BLIND GUARDIAN / DAWN OF EXTINCTION (Live)

BLIND GUARDIAN (Live at La Coopérative De Mai, Clermont-Ferrand, France, October 29, 2023) — Photo: Séverine Peraldino

Eight years! It had already been eight years since Blind Guardian headlined a tour in France. True the bards stopped here and there on festival stages, but nothing compared to the two-hour shows (sometimes more) diving deep into their discography. After a show in Paris and the iconic venue of l’Elysée Montmartre, to end the first leg of their tour, the band made an unexpected stop in Clermont-Ferrand: a pleasant provincial town in the centre of the country and in the middle of what geographers call “the diagonal of emptiness.”

Dawn Of Exctinction

For those who prefers Blind Guardian’s meandering experimentations in the realms of Orchestral, Cinematic and Epic music, the choice of the opening band might have been the clue that, for this tour, Hansi & Co are reuniting with their Thrash and Speed Metal roots.

Hailing from Spain, Dawn Of Extinction plays a very melodic mix of Thrash and Death Metal. While their albums are so far promising and catchy, they still lack a bit of precision on stage. Perhaps was it the effect of touring weariness, but Cristian Juàrez vocals lacked a bit of power both in clear and extreme singing (he was more at ease the week before in Paris.)

Still, their performance was highly enjoyable, with epic and catchy tunes such as “Rise From Oblivion” or “Motherfucker.” This last track is a big middle finger raised against people mistreating and assaulting women, a message that still needs to be spread.

Overall Dawn Of Extinction was enthusiastic and fun, but it is a shame they did not connect more with their audience. The fault lies perhaps in their communication, speaking way too fast for anyone to understand and leaving the audience almost entirely lost in translation.

Blind Guardian

Both in Paris and Clermont-Ferrand the show started with the stage hidden behind a black veil, on which flew whites silhouettes of dragon. With a play on the lights, it seemed they were flying around in the venue. The sense of longing was finally lifted when resonated the first notes of “Imagination From The Other” side, and already the audience was giving its best at singing (that was even more the case for their show in Paris with a bigger crowd.)

The Way of Kings

Hansi was on this French tour particularly talkative and in good humour. From the retelling of the incident that almost cancelled their show in Paris (the band got the wrong venue.) to his gentle banter against Marcus Siepen, it was truly great to see the band in such a good mood and shape.
Hansi blamed Marcus for the real heavy direction of this tour and the return to a more aggressive sound, and claimed he had to fight very hard to include some ballads in the setlist.

True enough, if A Night At The Opera is your favourite Blind Guardian album, you would have been in for a slight disappointment. As the faithful nerds they are, Hansi introduced Marcus as “The White Wolf” before playing “Blood Of The Elves” from the latest album The God Machine (for the book references, see the setlist.) And indeed this newly appointed witcher seemed very at ease on the whole setlist and very happy to front the stage. His fellow André Olbrich was as often a bit more discreet on the other side of the stage but, still completely focused and virtuose.

The Blind Guardian Archives

For the fans of the album Somewhere Far Beyond “Ashes To Ashes” was a treat! Between the show in Paris and Clemont they also swapt “Time Stand Still (At The Iron Hill)” with “Born In The Mourning Hall.” “Lord Of The Rings” was also evicted from the setlist. But, as for ballad goes, “Skalds And Shadows” was a nice surprise, the kind of surprise reviving the hope of one day hearing a live rendition of “Curse My Name.”

As for the heavier tracks “Violent Shadows” was an incredible moment: the structure of the song allowing an epic rise and crushing ending. After some jokes about the so-called sins of Love and Lust so dear to French people, the band offered to “Deliver Us From Evil.”

Hansi had few occasions to rest, except for “The Bard’s Song (in the forest).” Wherever Blind Guardian plays, he doesn’t have to sing. It also very nice of him to always praise the audience on their pitch, when the song is actually hard to get it right and it seems that everyone is fighting to sing as much off-key as it possibly is.

Valhalla Calling

At heart, this setlist was made for headbanging, and it is a tribute the talent of this band that they were able to play such a show after more than thirty years of career. “At The Age Of Time” was an incursion in their more cinematic discography and a bold, but clever, choice for an encore before “Valhalla” and “Mirror Mirror.”

Eight years was a long wait, and for the younger fans, perhaps more songs from the albums following Nightfall In Middle-Earth would have been welcomed. For the fans of the early hour this was, however, a most excellent show.