| ANGRA + SILENT FORCE |
March 14, 2002 |
MADRID |
About 300 people were at Arena to see the first
Angra gig in Spain with the new line up. It had been almost three years since their last gig
in Spain (Eurometal Festival'99) and the audience was clearly hungry to see them in action
once again! I arrived at Arena a bit late because Hansi Kürsch, André Olbrich, Thomas Stauch
and Marcus Siepen from my beloved band BLIND GUARDIAN were appearing at a local record store
to promote their new album and to do a signing session in Madrid that evening and this was
something I wouldn't miss for anything in the world!! 
Truly the Gods were with us that day! So after meeting the bards (these guys are absolutely
down-to-earth and friendly) and after getting my "A Night At The Opera" CD signed (below
you can see my picture with Hansi BTW) I finally left and it started to rain like hell.
At 20:30 PM I arrived at Arena, the small venue for what was to become a F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C
Metal show by a couple of today's hottest bands Angra & Silent Force (this was their very
first time playing in Spain BTW).
Anyway, more or less on-time SILENT FORCE from Germany appeared on stage. This is an amazing band that has been together for approximately 2 years, but all members have several years of experience (the charismatic DC Cooper, former vocalist of Royal Hunt, guitarist Alex Beyrodt ex-Primal Fear & Sinner, André Hilgers ex-Vanize on drums...) WOW, these guys put on a terrific show, bombarding us with great songs from their first release "The Empire Of Future" and from their latest album "Infatuator", including "Fall Into Oblivion", "Saints And Sinners", "Empire Of Future", the excellent "Infatuator" (what a great vocal performance from DC), "Promised Land" (dedicated to DC’s brother)...
Silent Force played an outstanding set which led to the crowd asking for more. A small moment to take our breath and they came back to do one encore... oh man... this was the big surprise of the evening. DC started to sing "All Guns Blazing", Halford-style, but then, the band launched into "You've Got Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest. This song ended their show... a total shock to me and a fantastic rendition of this classic tune. Fuck yeah!! We screamed our asses off during this one 
Silent Force really pumped the crowd up. The band was full of energy, they played like it was their last concert on earth and the response from the audience was great. DC Cooper's vocals were fantastic, this guy is amazing, he really knows how to make the crowd react and Alex Beyrodt was impressive on guitar, he's truly an ace.
Silent Force have such power and potential on stage they are going to be very, very big, just wait and see!
As ANGRA took the stage and unveiled their newly made banner in the backdrop, the crowd pushed forward to be as close as possible to the band as they began their set. And right from the beginning, for about an hour and a half, the band played some of their best songs. Their set consisted of songs mostly from the new album. "In Excelsis", the intro of the new CD, came blasting through the speakers. The band appeared on stage and started playing the opening chords of the high-speed "Nova Era" which is a superb set opener, just like the new album. The response from the crowd was fantastic. From this song, the band then played several more songs from their new album "Rebirth" including "Acid Rain" and a very emotional "Heroes Of Sand". They only played one song from the album "Fireworks", "Metal Icarus", which got the crowd to sing along. The fans seemed to love it, as it's one of the best tracks of this album. The next song was "Make Believe", which is one of my personal favourites. It was the only time the pace slowed, but it's such an amazing song, and with the backing of the audience it was excellent. As the song came to its loud and powerful climax, it was a truly spiritual moment The band kept pulling hits off their new album ("Millennium Sun") and every song went down like it was the best song ever. The band put down their instruments, picked up new ones and started playing a kind of Samba. This percussion solo (not really a solo when 4 guys are playing 
) was absolutely amazing. The show goes on with more songs from the new CD, "Judgement Day" and the brilliant "Rebirth" (this one kicked ass!!) Then, after leaving the stage briefly, Angra came back and finished up their set with their classic tunes "Nothing To Say" and "Carry On". These final two songs of the set were definitely the highlight and were greeted like long lost friends. I nearly levitated. It was magic to hear the crowd sing along all the lyrics of these songs. Awesome! I wanted to hear more old songs such as "Carolina IV" and "Holy Land" but... ...oh well.
Edu Falaschi did an excellent job as a frontman. He constantly spoke to the audience between songs and looked very happy but it was his emotional committment to the songs that made him a pleasure to watch live. Definately, he's a great replacement to André Matos. Old Angra songs (though there were not many of them in the set) sounded great with him on vocals. With Kiko Loureiro and Rafael Bittencourt playing guitar (thanx for the picks!!), Aquiles Priester on drums and Felipe Andreoli playing bass (what a great bassist, by the way), Angra performed their songs with spectacular quality and perfection and they proved without any doubt that they're still kicking ass. Good sound (well, maybe the vocals were too low), a half decent light show and sky high energy levels. The new members were well-received by the audience who were also clearly very familiar with their new songs. Overall, it was pretty amazing. Everybody left the venue with a smile on their face. Don't miss an opportunity to catch these guys on a stage near you. Greetz to Blind Guardian, Silent Force, Angra and everybody I met! -Review & photos by Marina-
| ANGRA SET-LIST |
In Excelsis (Intro), Nova Era, Acid Rain, Angel's Cry, Heroes Of Sand, Metal Icarus, Make Believe, Millennium Sun, Percussion Solo, Judgement Day, Rebirth, Crossings (Intro), Nothing To Say & Carry On.
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