 SEVEN SPIRES Photo credit: Anna Sklavos VISIONS OF ATLANTIS Photo credit: Anna Sklavos FIREWIND Photo credit: Anna Sklavos DRAGONFORCE Photo credit: Anna Sklavos | Written by Alex Stojanovic Photography by Anna Sklavos (C) 2022 All rights reserved by MetalMasterKingdom.com DRAGONFORCE w/ FIREWIND, VISIONS OF ATLANTIS and SEVEN SPIRES @ Opera House Toronto, ON, Canada March 30, 2022 Presented by Inertia Entertainment Well, well, well. FINALLY, we are back to covering shows after a stressful two years of no shows due to a pesky little pandemic that decided to put the world on pause. Most of us on the team did see some small sporatic shows here and there, but we didn't have the chance to cover them, but we recently fired the engines back up on show coverages. For me, I went to see a local show last summer, but that was when restrictions were still in place on capacity limits and we all had to be seated. However, now that restrictions have been lifted on shows, I got to experience my first proper show since March 2020. That show was DragonForce at the Opera House on March 30. Given that shows and tours have started to make a huge comeback, it's no surprise to see how packed the Opera House was for a Wednesday night. People have been waiting for the moment where they can go to shows again without having to show a vaccine passport or QR code, or be required to wear a mask, or socially distance. This current tour is a special occasion for DragonForce, as it's their first tour in 2 years, and it's the most extensive North American tour they've done since 2008. To make this tour even more special, they brought out an impressive selection of special guests, which included Firewind, Visions Of Atlantis and Seven Spires. Initially, Battle Beast were scheduled to be on the tour, but had to drop off due to "unexpected circumstances", and as a result, Firewind were invited to step into their slot. Metalheads and video game nerds packed the Opera House to the gills once again just like they did last time in 2017. Anyway, enough stuff regarding the pandemic. Let's just get into the festivities. Kicking off the party were Boston's Seven Spires. They took the stage to a rather respectable crowd. The venue was about half full by the time they hit the stage. Vocalist Adrienne Cowan has a rather versatile vocal range, with screams that sounds like a hybrid of Alexi Laiho and Chuck Schuldiner, and cleans that would definitely find a lot of favour with non-rock/metal fans. It was during the song "Lightbringer" that they had Herbie Langhans from Firewind come out and perform guest vocals. Of all the bands on the tour, they were the only band to feature aggressive vocals. Taking the stage next were Austria's very own Visions Of Atlantis. They're one of those bands with two lead vocalists: one male and one female. The first thing I noticed about the band was that female lead vocalist Clementine Delauney seemed like a spitting image of Lzzy Hale. With the pirate theme they had going on, mixed with the more epic metal sensibilities, they seemed like a hybrid of Alestorm and Nightwish. What I didn't like about their set was their use of keyboard tracks as opposed to having a real keyboardist on stage. I've obviously been very vocal about bands using tracks live during songs. Up next was one of Greece's finest: Firewind, who stepped in on the tour to replace Battle Beast. It was my first time seeing the band, and also my first time seeing Gus G. live, because I never got to see him with Ozzy. Firewind is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, so their 9-song set featured a wide range of songs from multiple albums. Some of the newer songs they played included "Welcome To The Empire", "Rising Fire" and "Break Away", while also touching on old favourites like "Head Up High", "Destination Forever", "The Fire & The Fury", "World On Fire", and their cover of Michael Sembello's "Maniac". An eye-opening visual was Gus G. pulling an Ace Frehley with the smoking guitar. Finally, it was time for DragonForce to take the stage. They really took their stage production to the next level on this tour, as this is the biggest one I've seen them have since the first time I saw them back in 2008. There were two giant arcade machines on either side of the stage that played demo videos of classic racing and fighter games with the classic 8-bit graphics. There was also a giant prop of the steel dragon from the Extreme Power Metal album cover with glowing red eyes, which made for another cool visual aspect. They also had CO2 blasters at the front of the stage, and even had a bit of pyro with the cold spark effects. Marc Hudson also used a handheld CO2 blaster on stage and blasted the front row a handful of times. You could feel the small dry ice pellets hitting you as they emanated from the smoke blasts. While staying on the topic of their production, one detail I would like to point out is that given the amount of gear and props DragonForce have for this tour, it caused all three opening bands to be squeezed at the front of the stage during their sets. It's also worth noting that since the last time the band was in Toronto, they now have Alicia Vigil on bass, who replaced longtime bassist Frederic Leclercq. She was first announced as a temporary member in 2019, but was announced as the new permanent bassist in February 2022. Beginning their set with "Highway To Oblivion", they incorporated a good mix of newer and classic songs. As I've mentioned many times before, DragonForce were a big part of the soundtrack to my high school years from 2007-2010, so hearing them go into old classics like "Fury Of The Storm", "Valley Of The Damned", "Black Fire", and of course that little song that got famous from a game about guitar playing (you know the song), was a huge trip down memory lane. Some of the other tunes from the last few years that they touched on include "Ashes Of The Dawn", "The Last Dragonborn", "Heart Demolition" and "Remembrance Day". |
If you've been a DragonForce fan for as long as I have, you know that their whole gimmick is based on video game fantasy, and they love to throw in quite a bit of comedic aspects into their set. Unlike some bands that go overboard on the comedy to the point where it starts getting ridiculous and stale, DragonForce don't overuse the comedic aspect in their show. For example, in between "Heart Demolition" and "Ashes Of The Dawn", they played a couple of the classic Sega commercials from the 90s advertising the Megadrive. In keeping up with the gaming theme tradition, the band ripped through a couple of video game theme songs like "Dracula's Castle" from Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, and "Fight On" from Final Fantasy VII. Herman Li announced to the crowd that he was livestreaming the entire show on Twitch from a camera that was mounted on his shoulder, which got the crowd roaring with excitement. On top of that, they had a few local YouTube/Tik-Tok personalities join them on stage like Nik Nocturnal, Stevie T, jordan.wav and Cole Rolland to jam some songs. Sam Totman also dressed up in a farmer's costume and played banjo during one of these segments. It's also hilarious to see that even after all these years, Herman and Sam are still displaying their playful competitive attitude towards each other when it comes to shredding.
To summarize, DragonForce, Firewind, Visions Of Atlantis and Seven Spires brought a ton of uplifting vibes to us metalheads and video game geeks, and a much needed sense of relief to those who had this show be their first one back since the beginning of all the nonsense we experienced in the last two years (i.e: me). This is just the beginning of the full return of tours, with so much more to come throughout the rest of the year. If this tour is hitting your town, go see it.
To summarize, DragonForce, Firewind, Visions Of Atlantis and Seven Spires brought a ton of uplifting vibes to us metalheads and video game geeks, and a much needed sense of relief to those who had this show be their first one back since the beginning of all the nonsense we experienced in the last two years (i.e: me). This is just the beginning of the full return of tours, with so much more to come throughout the rest of the year. If this tour is hitting your town, go see it.
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