Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Date: Thursday, March 15, 2012
I never thought anything could surprise me after the Cynic, Atheist and Pestilence shows on our home turf. And then they just casually announce that Fates Warning are coming to Orto bar. Wait a second, is there some other band with that name, or are the pioneers of progressive metal really coming to us!? The name that even big names like Mike Portnoy (who said in one interview that Dream Theater are wrongly seen as the fathers of the genre and that it’s really Fates Warning who deserve that title) and the late Chuck Schuldiner (Death) counted among their influences? There’s only one Fates Warning, of course, and last Thursday Orto bar hosted the American progressive metal legends who basically invented the genre. After the wave of excitement the announcement set off, you’d expect the show to get moved to a bigger venue, the kind a band like Fates Warning absolutely deserves. But the Americans didn’t seem to care much about the small room, and the crowd made sure the band won’t forget their first (and hopefully not last) show here.
The curtain dropped with the intro Disconnected (Part I), and Bobby Jarzombek (drums), Frank Aresti (guitar), Joey Vera (bass), Fates Warning founder Jim Matheos (guitar) and vocalist Ray Alder squeezed onto the Orto stage one after another and greeted the thrilled crowd with the Disconnected classic One. From the very first strum the sound was spot on, and I can’t remember any band at Orto bar ever getting the sound dialed in so perfectly. That Thursday it was marked by incredible warmth, crystal-clear clarity and, when it was called for, crushing aggression and rawness. Every instrument got its own space, every guitar line came through with no trouble, the drums were loud and clear, and the bass rattling and deep. Together with Alder’s warm vocals they added up to one perfect whole that wrapped around the room and swaddled everyone in a cloud of musical magic. As the main songwriter, Matheos is a unique composer and guitarist, because he doesn’t build his songs on wanking five-minute solos (wink at Petrucci) but can write basically simple riffs that are still technically very complex. And paired with Aresti, Matheos makes a “tour de force” guitar duo, tossing off breathtaking solos back and forth at just the right moments, almost as a joke. Matheos and Aresti trade off rhythm and lead lines, played flawlessly, and both really shine when they deliver their unison lines in those “trademark Fates Warning” harmonies. The rhythm section was killing it too! Even though Mark Zonder will probably always be seen as “the” drummer of the band, Bobby Jarzombek stepped into some seriously big shoes with ease. Watching him play, you could easily get lost in all the fills and the paths of his drumsticks. And that on a kit half the size of what most metal drummers use (right, Portnoy). The energy radiating from the stage came mostly from the incredible Vera, who glowed with crazy charisma while his fingers glided over the bass strings with featherlight ease and conviction. That earned him sincere ovations from the crowd more than once, and Alder kept telling the audience “Joey likes you!” Despite a cold and throat trouble, Ray Alder did a fantastic job too, singing every vocal line with heart and conviction and loading the performance with powerful emotion. It was incredible to hear how effortlessly Ray handled those excellent lyrics, and even though he can’t reach the high lines anymore (and cleverly adapted them to what he can do today), his voice is still mighty, soulful and capable of dramatic delivery that enriches an already rich Fates Warning. Aresti, with generous backing vocals (proof that Frank is a fantastic singer too!), lifted the vocal lines right up to the sky. Much too soon, after an hour and forty minutes and a wonderful rendition of Eye To Eye, we had to say goodbye to Fates Warning.
It was a bitter farewell, but we had witnessed a truly beautiful show, delivered in flawless fashion by masters of their craft. The band’s outstanding performance and the energetic crowd made sure the walls of Orto probably heard the best show of their career last Thursday. I’ll never understand how Fates Warning can be such a criminally overlooked band while their peers Dream Theater fill halls with a thousand, two thousand people, but that’s just fate. There’s not a shred of doubt, though: Fates Warning are progressive metal “par excellence,” with no equal. I hope Jim’s hints about a new record come true soon. And that it brings them to our parts again.
author: Rok Klemše
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Intro/One
2. Life In Still Water
3. A Pleasant Shade of Gray: Part III
4. Outside Looking In
5. Down to the Wire
6. Heal Me
7. Still Remains
8. Another Perfect Day
9. The Ivory Gate of Dreams: IV.Quietus
10. A Pleasant Shade of Gray: Part XI
11. The 11th Hour
12. Point of View
13. Through Different Eyes
14. Monument
— encore —
15. At Fate’s Hand
16. Eye to Eye
