Bang Your Head!!! 2019 (Day Three) – A Bombastic Collision of Opera and Metal Called Avantasia Closes It Out
Location: Balingen / Messegelände (Volksbankmesse hall) / Germany
Date: Saturday, 07/13/2019
Two soggy thirds of Bang Your Head 2019 are in the books, and now comes the last one. Day three! And this one was finally dry. The program that day was carved out mostly in the old-school metal mold, with a few welcome detours courtesy of Candlemass, Skid Row, Tribulation, Einherjer and Omnium Gatherum, but let’s take it from the top…
At half past eleven, Sweden’s Screamer, from Ljungby, hopped onstage for 50 minutes as the first act on the festival’s final day. Revivalists of classic-era metal who like to brush up against hard rock, too, they’ve become a seriously sharp-toothed quintet over a decade of existence. With three albums under their belts and a new one due this October, they took the stage with vehemence and started strafing what was, up to that point, a pretty lazy, sleepy late-morning slot at the legendary festival. Vocalist Andreas Wikström has an authoritative, theatrical voice and holds the reins firmly as he commands the front line. Yes. There’s a lot of revivalism around these days, especially among Scandinavian bands, but Scramer are a seriously gripping mix of old-school American speed metal with NWOBHM slaps, and it’s no surprise when they sneak in a riff in the vein of Thin Lizzy (or their revivalist imitators and countrymen Dead Lord), Accept or Saxon. The band spread out material from their first three albums and worked in two brand-new songs, »Ride On« and the title track of the upcoming album, »Highway Of Heroes«.
More Swedes took over the stage. Gothenburg’s RAM have been around a decade longer than their countrymen Screamer, and so have a longer studio catalog in their pockets. Although the 2017 album »Rod« is still current, RAM are right on the verge of releasing its successor, their sixth studio album overall, »The Throne Within«, and from it they played the new and hugely promising Ravnfell in the middle of the show. The quintet is made up of the Petersson brothers’ rhythm section, original guitarist Henry Granroth, the unmistakable, signature vocalist Oscar Carlquist, and guitarist Martin Jonsson, who joined in 2013. RAM, too, follow the creed of old-school metal. RAM simply don’t disappoint. The phenomenal screamer Oscar Carlquist is an incredibly charismatic and committed frontman. A giant who filled the whole stage, he clearly inherited his stage game from the pioneering figures of old-school metal vocals, stage outfit included. Between his caustic vocal escapades he didn’t hide his flushed, red-faced stage fury, though! The charisma of this man is phenomenal. RAM are a superbly tight crew, and their shows are always a guarantee of high quality. That’s backed up by the extremely distinctive riffs their songs stand on. In the first part the band mostly played material from the albums »Rod« (the epic Gulag, and On Wings Of No Return) and »Subverzum« (the opening tracks Return of the Iron Tyrant and Eye Of The Night, and The Usurper later on). In the second half, after the new Ravnfell, they moved on to the missed songs of their first era, firing off Sudden Impact from the debut »Forced Entry«, then closing with Machine Invaders and Infuriator. It was a bit of a surprise that the band played not a single song from the otherwise perfect »Lightbringer«, while from the third album, »Death«, we’d already heard Flame Of The Tyrants in the first half. A compact, uncompromising and unbelievably tight set from a seasoned band, with big, good prospects for what RAM have in store for us in September with the new album.
Flotsam And Jetsam are considered big thrash metal legends today. They’re oddballs in the genre. A serious army of worshippers of the good old school of thrash had already gathered in front of the stage, and the band, as expected, didn’t disappoint. The sun was beating straight into the stage, and the band ran onto it like a swarm of angry red ants. We’re talking legends. Yes, and they’re not short on energy even at this more mature stage of their career. Vehemence, daring, sharpness and perfect stage execution. It’s hard to come to terms with the fact that seeing Flotsam And Jestsam in festival conditions lasts barely an hour, but there it is. Vocalist Eric A. Knutson has weathered every storm. He held up vocally with total confidence through the whole set and delivered a great stage performance. The guitar duo of Michael Gilbert, who’s still going like a kid as an original member of the band, and Steve Conley, who joined a few years ago, comes across tight and precise, and it’s a phenomenal pairing that doesn’t make a single slip. And of course, the whole thing is ruled by the outstanding drumming of Ken Mary, who only joined last year, and who, with a few superb rolls and explosiveness in the transitions, executed with extreme precision, instantly dispelled any idle thought that Flotsam And Jetsam might have lost quality when Jason Bittner left to join Overkill last year. Not just anyone gets to play for Alice Cooper, in Impellitteri and/or Accept. Hats off! And of course there’s the cult statue of bassist Michael Spencer. This year the band put out the new album »The End Of Chaos« and, as expected, opened the show with the new Prisoner Of Time, then quickly hammered out classics from the cult debut »Doomsday For The Deciever«, namely Desecrator and Hammerhead, with the newer Iron Maiden (»Flotsam And Jetsam«, 2017) slotted in between. The first part of the show was closed by another new one, Demoliton Man, and the band stormed into the second half with the jagged, caustic »When The Storm Comes Down«, the »Suffer The Masses« classic that set a nice crop of heads whirling in front of the stage. But the main highlight was still to come, because from there until the end of the show the band basically camped out on the classic album »No Place For Disgrace«, lining up three steel classics: Dreams Of Death, I Live You Die and the closing title track of the album. A wrecking storm, an Arizona tornado! No survivors! Exactly what we’d hoped for going in. The legendary band doesn’t give up and doesn’t slow down. The classic days of good old-school thrash came alive with a band that has always cultivated its own songwriting insight and individuality. Respect!
The show kept rolling on the springs of the old school of heavy metal, specifically the American one. The ossified school of classic heavy and speed metal. Enter Armored Saint, who, at least where sound is concerned, still owed us one from last November’s show in Zagreb. As expected, the band mixed up the setlist, but most of the repertoire leaned toward cult classics. Only one new song, Win Hands Down, and another from the newer era of “fight-for-survival times” (Creepy Feelings) from the album »Revelation« (2000), which also brought a few surprises to the setlist, but otherwise it was shot after shot, classic after classic. In the best possible light. John Bush in great form as a vocal commander-in-chief, dressed in a stage outfit not at all typical for metal that would fit better at some Balkan party, then the unbreakable guitar tandem of Phil Sandoval and Jeff Duncan, and on drums Phil’s brother Gonzo. And of course the distinctive, incredible Joey Vera, who works miracles on bass. Because of his quality and style, the refined bassist was picked for next year’s reunion shows by the legendary Danes Mercyful Fate. No doubting Armored Saint. From the opening title track of the album »Raising Fear« (1987) all the way to the final stretch, when they tackled the roaring March Of The Sanint (»March Of The Saint«, 1985), it was a seriously hot show to the core, the kind you can only wish for. Along with »March Of The Saint«, the early part also echoed with Can U Deliver, and from the cult »Symbol of Salvation« came Last Train Home and the outstanding Reign Of Fire. In the second half of the set the band also touched on the album »Delirious Nomad« with the songs For The Sake Of Heaviness and Nervous Man, while the title track of »Raising Fear« was joined by the fantastic Underdogs. A robust, compact performance from big old-school metal veterans who, let’s hope, find their way back to the old continent’s stages very soon.
Finally, a genre match! It’s four in the afternoon when the legendary Swedish doom metallers Candlemass climb onto the main stage. A band that hit the scene in the early eighties, they put out a new studio album this year, »The Dooor To Doom«, proving their proverbial doom tenacity and traditional devotion to the sound and style they established above all with the cult albums released in the eighties. What’s more, they lured their first singer back into the ranks, the one before Messiah, the man who sang on the studio debut »Epicus Doomicus Metallicus«. That’s Johan Längquist. He was never known for any particular technical vocal polish when you put him next to the other Candlemass singers, so questions arose about how he’d handle the vocal duties. The band put together a great setlist, playing almost exclusively eighties classics, meaning material from the first four albums, and worked in just one new song, which in no way spoiled the setlist: Astorolous – The Great Octopus. Candlemass have a fully developed sound and style of their own. Loaded with a bag of experience and incredible mileage, they simply delivered a brilliant show here in Balingen, too, and with their mere presence they seriously enriched the program of this year’s festival. Längquist was confident, confident in everything. He’s also turned over the years into a charismatic gray-haired, curly-haired uncle who held the crowd tightly and skillfully by his side. Of course you can’t expect Messiah’s charisma, nor the level of execution of the band’s classics from the albums Messiah sang on, but Längquist fit into his task perfectly decently and justified his status as the band’s returned legendary first singer. The band opened its epic black march through the expanse of lit candles and rotting gravestones with the »Nightfall« classic The Well Of Souls (later joined by Dark are the Veils of Death and, near the end, Bewtiched), then the lone »Ancient Dreams« track Mirror, Mirror, and the equally lone »Tales Of Creation« track Dark Reflections, while the band carried its black torment and ritual toward the closing peak, when it (as expected) served up two more classics from the cult debut »Epicus Doomicus Metallicus«, namely A Sorcerer’s Pledge and the closing Solitude. By that hour the clouds and the gray had covered the sky again. All that was missing was for the sky to “cry” again and the cup would have been full (No! We’d had more than enough rain)! All in all. An excellent show.
Next came another cult American heavy metal band, Metal Church, who are enjoying a real renaissance with the return of singer Mike Howe. The band lined up two new studio albums two years apart, the current »Damned If You Do« just last fall. The band is led by the unshakable “riffmeister” Kurdt Vanderhoof, former W.A.S.P. drummer Stet Howland joined on drums (the memory of his past band lives on in the makeup around his eyes), then there’s the seasoned bassist Steve Unger and the young but incredibly agile guitarist Rick Van Zandt, with whom the band appeared at Tolmin’s Metaldays festival a few years ago, when Ronnie Munroe was still singing. Anyway. This time the setlist showed Vanderhoof’s more complex side as a songwriter. Vanderhoof is a many-layered musician who doesn’t really limit himself musically, and that’s reflected in the often twisty development of the compositions, even though Metal Church otherwise belong to the ossified old school of metal. So the band put the newest release »Damned If I Do« at the center, playing from it, in a bundle of ten songs, the title track, By the Numners and The Black Things. One album “in reverse,” meaning the album »XI« from the year before last, was represented by »Needle And Suture«, which the band played right as the second song. The band also brought back a bit more material from the period when Howe took over lead vocals after Michael Wayne, namely the ever-igniting Gods Of A Second Chance from »Hanging In Balance« and two »Blessing in Disguise« tracks, Badlands and the closing Fake Healer. The band is mostly static onstage, especially both guitarists, with Vanderhoof at the helm, but that static feel was completely shattered by the hyperactive Howe, who ran as much as a person can run and sweated out hectoliters. The flushed face and the straining neck veins in the afternoon heat were vivid proof. Howe screamed superbly, hit all the highest notes, though right before the end he audibly lost some steam. Among the cult classics the band took on the »Metal Church« classic, the otherwise phenomenal Beyond the Black, while it was joined by two »The Dark« compositions, the epic mini-suite Watch The Children Pray and Start The Fire. The band stands behind its new-era original songs and that’s the main thing. They visibly enjoy themselves onstage and the chemistry they radiate is brilliant. A pile of jokes, including bassist Steve Unger filming with a smartphone as he mischievously sidled right up to Vanderhoof. Anyway. The band radiates extraordinary cheerfulness. They ran out of time for another classic or two, so we’ll have to catch them at some club show. Let’s hope they show up on old-continent soil again as soon as possible, as close as possible and, of course, on as long a tour as possible!
During the Metal Church show, the hall venue came to life too, where at half past five in the afternoon the jagged American hard rock short-pants brats Kickin’ Valentina went to raise hell. Ripped outfits, a pinch of glam makeup, flirting with punk, the old school of hard rock that Slash’s figure once seriously popularized in Guns N’ Roses, but with a sound that’s jagged, tuned lower, fat and veiled in groove. All of that gives you insight into a band that has somehow found its creative path under the “free” sun. The quartet has been around since 2013 and has two studio albums and an EP in its pocket, and is quickly riding toward a third studio release. It’s made up of vocalist D.K. Revelle, guitarist Heber Pampillon, bassist Chris Taylor and drummer Jimmy Berdine. Kickin’ Valentina built their show around presenting their current studio album »Imaginery Creatures«. Worth mentioning that the band was supposed to play here at Bang Your Head last year, but canceled their appearance at the last minute. Despite the overlap with the Metal Church show, quite a nice pile of curious folks gathered in the hall to witness the raging stage show of four naughty motherfuckers, with the cocky vocalist D.K. providing most of the good energy, a cap pulled down over his forehead and eyes, pardon, dark Ray Ban shades, and in the vocal department he often reminded me of Killcode vocalist Tom Morrisey. A band that shows promise and, if it can hold up with this much zeal, a band that will provide future generations with a first-rate dose of good hard rock partying, too!
Damn! On the last day there was a heap of thankless overlap, too. One was between the Finnish melodic death metallers Omnium Gatherum and the American glam metal veterans Skid Row. For genre purists the decision is easy, but for the rest of the curious who wanted to be at both ends it was hard. So we combined the two, but gave more attention to the Finnish sextet from the town of Karhula. The band presented its excellent new studio album »The Burning Cold« and opened the show with the invasive, venomous, melodic and cranked-up Gods Go First, where elements of death metal and classical music communicate wonderfully and at the same time introduce the band, even to a layperson, in a very representative way. Unfortunately the sound conditions were botched and the guitars weren’t clearly audible throughout the show, and the growl of charismatic frontman Jukka Peikonen wasn’t pushed clearly enough forward in the mix. The keyboards got the short end, too, as they usually are the first to suffer when the sound isn’t set up well. The band focused on repertoire from the later era, from »New World Shadows« upward toward the new album, the era in which Omnium Gatherum developed their own songwriting identity by incorporating ever grander and more complexly dynamic musical arrangements. The hall was less well attended because of the overlap, and also because of the profile of the festival’s visitors, who are used to performances by classic metal and hard rock bands. Unfair, but never mind. Omnium Gatherum came at it with everything they had, and the sight of Jukka was downright worrying, as the sweat literally poured off the vocalist in the middle of the hellishly boiling hall. The guys also played Refining Fire and Be The Sky from the new album, Frontiers and Skyline from its predecessor »Grey Heavens« (2016), two tracks from the album »Beyond« (2013), New Dynamic and The Unknowing, and touched with the title track on the excellent album »New World Shadows« (2011). A compact show, excellent in every way. The right measure of bestiality and exceptional musicality, as well as epic bombast, woven into a basic inspiration from the Gothenburg tradition of melodic metal, though it’s clear the Finns “package” that inspiration into a completely new recipe. The band is coming to Ljubljana in October. Be there!
The arrival of Skid Row delivered a welcome shake-up to the third festival day’s program. The cult glam metallers, who rose among the “immortals” in the early nineties, perform after the reunion without Sebastian Bach, of course, which is a kind of curse, but still. They simply can’t find common ground with him anymore. Well, for all the years until 2015, the charismatic Johnny Solinger did the job more than decently, before leaving the band in 2015 for unknown reasons, and in his place as vocalist the ex-Dragonforce songbird ZP Theart found his new employment. Sabo, Hill and Bolan remain the original members, which is of key importance, since they’re all, to a man, the authors of Skid Row’s music! Skid Row can’t miss, because they live off the reputation of the cult releases »Skid Row« (18 and Life, Big Guns, I Remember You, Makin’ a Mess, Piece of Me, Sweet Little Sister and, to close, the expected Youth Gone Wild) and »Slave to the Grind« (In a Darkened Room, Livin’ on a Chain Gang, Monkey Business, and the aforementioned Slave to the Grind). And the crew stuck diligently to both releases at the Balingen show, too, hitting right away with Slave To The Grind in the opener. Funny that the band completely ignores the album »Subhuman Race«, which is not bad in any way. Whatever, a solid hour with the greatest moments of the two cult albums delivered a proper party, as expected. ZP Theart doesn’t have an ounce of the charisma of the famous predecessor who sang on the first three studio albums, nor is he vocally anywhere near him, which is a pity, but on the other hand also an advantage. The band plays great, and the “folk-hero evergreens” still ignite in full-blooded doses. The band is incredibly agile and lively onstage. Somewhere in the middle the band lifted the show to a higher level when they cut loose with Psycho Therapy (Ramones), and the »Thickskin« (2003) track Ghost also sneaked into the repertoire. A crew that has had obvious trouble finding singer replacements throughout its career functions with ZP Theart with total confidence, but still, you’d imagine in his place more of a “good boy,” a mischievous fellow with more magnetism and fiery energy. The band plays superbly, though.
Tribulation got a hefty seventy minutes, and luckily started their show half an hour before the main headliner of the third day, Avantasia. So a sizable number of listeners had gathered in the hall by then, which the band fully deserved. These are highly respected Swedish gothic black metal werewolves, and in this set they gave by far the most attention to their current studio album »Down Below« (2018), from which they played Lady Death (show opener), Lacrimosa (closing number), and in between worked in Nightbound, The Lament, Cries From The Underworld and The World. It’s incredible how rich, ominously thundering and doomy a sound the quartet creates onstage. Add to that the very good sound conditions and, of course, the crew’s exceptional tightness. There’s the piercing and devastatingly authoritative growl of bassist and frontman Johannes Andersson, who breathes a special atmosphere into the dark image of the songs with his stage theater! We skipped part of the show to recharge our batteries for the big finale of the last three acts. Tribulation have played here a number of times already, this year again as part of the Metaldays festival. They never disappoint onstage! At the Bang Your Head!!! show the band played, besides the new ones, songs from the albums »Formulas Of Death« (Suspiria de profundis, Ultra Silvam) and »The Children Of The Night« (Melancholia, Strange Gateways Beckon, The Motherhood of God).
Everything was ready for the main headliner of the third day of this year’s Bang Your Head!!! festival. And with it, the closing show on the main stage! That honor went to Avantasia, the project led by Tobias Sammet, a charismatic vocalist and composer who successfully crossed opera and metal with this project and, somewhat unexpectedly, also made it big commercially. The success is so huge that he put his main band Edguy on ice. The project’s success is all the more surprising since it came at a time when extreme approaches lead the development of modern metal and power metal, decked out with symphonic elements, is somehow a dead story. But not in the case of the Avantasia project. Sammet secured the appeal of his otherwise predictable musical recipe by persistently inviting special guests who take part mostly as lead vocalists on Avantasia albums and who, through their deeds in their home bands, have forever written their names in capital letters in the world of rock and metal. This year Sammet released the new studio album »Moonglow« with Avantasia, which he also presented at length in Balingen. Onstage he gathered a supporting crew made up of his Edguy buddy Felix Bohnke on drums, the excellent guitarists Sascha Paeth (ex-Heaven’s Gate) and Oliver Hartmann (Hartmann), then keyboardist Miro Rodenberg, bassist Andre Neygenfind and backing singers Herbie Langhans, Adrienne Cowan and Ina Morgan. What most likely contributed to the biggest turnout of any show at the whole festival, of course, were the guest singers who performed individual numbers: Jørn Lande (Jorn), Bob Catley (Magnum), Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), without whom not a single Bang Your Head festival can pass, then Eric Martin (Mr. Big) and Geoff Tate (Operation: Mindcrime, ex-Queensryche)
The repertoire was sensibly put together in bundles of songs performed by individual singers on the studio albums, so that there’d be as little switching as possible during the show. Let me add that »Moonglow« isn’t the only appearance of the cited guests. They guested on past albums. So the opening belonged to Sammet, who, in his playful style, didn’t forget to cheer up the crowd right away with inventive bursts of humor. He was helped by the sprinkling from the sky, which surprised absolutely everyone. During Book Of Shallows, Samett glanced at the catwalk and said: “Damn, was this piece of stage dry a few moments ago? Folks, how is that possible?” Anyway. The stage set was richly equipped with additional platforms in front of and behind the stage, the lighting rig was expanded and especially rich, there were whole cannons, or rather salvos, of confetti, and above it all, of course, a spectacle almost an hour and a half long that took in songs from all the band’s albums (see the setlist below). Eric Martin showed up onstage for an incredibly inventive and fitting cover of Sembello’s original song Maniac, which was used in the soundtrack for the movie »Flashdance« (ah, sweet eighties nostalgia)! Geoff Tate sang Alchemy, Invincible and, in place of Kiske, Reach Out For The Light, and the first of the guests to appear onstage was Jorn Lande, who got The Raven Child and Lucifer. And so on…
Since Avantasia’s marathon show overlapped with the Norwegian viking metallers Einherjer, we opted for the latter, and after half an hour of watching Avantasia, we stepped into the Volksbankmesse hall, where the sturdy, unbending Norwegians were presenting their new, eighth studio album overall, »Norrøne Spor«. The band is marking 26 years of existence this year, with a break between 2004 and 2008. Einherjer recently grew from a trio into a quartet. The lead vocalist and bassist, the towering Frode Glesnes, the no less original guitarist Aksel Herløe and drummer Gerhard Storesund have been joined by the technically superb younger member and guitarist Ole Sønstabø, who earned himself a guitar solo spot in the middle of the show thanks to his virtuoso skills. The band sticks to a tried-and-true recipe that it doesn’t stray from much. The newer songs have noticeably more viking folk aesthetics, while in the older tracks Einherjer move closer to elements of traditional black metal. The riffs are raw, the rhythms elementary, and with the piercing, distinctive growl that carries the songs in a similar energy dimension, the atmosphere Einherjer create works like a mantra. Hypnotic. A mood that sucks you in. Alongside the newer tracks from the new album and the album »Av oss, for oss«, the band also worked older tracks from their first era into the repertoire, from the albums »Blot«, »Far Far North« (the album’s title track) and the debut »Dragons of the North« (likewise the album’s title track). Even though Frode is more or less stuck behind the mic the whole time, both guitarists skillfully use the stage and keep running back and forth to lift the dynamics of the proceedings. The band is in very good form, and Frode’s growl in particular is convincing and holds its power! When Einherher wrapped up the show a little before a quarter to eleven, Avantasia were just finishing their universe-sized show, so we went on to enjoy the fireworks, with which Bang Your Head!!! keeps up its tradition.
And yet the festival wasn’t over. One more show was announced in the hall! Something for fans of Manowar. Better than the original. That can’t be done, right? Or can it? Of course it can, if Ross »The Boss« Friedman steps onstage and, with his backing band, plays an hour-and-a-half show filled to the brim with Manowar classics written in the era of Ross’s stint in Manowar (1980 – 1990)! It’s enough that he’s credited as co-author of the cult classics on the first six Manowar albums, which, next to »Triumph Of The Steel«, honestly (hand on heart) make up the essence of the band’s discography, a band that, especially over the last two decades, all too often clings to needless self-praise instead of writing new music. Well, Ross, who has no time for that and has long since been out of such stories, is accompanied onstage by excellent musicians led by drummer Steve Bolognese (Into Eternity, Death Dealer), bassist Mike LePond (Symphony X) and singer Marc Lopes, who, to put it bluntly, is a more than decent approximation of Eric Adams’s original vocals. The band put together a dream setlist, playing almost entirely Manowar material from the first six albums, with a »By Blood Sworn« track, Fistful Of Hate, which belongs to Ross The Boss, thrown in. The band broke the shackles. Friedman created that famous raw, thundering and savage “Conan-esque” sound, while the bestial, hot-blooded Lopes didn’t stand still for a second, bursting with nonstop theater. The rhythm section brilliant. It couldn’t be any other way. And the result? Better than the original. Absolutely! Ross for president. He delivers exactly what’s missing from current Manowar shows. A real heart. They came one after another: Blood Of The Kings, Death Throne, The Oath, Wheels Of Fire, Thor (The Powerhead), Dark Avenger, Gloves Of Metal, Sign Of The Hammer, Metal DAze, Blood Of My Enemies, Kill With Power, Fighting The World, Battle Hymn, and the show was closed by Hail And Kill. A show that flashes by in an instant, and a show after which you gladly say: “More!”
And so the Bang Your Head!!! 2019 festival came to an end. A few less resounding names in the headliner spots than usual, again a few too many repeat names that are almost fixtures of the festival, and very few of the exclusive shows that used to be a staple. But that’s how it goes. Times are getting harder and there’s less and less money. The bad weather did its part this year, too, and attendance this year was actually lower than you’d expect. Whatever. The festival’s reputation remains untouched, and Bang Your Head keeps its title as one of the most important and prestigious European metal festivals. It’ll stay that way in the future, too. For 2020 the festival has already confirmed a first batch of acts, namely: Unleashed, Rage, Heathen, the ones who still owe us, Hardcore Superstar, Kissin’ Dynamite, Skullfist, Winterstorm, Tankard, Memoriam, Space Chaser and Leatherwolf. So see you again next year in Balingen, at the jubilee, that is the 25th edition of the famous Bang Your Head!!! festival!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
AVANTASIA setlist:
1. Ghost in the Moon
2. Book of Shallows
3. The Raven Child
4. Lucifer
5. Alchemy
6. Invincible
7. Reach Out for the Light
8. Maniac
9. Dying for an Angel
10. Lavender
11. The Story Ain’t Over
12. The Scarecrow
13. Twisted Mind
14. Avantasia
15. Let the Storm Descend Upon You
16. Mystery of a Blood Red Rose
17. Shelter from the Rain
18. Lost in Space
—encore—
19. Farewell
20. Sign of the Cross / The Seven Angel
