Dream Evil
Support-act to Blind Guardian Mejeriet Lund
Sweden 5/9-2002
Review and pics By Anders Sandvall
It was sold out yesterday in Mejeriet Lund when Blind Guardian made their
first show on their tour of Sweden. The band brought the Swedish band Dream Evil as
opening act on the first and second shows in Sweden.
The nine hundred in the audience had huge expectations for the show. The members in
Dream Evil were nice and talkative, especially small Gus G, and the bandleader Fredrik
Nordström. I also had the opportunity to have a chat with the living legend and drummer
Snowy Shaw. Dream Evil has the totally splendid and totally crushing debut from earlier
this year, Dragonslayer. My expectations for the band were massive, and I
wondered if they could reproduce this feeling live.
They fulfilled my expectations one hundred percent, if you consider that the band
hasn’t played very many live shows so far. They had thirty-five minutes and they took
good care of this time. Many in the audience recognized several songs, and there was
spontaneous sing-along in many of the songs.
Dream Evil Are:
Fredrik Norström - guitar, background vocals
Niklas Isfeldt - lead vocals
Gus G - guitar
Snowy Shaw - drums
Peter Stålfors - bass, background vocals
Niklas didn’t talk so much between the songs. The music gave the impression that
they had played together for many years, but in reality they haven’t played together
more than six times before. Everybody moved around except Gus G - he kept his position and
played. He is a strong artist on guitar. Peter has the same movement
pattern as Steve
Harris from the band Iron Maiden. He has his one foot on the monitor and sings the songs
to himself all the time. Fredrik seemed a
bit absent-minded on stage. Niklas has just as strong voice live as he does on the record, and he
does a great job as front man in the band. What to say about Snowy? A legend.
Technically complete, and plays fast, like a god. The band started with the song
”Kingdom Of the Damned." Other songs they played were “Save Us”,
“The Chosen Ones”, “In Flames You Burn” and “The 7th Day”.
During the last song, Niklas invited the audience to sing with him in “Heavy Metal in
the Night.”
The sound wasn’t perfect due to the immensely long soundcheck from the
headliners. The show was too short. And no encores were performed. I regret they
didn’t play alone, because we all wished they had played longer. They were
extremely good!
Dream Evil are difficult to beat live as well as on the record. When I talked to Gus G,
he told me that they are going to play live a bit more and then enter the studio and make
a follow-up to the debut. Dragonslayer
was one of the best records this year, in
my opinion. Next year there will be a real tour as headliner act. I look forward to that.
Everyone who isn’t an owner of Dragonslayer: buy it right now! This band can’t
be stopped, and they have the potential to make a magnificent career with their heavy
power metal.
Set list
Kingdom of the Damned
Save Us
The 7th Day
The Chosen Ones
In Flames You Burn
The Prophecy
Chasing the Dragon
Heavy Metal in the Night
Thanks to Cindy, and Century Media Sweden for all the help
Band Website: www.dreamevil.mu