Helloween / Stratovarius / Pink Cream 69
This co-headliner tour somehow seems to be ill-fated, literally. First, Timo Kotipelto got sick and didn´t even know whether he can do the tour or not. Then also Helloween (after the show in Pratteln) had to cancel a few gigs because singer Andi had caught a vocal cord infection and was forced to have a break by doctor´s orders. At Z7 all bands, however, still gave their best.
Pink Cream 69
Sadly, I came a little late and so only saw the last songs of Pink Cream 69. Still, I have to say that the band has an extremely nice and charismatic frontman in David Readman, It´s simply fun to watch them on stage.
http://www.pinkcream69.com/
Stratovarius
Stratovarius kick off their gig with one of their classics Hunting High and Low. Timo Kotipelto is visibly in frail health. He over and over again needs the help of the fans who happily come to his aid and sing along as loud as they can. You can only feel sorry for the frontman because singing in this condition isn´t only hard but also very painful. He apologises several times to the fans, that his performance isn´t the best and that the whole crew is plagued by the stomach flu. In his case, the virus dried out his vocal cords but nevertheless he visibly tries hard to give the best he can.
Reunited with the band is also drummer Jörg Michael, who had to take a leave from the band for a short while because of a serious illness. It´s the first show that I see with Matias Kupiainen and I have to say that the band has found a worthy replacement for Timo Tolkki. The chemistry in the band seems to be just right again. Despite all health problems the show was great and the setlist had both old and new songs.
http://www.stratovarius.com/
Helloween
It´s hard to believe but this would be my first ever Helloween show. Even though I listen to the band once in a while, I never felt the urge to go to one of their shows. The first thing I have to say is that the band offers the audience quite a visual treat. Of course, I´m talking about the stage setting. However, the background banner cannot compete with the one from Stratovarius, it looks almost boring in comparison.
Andi Deris and his men enter the stage and deliver a great show despite being sick. During their gig, they give their fans plastic pumpkins, which are thrown into the crowd. Among the audience are some ´Dr. Steins´ who really want to be onstage with the band, as promised on the band´s website.
I, personally, got a little bored after about 40 minutes because everything just sounded exactly the same. The die-hard fans, however, seemed to have liked the gig because they cheered for the band for minutes and the guys took it to their hearts and played another encore.
http://www.helloween.org
