ANGRA + DUNGEON
The Marquee, Sydney - 25th of March, 2005
Initially none of us purchased tickets for Angra`s show which was played a day before Nightwish. After the Nightwish gig we received fliers that informed us of Angra`s show on Friday and all for a mere $20. I had already heard from Dario the lead guitarist of Shackles that Angra`s show slayed and totally pummeled over what Nightwish had on offer. I had been a long time listener of Angra and definitely like their progressive/power style but could not say that they are in the list of bands that I listen to regularly.
Stupidly Militia and I tried to purchase tickets from Utopia on Good Friday due to an urging phone call from Damien-X. Eventually we bought tickets at the door. I had aptly taken all my Angra CDs for the ride to the gig with Fade2Blackned and Milita and we got absolutely psyched before the event at The Marquee. I am told that Angra are extremely popular in Europe and it is very uncommon for their shows to not sell out, like had happened here. I am extremely impressed that they made the effort to perform the second gig in which they also played a number of Classic Metal Covers to celebrate Good Friday.
By the time we had reached our destination we managed to catch the last few songs by a band completely unknown to me going by the name of JMD. We did not find the singing/screaming or the singer`s mallcorish movements to be terribly entertaining at all. If I wanted to jump the fuck up I would have taken up basketball at some point in my life. The guitarist was very skilled and technical in his approach but played in the most mechanical and cold way that I had heard live on stage previously and seemed to use all the familiar scales that we had all heard so many times. This appeared to frustrate Fade2backened to the point where he ended up breaking one of the glasses on our table. To calm his nerves I suggested that he purchase a new drink from the bar and glaze his eyes over some of the aesthetically pleasing bar chicks, which he agreed to be very fine indeed.
The highlight for this band was their cover of Dream Theater`s (Metropolis Part II). It would be fair to say that Dream Theater influences were very prevalent in their music. They certainly have potential to be a lot better with a new singer and a more unique sound.
Also at this gig were Simon from Vaticide who sat with us for a while, Dario from Shackles and even the keyboardist from Nightwish who we all took pictures with. Fade2Blackened was the one who spotted Thomas and consequently shared a very gay moment with. To protect his feelings no further details shall be disclosed. Militia also falsely spotted Tarja, Santa and the Seven Dwarfs; it is truly no wonder that they call him "Detective Goran".
After JWD we all found a seat and drank away except for me as I continued to prevail with my no drinking stance. We were joined by MetalForevaaa who was seeing Angra for the second time that week, Agnola and Damien-X. The photos available in our gallery were on this occasion handled by Militia. He was taking this task with the most utter level of professionalism and alcoholism, and in fact spent more time moving around, climbing on chairs and speakers, looking through the blinds on the side of the stage, performing disappearing acts and similar than watching the gig. To his credit I believe that he managed to take numerous brilliant shots of Angra and Dungeon.
DUNGEON:
Dungeon was next on stage as the main support act for the night. What truly made this into an excellent gig is the small size of the venue allowing you to get closer to the bands without losing your left lung and kidney in the mosh-pit. They played a similar if not identical set list that we heard at the Nightwish gig just a few days ago. Militia was absolutely impressed with "Terranno Del Mar" having now heard it for the second time and commented on it sounding even better! He really loves the great intro, harmonies, guitar solos and this appears to now be his favorite Dungeon song!
Dungeons performance was very entertaining and consistent as usual. The crowd was getting very involved with the pirate jokes, singing, instrumental solos, and dungeon memorabilia being thrown / given away.
Set list:
Resurrection
The Art of War
Insanity`s Fall
Tarranno Del Mar
Time to Die
I am Death / Raining Blood
ANGRA:
Angra began their performance around 10pm. They played for good two hours making this gig exceptional value for the twenty dollars entry fee. They opened with the excellent "Spread Your Fire" and we heard many tunes from their latest album which was brilliant. They further backed this up with some of their classics such as "Angels Cry", "Nova Era". One of the drunken fans kept shouting at them to play "Carry On" and even became so aggravated that it caused him to swear. To us his fiasco was very amusing and it was absolutely hilarious to see him eventually give up.
For the majority of the performance I was positioned on a chair to the right side of the stage giving me a great elevated view but probably suffered by being too close to the speaker. The lighting for the show was quite good and you can see it from the photos located in our gallery. The audience was ecstatic with the bands performance and it was pleasing to see them really get into the spirit. The only rowdy event that almost resulted in a fight in the mosh-pit right in front of the singer was stopped by his peaceful words when he calmed the two culprits and doves were released to celebrate the occasion (Laugh).
Angra`s performance was top notch and the in sync dual guitar solos were very impressive. Every band member was very talented and they had terrific synergy and stage movement. I am sure that this performance will win them many new fans here and help attract far greater audiences on their return to Australia. To me Angra`s show proved to be superior to the one I saw of Nightwish simply due to the much greater quality and consistence of their catalogue and the musicianship of the band members, although Tarja is better than Angra`s singer.
The show got even better when they started to perform many metal classics including a Pantera riffs rally, Iron Maiden`s "Number of the Beast", "The Flight Of Icarus", Slayer`s "Reining Blood", Judas Priest`s "Painkiller" and Metallica`s "Sad But True" (which to me was a poor choice).
When performing "Painkiller" they were joined by Stu and Tim from Dungeon which made this a stupendously great cover. Metallica`s "Sad but True" saw them joined by the vocalist from JWD who continued with his mallcore movements and somewhat ruined this mediocre song.
Overall this was a truly great night and we commend Angra for putting on this second show and hope to see them again in such excellent form back in Australia on their next tour. I rate this performance a 9.5, a must see for all progressive and power fans.
Aprox Setlist:
01. Spread Your Fire
02. Waiting Silence
03. Acid Rain
04. Nothing To Say
05. Carolina IV
06. No Pain For The Dead
07. Angels And Demons
08. Millennium Sun
09. Never Understand
10. Drum Solo
11. Temple Of Hate
12. Heroes Of Sand
13. Rebirth
14. Shadow Hunter
15. Angels Cry
16. Carry On
17. Nova Era
18. Instrumental Tribute To Pantera
19. Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden)
20. The Flight Of Icarus (Iron Maiden)
21. Painkiller (Judas Priest) /w Dungeon
22. Sad But True (Metallica) /w JWD
23. Raining Blood (Slayer)
