Kaleidoscope Tour
Concert Review For São Paulo, Brazil (06/09/1999)
From Rock Online Site
Translated By Marcelo Hashimoto

Sold out. The place wasn't big, but it was full, with 1500 people or so. The concert production wasn't totally prepared for the people who was at Tom Brasil, on June 9th. The grids made to separate the audience from the stage and, usually, are used to give some space for the photographers, were put in right after the opening concert.

The problem was that these grids couldn't handle the pressure and the audience simply removed them. Good news for the fans, who were right near the stage and had the opportunity to "touch" their idols. Bad news for the photographers, who had to do some miracles to be able to shoot some pictures. On the other hand, the floor above, usually reserved for VIP, had free access, I mean, the security guards weren't always asking for the invitation.

Around 22:00, Symbols went to stage, a brazilian band who plays a Helloween-like power metal. The audience wasn't impressed at first, but liked after a while. The band has a lot of potential, but still needs some more professionalism: the bass player got confused several times with the microphone and singer talked too much with the audience, and even said "Hello São Paulo", which sounded weird, considering that it was a brazilian band playing in Brazil. Despite these details, it was a good show.

The next band was Roland Grapow's Band. Roland was very nice with his fans, much more than when he came with Helloween. The band is really good! Michael Vescera must improve his behavior (threw his microphone on the floor when it didn't work) but his voice was divine. The drummer, Mike Terrana, is very good. The audience loved his long solo and no one got bored, which happens on most drum solos. It was just perfect, with all kinds of funny faces, specially from Terrana himself.

The very nice keyboardist, Ferdy Doernberg, was probably the most excited guy from the band, he was really happy for be playing that day, and nobody has any doubts of that, considering his happiness behind the keyboard. Maybe because it was his birthday, we don't know exactly... By the way, at some point of the concert, Vescera asked for a "Happy Birthday To You" from the audience, and everyone sang along.

The band's style is more different from Helloween, when compared to Roland's first solo album. With great musicians, they played very well the songs of the new album, that, even not being well-known, had excellent response. The Malmsteenish style was obvious on several songs. "The Chance" and "Dr. Stein" from Helloween were included on the setlist, obviously.

Finally, it's Gamma Ray's turn. An alien appears on stage to announce the band and to make the audience get in the mood for "Anywhere In Ther Galaxy", the opener. It was more than obvious how happy Kai Hansen was, he never stopped smiling until 3:00, when the concert was over. He had his reasons, after all, the audience sang along every single song on the setlist, old or new. The played "Rebellion In Dreamland", "Valley Of The Kings" and "Somewhere Out In Space" among others.

The concert was pure energy, and the fans got crushed against the stage. There was even a guy who managed to climb the stage twice and hug Kai. The security guys grabbed him very fast. At the end of the show, a nice surprise: Roland and Doernberg appeared on the stage and, together with Gamma Ray, played "I Want Out" and "Future World". Helloween with three guitars and keyboard! Some people said that it was even better than the original versions...