Finally saw Fates last nite!

[cyclopssss]

For the very first time in the ten years I've been a fan of their music, last night I finally witnessed a concert by them. The played the first show of a short european tour in Zoetermeer and I wasn't disapointed.

Opening act were the Norwegic band Pagan's Mind and they were very tight and impressive as well! (and rule nine Loud, especially those kickdrums)

Fates were great, with Bobby Jarzombek on drums and Frank Aresti on second guitar! (off course, Joey Vera was on bass)

They played a set of for the most part expected favourites, with a couple of pleasant surprises. Ray was on form, although I must say I was a bit shocked that he wasn't able to sing the original parts of 'point of view'. I'd expect him not to reach the high screaching parts of the older stuff, but this was sort of a let down. The crowd were into them and singing along, especially Eleventh Hour was impressive.

Now for the surprises:

Island in the Stream was a VERY pleasant surprise to witness live.
Off course, they ended the set with Still Remains which was great.
Also, Life in still water was nice to hear. They played some stuff off 'Disconnected', 'X' and off 'Parallels' and a couple off 'APSOG'. It was a good mix.

They came back to do two encores, and they were the surprises of the night. First they went into Silent Cries, which went down very well. The second was Nothing left to say, which the audience sang along to great.

Ray explained a couple times it was the first night of the tour and they were still searching for the 'right' setlist. I'd say they weren't far off.

Oh, and for who's wondering: yes, no keyboards on this tour.

[thraxhead]

God-damn their asses!

I've been waiting for over 7 years to see "Island in the Stream" live, as Jim mentioned this would be one of the surprises on the tour with Nevermore that ended up getting cancelled. No talk of it ever since until now (good to see it, though)

And, "Silent Cries" is one they haven't played in well over 10 years ... the Wacken Festival in 1993, to be exact.

As for Ray and "Point of View", the last time he reached those notes was on Still Life in 1998. When the tour for Disconnected came around in 2001 (opening for Savatage) he had begun to take it down a notch, much like you heard last night. "The Eleventh Hour" was the same way. I have not witnessed "Silent Cries" or "Nothing Left to Say" live, so I am not sure what his take on those were.

I must say, though, I was very much impressed with his remake of "Quietus" on The View From Here DVD. I only wish I had an "audio only" version of it to play in my car.

Great to know the band is back on the road. Perhaps a treat for the States is in order next?

[patrickb]

Totally loved the show at the Boerderij. The sound quality has been a lot worse lately within the venue, but this specific night is was pretty okay.
My personal favourites: The eleventh hour and 'Point of View', but as put by cyclopssss "Island" was pretty cruel as well.
The last time I saw FW perform a live show was about 12 and a half years ago, okay 11-03-1995 (that's march 11th for non europeans) it was, when they supported the DT guys.
D@mn we're getting old. I'm not to familar with their stuff before Parallels (well I do own NIght on Bröcken, but haven't listened to it often), but they older song were a nice intermezzo.

For all of you who are in doubt of going to one of the upcomming gigs, JUST GO!!!

[cyclopssss]

Man, you gotta understand....this was sort of a dream come true for me. It was so great to be able to sing along to these songs! It was also great to watch the cameradery between Ray, Jim, Joey and Frank on stage.
At first I didn't really know what to think watching Ray smoke a cigarette in at the side of the stage area in the instrumental part of Still Remains, but I had to laugh when one guy just took his chance and jumped the 'chain-link fence' for five seconds to take his photo-oppurtunity at a quick snapshot with his mobilephone! Ray gladly obliged the guys stepped over the chain again, showing his prize off to whoever would watch...great fun.

Plus one little piece of information that might interest the (female-) portion of this board: Ray announced he's growing his hair back! Because 'It really feels weird without the hair, man! Yeah...I fucked up!'

Only regret is not seeing them with Zonder still in the band, but hey...can't win 'em all!

[BenMech]

Next on the dream concert bit . . .a PW reunion. (It ain't gonna happen). I wish I could see DST. Maybe a tour with Redemption

[cyclopssss]

DST is not out of the question...PW, you're right. (I realise now how lucky I've been to have witness them perform live...even for a short while)

[mariner]

Wow.. man.. Island in the stream.. That is something I thought I would never listen live.. I only hope they'll play it also in Athens.. Thanx for letting us know.. There are some tears of happyness right now in my face