Dragonforce

09 Oct 2008

Oh dear, what a night.

First off in all my times going to the Carling Academy I have never queued. This gig was sold out and there was a bloody massive queue, from the front door all the way round the block and back to the front door.

OK having got myself a good spot above the mixing desks the supporting act Turisas a Finnish (you know from Finland) Metal / Folk band come onto the stage in full Viking style regalia complete with fake blood, a violinist and an accordion player as well as the usual guitarist, drummer and singer, banging out a song called Battle Metal. I have to be honest they didn’t do much for me but boy could the violinist play, some of the solos were up there with anything I have seen a guitarist play. Things were going OK until they covered a song called “Rasputin”. Oh dear, yes the song by the same name popularised by Boney M. After that I couldn’t take them serious any more and I lost interest. After a 40 minute set they’d finished.

After a short interval on came the main act DragonForce. I had listening to their newest album only briefly and some of their back catalogue but most of the songs sound exactly the same. I did recognise some of the tracks but to be honest they could have been playing anything because many of the songs they played DID sound the same. I was very impressed with their stage set with its massive background screen which they projected images of the band and other stuff. It was all very polished and entertaining. After some lacklustre cheering they returned for the encore where we were treated to “Through The Fire and Flames” belted out to a frenzied audience. You could almost see everyone holding their plastic “Guitar Hero 3” guitar and strumming along to the insanely fast riffs. Sad I know but it’s the simple things that give us pleasure.

It was now 23:10 and according to one of the bouncers it was the longest gig on record. No hanging about though, once finished I made a swift exit and off home.

No rest though, next up Scorpions Carling Academy Sun 12 October 2008.