DragonForce @ HQ, Adelaide(25/10/08)

Mon 27th Oct, 2008 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE

While I am not able to be counted among the many minions that constitute the DragonForce fanbase, I had heard a while ago that they put on a great show, that it was all fists-in-the-air metal and definitely not the sort of gig you’d miss willingly. So, quite happily I trooped off to the show at HQ on Friday October 25.

Sidestepping the punters lined up at the door, I didn’t expect to be hit with such an enormously packed venue when I got inside – nor such a contingent of security. Because the show was all ages, the floor in front of stage was cordoned off, and only those with 18+ wristbands were allowed up the stairs towards the bar. Everyone else was jammed into the floor space – making the number of people present seem even higher.

Local band Universum, just recently (in September) signed to Sydney label Riot!, were the first and only support act. Scoring the support slot for the national tour with a band like DragonForce is great for the band’s exposure.

Being the only support, Universum got to play a reasonably long set, something they did with style. Crammed into the very front space of the stage, due to the already-set-up gear for the main act, they did the best they could with very little room to move.

I hadn’t seen Universum before, and by all accounts they are quite a young band, having formed in 2006; and yet they are one of the tightest local acts I’ve seen. This six-piece is very talented, and they play together very well. Their style suited the show so much that I couldn’t think of any other band I would rather have seen as a support act.

Their youth was fairly evident in the slightly abashed way that vocalist Adam Soininen spoke to the crowd, but confidence in that area will come with time.

Universum play a very accomplished, tight melodic metal that, despite very fast double-kicks, doesn’t have a great deal of pace. The band tries to be more brutal than perhaps they are by accenting the lower end and highlighting the drums. While the band considers themselves melodic death metal, I tend to disagree; the vocals are too ‘core to be deathy, and they are way more melodic than death metal – but I’m not going to get into a banter about sub-genres and classification. Let it stand that they are an excellent band. That’s all that really matters.

Between bands was a sizeable intermission, one that was filled with impatient DragonForce fans chanting the band’s name longer and longer, and louder and louder, accompanied by stomps and whistles. During this time, anybody who happened to appear near the stage – like the techs – got a deafening roar of excitement from the crowd, all of whom were on tenterhooks waiting for the main act.

But when the main act did hit the stage, and got stuck straight in, the crowd erupted and momentarily totally eclipsed the band.

This would have been great, but the sound was a wee bit muddy – something that was rectified as the band played on; so that by mid-set it was nearly perfect.

If there is anything about DragonForce fans, it is that they are enthusiastic as all fuck. The entire night was filled with screaming, singing, and unbounded joy. The crowd has to be one of the most tuneful that I’d ever heard.

As for the DragonForce performance, while I am not a fan as stated earlier, I have to give them as much credit as I can for being unbelievable performers. Their guitar work is extraordinary, keyboardist Pruzhanov was the most out-there keyboardist I’ve seen – of course, his keytar helps! – and they were unfailingly energetic throughout the very long set. The intra-band repartee on stage was dramatised and entertaining, if a little overdone.

For me, one of the highlights of the show was the intermission, whereat the keyboard/guitar play-off and duet was just shy of spectacular. But only just. It was one of the most far-out things I’ve ever seen, and had to be seen to be believed.

Throughout the night, DragonForce played material from their entire discography; but I must say that there were two particular tracks – Soldiers of the Wasteland and the band’s first ever single, Starfire off their first album Valley of the Damned.

While on the band’s previous Aussie tour back in 2007 – not so long ago – they apparently sported trampolines, these were left back home this time. They were still bouncy enough without them, but with the trampolines it would have been even better.

Also different this time, according to those who were there, was the size of the crowd – swelled by more than a few hundred, by all accounts. This may have something to do with Guitar Hero III, released in 2007, which featured Through the Fire and Flames and boosted the band’s fanbase incredibly.

This show was amazing. It’s not my style, necessarily – I prefer bands like Gamma Ray and Helloween over DragonForce – but for showmanship, musicianship, and performance style, this has to be one of the best shows I’ve been to in a very long time.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE