other bands. And Bas, in my opinion, is a good replacement with his big smile that appeals to the ladies – you could see that later clearly at the Merch stand. The last time that I have seen Delain as Kamelot Support Act I already experienced the feeling „I have heard this song before“, and during this longer set my deja-vu moments increased: the songs as well as Charlotte´s vocals became boring.
There are more variating singing styles presented in the songs, and I hope to find those also on the new album. Maybe she was also getting tired towards the end of the show – you could hear that she struggled with the high notes. The audience didn´t mind and celebrated the band until the last note was played. www.delain.nl
The Trillium fans were offered a special treat at the Merch stand, a VIP package for only 40 SFR - a T-Shirt, a VIP ticket with mit Trillium Lanyard, a Meet & Greet with the band, autographs and a special acoustic show. Surely I got to see that one, which took place in the Trillium tour bus. In the small lounge upstairs 7 people sat together with Amanda & Paolo, the room lit with candles for a special atmosphere, and listened to three acoustic songs which showed Amanda´s special vocal gift once again. I can only recommend this special highlight, because it´s an unforgettable experience.
Summary: All three bands performed a real good concert, but honestly, in my opinion Trillium was the clear highlight of this evening.
