Blind Guardian, Valhalore, Firestorm @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 7/2/2024
Fans had been waiting 8 long years for German Power Metal masters Blind Guardian to come back to Australia, and they proved that with a massive hoarde of enthused Metalheads showing up midweek for the Adelaide show. Featuring national support from melodic death folk outfit Valhalore and a local slot from Broken Hill power thrash units Firestorm, the offering was a quality stack of gloriously entertaining acts that captivated the huge audience for the entire evening.
Coming in mid set for Firestorm starting the festivities, it was a happy surprise to see the venue already packed and buzzing to their high energy and incredibly tight performance. With a robust and nostalgic power metal style and more charisma than a Hugh Jackman film, these guys boast an incredibly animated stage presence to match their unyieldingly fast and heavy tracks, and they just get better with every show. The crowd engagement was fervent with fists flying for blazing belter Saviour of Man, frontman Bilyara Bates getting in among the crowd to join the hoopla of exhilarated punters for their last track.
Bringing the renaissance fair vibes and enchanting the crowd with their unique blend of death and folk metal, VALHALORE are like a sonic dark fairytale that delivers Euro style theatrics to the Australian stage with a sound that is both mesmerising and jovial. With haunting vocal harmonies accompanied by rich gutturals and a whole lot of flute, there is a lot of quality and intricate musicianship going on, and it evokes an uplifting and impassioned spirit that gets the audience afire with plenty of singing and waving in camaraderie.
Blind Guardian were greeted by an ecstatic audience who were fired up and ready for a magical set, every track a whimsical tale of defeat and conquer, performed with intense passion and precision. Frontman Hansi Kürsch walks the stage like a God amongst men, he possesses a strangely ethereal presence and charming wit, and that is before he even hits those incredibly impressive high notes. The complexity of their sound is the very reason they have such a rampant cult following, with a flawless blend of fantasy, melodrama, and power metal. It’s like riding a unicorn through Middle Earth while Cacophony plays in the background and Vikings sing folklore anthems. The audience sang along for the entire show, which conveniently amplified the epic sound of the performance, while the elite technicality of the instrumentals were breathtaking and fast frenzied beats pulsed through the veins. “Take me away from the place I’ve been, to another life in another world” … and another kick ass power solo.
There is no other way to describe the night but epic and the crowd was absolutely flawed by the presence and performance of an act that has been devotedly anticipated to return. Blind Guardian delivered more than everything we expected, a mind-blowing show that has pushed the bar of what is an acceptable level of awesome to the heavens above.
Live Review By Bec Scheucher