Review by Hugh Spence for MPM
It’s surprisingly warm and dry in Dublin as the crowd queues up over an hour before the first band hits the stage outside the sold out Academy for a night of uplifting German power metal.
As the crowd file in, the vast majority head straight for the Merch stands in the Green Room, where they are met with more queuing as the merch flies off the shelves.
The crowd starts to pack out the main area in front of the stage just before The Night Eternal comes on. Hailing from Essen, Germany, The Night Eternal make their way to the stage to the hungry crowd and straight from the offset the audience are enthralled. Kicking off with Between the Worlds from their most recent album. The vocalist Ricardo Baum is really enjoying himself with plenty of headbanging and audience participation.
The band tell us how happy they are to be touring with a band like Blind Guardian and of course this is their first time in Ireland. They continue ploughing through their small back catalogue with In Tartarus, Deadly as a Scythe, Shadows Servants and Prince of Darkness, by this stage the crowd are clapping along and fist pumping with every song before they play their very singable Elysion (Take me Over) from their debut album Moonlit Cross. You can feel the energy as the band builds anticipation for Blind Guardian.
The Night Eternal play the last 2 songs on their set, Stars Guide My Way and Moonlit Cross before triumphantly leaving the stage.
The crowd are hanging from the balcony waiting for Blind Guardian to come on and after a short change over, the intro music starts as the crowd cheer, opening the set with the powerful Imaginations From The Other Side, the crowd are delighted as during the chorus the singing from the audience over power the sound of the band.
As Imaginations From The Other Side ends Hansi Kursch talks with the audience, as he does between every song, he’s delighted to be back in Dublin after an absence of 8 years, he knows his Irish history as he tells us of his knowledge of the bloody battles that the Irish have been in, which leads us into Blood of the Elves from their latest offering The God Machine before bringing us back around to the classic Nightfall, which once again has the audience singing louder than the band.
We are back to the Imaginations From The Other Side album with the powerful The Script for My Requiem before switching back to 2022’s The God Machine album for Violent Shadows.
Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepen switch their electric guitars for acoustic, the crowd all cheer for The Bard’s Song but Hansi informs us its way too early in the set for The Bard’s Song as they play Skald and Shadows from A Twist in the Myth.
After a huge round of applause the band get their electric guitars back and we expect another classic hit, but instead Blind Guardian take a left turn as Hansi tells us that this is probably one of their best songs and a song that doesn’t get enough attention and so for the first time since 2015 Blind Guardian play This Will Never End, which definitely took everyone by surprise and of course the die hard fans know the lyrics and sing along too. As this is The God Machine tour, it’s time for another song from the album as we are delivered Secrets of the American Gods.
After the short break from the classic’s the acoustic guitars come back out and we all know what time it is, as Hansi says himself, its time for The Bard’s Song, which he doesn’t need to sing as the audience delightfully do all the singing for him. It’s always a hair raising moment hearing that song live and tonight is no different.
Blind Guardian continues the rest of the night with all crowd loving classics, first up is Majesty before Hansi informs us that the next song is the last song for the night, Lost in the Twilight Hall, after which the crowd chant and cheer for them, “Guardian! Guardian! Guardian”, of course the band came back out for their encore, 4 powerful classics, starting with Sacred Worlds from 2010’s At The Edge of Time and followed up by Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill) from the Nightfall in Middle Earth album, a classic I simply was not expecting.
We are down to the last 2 songs of the night and we all know what they will be, Valhalla is up first which just goes on and on as the crowd continue the song long after its finished, the band look incredibly happy with the reactions they’ve been getting all night and this is just the icing on the cake for them. The band finish off their magnificent set with Mirror Mirror, a heavy and fast classic, the perfect way to end the perfect night.
It’s truly outstanding that after 40 years on the go the band are still able to put on amazing shows like this, captivating the audience every single time and playing for nearly 2 hours a night. Throughout the night, the band has been on fire, tight and extremely professional, Hansi has been whitty and has had the crowd laughing and singing the entire night, I don’t think ive ever been to a gig where the audience out-sing the band in nearly every song.
The band continue to tour the UK before heading over the the states for nearly a month long tour and then coming back to Europe, if you’ve never seen them live before you need to change that and mark them off your bucket list.
The Night Eternal Set:
Between the Worlds
In Tartarus
Deadly as a Scythe
Shadow Servants
Prince of Darkness
Elysion (Take me Over)
Stars Guide our Way
Moonlit Cross
Blind Guardian’s set:
Imaginations from the Other Side
Blood of the Elves
Nightfall
The Script for My Requiem
Violent Shadows
Skalds and Shadows
This Will Never End
Secrets of the American God
The Bard’s Song
Majesty
Lost in the Twilight Hall
Sacred Worlds
Time Stand Still (On the Iron Hill)
Valhalla
Mirror Mirror
Photography by Stephen Brophy for MPM
