Review: Helloween - Rabbits On The Run 2003 | |||||||
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Rabbits On The Run 2003 | |||||||
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Venue: Le Medley City: Montreal, Quebec, Canada Show date: October 11, 2003 Guests: Hanker, Beyond the Embrace and Jag Panzer Rating: 5/5 Review online: October 31, 2003 Reviewed by: Pierre Bégin |
![]() for:Rabbits On The Run 2003 Rated 4.67/5 (93.33%) (6 Votes)
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Review | |||||||
It's been 16 years or so since Helloween last visited us! It was a return in town that the die-hard fans would not miss by any reasons. There were more than 1,500 fans; it was a sold-out, jam-packed venue where the legendary German band and three North American opening acts gave us a metal night that we will not forget. Quebec City heavy metal band Hanker had the glorious burden (!) of breaking the ice and
heating the crowd. This was a very special night for them for many reasons; they were playing But, as soon as Hanker climbs on stage and having yet to play a single note, the crowd
began to scream loudly HANKER! HANKER! HANKER! It was so amazing, I've got shiver!! The band
hits hard, right at the beginning, with the fast paced "Ad Patres", opener of their
latest opus "Snakes And Ladders", followed by the best track from "The Dead
Ringer", the excellent "You Won't Live Eternally". No time to lose with this
short 30 minutes slot, the band hits with their mandatory "Disturbing The Brain"
Next on the bill is a U.S.-based thrash/death metal band, Beyond The Embrace, a three
down-tuned guitars, 6 members band, which reminds me of Testament (recent era), mostly due to
the vocals. Shawn Gallagher growls and sings similarly to Chuck Billy from Testament. It was Veteran U.S. power metal band Jag Panzer was next on the bill. They played for about one
hour, with excellent songs such as "Iron Eagle", "Black", "Shadow
Thief", "Chain Of Command", "Tyranny", "Viper" and
"Take To The Sky". This was my third time seeing the band and this is by far their
best gig. Singer Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin's performance was top notch; he hit
every single note and had a lot of power in his voice throughout the gig. Chris Broderick is
a guitar-hero, his leads are amazing and I was hypnotized by his guitar fretboard when he
led! He received some well-deserved cheering after some wonderful leads. It seems so easy for
him! The band also received very good acclaims by the crowd throughout their set. Finally, I
And finally, after a too long 30 minutes of waiting, came the legendary German band that everybody had been waiting for so long. They hit hard, right in the beginning, with "Starlight" and "Murderer", two very old fast tracks from their first mini LP album released in 1985. Wow, what a start! Singer Andi Deris introduced the next song as being a "short" one, and the opening intro of the beautiful 14 minutes long "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" echoes through the venue! Wow, what a surprise, this is one of the highlight of their set! It was so great to hear the crowd sings the beautiful chorus! Helloween carry on their set list with such classics as "Future World",
"Eagle Fly Free", "Hey Lord!", "Forever And One (Neverland)",
"Dr. Stein", "Sole Survivor", "I Can" and "Where The Rain
Grows". They played three tracks off their newest album "Rabbit Don't Come
Easy" and one, "If I Could Fly", from "The Dark Ride". It was a very
good and solid set list, minus two songs off their latest album: "Open Your Life" The crowd went nuts when the band played "Eagle Fly Free". This song is so great and is still one of my favorite Helloween track. In the middle of "Power", singer Andi Deris divided the crowd in two and made a long but interesting noisy competition between left and right. We could see how high we were with "Andi's noisy-dick-meter"; (-: he simulates each side performance with his hand! It was hilarious! For the encore, new guitarist Sascha Gerstner came out with a cool sounding sitar guitar and played some oriental leads. The rest of the band joined in and started the excellent "Sun For The World" from their latest album. They finished their amazing two hours set list in beauty, with the high speed classic "How Many Tears", featuring a cool little amusing interaction between the two guitarists during the mellow interlude part.
Newcomers guitarist Sascha Gerstner (ex-Freedom Call) and skinsman Stefan Schwarzmann
(ex-Accept, U.D.O. and Running Wild) played extremely well and melt very well with the rest
of the band. Helloween seem united, and there is a good chemistry on stage between the
musicians. Bassist Markus Grosskopf always has a smile on his face, and it seems so easy for
him to play the tough basslines that many Helloween songs have. Michael Weikath has a The stage design was however non-existent. Helloween has such colorful booklets and sleeves; I expected at least a curtain with "Helloween" on it, and maybe the cover of their latest album. The sound was overall very good, not too loud and well equilibrated. The crowd was thunderous, and sang along with Andi throughout the gig. It was an excellent metal evening in Montreal. It was my first Helloween concert ever and I was really pleased by their performance. Only 30$ CAD to see three long careers and professional bands like Helloween, Jag Panzer and Hanker on the same bill is a very inexpensive and wonderful experience. Helloween seem very happy by the overreaction of the packed venue, and this give hopes that we won't have to wait so long before seeing them again! (-; ![]() ![]() ![]() Hanker set list:
Helloween set list:
Encore: Additional Information Photos by Pierre Gauthier, courtesy of Capital of Metal |
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More about Helloween... | |||||||
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