The Finnish power metal godfather Stratovarius was at the helm this cold February evening at The Rock.
Before them Tracedawn and Dream Evil had done their best to warm up the crowd, and now it was time for Stratovarius to move in for the kill…

Admittedly, I’m not exactly ‘in the loop’ with what Stratovarius is up to, so my first surprise came as they entered the stage and I found Timo Tolkki missing (as I said, I haven’t really been keeping up to date…).
In his place we saw a young man named Matias Kupiainen, and let’s just say, the guitar wasn’t treated more kindly because of this personnel change. Recognisable faces (for me that is) could be seen in vocalist Timo Kotipelto and keyboardist Jens Johansson. Drummer Jörg Michael, who has been around for as long as Johansson, handled the sticks with expertise, and the bass was beaten by Lauri Porra (who in my eyes bore a striking resemblance to one Lee Dorrian of Cathedral).

Actually, the two support-bands had done an excellent job, and the crowd was well-warmed up for the last gig of the night. After a strong start with Destiny, a mosh broke out to Hunting High And Low, something I most certainly had not expected to see here tonight! And it just kept on going more or less strong throughout the entire show; the only major break was during Forever where people coupled up and danced slowly to the romantic music.

Talking about music; the musicians of the band got their time to shine as well, as the concert included solo performances for almost all participants.
First up was (and here comes the controversy, as Lunah and I have completely opposing feelings about the qualities of these performances) Johansson who let his fingers fly over the keys, at first accompanied by Kupiainen and Michael, but later truly solo. I thought this passage failed a bit though, as the concert lost both momentum and intensity as he played alone.
Later in the set it was time for our two string-benders to show off, and Kupiainen quickly won my heart over as he started off by playing the well-known notes of Ennio Morricone’s main theme for The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, followed by a short but very entertaining duel between Kupiainen and Porra.
After this Porra gave it his all on the bas alone, and I was left in awe of his amazing skills. Directly following was a real solo performance by Kupiainen, and also here we were shown what true dedication to your instrument can do; he was amazing as well! Still, Porra was the winner in my mind.

I noticed some lyrics taped to the stage, and the reason for this was soon made apparent as Kotipelto explained they usually didn’t play this song, King Of Nothing (off of their latest album Polaris), but they hoped it would be ok to do it here tonight for us; and let’s just say, I didn’t hear anyone complaining.
Unusual song-choice as it may have been, the setlist as a whole held many old favourites, and the ending anthem Black Diamond went down like butter on bread with the positive audience.
After this there was only left to say farewell, or so we thought until Stratovarius sound technician Janni (unsure about spelling and name accuracy here) was called up on stage, and as the band stood arm in arm Kotipelto sang Happy Birthday for him together with the audience.
After this there was one final shout request from the band, a bow, and a continued good night for all of us…

Setlist:

Destiny
Hunting High And Low
Speed Of Light
The Kiss Of Judas
Deep Unknown
A Million Light Years Away
Solo (Johansson)
Winter Skies
Phoenix
Solo (Porra/Kupiainen)
Forever Is Today
King Of Nothing
Paradise
Eagleheart
Forever
S.O.S.
Black Diamond