Blind Guardian - Gig Review and Photo Gallery 12th February @ Magnet House, Perth WA
Blind Guardian
Magnet House, Perth WA
February 12th, 2024
Supports: Chaos Divine and Silent Knight
Monday nights in Perth aren’t normally known for their fun factor. Usually, Murray Street in the city is pretty desolate save from a few lost souls wandering around. Not this Monday night though, the street where Magnet House sits was populated by a stream of black band shirts, black jeans and even a dashing Highlander in a kilt. Each person was headed in the direction of the live music venue had only one thing on their mind – the mighty Blind Guardian.
The main event wasn’t on until 9:30 so the night kicked off 2 hours earlier with Silent Knight. It’s fitting one of the world’s best power metal bands are supported by one of Australia’s best. The five locals had exactly 30 mins to show what they were made of and it didn’t take long for the early crowd to take notice. On one of front man Dan Brittin’s trademark high screams a punter in front of me turned to his mate and shouted “holy shit this guy can sing”. Yes mate he can. Silent Knight hit the Monday night crowd with Full Force. The quintet made full use of the large stage with rhythm guitarist Stu McGill making mischief taking it in turn to try and put off bandmates Cameron Daw on bass and Cameron Nicholas on lead guitar with his hand darting out and hitting their fret boards. If there’s one thing the band does it’s entertain and that’s exactly what they did. Silent Knight brought their A-game and the Blind Guardian fans ate up every power chord, sizzling solo and sonic scream.
Chaos Divine seemed to me to be a curious choice in this lineup. Their prog-metal grooves were in contrast to the previous band’s 100 mile an hour fury. What they did bring was a very cool vibe. It may have taken the predominantly power-metal crowd a few songs to dig what they were laying down, but good music is good music regardless of the genre and Perth’s prog-metal masters have talent in spades. Now I thought everyone knew Chaos Divine do a killer cover of the Toto classic ‘Africa’, but by the look of the confused and bemused faces around me the word still hadn’t got out to everyone yet. A few bars into the track, frontman David Anderton had the metalheads eating out of his hand. Jumping off the stage and climbing onto the front barrier to engage in a bit of crowd participation only went further in winning over the punters. Cover songs aside, the band’s strength is in their original material and I have no doubt there were a stack of Colliding Skies and Legacies CDs sold off the merch table at the back of the venue. Chaos Divine are a class act and it was heartening to see a nearly full house appreciate their prog-metal goodness.
But the night belonged to the five Germans who’d travelled a bloody long way just to make it to Australia. Thanks to Cut Above Collective and Mellen Events who put their money on the line, the world’s most isolated capital city got the final show of the tour. I’ve been to many international gigs in this venue and witnessed some killer shows in front of less than stellar attendances. Not tonight, Perth had turned out in force with punters grabbing any vantage point they could.
Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kursch soon discovered Perth loves to party. The packed venue was loud, rowdy and up to sing at any chance they were given. Every time the singer gestured to the crowd they responded. Blind Guardian songs lend themselves to the odd huge chorus just begging to be sung at full volume by a black clad choir. The sing-a-long started almost immediately at the opening song ‘Imaginations from the Other Side’. With 12 studio albums under their belts set list selection must be an almost impossible task, but I couldn’t think of a better opener and the crowd was instantly into it. Audience participation was taken to the next level with ‘The Bard’s Song – In The Forrest’, the acoustic classic barely needing any vocal input from Kursch. Many bands have that moment where the fans take over vocals, usually it’s just the chorus, sometimes a verse as well, but I can’t recall seeing and hearing every single lyric sung at full voice right from the start. By the time ‘Valhalla’ hit during the encore there was no stopping the fans with the lyrics: “Valhalla, deliverance.
Why’ve you ever forgotten me?” repeated again and again, the thinking was if we keep singing they’ll just have to keep playing. I doubt there was a fan in the venue who wanted this show to end.
The band looked genuinely blown away at the response they received. The crowd loved every lyric, every note and every song. With good reason, the seemingly impossible setlist was packed full of favourites and even had a couple of tracks off latest album for good measure.
The God Machine rolled across Australia into WA and absolutely destroyed everything in its path. While it may have taken 30 years for Blind Guardian to hit the city of lights, from what I saw it was very much worth the wait. But let’s not have to wait another 30 eh guys?
Review by Gareth Williams
Setlist
Imaginations From the Other Side
Blood of the Elves
Nightfall
The Script for My Requiem
Violent Shadows
Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)
Bright Eyes
The Bard’s Song – In the Forest
Majesty
Lost in the Twilight Hall
Encore
Sacred Worlds
Into the Storm
Valhalla
Mirror Mirror
Photo Gallery by Josh Ludlow. Instagram: @joshludlow_photoboy
Please credit Wall of Sound and Josh Ludlow if you use a published photo.
Silent Knight
[gallery type="square" ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SilentKnight-1.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SilentKnight-2.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SilentKnight-3.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SilentKnight-4.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SilentKnight-5.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SilentKnight-6.jpg|"]
Chaos Divine
[gallery type="square" ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ChaosDivine1.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ChaosDivine2.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ChaosDivine4.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ChaosDivine5.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ChaosDivine8.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ChaosDivine9.jpg|"]
Blind Guardian
[gallery type="square" ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian2.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian1.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian4.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian5.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian6.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian7.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian8.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian9.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BlindGuardian10.jpg|"]
