 | Review and photography by Alex Stojanovic (C) 2025 All rights reserved by MetalMasterKingdom.com BLIND GUARDIAN w/ Ensiferum and Seven Kingdoms @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre Toronto, ON, Canada November 29, 2025 We're at the end of 2025, which is insane to think about, and that also means that the concert season is winding down too as we all prep to reflect and gather with our friends and loved ones for the Christmas holidays. Speaking of Christmas, a rather nice gift that us Toronto metalheads received this year was the quick return of Blind Guardian after only a year. Normally, Blind Guardian comes back to Toronto every 4-5 years with the exception 2015-2024, but this was the quickest return they ever made to our city ever, and fans were beyond ecstatic. The band's North American tour hit the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 29 with Ensiferum and Seven Kingdoms as special guests, and for me, 2025 marks 10 years since I first saw Blind Guardian at the Danforth Music Hall with Grave Digger. It was also my first time back to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre since 2017 for the UFO/Saxon Tour. |
| Starting off the evening was Seven Kingdoms, who are celebrating 15 years since they first toured with Blind Guardian. With the exception of just knowing the name, I walked in with no knowledge of the band, but by the time their set was over, I was fully entertained because they're all about the fun and don't take themselves seriously. For example, they really showcased their love of cheeseburgers with frontwoman Sabrina Valentine wearing cheeseburger house slippers, and they had a guy come out in an inflatable cheeseburger suit to dance during the last song. On top of that, they had "What Is Love (Baby Don't Hurt Me)" playing for a brief stint as they were leaving the stage. The drums were definitely triggered because some of the snare shots sounded like legitimate concussion blasts/explosions. Up next was Ensiferum; another band I was seeing live for the first time as well. I remember listening to a couple of tracks off From Afar back at the start of my college days in 2010/2011. However, no songs from that album were featured in the setlist for this show (womp womp). The good thing is that I was exposed to other songs in their catalog that have given me the urge to go down the Ensiferum rabbit hole and check out some more because I've definitely been missing out. They're another band that care about a good time. Even though Petri Lindroos did seem a little stoic on stage at times, it was mainly Sami Hinkka and Markus Toivonen that brought the lion's share of the energy, and Markus was almost all smiles throughout the entire set. Their 8-song setlist featured a wide range of new songs like "Winter Storm Vigilantes" (setlist opener), "Fatherland" and "Andromeda", and a nice selection of old favourites like "Into Battle", "Guardians Of Fate", "Heathen Horde", "Way Of The Warrior" and setlist closer "In My Sword I Trust". Seeing Ensiferum for the first time was definitely a wake-up call for me knowing that I should've been checking them out more a long time ago. Well, I definitely will now and I look forward to when they return next. | SEVEN KINGDOMS Photo credit: Alex Stojanovic / (C) 2025 MetalMasterKingdom.com ENSIFERUM Photo credit: Alex Stojanovic / (C) 2025 MetalMasterKingdom.com |
| BLIND GUARDIAN Photo credit: Alex Stojanovic / (C) 2025 MetalMasterKingdom.com | Finally, it was time for Blind Guardian. Making their fastest return to Toronto after just a year, which I mentioned above, they made this tour a special occasion by performing Somewhere Far Beyond in its entirety, which started back in 2022 for the 30th anniversary. It is now 33 years since the album came out, but hey, it'e becoming quite normal for bands to perform entire albums even if those albums aren't celebrating a milestone anniversary. As a result, we got to see them play the most old-school Blind Guardian setlist that they've played in a long time. WIth the setlist being structured the way it was, it can be compared to a 3-course meal. The kick-off of the setlist and appetizer round featured a couple of tracks from Nightfall In Middle-Earth, those being the one-two punch of "War Of Wrath/"Into The Storm" and "Nightfall", and the only two tracks from the current era (God Machine), which were "Blood Of The Elves" and "Violent Shadows". |
This warmed us up for the main course, which was the entirety of Somewhere Far Beyond. Traditionally, when it comes to songs from this album, "The Bard's Song - In The Forest" is a permanent staple, and "Time What Is Time" is a frequent feature from time to time, but this gave us the chance to hear some of the other deep cuts that the band play on occasion like "Journey Through The Dark", "Theatre Of Pain", "Quest For Tanelorn", "Ashes To Ashes" and the epic title track. It's also not very often we get both Bard's Songs in the setlist, those being "In The Forest" and "The Hobbit".
For the encore and dessert round, we got a hefty 5-song encore. Starting off with the oldie that fans are always clamoring the band to play: "Majesty", and the other two setlist staples: "Valhalla" and "MIrror Mirror". Although "Mirror Mirror" is normally the closing song, we also were gifted two songs that were not on the printed setlist, which were "Lord Of The Rings" and "Lost In The Twilight Hall", the latter of which closed the set. 40 years on, and Blind Guardian is still delivering the goods on such a high level, and it's deserving of all our respect. Hansi Kursch, Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepen are still at the top of their game as performers. However, the real MVP of the show was Frederik Ehmke, who had the physical task of playing so many songs with fast thrashy patterns for nearly 2 hours, and doing that every night. Overall, what a fantastic way to close out the 2025 concert season, and now it's time to prime the engines for what is sure to be an ass-kicking 2026.
For the encore and dessert round, we got a hefty 5-song encore. Starting off with the oldie that fans are always clamoring the band to play: "Majesty", and the other two setlist staples: "Valhalla" and "MIrror Mirror". Although "Mirror Mirror" is normally the closing song, we also were gifted two songs that were not on the printed setlist, which were "Lord Of The Rings" and "Lost In The Twilight Hall", the latter of which closed the set. 40 years on, and Blind Guardian is still delivering the goods on such a high level, and it's deserving of all our respect. Hansi Kursch, Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepen are still at the top of their game as performers. However, the real MVP of the show was Frederik Ehmke, who had the physical task of playing so many songs with fast thrashy patterns for nearly 2 hours, and doing that every night. Overall, what a fantastic way to close out the 2025 concert season, and now it's time to prime the engines for what is sure to be an ass-kicking 2026.
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