Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 23.01.2018
It’s been almost six years since the American prog heavyweights first set foot on Slovenian soil, and it still feels like it happened yesterday. That show went down as one of the best Orto bar has ever seen, and Fates Warning proved they’re a band held in high esteem, even counted among the influences of names like Chuck Schuldiner and Mike Portnoy. Even though you could tell back then that the guys aren’t exactly used to playing small rooms like Orto bar, the Ljubljana crowd has clearly won them over, because this was already their third visit to our capital. Despite a relatively small turnout, at least for a band of Fates Warning’s caliber, made up mostly of 30-plus geriatrics, it was yet another wonderful evening, the kind only these cult Americans know how to put together.
This time, the prestigious opening slot for Fates Warning went to Italian progressive metallers Methodica. We’re not usually used to Italian support acts delivering anything outstanding quality-wise, so on that front Methodica actually did pretty well. In a good half hour, the Verona four-piece presented their vision of progressive metal, which at times draws (way too) heavily from the roots of Dream Theater, at times from modern prog metal/rock bands like Soen, and mostly from neo-prog acts like Marillion and the like, only with a somewhat “heavier” sound. There’s not much to complain about in the performance itself, but the Italians got boring pretty quickly, which can be put down to an approach to music that’s not original or distinctive enough. Methodica simply sound way too much like their idols and way too little like themselves. That said, we’ve heard plenty far worse from our western neighbors.
And it’s also true that on that Tuesday it didn’t matter at all who was on stage before ten p.m., since the return of the legendary Fates Warning to our stages was what everyone was waiting for. When the band last visited us, they were presenting the album Darkness In a Different Light, while this time Fates Warning came with their latest, released the year before last, Theories of Flight. They greeted the Ljubljana crowd with that album’s opening track, From the Rooftops, and from the very first notes made it clear that nothing but sonic and musical perfection awaited us. The sound was once again set up absolutely top-notch, with every single instrument brilliantly mixed, crystal clear and sharp. Although vocalist Ray Alder struggled a bit with the first few verses, the chorus already sounded wonderful. And even though a few purists still pine for the band’s early days, when they were quite similar to other American prog/power bands a la Crimson Glory, Queensryche and Sanctuary, Fates Warning with Alder front and center are still one hell of an awe-inspiring band.
The band’s commander and only original member Jim Matheos knows this full well. An exceptional guitarist, he once again stood stoically on the left side of the stage, melting into his instrument, which he played with feather-light ease. The same goes for the rest of the band, flawless instrumental perfectionists who leave no room for mistakes, yet still sound wonderfully natural and organic live. From Bobby Jarzombek’s beastly drumming octopus, through the thundering rumble of Joey Vera’s bass, to young guitarist Mike Abdow, who fills in for the absent Frank Aresti, everything on stage with this band sounds like an alloy of pure, perfect, spotless metal. And the band couldn’t have pulled it off without the exceptional Alder on vocals, who lets the emotional charge of the music come alive in its true light. Even though Ray can no longer reach the higher registers and actually avoids them altogether, he remains a unique vocal interpreter and charismatic frontman, who doesn’t need to spout any nonsense to the crowd and still has them eating out of his hand. Fates Warning went on a short European tour this time, recorded every single show of it, and the recordings will be used on a new live album that’s supposed to come out this year. So the Americans gave us a solid two-hour set, with no shortage of either fan favorites or treats for the connoisseurs. Right at the start, the outstanding Life in Still Water made everyone happy, Pale Fire from the overlooked Inside Out thrilled, and the newer songs Seven Stars and SOS convinced as well. Since the band had carved out a healthy chunk of running time, they could afford excursions they probably wouldn’t otherwise. So we got two epic-length tracks, first the ten-minute morsel The Light and Shade of Things, followed by the sixteen-minute behemoth Still Remains, in which the guitar duo cast a spell with a simple yet highly effective guitar brilliance. At the end of the regular set, the Parallels twin The Eleventh Hour/Point of View gave us goosebumps, and after almost two hours of pure musical ecstasy, Fates Warning said their goodbyes, expected but no less thrilling, with Eye to Eye. If I may borrow a bit of basketball lingo to wrap up; this was at the very least a triple-double with a statistical index of 63, and quite possibly one of the top contenders for gig of the year.
Setlist
1. From the Rooftops
2. Life in Still Water
3. One
4. Pale Fire
5. Seven Stars
6. SOS
7. One Thousand Fires
8. Firefly
9. The Light and Shade of Things
10. Wish
11. Another Perfect Day
12. The Ivory Gate of Dreams: IV. Quietus
13. Still Remains
14. A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Part IX
15. Nothing Left to Say
16. The Ivory Gate of Dreams: VII. Acquiescence
17. The Eleventh Hour
18. Point of View
— encore —
19. Throught Different Eyes
20. Monument
21. Eye to Eye
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